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☆ Google reportedly in advanced talks to acquire cyber startup Wiz for $23 billion, its largest-ever deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz for $23 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. It had been eyeing an IPO as recently as May, when the company achieved a valuation of $12 billion. Google has made large cyber acquisitions before: The company acquired cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion two years ago. But its reported talks with Wiz would suggest that the company has developed a fresh appetite for M&A, competitive concerns notwithstanding. Google had been in talks to acquire sales software maker Hubspot, CNBC previously reported, but its pursuit had reportedly cooled.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Wiz, Assaf Rappaport Organizations: Alphabet Inc, Government, Society, Google, Street, Wiz, Ventures, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, CNBC Locations: Stanford , California

☆ Iconic AI, a London-based game development startup, just raised $4 million using this 10-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Iconic AI, which aims to change AAA game development, raised $4 million in pre-seed funding. Iconic wants to use AI to expedite development, the cost and scale of which has "ballooned," its CEO said. AdvertisementIconic AI, a London-based video game developer, has raised $4 million in pre-seed funding. Founded in 2023, Iconic wants to change "AAA game" development: major titles produced by larger developers. Iconic CEO John Lusty told Business Insider that developers' business models were under threat as "development has ballooned" in size.

Persons: HodlCo, —, John Lusty Organizations: AAA, FOV Ventures, Service, Business Locations: London

☆ Startups are building robots that can perceive the human world. Here's why VC firms like Khosla and a16z say that spatial intelligence will be the next big thing in AI.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Spatial intelligence allows robots to navigate and interact with their environment more efficiently, which means that robots can perform more complex tasks with higher precision and adaptability. AdvertisementEven so, investors say that spatial intelligence represents a quantum leap for the robotics industry, a space already benefiting from an AI boom. Lior Susan, CEO and founder of Eclipse Ventures, is betting that the difficulty of building AI with spatial intelligence will yield bigger returns in the future. "You see this boom of generative AI startups that are actually buying a lot of compute that do not have a business model yet," Susan said. Big tech is rolling in, tooBigger tech companies are also gearing up to compete in robotics' spatial intelligence race—both as builders and investors.

Persons: —, Andreessen Horowitz, Catalyst, Howard Morgan, Max Rimple, Erin Price, Wright, Fei, Fei Li, Kanu Gulati, Khosla, –, Gulati, Lior Susan, Susan, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang Organizations: Service, Khosla Ventures, Business, B Capital, Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, Stanford University, Eclipse Ventures, Intelligence, Lux, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, Nvidia, Carbon Robotics, AIs Locations: LLMs, OpenAI, Lux Capital, Taipei

☆ Software security startup Chainguard is raising a new funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-08 | by ( Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

It will be valued at $1.1 billion in a new funding round, sources say. AdvertisementChainguard, a startup that boosts the security of customers' software supply chains, is raising a new funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation, Business Insider has learned. The latest fundraise would triple the startup's valuation from its last funding round, a $61 million Series B last November that valued it at $411 million, according to PitchBook data. Founded in 2021, Chainguard's investors include Spark Capital, Sequoia Capital, Amplify Partners, The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC, and Banana Capital. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: — Organizations: Sequoia, Spark, Service, Sequoia Capital, Banana, Business

☆ Silicon Valley figures are not holding back after Biden's disastrous debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewSeveral Silicon Valley figures have offered their thoughts on President Joe Biden's performance in Thursday's presidential debate — and it's not a pretty picture. AdvertisementSome Silicon Valley figures have warmed up to TrumpHeading into Thursday's debate, the election was clearly splitting opinion among Silicon Valley figures. AdvertisementTonight was a clear victory … for memes — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2024Plenty of other tech figures did not hold back when discussing Biden's performance, however. Some tech figures leaned into mockery. Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham posted on X that "Biden bombing the debate" was good for the party as a better candidate would emerge.

Persons: —, Joe Biden's, it's, influencers, Donald Trump, Biden, Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla, Joe Biden, Kimberly White, Elon Musk, Musk, Elon, there's, Hoffman, Khosla, Trump, David Sacks, Sacks, — David Sacks, @DavidSacks, Jason Calacanis, Biden —, Nikita Bier, Shaun Maguire, Delian Asparouhov, Ralph Wiggum, Sarah Guo, Paul Graham, — Paul Graham, @paulg Organizations: Service, Business, Republican, Trump, Cuban Missile, America, Founders Fund, Democrats, Biden Locations: America, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Sequoia, Delian, San Francisco, Silicon

☆ Inside Europe's tech hubs: France's AI push puts it on the rise
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-27 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +31 min

Brimming with entrepreneurs and around 1,000 startup companies, it embodies France's exciting tech industry. So if you could rank Europe's tech hubs, what would be your top three? But I'm really excited about Lisbon actually, I know the Mayor of Lisbon pretty well, have been hearing really positive things. I mean things like that could just be completely deprioritized, which is essentially what has been helping us move things forward in France. Under Macron what have been for you the big positives that have come out of his presidency and tech push more broadly.

Persons: Tom Chitty, Roxanne Varza, Bruno Le Maire, Tom Chitty The, you'll, Arjun, I've, Roxanne, Macron, we'd, we've, Tom Chitty Let's, Xavier Niel, he's, Roxanne Varza That's, we're, I'm, Roxanne Varza Paris, Tom Chitty Arjun, Arjun Kharpal, What's, There's, you've, haven't, They're, Roxanne Varza Big, Tom Chitty U.S, Arjun Kharpal It's, who's, that's, there's, they've, we'll, Tom, Tom Chitty We'll Organizations: Meta, Google, CNBC, Uber, Accel, Dealroom, Mistral, Viva Tech, Sequoia Capital, Big Tech, Microsoft, French Finance, London Stock Exchange, London . Locations: Paris, France, French, Europe, beyondthevalley@cnbc.com, London, Berlin, U.S, Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, Bay, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Old, Shoreditch, London . Tel Aviv

☆ Kyrenia shipwreck has a new estimate for the year it sank, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A lone diver first laid eyes on the ancient Kyrenia shipwreck off the north coast of Cyprus nearly 60 years ago. The authors of a new study dated almonds found aboard the Kyrenia ship to find a new estimated range of years for when the ancient vessel's last voyage took place. Dating a Hellenistic-era shipTwo main obstacles stood in the way of achieving a high-precision age estimate for the Kyrenia shipwreck, according to Manning. The Kyrenia ship's hull is seen shortly after it was raised from the seabed and reassembled. Kyrenia Ship Excavation“Part of the value of this story is about process.

Persons: CNN —, —, Andreas Cariolou, Michael Katzev, “, ”, Sturt Manning, Manning, ” Manning, you’ve, it’s, Mark Lawall, Lawall, ” Lawall Organizations: CNN, Cornell University, Northern Hemisphere, University of Manitoba Locations: Kyrenia, Cyprus, New York, Winnipeg

☆ Sequoia-backed security startup Vanta will see its valuation soar past $2 billion in new funding round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Ben Bergman | Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

It will be valued at more than $2 billion in a new funding round, Business Insider has learned. AdvertisementVanta, a startup that helps companies comply with security standards, is set to be valued at more than $2 billion in a new insider funding round, multiple sources told Business Insider. Vanta was last valued at $1.6 billion in a 2022 funding round led by Craft Ventures on October 12, 2022, according to Forbes. CrowdStrike Holdings, Atlassian Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures, Acrew Capital, Pioneer Fund, ASDF Ventures, Zag Capital, Sequoia Capital, Frontline Ventures, Y Combinator and LAUNCH Fund also participated in the last round. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Vanta Organizations: Sequoia, Craft Ventures, Service, Business, Forbes, CrowdStrike Holdings, Atlassian Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Acrew, Pioneer Fund, ASDF Ventures, Zag, Sequoia Capital, Frontline Ventures Locations: Acrew Capital

☆ Elon Musk drops suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In this photo illustration, the logo of 'OpenAI' is displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying the photographs of Elon Musk and Sam Altman in Ankara, Turkiye on March 14, 2024. Elon Musk on Tuesday withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI and two of the company's co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, in California state court. Musk's decision to file to dismiss the suit came just one day after he publicly criticized OpenAI and its new partnership with Apple. In February, Musk had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman and Brockman — the current CEO and president of OpenAI, respectively — for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. Last year, Musk debuted his own AI startup and OpenAI competitor, xAI, which last month announced a $6 billion Series B funding round.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, Musk, Altman, Brockman, It's, Kevin O'Brien, Ford O'Brien Landy, I'm, Andreessen Horowitz, X.AI, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: Tuesday, Apple, CNBC, OpenAI, Microsoft, Elon, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Musk Locations: Ankara, Turkiye, California, San Francisco

☆ Sam Altman may have just scored a major coup
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewForget Tim Cook: OpenAI and Sam Altman might be the biggest winners after Monday's announcements at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. While Apple announced Apple Intelligence, its in-house artificial-intelligence tool, it also said that Apple users will soon be able to use ChatGPT in Siri through an integration it created with OpenAI. The feature is part of Apple's iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and Sequoia, its computer operating system. Apple's iOS is installed on about 2.2 billion devices, Wedbush Securities estimated in a note on Monday. OpenAI said in a statement that "the ChatGPT integration, powered by GPT-4o, will come to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS later this year.

Persons: —, Tim Cook, OpenAI, Sam Altman, ChatGPT, it's, Craig Federighi, Apple's, Siri, Altman, Google's, Kelsey Peterson, Cook, haven't, macOS, Apple Organizations: Service, Apple's Worldwide, Apple, Apple Intelligence, Business, OpenAI, Wedbush Securities, Washington Post, Google, Safari Locations: Siri, Sequoia, WWDC

☆ Apple just threw down the gauntlet in the AI wars
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Apple finally made some big AI announcements at the WWDC 2024 keynote on Monday. Analysts are saying Apple delivered on the GenAI front, but total AI domination is uncertain. The company was touted for its privacy protections with Apple Intelligence and big updates to Siri. At the keynote of its Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, the tech titan introduced Apple Intelligence and showed off a range of capabilities coming to its products. Apple Intelligence will bring massive changes to Photos, Siri, Messages, and more in the upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia updates.

Persons: Apple, Siri, — Organizations: Apple, Apple Intelligence, Service, Business

☆ Elon Musk threatens to ban iPhones and MacBooks at his companies after Apple announces OpenAI partnership
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk slammed Apple's new OpenAI partnership, threatening to ban Apple devices at his companies. He said visitors will have to check their Apple devices and they will be stored in a Faraday cage. Apple assures privacy protections, while Musk claims Apple can't ensure user security if integrating OpenAI's technology. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Apple announced at its Worldwide Developer's Conference on Monday that it will be integrating its new AI software, called Apple Intelligence, across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Elon, Apple —, Siri, Apple Organizations: Service, Apple, Worldwide, Conference, Apple Intelligence, Mac, OpenAI, Business

☆ Apple WWDC: macOS Sequoia brings iPhone mirroring to laptop and desktop Macs
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailApple WWDC: macOS Sequoia brings iPhone mirroring to laptop and desktop MacsApple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday at the tech giant's campus in Cupertino, California.

Organizations: Apple, Developers Locations: Cupertino , California

☆ Exclusive: Health AI startup Anterior raised $20 million from NEA and Sequoia. Here's the pitch deck it used.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Many healthcare startups have targeted administrative tasks on the provider side, like SmarterDx, which just raised a $50 million Series B in June. Wu said NEA chose to invest in Anterior in part because of its focus on health plans. Anterior's $20 million Series A will help the startup accelerate hiring to take on more health plan customers, Mahmoud said. Wu said the firm sees a big opportunity for Anterior to package a range of tools for health plans as AI technologies become more widespread. See the 18-slide pitch deck Anterior used to grab a $20 million Series A.

Persons: —, It's, Mustafa Suleyman, Adrian Aoun, Blake Wu, Abdel Mahmoud, we'd, we've, Mahmoud, Wu, Anterior's Organizations: Service, NEA, Business, Sequoia, Lion, Microsoft, Cohere, Meta, Google, McKinsey & Company, Amazon Locations: Sequoia Arc

☆ With Trump, Silicon Valley elites see AI regulation as they see fit
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While Musk hasn't formally endorsed Trump, one reason Silicon Valley heavy-hitters could be gravitating toward a convicted former president is a desire to see less regulation on tech development in America. AdvertisementCuban, a vocal opponent of Trump who has expressed his support for Joe Biden, told Business Insider in an email that he views the support from Silicon Valley and Wall Street billionaires for Trump as "self-serving." "So unless it's very light touch, which is unlikely at this point, the more influence they have over Ai regulation the better the opportunity to advantage themselves." "It's still very early to be imposing regulation," Sacks said. That's not to say every Silicon Valley player investing in AI and Trump hopes to see an unrestrained, Wild West of artificial intelligence development.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Shaun Maguire, Trump, David Sacks, Biden, Puck, Sacks, hasn't, Mark Cuban, Joe Biden, Cuban, BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, Maguire, Sacks didn't, Garry Tan, Y, That's, Chamath, Palihapitiya, Musk, Rishi Sunak Organizations: Service, Silicon, Trump, Business, Sequoia Capital, Venture, Wall, acc, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Wildlife Service, British Locations: Russia, Ukraine, San Francisco, America, Silicon Valley, Cuban

☆ A writer did everything from BASE jumping to scuba-diving with women over 50. She learned 3 things about healthy aging.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-01 | by ( Serafina Kenny | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Some of the women had been adventuring their whole lives, while it took others a little longer — but all of them were active, healthy, and happy. Related storiesPaul shared three things she learned about healthy aging while researching her book. Being in nature has a range of health benefits82-year-old Louise Wholey, who Paul interviewed for her book, scuba diving. Advertisement"You don't have to wing walk, you don't have to scuba dive.

Persons: —, Caroline Paul, Shawn Brokemond, Paul, needn't, Louise Wholey, it's, Heidi, Dacher Keltner Organizations: Service, El, Business, Bloomsbury Publishing, University of Massachusetts, University of California, New Locations: Yosemite, El Capitan, New Yorker

☆ Trump's guilty verdict isn't scaring off his donors
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewFormer President Donald Trump's conviction yesterday on falsifying business records hasn't dissuaded high-profile supporters on Wall Street — some of whom are newly energized by the historic verdict. "Bluntly, that's part of why I'm supporting him," Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, wrote on X about a potential conviction. AdvertisementTech investor David Sacks, who was reportedly in talks to hold a Trump campaign fundraiser at his San Francisco home, denounced the guilty verdict on X. "A sham trial designed for one purpose: to brand Donald Trump as a 'felon,'" Sacks wrote yesterday on X. AdvertisementIt wasn't only prominent business leaders on Wall Street circling their wagons.

Persons: —, Donald Trump's, hasn't, Shaun Maguire, Maguire, David Sacks, Donald Trump, Sacks, Omeed Malik, Farvahar Partners —, Malik, Trump, haven't, Bill Ackman, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, didn't, Elon Musk, Musk Organizations: Service, Trump, Republican, Business, Sequoia Capital, Tech, San, Farvahar Partners, CNBC, National Republican, Pershing, Wall Street Journal, he's Locations: White

Instead, Wall Street and Silicon Valley money is flowing into his re-election campaign following the ruling. “This verdict will have less than zero impact on my support,” Omeed Malik, the president of 1789 Capital and a co-host of a Trump fund-raiser last night at the Pierre hotel, told Bloomberg. “I haven’t heard anybody who gives a …,” he told CNBC of the conviction, using an expletive. Some big Silicon Valley names are doubling down. One who did is Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, who gave $300,000 to the Trump campaign after the ruling, even though he acknowledged the decision could cost him friends and hurt business.

Persons: Donald Trump, ” Omeed Malik, Andy Sabin, ”, Biden, Bill Ackman, Trump, David Sacks, Shaun Maguire Organizations: Republican, Pierre, Bloomberg, CNBC, Trump, Sequoia Capital Locations: Silicon, San Francisco

☆ A Sequoia partner announced he's backing Donald Trump following his felony conviction, highlighting a political shift in Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Madeline Berg | ) 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. While Silicon Valley has long been a liberal hub, Trump has been courting the big-pocketed tech executives and venture capitalists there. Others, like venture capitalist Marc Andreeson and Rabois, have not announced their support for Trump but have criticized Biden. The members of the monied West Coast class throwing their support behind Trump are mirroring some Wall Street counterparts. AdvertisementOf course, the growing number of influential Silicon Valley voices supporting Trump — Sacks and Palihapitiya have their popular podcast, Musk has his an entire social media platform — are not representative of many of the area's wealthy inhabitants.

Persons: —, Shaun Maguire, Donald Trump —, Maguire, Hilary Clinton, David Sacks, Elon Musk, Keith Rabois, Trump, Chamath, Sacks, week's Trump, Biden, Musk, Marc Andreeson, Steve Schwarzman, he'd, Bill Ackman, Trump — Sacks, Palihapitiya, Marissa Mayer, Vinod Khosla Organizations: Service, Trump, Business, Silicon Valley, Big Tech, Blackstone, Biden Locations: Sequoia

☆ Fast-fashion behemoth Shein is preparing for an IPO. Here's an inside look at the challenges it could face.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Its peak $100 billion valuation once made it the world's third largest privately-held company, behind TikTok owner Bytedance and Elon Musk's SpaceX. Estimates have pegged Shein's IPO valuation at around $90 billion, Bloomberg reported last year. AdvertisementTo gauge what happens to some Shein items once they're returned, BI reporters in the UK put two AirTag trackers on Shein garments and sent them back. Shein is more directly involved in production and focuses on clothes, but Temu's popularity "could affect the valuation," Swartz said. In a November statement following the news of Shein's IPO, chairman Mike Gallagher urged investors and banks underwriting the move to "carefully examine Shein's regulatory and compliance programs."

Persons: —, Bytedance, Sky Xu, Yangtian Xu, Chris, Shein, confidentially, David Swartz, Swartz, Lululemon, JADE GAO, Stephanie Benedetto, Queen, Benedetto, they're, Shein's, Morningstar's Swartz, Temu, Mike Gallagher Organizations: Service, Elon, SpaceX, Business, Reuters, Authentic Brands, Wall Street, CNBC, Bloomberg, Morningstar, Zurich Insurance Group, Guardian, BI, Coventry Airport, SEC, Street, Financial Times, London Stock Exchange, Chinese Communist Party, Nike, Adidas Locations: China, —, Singapore, Sequoia China, London , Hong Kong, York, London, Canary Wharf, Coventry, Walsall, Northern Ireland, England, Kent, Washington, Xinjiang, Dublin, Shein

☆ This is the word of the summer on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York CNN —Bifurcation is the word of the summer. Or it’s the word of the summer among investors, at least. It’s a word that the market gets hung up on and then all you do is hear that word. But I think that’s nearing an end, and so I would expect a slowdown in consumer spending. I’m not so sure that’s going to happen this time because their balance sheets and cash flows aren’t as strong.

Persons: Bell, Scott Wren, I’ve, We’ve, You’ve, you’ve, they’ve, That’s, hasn’t, you’re, I’m, Elon Musk’s, Elon Musk, Anna Cooban, Andreesen Horowitz, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, xAI, Musk, Grok, Laura He, Xi Jinping’s Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Nvidia, Fed, Elon, Investors, Sequoia Capital, xAI, Worth, China Construction Bank, China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, National Enterprise Locations: New York, United States, Wells Fargo, Silicon, Saudi, OpenAI, China, ICBC, Beijing

☆ Elon Musk's xAI says it just raised $6 billion in funding, pulling in big bucks from Sequoia Capital and Saudi Arabia
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewElon Musk's xAI just took a critical step in building up its war chest to take on Sam Altman's OpenAI. The AI startup said in a blog post on Sunday that it had raised $6 billion for their Series B funding round. Related stories"There will be more to announce in the coming weeks," Musk said in an X post on Monday morning. AdvertisementThe mercurial billionaire said in a subsequent X post that xAI's pre-money valuation was $18 billion. Pre-money valuation was $18B — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2024Sunday's announcement marks the first time xAI has talked about its fundraising efforts.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's xAI, Sam Altman's OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Musk, Elon, xAI, he'd, Altman, OpenAI Organizations: Service, Sequoia Capital, Saudi Arabia's, Business, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The New York Times, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google Locations: Saudi, Saudi Arabia's Kingdom

☆ Musk’s A.I. Firm Raises $6 Billion in Race With Rivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Jason Karaian | More About Jason Karaian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, said on Sunday that it has raised $6 billion, helping to close the funding gap with OpenAI, Anthropic and other rivals in the red-hot industry. Mr. Musk, who founded xAI in July, said in a social media post the funding round valued the company at $18 billion, not including the new money. Investors included the Silicon Valley heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, along with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Investors and large tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft have poured billions into the businesses developing A.I. systems, which require huge amounts of processing power to generate text, sounds and images.

Persons: Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Organizations: Elon, xAI, Sequoia Capital, Saudi, Investors, Google, Meta, Microsoft

☆ Elon Musk’s xAI firm valued at $24 billion as investors pledge more money
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —The AI firm founded by Elon Musk has raised another $6 billion from investors, including Silicon Valley venture capitalists and a Saudi prince, boosting its valuation to $24 billion. Investors providing the second-round funding included Sequoia Capital, Andreesen Horowitz, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, xAI announced in a blog post on Sunday. Investors, lured by the potential for AI to revolutionize the way people live and work, have thrown huge sums of money at AI companies in recent years. Microsoft (MSFT) is OpenAI’s biggest stakeholder, with a $13 billion investment in the firm. Last year, Amazon (AMZN) announced it would invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic AI in exchange for partial ownership of the company.

Persons: Elon Musk, Andreesen Horowitz, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, xAI, Musk, Grok Organizations: London CNN, Elon, Sequoia Capital, xAI, London . Investors, Microsoft, Google Locations: Silicon, Saudi, OpenAI, Palo Alto, San Francisco, London

☆ Some Prominent Silicon Valley Investors Shift to the Right
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Erin Griffith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At a tech conference last week, Mr. Sacks said his view had changed. Such public support for Mr. Trump used to be taboo in Silicon Valley, which has long been seen as a liberal bastion. But frustration with Mr. Biden, Democrats and the state of the world has increasingly driven some of tech’s most prominent venture capitalists to the right. (He is set to co-host the fund-raiser for Mr. Trump alongside Mr. Others, like Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz and Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, have criticized Mr. Biden without expressing support for Mr. Trump.

Persons: David Sacks, Donald J, Sacks, “, Biden, Trump, Mr, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Shaun Maguire, Keith Rabois Organizations: U.S . Capitol, Trump, Mr, Social Capital, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Republicans, Congress Locations: Silicon Valley

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