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☆ Snap was once the hottest app. Now it's getting crushed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Snap's ads business is cratering, partly because of privacy changes by Apple. Apple has made it easier for users to opt out of ad-tracking, hurting revenue for firms like Snap. It isn't just the deteriorating economy, but the lasting effects of Apple's privacy changes in 2021. In the months running up to Apple's ad changes, Snap's stock hit a high of $83. Meta, of course, has been hurt significantly by Apple's changes (Mark Zuckerberg said the changes could cost his company around $10 billion in 2022).

☆ European software startup investor Notion Capital set to raise around $300 million for fifth and largest-ever fund, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

European venture capital fund Notion Capital is set to raise its fifth fund, Insider understands. The London-based investor has secured around $300 million in commitments so far, sources say. European venture capital firm Notion Capital, which has backed companies like Currencycloud and GoCardless, is set to raise its fifth fund, sources say. Notion filed for its fifth fund in Luxembourg in February 2022. The fifth fund's commitments came in sizable chunks from LPs last year with around $200 million raised over the course of 2022, one London-based source said.

☆ Microsoft's $10 billion bet on ChatGPT's maker gives it a powerful new weapon in the cloud wars with Amazon and Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Cloud, increasingly important to Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, is slowing down in the short term. But the company has a longer-term strategic weapon that could help it win the cloud wars: its once-in-a-generation bet on OpenAI. Any hint of a slowdown in growth for Microsoft's Azure, Amazon's AWS, and Google Cloud tends to provoke analyst angst. Even if there are immediate challenges for cloud growth, Microsoft sees its OpenAI bet, reported to be worth $10 billion, as a bigger strategic move. Microsoft Cloud, which also includes revenue from Office 365 and other products as well as Azure, represented around 50% of the company's overall revenue.

☆ Layoffs are a nail in the coffin for whatever the metaverse is
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Last week saw both Apple and Microsoft pause on speculative projects involving augmented reality and virtual reality, per reports. Apple has postponed its much-rumored augmented reality glasses because of technical challenges, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported. The metaverse was already a loose concept, a catch-all term for a vague theory that augmented reality and virtual reality is the future of computing, despite little evidence to back this up. Microsoft, reasonably early to the market with its HoloLens headset, has run into issues with one of its biggest customers: the US military. It's possible augmented reality and virtual reality devices do become popular among certain types of consumer, such as enthusiasts or gamers.

☆ Alphabet finally makes the tough call to lay off workers. Here's how its cut of 12,000 jobs compares to the rest of Silicon Valley.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Despite seemingly all of its internet peers announcing job cuts, Google likely hired another 6K employees in 4Q22," Schilsky wrote. The 12,000 figure shared by Pichai on Friday suggests Alphabet layoffs are roughly in line with most of its peers. Meta's layoffs of more than 11,000 employees — announced in November — work out to around 13% of the company's overall workforce. According to filings, 98% of Meta's revenue currently comes from ads, and 87% of Alphabet's revenue comes from advertising. This wouldn't be a problem, he suggests, if Meta's revenue per employee hadn't fallen over the last 12 months $1.6 million per employee to $1.4 million.

☆ Google isn't just afraid of competition from ChatGPT — the giant is scared ChatGPT will kill AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A perfect example of this is the viral technology ChatGPT. ChatGPT makes a lot of people nervous (here's everything you need to know about it, BTW). Or maybe one day ChatGPT will just teach the class — that's probably part of Google's AI nightmare. If ChatGPT runs rampant, the search giant fears it could ruin AI adoption for everyone. My colleague Hasan Chowdhury breaks down how so-called generative AI — not just ChatGPT — could derail an entire sector of emerging technology.

☆ Google's big fear is AI running wild. After ChatGPT, it's too late.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

It's in Google's financial interest to present itself as a responsible custodian of AI. On Monday, some of Google's most senior executives, including CEO Sundar Pichai, senior vice president James Manyika, and the chief executive of its AI research unit DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, published an explainer on their approach to AI research, titled "Why we focus on AI (and to what end)." This is a "thinly veiled swipe at OpenAI and ChatGPT", according to a research note from Richard Windsor of Radio Free Mobile. In other words: If ChatGPT and its successors cause widespread havoc, it'll ruin AI adoption for everyone, including Google. There'll be more ChatGPT momentsThere is a flood of money pouring into generative AI startups promising real-world applications.

☆ Teslas are finally getting cheaper. It's a sign Elon Musk's back is against the wall.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla cutting prices by up to 20% on its models in a sign of trouble for Elon Musk. Interest rate hikes have also increased the costs of financing the purchase of a Tesla, making it harder for consumers already battered by inflation to make the switch. Moores added that when it comes to demand, "backlog orders have come down significantly for Tesla," making price cuts is "a good way to increase the immediate- and medium-term sales pipeline". Price cuts will of course be welcomed by consumers. Wedbush's Ives estimates that "all together these price cuts could spur demand" by 12-15% globally in 2023.

☆ ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Generative AI is the catchall term for artificial intelligence that can create something new — text or images for example — from existing data, when given prompts. OpenAI's generative AI tools can seemingly do anything from write poetry and code to producing frame-worthy art, triggering huge excitement in the space. How generative AI generates revenue is unclearAll of this might be justifiable if there was a clear path for AI firms to make money. Some of the hype around generative AI may be justified and the technology feels genuinely exciting. But to avoid another bubble, investors would do well to quiz the fundamentals of generative AI businesses, before handing out hefty valuations.

☆ This year's blockbuster IPO is between a rock and a hard place: listing in New York or London won't change Arm's fortunes in brutal downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

ARM is preparing for an IPO in 2023 that couldn't come at a more tricky time. This pushed SoftBank to reposition Arm for the public markets as the Japanese firm seeks to generate profits from assets that can offset losses in its venture capital business. Figures from EY suggest that after a record year of listings in 2021, last year's IPO market went into reverse mode. SpaceX is another big company around which IPO talks have been swirling, the rocket company led by Elon Musk. Chip sector in turmoilArm's other challenge with going public in 2023 lies in the state of the chip sector: it's down.

☆ Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT's creator may be the smartest $1 billion ever spent
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Microsoft's $1 billion investment into OpenAI may be one of the shrewdest bets in tech history. OpenAI released AI bot ChatGPT and is in discussions to raise capital at a $30 billion valuation. "We believe Microsoft's investment in OpenAI will translate to significant underappreciated upside," Luria wrote. Investors may be souring on speculative tech but AI looks resilientThere is speculation that Microsoft may look to buy OpenAI. That suggests investors will still look to pile into the hottest AI companies, cementing the value of Microsoft's deal.

☆ The Microsoft-Activision deal gives Lina Khan a $69 billion problem in 2023. Defeating it will set the tone on Big Tech deals for years to come.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The FTC has a $69 billion headache to deal with in 2023 in the form of Microsoft's Activision buyout. Chair Lina Khan wants to rein in Big Tech but will be tested by one a Silicon Valley veteran. The outcome of the deal will have ramifications beyond Microsoft: the rest of Silicon Valley lies in wait before making their next big moves, as any decision will set the tone for Big Tech deals in years to come. That said, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision will prove even tougher to tackle than anything Amazon has thrown up for the FTC chief to date. Failure will likely embolden Big Tech to test the waters further.

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☆ Tesla's cratering share price goes beyond Musk's preoccupation with Twitter. The entire EV market is slowing down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla's share price has been cut in half and a distracted CEO isn't the only issue. The wider EV market is facing a tough mix of challenges. At the time of writing, its share price sits at $126.31, down 60% since the beginning of the year. Tesla's woes are symptomatic of wider issues plaguing the EV market. Tesla's stock market value slid below ExxonMobil this week for the first time since 2020, falling to $435 billion on Tuesday-compared with the oil and gas company's $439 billion market value, according to the Financial Times.

☆ The VC dream machine pumped out one dumb startup after another. 2023 should put an end to that.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

2023 should curtail the current flow of bad startup ideas. The way it roughly works is to bet millions across lots of startups in the hope one of them blows up and returns that cash. 'Fewer insane ideas'We are no longer in a low-interest-rate market, meaning startup investors who could once rely on generous backers will have to be more cautious about how they spend their money. They do have lots of money, with an estimated $290 billion of capital available to them in October, according to Pitchbook data. But Kniaz senses a shift in motion: "This next year will show which emperor has clothes on or not.

☆ Elon had to choose between Twitter and Tesla. He's choosing Tesla.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Elon Musk has been forced to make a tough choice: Tesla or Twitter. He's picking Tesla, which represents nearly half his $156 billion in estimated wealth, and the Twitter poll gave him a handy escape pod. That red ink wasn't as much of a problem when interest rates were low, and Tesla's shares were soaring. But as the Federal Reserve has aggressively hiked interest rates to curb inflation, using Tesla stock to pay off the debt on the Twitter buyout is a problem for Tesla. "Tesla is so much an Elon stock, it stands or falls because of him," Beauchamp said.

☆ The only victim in Elon's beef with journalists is Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Twitter itself knows news and journalists are major drivers of user engagement on its platform. By barring journalists, Musk is openly demonstrating his resentment towards one of Twitter's most active and important userbases, hurting the platform further. Journalists depend on Twitter, and Twitter depends on them tooBy Twitter's own estimates, journalists count for a lot on its platform. Users "regularly follow news-related Twitter accounts, and around 4 in 5 young journalists rely on the platform for their jobs. Journalists use Twitter more than any other social media platform, according to research from Pew in June, treating it as a real-time source of information.

☆ Netflix has lost its golden touch. Here's why the streamer is so boring now.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Finance has long ranked employees, but it's been out of fashion in tech for nearly a decade. Netflix once made an explicit choice to invest in underrepresented communities, Paris Marx writes. Shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "GLOW" gave spotlights to women, queer people, people of color, and non-Americans. But, according to Marx, the company stopped prioritizing stories from underrepresented communities, and new players were throwing their hats into the streaming wars. Now, Marx writes that Netflix is filled with bland shows, half-assed reality TV, and hopelessly derivative movies.

☆ Survived the tech layoffs? Congrats, but you're not out of the woods yet.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech workers who survived layoffs this year will likely face tougher performance reviews next year. From Meta to Salesforce, tech firms across the board are looking to tighten their belts further in 2023 using a tactic unpopular with workers: stack ranking. Buckley noted that scenarios like this make it easier for companies to offer increasingly vague notions of what counts as low performance. Last week, Insider reported that the number of people finding themselves in the lowest-performance categories come annual performance reviews in January will roughly double. Buckley said those who remain will likely have to meet higher expectations — Salesforce teams, for example, have been given higher sales targets.

☆ Even Elon and Zuck don't have the juice to make an all-in-one 'super app' happen
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel harbor super app ambitions; Microsoft reportedly wants to build its take on a super app that would rival Google. At Facebook's parent company Meta, "super app" is a taboo word precisely because it's too abstract, Insider's Kali Hays reported last month. A newcomer super app has a tougher sell accessing this sophisticated, less trusting type of user. Silicon Valley's gatekeepers stand in the way of the super app dreamUS tech firms harboring super app ambitions will need to fend off their own regulators, overseas regulators, and Apple's App Store. As the CPP Investments white paper notes, super apps "can be thought of as operating platforms for mobile devices."

☆ Inside SoftBank Vision Fund's awful, terrible, really bad year. How the venture fund tumbled, according to former employees, investors and rival VCs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Ben Bergman | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

SoftBank's Vision Fund just experienced one of its most dismal years in its history. SoftBank's Vision Fund was once a power broker, having raised a jaw-dropping $100 billion in 2017, followed by plans to raise $108 billion for Vision Fund 2 in 2019 — two of the largest venture-investing vehicles ever established. But insiders are now questioning if it will ever regain influence, according to 11 ex-Vision Fund investors, former employees, VCs, and industry analysts who weighed in on the future of the Vision Fund. One ex-Vision Fund investor described Son, now taking the reins of Vision Fund 2, as someone who is "not a manager." Given its investing performance so far, the obvious question is what happens once Vision Fund 2 has reached full investment.

☆ European startups are on course to raise $85 billion this year – over $18 billion short of 2021's record, new report shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

European startups are on track to raise $85 billion this year, a new report has stated. We've analysed the key highlights from the industry-wide report on Europe's tech sector. European startups are on course to raise $85 billion by the end of 2022, which would leave it 17% – or $18.6 billion – short of last year's record dealmaking, according to Atomico's State of European Tech 22 report. Investment in European startups was up 52% in the first quarter of 2022 to $29.2 billion. In theory, this comes down to a cooling off of what Wehmeier described as "capital markets becoming overheated through cheap available capital."

☆ Ukio wants to create a rental market for a new generation of flexible workers. It used this 11-slide pitch deck to raise $28 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Spanish startup Ukio has raised $28 million for its flexible rental platform. The startup's platform offers apartments to workers seeking greater flexibility on contracts. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck it used to raise its Series A round below. Ukio raised the funds in a round led by Farfetch-backer Felix Capital, with additional investment from Kreos Capital, a London-headquartered debt fund, Heartcore, and Breega. Of the $28 million raised, $18 million was in the form of equity and $10 million in the form of debt.

☆ SponsorUnited wants to be the 'Bloomberg terminal' for brand sponsorships. It used this 12-slide pitch deck to raise $35 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

SponsorUnited has raised $35 million to become the 'Bloomberg terminal' for brand sponsorships. The startup's platform helps brands see data on sponsorships across their respective industries. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck it used to raise the funds in a Series A round. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. A source close to the firm said that the round puts the startup's valuation at north of $100 million, with the total now raised at $38.6 million since its launch.

☆ Antavo wants to help brands like KFC and BMW build brand loyalty during a period of soaring inflation. Here's the 14-slide pitch deck it used to raise $10 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Antavo has raised $10 million to help brands like BMW get a handle on customer loyalty. Its platform offers a no-code solution to brands as rising inflation hits customer retention. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck it used to raise the Series A round. Enterprise software startup Antavo has closed a €10 million ($10 million) Series A round to build out its no-code cloud platform used by the likes of KFC and BMW to boost brand loyalty. "In the post-pandemic world, loyalty programs are having a renaissance in providing this embedded brand love," he said.

☆ Gaming startup Eterlast wants to bring boxing and rugby fans into the metaverse through NFTs. Check out the 19-slide pitch deck it used to raise $4.5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gaming startup Eterlast wants to bring NFTs to rugby and boxing fans through branded games. Check out the 19-slide pitch deck it used to raise its $4.5 million seed round. Web3 startup Eterlast has raised $4.5 million in seed funding to level up its gaming studio built to bring sports fans into the metaverse. However, Eterlast sees NFTs built for sports communities as being relatively protected from the bear market. "We are embarked on a mission, building the bridge for the next billion fans to enter Web3," he said.

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