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☆ OpenAI's investors include Silicon Valley's most prolific bubble chasers. Is that a bad sign for the company's future?
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementOpenAI has officially closed a historic funding round. AdvertisementTiger Global is also one of the firms that backed OpenAI in this latest funding round. AdvertisementNotably absent from the list of OpenAI investors was Apple, which is said to have dropped out of the deal at the 11th hour. Apple's inclusion in OpenAI's funding round may have gone a long way toward quieting doubts about OpenAI's palace intrigue and general chaotic vibe. A few weeks ago, this funding round was being talked about as the arrival of the adults in the room.

Persons: OpenAI, —, Adam Neuman, Masayoshi Son, Neuman, SoftBank, Morningstar, You'd, Goldman Sachs, Tim Cook, Cook, Elon Musk Organizations: Nvidia, United, United Arab Emirates, Service, SoftBank's, Business, Ark Venture, BI, Apple Locations: United Arab, Silicon, Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is bracing for what it fears will be an "extinction event" threatening the survival of hundreds of startups. Tom Loverro, a investor at 40-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, has been loudly warning for months on Twitter and in media interviews about a coming "mass extinction event" for startups. The total volume of venture capital investment into US startups has slumped for six consecutive quarters, according to data firm Pitchbook. Even a last-ditch slashing of the startup's prospective valuation — a "down-round," in Silicon Valley parlance — didn't whet investors' appetites. Over the past year, many startups that rely on Silicon Valley funding have been steeling themselves for the slowdown to avoid similar fates.

Persons: —, they're, Jennifer Neundorfer, That's, Tom Loverro, Loverro, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Cameron Lester, I've, Lester, Linda Ahrens, Ahrens, Unown, " Ahrens, Anna Dittrich, Plastiq, Vincent Harrison, Elad Gil, Steve Brotman, Brotman, Will Hawthorne, VC's, Mike Ryan, Pitchbook's Harrison, Sell, Hawthorne Organizations: Ventures, Sequoia Capital, —, Venture, Twitter, United States Federal Reserve, Jefferies, January Ventures, Alpha Partners, Avid Capital, Sugar, Menlo, BulletPoint Network Locations: Silicon, Sequoia, IVP, Valley, Instacart, Navan, Boston, Snowflake, America

☆ SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son thinks his firm will 'rule the world' thanks to its AI investments. Believe it or not, that's not as far-fetched as his previous claims.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son says the firm will be a winner in the AI race thanks to its investments. Arm, a key player in the design of AI chipsets and SoftBank's AI ambitions, is anticipated to go public soon. In a past presentation, Son predicted that life expectancy would increase to over 200 by the year 2400 and that humans will someday learn to coexist with intelligent robots. In 2017, SoftBank's Son predicted that humans will learn to co-exist with intelligent robots within the next 30 years. In a 2017 presentation, SoftBank speculated that humans will someday be able to communicate telepathically.

Persons: Masayoshi Son, SoftBank, WeWork, it's, ByteDance, SoftBank's, Son, Elon, Neuralink . Son, SoftBank Son Organizations: Morning, Vision, SoftBank, Elon Musk's, Neuralink Locations: Coronavirus, Neuralink .

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Startups face mass extinction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Startups are facing a "Mass Extinction Event" — and most people can't even see it. That's according to Tom Loverro, a general partner at IVP, who said: "The Mass Extinction Event for startups is underway." In our full analysis, we dive even deeper into this "Mass Extinction Event," including signs that can be gleaned from the fates of WeWork, Zume, and Plastiq. Investors shut out of traditional funding rounds are finding another way to snap up shares in buzzy AI startups. In an email to Twitter employees, Linda Yaccarino said it's her mission to turn Twitter into "the world's most accurate real-time information source."

Persons: Hallam Bullock, Alistair Barr, Melia Russell, Tom Loverro, Loverro, spigot, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk Pascal Le Segretain, Michael M, Elon, Bezos, Andreessen Horowitz, Read, they're, Steve Jobs, Linda Yaccarino, it's, Matt Mikka's, YouTuber, we've, Shona Ghosh Organizations: London . Venture, Getty, Venture, Tech, Twitter, Tesla Locations: London, San Francisco

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple Vision Pro, Big Tech's big AI salaries, and Marc Andreessen's plan to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple Vision Pro. Apple's Vision Pro looks amazing, but why buy it? The Vision Pro also comes with a host of caveats beyond the price tag, such as a battery life of just two hours. Read more about the Apple Vision Pro's limits here. He said AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively — and without regulation.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Tony Fadell, Apple, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, Travis Kalanick's, Adam Beswick, he's, grads, Z, Leigh Thompson, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple Vision, Apple, Companies, Meta, Sony, Getty, Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Big Tech, CloudKitchens, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Sequoia Capital, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Locations: London

☆ The $500 million robot pizza startup you never heard of has shut down, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A robot pizza startup that raised almost $500 million has shut down, The Information reported. Zume, the robot pizza delivery startup that raised close to $500 million, has shut down, The Information reported. The company was founded in 2015 and aimed to automate the pizza-making process, but suffered a series of technological difficulties. According to The Information, Zume was "insolvent," and Sherwood Partners, a restructuring firm, had been instructed to sell the company's assets. It made a series of layoffs in 2020, cutting headcount by more than 500 employees — including all of its robotics and food-delivery truck business, Insider previously reported.

Persons: Zume, Alex Garden Organizations: Softbank, AME Cloud Ventures, Sherwood Partners, Bloomberg

☆ The year of the restaurant robot: Why chains are investing in automation and what it means for workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

This year brought a flurry of automation announcements in the restaurant industry as operators scrambled to find solutions to a shrinking workforce and climbing wages. Three-quarters of restaurant operators are facing staffing shortages that keep them from operating at full capacity, according to the National Restaurant Association. Many restaurant operators hiked wages to attract workers, but that pressured profits at a time when food costs were also climbing. "Automation is one word, and a lot of people go right to robotics and a robot flipping burgers or making fries. The labor questionAutomation often faces pushback from workers and labor advocates, who see it as a way for employers to eliminate jobs.

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