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AdvertisementElevenLabs is raising new funding, boosting its valuation to over $3 billion, according to multiple sources. The startup is aiming to raise $200 million in the round, according to one source. Details of the latest funding round are not yet finalized, and the figures involved are subject to change. The company has been increasing its targeted round size and valuation during the process of raising funding, according to these sources. Funding for voice technology companies has picked up even as some of the shine comes off the digital intelligence category as a whole.

Persons: ElevenLabs, Andreessen Horowitz, Piotr Dąbkowski, Mati Staniszewski's, Kleiner Perkins, ElevenLab's Organizations: Ventures, Iconiq Locations: ElevenLabs, OpenAI

☆ Rivian's head of software says the company is not trying to be like Tesla regarding automation
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-04 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid says the future of cars will be hands-free. Related storiesA $5 billion investment from Volkswagen announced in June could help the struggling EV company deliver on its cheapest model yet, the R2, priced at $45,000 and set to launch in 2026. In January, Goldman Sachs analysts said Rivian's software is "a key part of the value proposition and monetization opportunity" for the company. "Software is, really behind the scenes, pervasive throughout the entire company," Bensaid told BI. "And we see Rivian as a tech company.

Persons: Wassym Bensaid, Bensaid, —, we're, robotaxis, wasn't, RJ Scaringe, EVs, Scaringe, Kleiner Perkins, Tesla, Rivian, We're, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Service, Business, Rivian, TechCrunch, CSO, EV, Motors, Volkswagen, Tesla Locations: Irvine , California, San Francisco

☆ Meet Glean, the enterprise AI search company that's so powerful Sam Altman deemed it a threat to OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-31 | by ( Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Among them are Anthropic, Elon Musk's xAI, OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence, and AI search startup Perplexity. The last of the five rivals, and perhaps the least well-known, is Glean, an enterprise search assistant. Founded in 2019 by Rubrik cofounder and ex-Googler Arvind Jain, Glean helps corporate workers find information across their companies' tools and data. Related Video Sam Altman moves to Microsoft after OpenAI fires him as CEOThe company enables AI search by integrating apps like Slack and Dropbox and powering search across their company's universe of data. AdvertisementBesides enterprise search, Glean also has an AI assistant that generates answers based on search results, such as summarizing the day's Slack messages or synthesizing multiple documents.

Persons: Glean, Jain, —, Sam Altman, Elon Musk's, Ilya Sutskever's, Googler Arvind Jain, Kleiner Perkins, Deedy Das, Larry Page, Das, Bipul Sinha, Rubrik, Mamoon Hamid, Vishwanath, Tony Gentilcore, Piyush Prahladka, …, Arvind, Hamid, Paul, Rajeev Dham, they're, Slack, Altman, It's Organizations: Google, Service, Elon Musk's xAI, DST Global, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia, Microsoft, Sony Electronics, Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Technology, IIT, Menlo Ventures, IIT Delhi, University of Washington, Akamai Technologies, Technology, YouTube, Kleiner Locations: Jaipur, Indian, IIT Delhi, India, Glean, Seattle

☆ Venture capital is going to war over the election. Here's the data to prove it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-19 | by ( Rob Price | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

VCs are lobbing cash at the presidential election and key congressional races, FEC data shows. This election cycle, investors at the top venture capital firms have plowed tens of millions of dollars into the election, both backing their favored political candidates and just cannily promoting commercial interests. (The filing deadline for Q3 data for quarterly filing entities was October 15, but this data isn't yet readily available in full online.) Business Insider selected 10 venture capital firms to focus on, taking into account fund size and cultural and industry significance. Sequoia Capital's Doug Leone is one of VC's most prolific GOP-aligned political donors, giving his almost $3.8 million to the National Republican Committee and other causes.

Persons: Reid Hoffman, Kamala Harris, —, hasn't, Andreessen Horowitz, blockchain, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, a16z, Horowitz, Andreessen, Harris, megadonor Reid Hoffman, Keith Rabois, Kleiner Perkins, Michael Moritz, Shaun Maguire, Joe Manchin, Hoffman, Horowitz Hoffman, Joe Biden, Biden, Nikki Haley, Trump, Vinod Khosla, John Doerr, Doug Leone, Elon Musk, Melia Russell, Rob Price Organizations: Service, Federal, Commission, Yuga Labs, White, Republicans, Founders Fund, SpaceX, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Heritage, Business, Republican, Lincoln, Democratic, Democratic Party, Democratic Congressional, Sequoia, National Republican, Future Forward PAC, America PAC, Elon, Investors, splashy Hamptons, Harris Victory Fund, Harris Action Fund, Democratic National Committee Locations: Solana, Sequoia, West Virginia, New Hampshire

☆ Suki just raised $70 million for its healthcare AI assistant to beat out rival Abridge. See the 17-slide pitch deck it used.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-10 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Suki just raised $70 million in Series D funding led by Hedosophia for its medical AI assistant. It's competing with hot startups like Abridge as VCs scramble to place their bets in healthcare AI. The startup just landed a $70 million Series D round led by Hedosophia, a secretive UK-based VC firm led by Ian Osborne. Suki's biggest competitor is healthcare AI startup Abridge, which raised a $150 million Series C at a $850 million valuation in February and is backed by big names like Lightspeed Venture Partners and CVS Health Ventures. Here's the pitch deck Suki used to raise $70 million from Hedosophia.

Persons: Suki, Hedosophia, —, Punit Singh Soni, It's, Ian Osborne, transcribes, Kleiner Perkins, Abridge, Soni, EHR, he's Organizations: Service, Flare, Breyer Capital, InHealth Ventures, Fund, Suki's, Lightspeed Venture Partners, CVS Health Ventures, Veterans Health Administration Locations: Abridge, Hedosophia

☆ AI-powered search startup Glean doubles valuation in new funding round led by Altimeter
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-10 | by ( Riley De León | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

AI-powered search startup Glean said Tuesday it has raised $260 million in a funding round that values the tech company at $4.6 billion — more than double its last reported valuation. Glean competes with a herd of well-financed generative AI startups and tech giants, attempting to compete with Microsoft Copilot and chatbot Amazon Q. Glean's Series E round, led by Altimeter and DST Global, includes Craft Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, all new investors in the company. Founder and CEO Arvind Jain started Glean in 2019 with other former Google engineers as an enterprise search engine. The company soon transitioned to generative AI.

Persons: Arvind Jain, Glean, Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, Jain Organizations: CNBC, Glean, Microsoft, DST Global, Craft Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Latitude, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, IDC Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, Palo Alto , California

☆ Eighty-eight corporate leaders endorse Harris in new letter, including CEOs of Yelp, Box
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-06 | by ( Megan Cassella | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Eighty-eight current and former top executives from across corporate America have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a new letter shared exclusively with CNBC. Among the signers are several high-profile CEOs of public companies, including Aaron Levie of Box , Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap . Other signers appear to be issuing their first public endorsements of Harris since she became the de facto Democratic nominee in July. They include James Murdoch, former CEO of 21st Century Fox and an heir to the Murdoch family media empire, and crypto executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform. Still more are prominent in Silicon Valley, including the venture capitalist Ron Conway, entrepreneur Mark Cuban and former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman.

Persons: WASHINGTON —, Kamala Harris, Aaron Levie, Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp, Michael Lynton, Harris, James Murdoch, Murdoch, Chris Larsen, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, José E, Feliciano, Twilio, Jeff Lawson, Ted Leonsis, Kleiner Perkins, John Doerr, Deven Parekh, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Wndr, Laurene Powell Jobs, Dustin Moskovitz, Magic Johnson, Tony James, Blackstone, Bruce Heyman, Goldman Sachs, Peter Orszag, Steve Westly, Ron Conway, Mark Cuban, Reid Hoffman Organizations: WASHINGTON, CNBC, Democratic, Century Fox, Washington Wizards, WNBA's Mystics, NHL's Washington Capitals, Walt Disney Studios, Facebook, NBA Hall of Famer, Jefferson, Lazard, Westly, Tesla Locations: America, California, Capital, Silicon Valley

☆ A16z's Jennifer Li went from business school to computer science to the startup world. Here's how she parlayed that experience into AI investing.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-20 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Read previewJennifer Li didn't know from the get-go that she was interested in computer science and software engineering. AdvertisementIn school, Li made the unusual jump from business to computer science. Related storiesShe studied technology commercialization and management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a well-known science and engineering school in upstate New York, and later earned another master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University in computer science. Both of her parents are engineers, and Li said that she began exploring the world of computer science and engineering to satisfy a curiosity of how things are created. Computer science helped with that system of thinking."

Persons: —, Jennifer Li didn't, Andreessen Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Li, she's, Kleiner Perkins, Mamoon Hamid, Andy Chen, Asheem, chatted, we're, that's Organizations: Service, Business, Silicon Graphics, Shanghai University of Finance, Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Cisco, Zoom, a16z Locations: a16z, China, New York, San Francisco, AppDynamics, Solvvy

☆ Who was freed in major prisoner swap between Russia and the West?
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The German court that convicted Krasikov in 2021 said he acted on behalf of the Russian state, shooting Khangoshvili “execution style” in broad daylight. Vadim Konoshchenok, 48An undated photo of Vadim Konoshchenok included in a 2022 court document. He was arrested in February 2022, according to the Polish state news agency PAP. Lilia Chanysheva, 42Lilia Chanysheva stands is seen during a hearing at the Kirovskiy District Court in Ufa, Russia, on June 14, 2023. He was sentenced to four years in a penal colony in July 2022, according to Amnesty International.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Vadim Krasikov, Vadim Krasikov Berlin Police Krasikov, Krasikov, Zelimkhan, Khangoshvili, Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin, Viktor Bout, Whelan, Brittney, Biden, Alexey Navalny, Vadim Konoshchenok, Konoshchenok, Vladislav Klyushin, Klyushin, Roman Seleznev, US Department of Justice Roman Seleznev, Seleznev, Artem Dultsev, Ludvig Gish, Anna Dultseva, Dultsev, Maria Rosa Mayer Munos, Mikhail Mikushin, Pavel Rubtsov, Pablo Gonzalez, Oihana Goiriena, Vincent West, Pablo Gonzales, Natalia Kolesnikova, Kirill Kudryavtsev, US Marine Whelan, Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, Liberty Alsu Kurmasheva, Alexey Nasyrov, Kurmasheva, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Kara, Vladimir Putin’s “, ”, Rico Krieger, Krieger, Alexander Lukashenko, Kevin Lik, Lick, Dieter, Voronin, Ivan Safronov, Roscosmos, Demuri Voronin, Safronov, Herman Moyzhes, Moyzhes, Patrick Schoebel, Schoebel, Ilya Yashin, Yuri Kochetkov, ” Alexandra Skochilenko, Alexandra Skochilenko, Anton Vaganov, Skochilenko, “, ” Oleg Orlov, Oleg Orlov, Lilia Chanysheva, Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Maxim Shemetov, Fadeeva, Vadim Ostanin, Alexei Navalny’s, Ostanin, Andrei Pivovarov, Pivovarov Organizations: CNN, Vadim Krasikov Berlin Police, Chechen, Russian, Krasikov, US Department of Justice, US, Office, Eastern, of, Attorney's, University of Tromsø, Reuters, Court, Getty, Street, US Marine, US State Department, Radio Free, Liberty, AP, Belarusian TV, Belteleradio, Human Rights, German Red Cross, TASS, German Federal Intelligence Service, Pulkovo, Ukraine, Amnesty International Locations: American, Russia, Moscow, Berlin’s Kleiner, Russian, Georgia, Estonia, of New York, Boston, Sion , Switzerland, United States, Maldives, Slovenia, Ljubljana, Norway, Brazilian, Nabarniz, Spain, Poland, Spanish, Sverdlovsk, AFP, Irish, Radio Free Europe, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Belarusian, German, Belarus, Berlin, Germany, Europe, St . Petersburg, St, Petersburg, Meshansky, Bucha, Kyiv, Saint Petersburg, Kirovskiy, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Tomsk, Krasnodar

☆ Want to work for Blackstone straight out of college? Here's the best route.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

This year, Blackstone hosted more than 150 summer interns, including summer associates who tend to come from business or law school, as well as the undergrads who make up its summer analyst program. AdvertisementCheck out our exclusive deep dive into Blackstone's 10-week-long summer analyst program below. How competitive is Blackstone's summer analyst internship program? AdvertisementA group photo of Blackstone's summer analyst class during orientation. Gray recently addressed what leads to success at Blackstone in a speech to the 2024 summer analyst class, which was posted on Linkedin.

Persons: —, Blackstone, Jon Gray, Paige Ross, Blackstone's, Blackstone Blackstone, Taylor Kanfer, Kanfer, Mr Stone, Steve Schwarzman, they're, Ross, Goldman Sachs, There's, decamp, they'll, Gray, Kleiner Perkins, Chan Zuckerberg Organizations: Service, Harvard, Business, BI, University of Pennsylvania, Diverse, Blackstone, Investment, Linkedin, LinkedIn, Goldman, Barclays Locations: York, New York, Wayne , Pennsylvania, Miami, Asia, Africa

The artificial intelligence startup and Menlo Ventures are launching a $100 million fund on Wednesday to back early-stage startups, and get them using the AI company's technology. It initially started with $100 million in 2008, and doubled to $200 million two years later. Venture capitalists are now looking for ways to sweeten their offers to court AI startups, as investors swarm to the hottest deals. Funding for AI startups more than doubled in the second quarter from the first, topping $24 billion, according to data from Crunchbase. OpenAI has its own venture fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, which its website says is "investing $175 million to help AI companies have a profound, positive impact on the world."

Persons: Anthropic, Kleiner Perkins, Matt Murphy, Murphy, Daniela Amodei, Dario, OpenAI, ChatGPT Organizations: Menlo Ventures, Menlo, Apple, CNBC, Venture, OpenAI, Fund Locations: Crunchbase

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Dow briefly tops 40,000 for the first time, meme stocks down but not out
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Abid Ali | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Dow breaks through 40,000 barrierThe Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly passed the 40,000 mark for the first time before ending lower. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also hit record highs but ended the session in negative territory. The Dow has climbed nearly 6% in 2024, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are up 11% each. [PRO] New S&P 500 targetsWall Street's recent record highs have prompted market analysts to revise their S&P 500 year-end price targets.

Persons: Dow, John David Rainey, We've, Armour, Armour's, Kleiner Perkins, Bob Pisani Organizations: CNBC, Dow Jones Industrial, Nasdaq, Walmart, GameStop, AMC Locations: North America, Sequoia

Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, speaks at the startup's Config conference in San Francisco on May 10, 2022. Figma, a cloud-based design tool company, said Thursday it will allow investors, including current and former employees, to sell their shares in a tender offer that values the company at $12.5 billion. That's up 25% from the valuation at which the company fundraised in 2021, but below the $20 billion acquisition offer Adobe made in 2022. Adobe and Figma called off the planned acquisition in December following regulatory scrutiny. In December, a regulatory filing said Adobe would pay Figma a $1 billion breakup fee.

Persons: Dylan Field, Kleiner Perkins, Salesforce, Figma, Morgan, CNBC's Jordan Novet Organizations: Figma, Adobe, Microsoft, Google, Oracle Locations: San Francisco, Sequoia

☆ Nvidia-backed startup Synthesia unveils AI avatars that can convey human emotions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.K. tech startup Synthesia unveiled a new range of AI-generated avatars that can convey emotions like happiness, sadness, and frustration. Nvidia -backed artificial intelligence firm Synthesia on Thursday unveiled a new wave of AI-generated digital avatars that can convey human emotions using a user's text inputs. The company said its "Expressive Avatars" can blur the lines between the virtual world and real characters. In one demonstration, the company showed three lines of text being inserted into its platform — "I am happy. The company's technology is used by more than 55,000 businesses, including half of the Fortune 100, to make digital avatars for corporate presentations and training videos, according to Synthesia.

Persons: Synthesia, Kleiner Perkins Organizations: Nvidia, Fortune, Accel, GV, FirstMark, MMC Locations: London

☆ AI startup Glean lures Citigroup as investor at $2.2 billion valuation after revenue quadruples
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Arvind Jain, co-founder and CEO of Glean, makes a selfie with employees of the startup, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Artificial intelligence startup Glean attracted tech companies Databricks and Workday into its latest investment round. Glean, whose software sifts through corporate repositories to provide quick answers to workers' questions, said Tuesday that it's raised $200 million at a $2.2 billion valuation. Glean's annualized revenue at the end of January was $39 million, up from $10 million a year earlier. While Glean initially targeted the tech industry, it's now looking to expand in financial services, retail, manufacturing and other sectors, Jain said.

Persons: Arvind Jain, it's, Kleiner Perkins, Arvind Purushotham, OpenAI, Jain, Glean, Purushotham, Citi hasn't, Cathy Gao Organizations: Wall, Banking, Citigroup, Lightspeed, Sequoia, Citi Ventures, CNBC, Microsoft, Google, Sony Electronics, Citigroup's, Citi, Nvidia, Sapphire Locations: Palo Alto, Calif, LLMs, OpenAI, Glean

☆ VCs are clamoring to back 'screaming hot' startups using AI for medical records
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Another AI medical records startup, DeepScribe, raised a $30 million Series A round in January 2022. AbridgeThe investor descent on medical-scribe startups reflects a blatant potential of automation tech to alleviate healthcare’s most critical issues. “This market is screaming hot,” said Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock and an investor in medical-scribe startup Suki. AdvertisementStill, as health systems increasingly adopt AI solutions to manage labor costs, these startups have room to grow into their valuations. Medical-scribe startups vying for the remaining slice of the pie are “in a pitch to the death,” Roberts said.

Persons: —, ’, Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Suki, Punit Soni, Shiv Rao, ”, Bryan Roberts, ” Roberts, Annie Case, Case, Hermann, Keith Srakocic, Roberts, there’s, “ Organizations: Service, Business, Healthcare, Fund, Optum Ventures, Medical, Cathay Innovation, Microsoft, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Kansas Health, AP

☆ Rippling CEO Parker Conrad dishes on why the startup is sitting on a massive $750 million war chest
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. To this day, Rippling hasn't touched the money it raised in that emergency package, Conrad told Business Insider. Rippling will invest hundreds of millions of dollars from the balance sheet into research and development this year, according to CEO Parker Conrad. Parker Conrad says Rippling hasn't touched any of the venture capital it raised over the last two rounds. Shepherding the startup through this next growth phase is new chief product officer Eisar Lipkovitz, Rippling told Business Insider exclusively.

Persons: Parker Conrad, Conrad, Rippling hasn't, Kleiner Perkins, Rippling, Amy Osborne, Mamoon Hamid, they've, TechCrunch, Eisar Lipkovitz, Lipkovitz, Deel, Melia Russell Organizations: Business, paychecks, Bedrock, Washington Post, JPMorgan, Google Locations: Silicon, San Francisco, Asia, Lyft, Rippling

☆ Tiger Global-backed Productboard conducts third round of layoffs in two years, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Now, Productboard has begun another round of layoffs, the scale of which is unknown as yet, the former staffers said. Startups and Big Tech companies alike have slashed their wage bills as the high-interest rate environment encourages businesses to prioritize sustainability over growth. AdvertisementIn January alone, 76 tech companies have laid off 21,370 employees, according to tracker site Layoffs.fyi.

Persons: —, Productboard, Daniel Hejl, Hubert Palan, Kleiner Perkins, Palan, Productboard's headcount Organizations: Service, Business, Tiger Global, Dragoneer, Microsoft, Volkswagen, Sequoia, Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Big Tech, Bloomberg, LinkedIn Locations: San Francisco, Czech Republic, Silicon Valley, Sequoia Capital, Productboard

☆ 12 of the best breakfasts ideas for the DASH diet, one of the healthiest ways to eat
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-05 | by ( Sophia Mitrokostas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Avocado toast with salmon and arugula is a protein-packed breakfast idea. Avocado toast topped with an egg adds healthy fats and protein to a meal. Ekaterina Markelova/ShutterstockDietitians have called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet one of the healthiest ways to eat. Registered dietitian Rima Kleiner of Dish on Fish shared an elevated twist on classic avocado toast with Business Insider. Kleiner recommended smashing avocado onto a slice or two of whole-wheat toast and topping it with arugula, smoked salmon, and a light drizzle of olive oil.

Persons: Ekaterina Markelova, Rima Kleiner, Kleiner Organizations: Dish, Business

☆ OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla, who's 68, says he still works 80 hours a week and plans to keep investing for the next 25 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla said he still works 80 hours a week during an episode of "The Cerebral Valley Podcast." AdvertisementVinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley investor for almost 40 years, said in the past that he works 80-hour weeks. In 2004, he started his own VC firm he called Khosla Ventures, which backed companies like Instacart, Impossible Foods, and DoorDash. Over the last three months, Khosla Ventures has made multi-million dollar bets on startups in the beverage, insurance, and climate tech space, according to Pitchbook. AdvertisementKhosla didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment made through Khosla Ventures.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, —, Eric Newcomer, Khosla, Peter Thiel, I've, Warren, he's, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Byers, toils, Elon Musk, Steve Squeri Organizations: Service, Khosla Ventures, Foods, Tesla, American Express, Financial Times Locations: Silicon, OpenAI

☆ Inside the chaotic Thanksgiving-weekend collapse of homebuilder startup Veev that left employees shocked and worried about their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

But for workers of Lennar-backed homebuilder Veev, they were spent scrambling to determine if they would still have jobs come Monday. Speaking to the "Veev Family," he wrote: "Family will stay in touch and together forever, even if it is going to be only within our hearts." The company has about 250 employees, according to news site Calcalist. "We call it the Veev family," Haller said. On a very personal note, for me Amit Haller, Veev was my personal journey in the past 15 years, half of my professional career and about ⅓ of my entire life.

Persons: Amit Haller, Veev, Haller, doesn't, we're, homebuilder, Kleiner Perkins, Bond, Lennar, Linda Keala, Ami, Amit Organizations: Business, Dragonfly, Wall, Center, Real Estate, Technology Innovation, Employees, Dafna Locations: California, Tel Aviv, Hayward , California, Haller, Reali, @nicollsanddimes, .

☆ Startup employees are reeling as they brace for back-to-back rounds of layoffs: 'When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

For the startup employees interviewed by Insider, the constant threat of layoffs is having a detrimental effect on company morale. said one employee working at a growth stage startup that's conducted three rounds of layoffs this year. For Reay, the former Sendoso employee, constant rounds of layoffs gave him and his surviving colleagues "strategy whiplash." "When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership." Some startup employees are reconsidering their future in the industryAs startup employees brace for the potential of more job cuts, they say that the experience has them second-guessing whether to stay in the industry at all.

Persons: Sean Reay, it's, Reay, SoftBank, Sendoso, what's, I'm, Raey, SchoolMint, I've, you'd, he's, Jackie Xu, Xu Talent, Kleiner Perkins, Xu, you've Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Sendoso, GV, Google, Employees Locations: San Diego, That's, SPAC

☆ Billionaire VC Vinod Khosla was one of the first investors in OpenAI. Now he thinks most AI startups have become way overvalued.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Instead of AI, Khosla says he is "making lots of fundamental investments in esoteric areas." Funding for AI companies climbed 27% globally in the third quarter compared to the year before even as overall deals for startups fell 31%, according to PitchBook data compiled for Bloomberg. (seeking a valuation of more than $5 billion), Hugging Face ($4.5 billion valuation) or Adept (reported $1 billion valuation). The firm invested earlier this year in Replit, a generative AI tool for software development, at a $1.16 billion post-money valuation. There is also OpenAI itself, which arguably has benefited as much as any startup from the AI hype.

Persons: OpenAI, Vinod Khosla, Khosla, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Byers, Kleiner Perkins, – Khosla Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Sun Microsystems, AMD, Juniper Networks, Forbes, Street, Tech, Bloomberg, Anthropic Locations: Silicon Valley, Laguna Beach, Replit

☆ At unicorn startup Carta, a culture of absolute fealty to an erratic and vindictive CEO, employees say
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Both men remained valued employees at Carta, with the sales representative even getting promoted just weeks after the alleged "helicopter penis" incident, according to former employees. CEO Henry Ward cofounded Carta, originally called eShares, in 2012 as a service for startups to digitize their paper stock certificates. Today Carta helps startups track their investors, employees manage their equity awards, and venture capitalists administer their funds. The lawsuit says that 10 days after Rogers filed her complaint, Ward "began treating Ms. Rogers in an aggressive and demeaning manner during several meetings." Many of the employees who have spoken out publicly about Carta and Ward have found themselves embroiled in expensive legal battles.

Persons: Lisa Whittaker, Whittaker, Jerry Talton, David Kim, Andrea Lamari, Kim, Henry Ward, Andreessen Horowitz, Ward, Henry, Alex Kurland, Carta, Peter Thiel, Simon Cowell, Talton's, Suzanne Elovic, Elovic, Lamari, Jeff Perry, Perry, salespeople, JT Goodman, Goodman, Goodman didn't, Jeff Perrry, Allie Rogers, Rogers, Rodgers, Rachel Mayes, Ward doesn't, Mayes, Jeff, Jeff Perry countersued, Orrick Herrington, Sutcliffe, Kleiner Perkins, Ellen Pao, Amanda Sheets, Sheets, Pushback, Lindauer, Whitaker, Whittaker wasn't, Barbara Byrne, Byrne, Talton, Joe Osnoss, Osnoss, Heidi Johnson, Johnson Organizations: Carta, UBS, Gold Club, Lightspeed, California Civil Rights Department, Meritech, YouTube, Win, York Stock Exchange, San, San Francisco Superior, San Francisco Superior Court, Barclays, Lehman Brothers, Montana Human Rights Bureau Locations: San Francisco, Brazil, Silicon Valley, California, Palo, Iranian, Lindauer, Silver, Montana

☆ VCs Marc Andreessen, John Doerr among attendees at Schumer's next AI forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Technologists and advocates are again set to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss with Senate leaders the perils and promises of artificial intelligence. Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, and John Doerr, chair of Kleiner Perkins, will be among the 21 attendees at the second AI Insights Forum hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to a spokesperson for his office. The session is a continuation of the Majority Leader's effort to get the chamber up to speed on AI to determine how best to approach AI regulation. For example, Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark is also set to attend. Other tech leaders such as Micron Executive Vice President Manish Bhatia, Revolution CEO Steve Case, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez will be in attendance.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, Chuck Schumer, Andreessen, Max Tegmark, Elon Musk, Manish Bhatia, Steve Case, Patrick Collison, Aidan Gomez, Derrick Johnson, Amanda Ballantyne, Satya Nadella, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman Organizations: Capitol, Senate, China, Life, Life Institute, Tesla, Space X, Micron, NAACP, AFL, Technology, Microsoft, Google, CNBC, YouTube Locations: coders, India

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