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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

☆ Oracle extends its flagship database to Ampere's computing chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoMENLO PARK, California (Reuters) - Oracle on Wednesday said that it has modified its flagship database software to work on a new category of computing chip, starting with chips from Ampere Computing, a startup founded by former Intel executives. Oracle’s database software is used by major banks and corporations to track transactions. On Wednesday, Oracle said that the database will now also run on chips made based on a technological architecture from Arm Ltd, the same underlying technology that is in mobile phones. Ellison said Ampere’s chips are much more power efficient than offerings from its other two major chip suppliers, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. By upgrading to Ampere, we’re able to take that room, double the compute and stay within the same power envelope,” Ellison said.

Persons: Brian Snyder, Ampere, Intel’s, “, We’ve, we’ve, Larry Ellison, Ellison, we’re, ” Ellison Organizations: REUTERS, MENLO, Oracle, Ampere Computing, Intel, Arm Ltd, Ampere, Amazon Web Services, Devices, Nvidia Locations: Burlington , Massachusetts, U.S, , California, Ampere

☆ Oracle spending 'billions' on Nvidia chips this year, Ellison says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoMENLO PARK, California, June 28 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) is spending "billions" of dollars on chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) as it expands a cloud computing service targeting a new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) companies, Oracle founder and Chairman Larry Ellison said on Wednesday. Oracle is also spending "billions" of dollars on Nvidia chips but even more on central processor units (CPUs) from Ampere Computing, a chip startup it has invested in, and Advanced Micro Device Inc (AMD.O), Ellison said at an Ampere event. "This year, Oracle will buy GPUs and CPUs from three companies," Ellison said. "We will buy GPUs from Nvidia, and we're buying billions of dollars of those. Other companies such as CoreWeave, which earlier this year raised a fresh $200 million of funding, are also targeting AI companies with cloud hardware that relies heavily on Nvidia chips.

Persons: Mike Blake, Larry Ellison, Ellison, Oracle, Stephen Nellis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, MENLO, Oracle Corp, Nvidia Corp, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Corp, Ampere Computing, Device, Nvidia, Ampere, AMD, Google, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S, , California, Menlo Park , California

☆ Robinhood to cut some full-time jobs as trading demand eases
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 26 (Reuters) - Trading platform Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) said on Monday it was cutting some of its full-time jobs, as it looks to offset costs amid slowing demand for its services. The Menlo Park, California-based company added that in some cases, teams could make changes based on volume, workload and other factors. Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported the company's move. Robinhood last year said announced job cuts and said that it would change its organizational structure to drive greater cost discipline. In its most recent quarter, the company surpassed Wall Street revenue estimates, as the U.S. Federal Reserve's rapid rate hikes boosted its interest income.

Persons: Robinhood, Nathan Gomes, Maju Samuel Organizations: Menlo, Wall Street Journal, Wall, U.S, U.S . Federal, Thomson Locations: , California, U.S ., Bengaluru

☆ EU, Meta agree to July stress test on EU online content rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 23 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O) and the European Union (EU) have agreed on a stress test in July on the EU's online content rules, following EU industry chief Thierry Breton's demand that the social media platform act immediately over Meta's content targeting children. "Productive discussion with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park on EU digital rules: DSA, DMA & AI Act," Breton said in a tweet, adding that 1,000 Meta employees are working on the Digital Services Act (DSA). loadingBreton had earlier in June said that Meta would have to demonstrate the measures it plans to take to comply with European Union online content rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) after Aug. 25 or face heavy sanctions. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Thierry Breton's, Mark Zuckerberg, Breton, Nilutpal, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: European Union, Digital Services, Meta, Thomson Locations: Menlo Park, Bengaluru

☆ Opinion | Is Masculinity in Crisis?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “The Right Is All Wrong About Masculinity,” by David French (column, May 29):Today’s men, Mr. French writes, “are in desperate need of virtuous purpose,” and he’s spot on about what’s wrong. No, we should not discourage masculinity defined by a willingness to fight or even die for what is right, to show strength, purpose and idealism. This drive is a virtue, to be sure, but it needs to be informed by critical thinking, literacy, facts and compassion rather than meanness, blind self-righteousness, incivility and dehumanization. Tim MaxwellMenlo Park, Calif.To the Editor:Men don’t come with a surgeon general’s warning: Being a man may be hazardous to your health. But it is nonetheless true — far too many men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Persons: David French, “, Josh Hawley, Tim Maxwell Menlo Locations: Florida, Calif

☆ Your teen wants to get in shape this summer? What to say and when to worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Analysis Oona Hanson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —If your children say they want to start exercising or working out more this summer, don’t celebrate just yet. Eating disorder experts warn that setting fitness goals could mean trouble for kids. But eating disorder symptoms can be incredibly sneaky, as Darpinian has seen in her therapy practice more often in recent years. And just as important, parents can approach questions about bodies, food and exercise in a way that builds connection and trust. Oona Hanson is a parent coach in private practice and a family mentor at Equip, an eating disorder treatment program.

Persons: don’t, Signe Darpinian, Wendy Sterling, Shelley Aggarwal, ”, Darpinian, ” Darpinian, she’s, Sterling, aren’t, they’re, influencers, MoMo, Aggarwal, —, ” Aggarwal, “, Oona Hanson Organizations: CNN, San Francisco Bay Area Locations: don’t, San Francisco Bay, Menlo Park , California, Northern California

☆ You're wrong Zuck — the metaverse really is just sitting alone on a couch
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg says Apple's new headset will make everyone lonelier. But even Meta's headset is, in the end, someone sitting alone on a couch too. As he pushes Meta's efforts to build out this alternative internet, naturally he's been keeping an eye on Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro goggles. That the Vision Pro is an isolating device isn't wrong. But where he's misguided is thinking Meta's vision is any better.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg's, Zuckerberg, Alex Heath, it's, you'll, Apple, Jefferies, we're Organizations: Menlo, Apple

☆ Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg touts to employees 'incredible breakthroughs' the company has seen in A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants his workforce to know the company is in the middle of the artificial intelligence race. During a meeting with employees Thursday in the Hacker Square pavilion at Meta's Menlo Park headquarters, Zuckerberg discussed Meta's AI efforts, a spokesperson confirmed. Meta said it's giving employees access to several internal generative AI tools to help develop prototypes, and the company is hosting a hackathon for workers to show off their AI projects. Meta executives told employees the company is still committed to releasing AI research to the open-source community. Last week, Meta told employees they will need to work at the company's offices three days a week, starting in September.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, we've, Axios, hasn't, Meta, Richard Blumenthal, Josh Hawley Organizations: Menlo, CNBC, Meta, Microsoft, Google Locations: Sens, R

☆ EU's Breton demands Meta act against online content targeting children
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 8 (Reuters) - EU industry chief Thierry Breton will meet Meta Platforms (META.O) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on June 23 and demand that he act immediately to tackle content targeting children, as Meta's voluntary child protection code seemed not to be working. Social media platforms such as Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, Snap's (SNAP.N) Snapchat and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) YouTube have stirred concerns among regulators and users over content targeted at young children. "#Meta’s voluntary code on child protection seems not to work," Breton said in a Twitter post. Breton said Meta would also have to demonstrate the measures it plans to take to comply with European Union online content rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) after Aug. 25 or face heavy sanctions. The DSA bans certain types of targeted advertisements on online platforms such as those meant for children or when they use special categories of personal data, such as ethnicity, political views and sexual orientation.

Persons: Thierry Breton, Mark Zuckerberg, ByteDance's, Breton, Meta, Foo Yun Chee, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Meta, YouTube, EU, Reuters, Meta's, European Union, Digital Services, DSA, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Menlo Park, California

☆ How 'the dress' broke the internet — and pushed Facebook to force everyone into their own filter bubble
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ben Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In 2015, a BuzzFeed staffer posted a picture of a dress with the caption, "What color is this dress?" The following is an excerpt from "Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral" by Ben Smith. Jonah saw it differently. From TRAFFIC: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral by Ben Smith. Copyright © Ben Smith, 2023.

☆ Meta fined a record $1.3 billion over EU user data transfers to the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has been fined a record 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) by European privacy regulators over the transfer of EU user data to the U.S. Several mechanisms to legally transfer personal data between the U.S. and the EU have been contested. The latest such iteration, Privacy Shield, was struck down by the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court, in 2020. Meta used a mechanism called standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data in and out of the EU. Ireland's Data Protection Commission also told Meta to "suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US within the period of five months" from the decision.

☆ Meta spins out customer service startup Kustomer amid 'year of efficiency'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Visitors take photos in front of the Meta (Facebook) sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on December 29, 2022. Meta has spun out the enterprise startup Kustomer, which it bought in 2020 for roughly $1 billion. Kustomer announced the spin-out in a blog post published Monday, pitching the deal as the startup's "next chapter as an independent company." Kustomer's original investors, which include Battery Ventures, Boldstart Ventures and Redpoint Ventures, have invested an additional $60 million into the startup, which now has a reported valuation of $250 million. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described 2023 as the company's "year of efficiency" and plans to lay off roughly 21,000 workers by early summer.

☆ Robinhood beats revenue estimates as rate hikes bolster interest income
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Manya Saini | Thomson Reuters | Manya Saini Reports On Prominent Publicly Listed U.S. Financial Firms Including Wall Street S Biggest Banks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) blew past Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, as the U.S. Federal Reserve's rapid rate hikes boosted the online brokerage's interest income. Net interest revenue came in at $208 million in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with $55 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, monthly active users decreased to 11.8 million, compared with 15.9 million a year earlier. Transaction-based revenue declined 5% in the reported quarter to $207 million from last year. The Menlo Park, California-based company reported revenue of $441 million, compared with $299 million a year earlier.

☆ BlocPower: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Brooklyn-based cleantech company BlocPower is squarely positioned with a mission to fight climate change while solving social injustices, focusing on renewable energy, reduction of carbon pollution, and urban redevelopment in lower-income areas. BlocPower was founded in 2014 by Donnel Baird, the child of Guyanese immigrants, who drew on his experience growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn in an apartment without well-functioning heating and cooling systems. This retrofitting of older buildings can lead to major energy savings, 30% to 50%, and a reduction of at least 40% in greenhouse gas emissions, BlocPower says. In Buffalo, BlocPower inked a contract with utility National Fuel Gas Company to upgrade hybrid heating and cooling systems in 34 low-to-middle income residential and commercial buildings. It also sealed a deal with Fujitsu General America to bring a better-functioning automatic heating and cooling unit to the U.S.

Meta posted $28.65 billion in revenue, topping analysts' $27.66 billion estimate, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue topped estimates, coming in at $741 million versus analysts' estimate of $708.5 million. Ebay said it sees second-quarter per share earnings between 96 cents to $1.01, while analysts had estimated 99 cents per share. Ebay's estimated current-quarter revenue of $2.47 billion to $2.54 billion topped analysts' consensus projection of $2.43 billion. Pioneer Natural Resources — The oil and gas company fell 2.2% after first-quarter earnings topped estimates while revenue missed.

☆ Inside Meta's scramble to catch up on A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

For more than a year, Meta has been engaged in a massive project to whip its AI infrastructure into shape. He declined to comment on whether Meta abandoned its AI chip. Generative AI gobbles up reams of computing power, amplifying the urgency of Meta's capacity scramble, said five of the sources. By 2021, that two-pronged approach proved slower and less efficient than one built around GPUs, which were also more flexible in running different types of models than Meta's chip, the two people said. Executives also that spring set about reorganizing Meta's AI units, naming two new heads of engineering in the process, including Janardhan, the author of the September memo.

Organizations: & & '

☆ There's confusion and skepticism in the venture debt community as the industry struggles to figure out the future of SVB's loan business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The first annual Venture Debt Conference was held in New York last week. The event was marked by confusion and skepticism over the future of SVB's debt business. Last week, as many of the biggest names in venture debt gathered in a conference center in New York City's Midtown neighborhood for the first annual Venture Debt Conference, there was one firm conspicuously absent. They didn't even know what warrants were," they said, referring to stock warrants, a common feature of many venture debt deals. One venture debt executive predicted they'd be out of the game in 5 years.

☆ This biotech can gain 50% thanks to interest in long-read sequencing technology, TD Cowen says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's time to take another look at Pacific Biosciences of California as its growth story turns positive, according to TD Cowen. "Our bullish customer survey reflects upside to placements and pull through, along with a material budget shift to long reads. Pacific Biosciences shares are up more than 19% this year through Thursday, gaining after a rough couple of calendar years. However, Brennan's $15 price target, up from a prior $13, means shares can rise another 53% from Thursday's closing price. Central to the upgrade is the Revio system, a product from Pacific Biosciences that was launched last year and is designed to sequence whole human genomes.

☆ Meta brings in a DJ to play dance music in one of its cafes as the company urges workers to return to the office, employee says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has bought in a DJ to play during lunchtime at one of its cafes, an employee told The Information. Meta has been encouraging employees to return to its California headquarters in recent months. The company's Menlo Park campus has a history of offering workers key benefits. The company's Menlo Park campus has a history of offering workers generous benefits, such as on-site doctors and dentists. The uncertainty has left people feeling vulnerable and created a sense of paralysis in certain areas of the company, Meta employees told the publication.

☆ Carl Icahn claims Illumina directors got extra insurance to close 'disastrous' $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Carl Icahn on Friday alleged that Illumina 's directors demanded extra personal liability insurance before the biotech company signed off on a $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail in 2021. Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in Illumina, is pushing for board seats at the DNA sequencing company. Illumina prevailed over the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's opposition to the Grail deal in September, but is fighting for European regulatory approval. Last year, the EU's executive body, the European Commission, blocked Illumina's acquisition of Grail over concerns it would hurt consumer choice. The company's market cap has shrunk to roughly $34 billion from about $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed the Grail deal.

March 23 (Reuters) - Character.AI has raised $150 million in a new funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz that valued the AI chatbot startup at $1 billion, and it's in talks with cloud providers for more strategic investment, the company told Reuters. The billion-dollar valuation for a company with zero revenue is another example of the continued AI funding boom since OpenAI's ChatGPT became a widely recognized name. AI investment in 2023 to date has surpassed the full-year amount in 2020 of $1.5 billion, according to PitchBook data. While not currently generating any revenue, Character.AI plans to launch a paid subscription "in the not distant future", while keeping the current free version available, Shazeer said. Founded in 2021 by former Google researchers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI had attracted backers including former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowMarch 21 (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Given the board's failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, "the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta's platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking," the complaint said. "We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms," it said in a statement on Tuesday. Zuckerberg, Meta's billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was "one of the most serious threats that we focus on." Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

☆ Biotech company Illumina pushes back against Carl Icahn’s proxy fight over $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Biotech company Illumina pushed back Monday against Carl Icahn's proxy fight over the company's acquisition of cancer test developer Grail, saying the activist investor's board nominees "do not add value." "To paraphrase William Shakespeare's Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Illumina," Icahn wrote. Illumina said winning a jurisdictional appeal would eliminate any potential fine and "gives the greatest optionality for Illumina to maximize value for shareholders." The company also claimed Icahn recognizes the value of Grail to shareholders, pointing to a CNBC interview last week where Icahn referred to Grail as Illumina's "best equipment." Illumina touted Grail in its release, saying it has "tremendous long-term value creation potential."

☆ I rushed from bank to bank with my infant daughter when SVB collapsed to figure out how my startup could make payroll on time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank's collapse sent Dispatch Goods cofounder Lindsey Hoell on a race to find alternatives. Her team and investors navigated the logistical chaos of making sure the company made payroll. Dispatch Goods, a Silicon Valley Bank customer, provides reusable packaging to meal and grocery delivery companies. But by the time I got back from opening that account, the Silicon Valley Bank site was just completely bogged down with other people trying to do the same thing. We got up Friday morning and drove down to Silicon Valley Bank's Menlo Park location.

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