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☆ Here are the 10 hedge funds to watch in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-30 | by ( Bradley Saacks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Based on conversations with industry insiders, Business Insider rounded up the hedge funds to watch in 2025. With trillions of dollars in assets and dozens of billionaires, the hedge fund industry is doing fine, even if there's been a renewed push from the industry's biggest backers to rein in costs. Based on conversations with a dozen industry insiders — from LPs to prime brokers to fund executives themselves — Business Insider compiled a list of 10 hedge funds to watch in the coming year. With strong performance in 2024 — Walleye was up 15.4% through November — the firm is set to continue to make headlines in 2025. A recent report notes that Alex Sacerdote's $9 billion firm plans to reopen to new capital, hoping to raise between $200 million and $300 million.

Persons: there's, Donald Trump, —, Will England, Matt Giannini, Rory Murphy, Anil Jethanandani, Anil Gondi, Rupert Graham, Raj Sethi, Anuraj Dua, Tom DeAngelis, Carlos Barria, Trump, Xi, Andreas Halvorsen, Matthew Staver, Ning Jin, Jin, Justin Walsh, Eisler Capital Eisler, Ed Eisler's, Eisler, Marshall, Paul Marshall, Marshall Wace, Heidi Gutman, institutionalizing, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Sam Altman, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, Patrick, John Collison, Daniel Gross, Nat Friedman, Aschenbrenner, Karl Hendon, Bobby Jain's, Jonas Diedrich, Dave Sutton, Diego, Steve Mandel, TFANow, Cypress, Mala Gaonkar, Pat Cronin, January's, Lone Pine, Jim Simons, redemptions, Shaw, Alex Sacerdote, Alex Sacerdote's Organizations: Walleye Capital, Technologies, Walleye, Citadel, Reuters, Millennium, Viking, Investors, Bloomberg, Getty, CIOs, Harvard Business School, Eisler Capital, Eisler, Asset Management, CNBC, NBCU, Business, Eureka, Columbia, Diego Megia's, Lone Pine Capital Lone, Lone Pine Capital, mojo, Renaissance Technologies, TED, Sigma, Rock Capital Management Whale, Twitter Boston Locations: Lone Pine, Anuraj, Minnesota, London, Dubai, Pudong, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Asia, Japan, South Korea, China, Europe, Middle, Abu Dhabi, AFP, Francisco, Silicon, Stripe's, Connecticut, Miami, Lone

☆ Trump's pick to lead NASA made a big bet on crypto while going to space
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-18 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

- | Afp | Getty ImagesPresident-elect Donald Trump's pick to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, is a 41-year-old space enthusiast, who just months ago commanded the world's first all-civilian mission to reach orbit. "It's the biggest step toward crypto payments becoming mainstream that the industry has ever had," Wilson said. The crypto market, which was already red hot, has been on a more dramatic upswing since Trump's election win in November, which came alongside congressional victories for pro-crypto candidates. Blockchain-based payments company Ripple just launched its own stablecoin, RLUSD, and crypto custodian BitGo plans to follow. "Crypto started off as really focused on trading, and it's now made a big shift toward utility, specifically payments," said Armstrong.

Persons: Jared Isaacman, mission's, Donald Trump's, Isaacman, Trump, Jared, Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, Bitcoin, outsized, Elon Musk, Wilson, Duffy, they're, Weeks, Shift4, Alex Wilson Duffy, Nilson, Emily Sands, stablecoins, It's, fintech Revolut, PYUSD, Tether's, Sheffield, Raj Dhamodharan, Ari Redbord, Redbord, Brian Armstrong, Crypto, it's, Armstrong, Musk, Issacman Organizations: Polaris, Polaris Program, Afp, Getty, NASA, New York Stock Exchange, ., Crypto, CNBC, Bridge Network, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, fintech, PayPal, U.S, Network, MTN, UST, Street, Department of Justice, TRM Labs, Capitol Hill, Vectron Systems, Card Industry Professionals, Island Ventures, Chartered, SpaceX, Senate, Bellagio Locations: Tortugas , Florida, Isaacman's, York, Central Park, U.S, Cuy Sheffield, Washington, America, Africa, Nigeria, Las Vegas, Italian

☆ Jensen Huang's 14-hour days and workaholic lifestyle helped him turn Nvidia into an AI powerhouse
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He told last year's New York Times DealBook Summit: "I don't wake up proud and confident — I wake up worried and concerned." That's because Nvidia almost went bankrupt in the late 1990s — a memory he says is hard to shake off. Huang works holidays but finds it relaxingNvidia CEO Jensen Huang. On the "20VC" podcast in March, Tangen said Huang told him, "'Nicolai, there is hard work and then there's insanely hard work.'" When I'm not working, I'm thinking about working, and when I'm working, I'm working.

Persons: —, Jensen Huang, Huang, Mohd Rasfan, Huang doesn't, Nicolai Tangen, Tangen, Nicolai, I'm, David Solomon, Goldman Sachs, Huang's, Michael M, That's Organizations: Service, Nvidia, Financial Times, Business, New York Times DealBook, Microsoft, Apple, Getty, Norges Bank Investment Management, Technology Conference, Stripe's Sessions, Big Tech, CNN, Forbes, Stripe Sessions, Stanford School of Business, Stanford University Locations: AFP

☆ Stripe: 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

It hasn't emerged unscathed, seeing its private valuation cut sharply during the startup crash. Stripe was valued at $65 billion as of the tender offer it completed in February, an increase from its last private valuation of $50 billion – albeit still far from its high of $95 billion in 2021. In its annual letter published in March, Stripe revealed that it surpassed $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023, up 25% from 2022. "Stripe's business is the healthiest it's ever been," president and co-founder John Collison told CNBC in April. Stripe says it's also benefiting from a new wave of optimism in Silicon Valley, even if it isn't primarily an AI company.

Persons: hasn't, John Collison, We're, it's, disruptors OpenAI Organizations: PayPal, CNBC Locations: Silicon Valley

☆ Stripe co-founder says high interest rates flushed out Silicon Valley's 'wackiest' ideas
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Kate Rooney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rising interest rates crushed technology valuations and had a chilling effect on Silicon Valley. Stripe had to take a major haircut along with the rest of the industry as soaring inflation and rising interest rates, starting in 2022, pushed investors out of the riskiest assets, lifted borrowing costs and and forced startups to tighten their belts. "Valuations are a product of interest rates," Collison said. While many tech companies took a hit in 2022 and 2023, Collison said the rising interest rate environment succeeded in flushing out the "wackiest" startup ideas, leaving the best ones to get funded. He pointed to an "overfunding" of marginally good ideas, and "zombie companies" taking too long to go bust.

Persons: John Collison, Collison, Patrick, Elon, We're, Jerome Powell Organizations: CNBC, SpaceX, Wall Street Journal, Federal Locations: Silicon Valley

Fintech giant Stripe revealed in its annual letter published on Wednesday that it surpassed $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023, up 25% from 2022. By comparison, PayPal surpassed $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2021, 23 years after it was founded. Stripe is valued at $65 billion as of the company's latest tender offer completed last month. We wanted to ensure shareholders have access to liquidity that is why we did the tender offer last year, that's why we did the tender offer this year." "Things got a bit mad at the peak of 2021... startups are focusing on more profitable growth," Collison explained to Sorkin on "Squawk Box."

Persons: Patrick, John Collison, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Collison, Sorkin Organizations: PayPal, CNBC, YouTube

☆ Stripe's Chief Technology Officer talks AI in payments and weathering the 'hype cycle'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailStripe's Chief Technology Officer talks AI in payments and weathering the 'hype cycle'Stripe's CTO David Singleton sits down with CNBC's Kate Rooney in his first broadcast interview to discuss the company's plans in artificial intelligence, the competitive landscape and courting major enterprise partners.

Persons: David Singleton, CNBC's Kate Rooney

☆ Opna helps corporates invest in carbon removal. It just raised $6.5 million with this 11-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Opna, a startup that helps carbon removal projects get funded, just raised $6.5 million. Opna, which helps corporations invest in carbon removal or reduction projects, has just secured $6.5 million from European venture capital firm Atomico. The London-based startup, founded in 2022 as Salt, helps corporations find, fund, and monitor carbon removal projects. Carbon removal projects generate carbon credits, one of which represents one ton of Co2 removed from or prevented from entering the atmosphere. This led to market hesitation and a subsequent move to fund carbon removal projects directly via forward-purchasing and long-term off-take agreements.

Persons: Shilpika Gautam, Gautam, Opna, Tiny Organizations: Stripe's Frontier Fund Locations: London, India, Gaumukh, Atomico

☆ Arm going public generates buzz but may not be a sign the IPO market is thawing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

It's an old saw: The most important factors for a strong IPO market are an up market and stable interest rates. The problem is that there is not much similarity between Arm and tech unicorns. It's a tough choice: Negotiate onerous new rounds of funding with venture capital firms, or go public at a lower valuation. But if you can't, you either take another lower funding round or go public at a lower valuation." Many companies still looking to go public "This won't open the floodgates for tech unicorns," Kennedy said.

Persons: Rivian, Matt Kennedy, Santosh Rao, Rao, Johnson, Kennedy, Don, Softbank, Birkenstock Organizations: Labor, Renaissance Capital, Manhattan Venture Research, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Softbank, Vision Group, PayPal, Shein Locations: China, IPOs

☆ A startup using AI to help with clean energy procurement just raised $5.75 million from Coatue. Check out the 8-slide pitch deck Verse used to secure the cash.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Verse, a startup using AI and optimization for clean energy procurement, just raised $5.75 million. A startup using generative AI to help businesses buy renewable electricity has just secured a $5.75 million seed round from growth investor Coatue. Switching to renewable energy is fundamental in decarbonization as energy makes up the bulk of annual carbon emissions; two-thirds of energy still comes from fossil fuels. Many do this by purchasing renewable energy credits, which certifies that they have paid for green energy, but they have faced controversy for double counting. Clean energy procurement lacks dedicated tools and comes with "massive" overheads, which is exactly what Verse wants to change, cofounder and CEO Seyed Madaeni told Insider.

Persons: Seyed Madaeni, Madaeni, Rangwalla, Climeworks, Matt Rogers Organizations: Microsoft, Meta, Google, Excel, MCJ, Firstminute, Collaborative Fund, Incite.org Locations: San Francisco

☆ How Singapore's giant sovereign wealth fund is investing in generative AI technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As CEO of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, he must keep the country's savings growing ahead of inflation. AI retoolingThe 2 investors were most animated when discussing the recent explosion of generative AI technology, including large language models. Chris Emanuel, head of the Technology Investment Group at GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GICThere's already a generative AI startup feeding frenzy among venture capital funds. Secondary market actionFinally, GIC is keen on doing more in the secondary market, where private stakes in startups and VC funds change hands. That means general partners, the people running VC funds, already know GIC and are more comfortable dealing with the organization, Lim explained.

☆ JPMorgan, H&M join Google, Meta to buy, collectively, more than $1 billion of carbon removal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

"We see Frontier's advanced market commitment as an important demand signal boost for the carbon removal market. Carbon dioxide emissions from energy production topped 36 billion tons last year, according to the International Energy Agency, with total global carbon dioxide emissions projected to have been 40.6 billion tons in 2022, according to the Global Carbon Project. So far, Frontier has spent $5.6 million buying nearly 9,000 tons of contracted carbon removal from 15 carbon dioxide removal startups that are collectively pursuing seven methods. And Living Carbon is a synthetic biology startup working on engineering natural systems to remove carbon dioxide. "However, the science is increasingly clear: Carbon removal is an increasingly necessary tool for limiting warming.

☆ Fintech Stripe valued at $50 bln in latest funding round
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 15 (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Stripe said on Wednesday it was valued at $50 billion in its latest funding round, with its valuation nearly halved from its previous fundraising, amid a tough economic environment. The company said its latest round was backed by existing investors including venture capital giants Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, General Catalyst and others. New investors such as Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management and Temasek also participated in the round, which raked in $6.5 billion in proceeds for Stripe. Stripe's capital raise constitutes what is commonly known as a down round, where the latest funding fetches a lower valuation for the company than its previous fundraise. Last year, Swedish buy now, pay later giant Klarna also had to take a down round.

☆ Stripe slashes valuation to $50 billion in new $6.5 billion funding round
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Payment processor Stripe raised $6.5 billion at a $50 billion valuation, the company said Wednesday, a sharp discount from its record valuation of $95 billion in 2021. Goldman Sachs served as the sole placement agent, while J.P. Morgan served as Stripe's financial advisor. "We're very happy as a private company," Stripe co-founder John Collison told CNBC in 2021. In July, Stripe cut its internal valuation by 28%, from $95 billion to $74 billion. Then in January, The Information reported that Stripe again lowered its valuation to $63 billion.

☆ Fintech startup Stripe integrating OpenAI's new GPT-4 AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Anna Tong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 - Fintech startup Stripe is starting to integrate OpenAI's latest GPT-4 artificial intelligence model into its digital payment processing and other products, Stripe said on Wednesday. The news followed an announcement by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O)-backed OpenAI that it would release GPT-4, a new version of the powerful artificial intelligence (AI) technology that has powered chatbot sensation ChatGPT. The Stripe move represents one of the first known integrations of OpenAI's new technology, underscoring large companies' interest in embedding AI in their product offerings. There are currently 14 GPT-4 prototypes in the works at San Francisco-based Stripe, said Emily Sands, Stripe's head of information. As competition in AI heats up, it remains unclear whether companies will be able to successfully commercialize their products and charge users for them.

☆ Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit valuations fare better in Fidelity's latest filings, but it's still a sobering reminder of how far the tech market has tumbled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit fared better month-over-month in Fidelity's latest holdings report. The valuations of Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit all fared better in Fidelity's latest monthly holdings report, with Stripe seeing an over 20% bump from the previous month, according to recent filings. Although promising, the new valuations still serve as a sobering reminder of how far the tech industry has fallen from its 2021 highs. Faced with a muted welcome from the private markets, Stripe might not be the only company looking to the public markets for liquidity. But the public markets may prove more pain.

☆ Stripe, Reddit and Instacart valuations take a beating in Fidelity's latest markdowns. Here's how they fared.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Several other startups like Instacart and Reddit have fared poorly in terms of external valuations this year. Year-end numbers in mutual fund filings show that other late-stage startups like Instacart and Reddit also suffered throughout 2022. From November to December, Fidelity dropped the value of its Reddit shares nearly 9%. Its current share value, however, is a 1.5% improvement from the mutual fund's previous markdown in its holdings to $36.90 a share in May. But the public markets might not be the silver bullet needed to pull these companies out of their slumps: Many of Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit's public counterparts are also struggling.

[1/2] A smartphone with the Stripe logo is placed on a laptop in this illustration taken on July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoJan 26 (Reuters) - Digital payments firm Stripe has hired Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) to explore a public listing and alternatives to allow employees to cash out stakes in the private company, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Either possibility would address the problem that some employee share options are coming up for expiry but Stripe shares are not currently listed. Many companies backed by venture capital that would normally be regarded as mature enough for public listing have postponed such plans, hoping for higher valuations when the market recovers. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that Stripe had approached investors to raise at least $2 billion at a valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion.

☆ Stripe's valuation was just slashed 20% by another big mutual fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Principal's Large Cap Growth Fund slashed its valuation of Stripe by 20% in December. Mutual funds are continuing to prune the valuations of startups they invest in, and Stripe is once again feeling the heat. Principal's large-cap growth fund, which is sub-advised by T. Rowe Price and Brown Advisory, just slashed the valuation of the fintech startup by nearly 20% at the end of 2020. Given Principal's fund holds 114,126 shares, that means Stripe's per-share valuation dropped from $23 to $18.50 in a month. Fidelity's Contrafund, another mutual fund that has a stake in the payment processor, valued Stripe's stock at $40.12 at the end of November 2021.

Stripe, the fintech company once valued at $95 billion by private market investors, will make a decision on its plans to go public within the next year, CNBC has confirmed. Co-founders and brothers John and Patrick Collison told employees on Thursday that they will set a goal of taking the company public or letting staffers sell shares through a secondary offering, The Information first reported. The tech IPO market has been frozen since late 2021 after two record-breaking years during the Covid pandemic. In July, Stripe cut its internal valuation by 28%, from $95 billion to $74 billion. Stripe is considering a direct listing or private market transaction and has hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to advise on the deal, CNBC has learned.

☆ Bank earnings are under way. Here are the biggest storylines everyone on Wall Street is focused on.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Starting today, the six big US banks (Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo) report their Q4 and year-end earnings. But instead of a boring preview on what to expect, I figured I'd have some fun by setting gambling lines on some of the biggest storylines heading into earnings. OK, let's get into the biggest storylines and their odds:David Solomon discusses the recent headcount reduction at Goldman Sachs. What'll be interesting is if he teases even more cuts coming down the line as the bank looks to cut costs. (-150)Background: The bank got ahead of this one by announcing its plans to step back from mortgages earlier this week.

More than a decade later, those that heeded this advice went on to become game-changing tech behemoths, including CNBC Disruptor 50 companies Block , Pinterest , Slack, Twilio , and Cloudera. Seed rounds had a record deal value in 2022, and valuations continued to grow even as late-stage venture companies nearer to the public market suffered. Venture funds raised a record amount of money in 2022, with $162.8 billion closed across 769 funds, according to PitchBook and the NVCA. We've seen companies struggle as public companies and then skyrocket, so a lower value-IPO is not the end of the road." "But when you can generate new share in a difficult market, when the market does turn, they are in a perfect position to capture more market share and customers."

☆ A CEO's apology is a make-or-break moment. Here's how to do it right.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

When a CEO or company messes up and trust is broken, the apology must be done right. Trust is the everyday currency of business, PwC's Wes Bricker says. CEOs must be aware that the way they apologize is just as important as the words "I'm sorry." In recent years, a corporation's or CEO's apology has taken on greater significance because customers and employees are often quick to demand that leaders take ownership and show transparency around their actions. Sucher said CEOs were receptive to a framework on how to apologize because "everyone messes up at times."

☆ Salesforce's new marketplace wants to make it easier for companies to integrate carbon credits into their climate-action strategies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Erica Sweeney | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce has a new marketplace for carbon credits, also known as carbon offsets. Companies can use their carbon credits on projects designed to help alleviate the climate crisis. Carbon credits as product stock-keeping units require a set of unique attributes that weren't available in the out-of-the-box product. Buyers on Net Zero Marketplace must commit to buy carbon credits as part of a comprehensive climate-action strategy — not as a substitute for absolute reductions. Providers of carbon credits don't always have the traditional sales and marketing tool kits needed to successfully bring credits to the market.

☆ Tech CEOs all made the same dumb mistake, thinking the pandemic boom would last forever. Now employees are paying the price with massive layoffs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Mark Zuckerberg took accountability for the mistake that led to this week's 11,000 job cuts at Meta. That mistake: Thinking the pandemic-era good times for tech would last forever. Many other tech companies made the same mistake. Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended," Zuckerberg wrote in a memo to employees on why he's cutting 11,000 jobs at Meta. Startups raised money in eye-watering amounts, even as the major tech companies saw their share prices soar.

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