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☆ Young startups are feeling the pinch as seed funding succumbs to the VC winter
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

There were 441 seed rounds recorded on Carta in the second quarter of this year, the slowest quarter for deal activity since early 2019. Funding for early-stage startups leveled off in the second quarter of this year. That has to do in part with a greater number of seed startups trying to raise extension rounds, multiple investors said. Carta data shows the median seed valuation hit $13.7 million in the second quarter, which is significantly higher than any quarter prior to 2021. "The founders that are raising seed rounds are raising them for decent cash and at decent valuations — healthy on both fronts," said Peter Walker at Carta.

Persons: That's, Jenny Fielding, Fielding, Carta, Andreessen Horowitz, they're, Marlon Nichols, Lily Lyman, —, it's, Brian Sugar, Sugar, Peter Walker Organizations: Carta, Ventures, New, Sequoia, Greylock Partners, MaC Venture Capital, Fund, Sugar Capital Locations: New York, Boston, Carta

☆ Instacart to target valuation of up to $9.3 billion in IPO, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Cheney Orr Acquire Licensing RightsSept 10 (Reuters) - Grocery delivery service Instacart is targeting a valuation between $8.6 billion and $9.3 billion in its initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter. The valuation range will be disclosed in an updated IPO regulatory filing on Monday, the source said on SundayInstacart declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Sunday on Instacart's IPO valuation target. Unlike an IPO, no shares are sold in advance in a direct listing and investors can sell their shares directly to the public. For the six months ended June 30, Instacart last month reported revenue of $1.48 billion, up 31% from the same period last year.

Persons: Eric Cohn, Cheney Orr, Instacart, Andreessen Horowitz, Rowe Price, Anirudh Saligrama, Manya Saini, Niket, Echo Wang, Cynthia Osterman, Leslie Adler Organizations: Safeway, REUTERS, Arm Holdings Ltd, Reuters, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Thomson Locations: Tucson , Arizona, U.S, Bengaluru, Echo, New York

☆ Anduril founder Palmer Luckey says the ChatGPT buzz is making politicians more interested in AI-powered weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Palmer Luckey told Breaking Defense the ChatGPT hype is making politicians interested in AI weapons. While Luckey may be best known as the founder of Oculus, in 2017 he created a defense tech startup called Anduril Industries. In a recent interview with Breaking Defense, Luckey said "ChatGPT has probably been more helpful to Anduril with customers and politicians than any technology in the last 10 years." Luckey, who referred to Anduril as an "AI company," clarified to Breaking Defense that ChatGPT wasn't actually powering Anduril's products. It builds military technology including drones, surveillance towers, and underwater vehicles powered by its AI software system, Lattice.

Persons: Palmer Luckey, Luckey, he's, that's, Palmer, ChatGPT, you'll, futher, Anduril, Andreessen Horowitz, Lockheed Martin, Trump, we've Organizations: Breaking Defense, Capitol, Pentagon, Service, Anduril Industries, Defense, Blue Force Technologies, TechCrunch, Founders Fund, Boeing, Lockheed, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, CNBC, Special, Command, US Customs, Protection, Jaan, Skype, Cambridge Centre, Life Locations: Wall, Silicon, Jaan Tallinn

Ryan Petersen, chief executive officer of Flexport, participates in a panel discussion during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Petersen wrote that the company "can't just give out cash." In reclaiming the top position at Flexport, Petersen is displacing his handpicked successor, former Amazon executive Dave Clark, a little more than a year into his tenure. It's messed up," Petersen wrote. "We were on it," Petersen wrote in response to a post.

Persons: Ryan Petersen, Petersen, Dave Clark, It's, that's, Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel's, Clark, Teresa Carlson, Clark's, Carlson, Flexport didn't Organizations: Milken Institute Global Conference, Twitter, Amazon, Fund, Microsoft, Flexport Locations: Beverly Hills , California, U.S, Flexport, Bay, CNBC's, Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco , Los Angeles, New York

☆ Flexport rescinds dozens of job offers amid messy executive shakeup
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Flexport founder Ryan Petersen said his supply chain management firm would rescind dozens of job offers just days before many applicants were scheduled to start work — a move that followed a dramatic leadership shakeup this week. “I am deeply sorry to those people who were expecting to join our company and won’t be able to at this time,” Petersen wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. Can’t just give out cash tho.”A Flexport spokesperson said the company didn’t have additional comment beyond Petersen’s tweets. The rescinded offers came at the end of a wild week for the San Francisco-based firm, which Petersen founded in 2013. In a 2023 company post, he explained his interest in angel investing and in joining Thiel’s Founders Fund as a partner.

Persons: New York CNN — Flexport, Ryan Petersen, “, won’t, ” Petersen, “ It’s, ”, Flexport, Can’t, Petersen, Andreessen Horowitz, Sofbank, Peter Thiel’s, Donald Trump, he’s, Dave Clark, Clark Organizations: New, New York CNN, San, Bay Area, Thiel’s, Fund, Carta, Amazon, Flexport Locations: New York, San Francisco, Silicon, Bay

☆ Marc Andreessen pushes back on fears that AI will kill us all: 'That's not how it works'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marc Andreessen said on the podcast Huberman Lab that fears around AI are overblown. The billionaire venture capitalist said that AI won't "decide to kill us all" and replace jobs. The real concern, he said, is the possibility that AI may end up in the hands of malicious actors. "A lot of the science-fiction scenarios are just not real," Andreessen said on an episode of Huberman Lab, a podcast led by Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist. "AI can be an incredibly powerful tool for solving problems, and we should embrace it as such," Andreessen wrote.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Andreessen, Andrew Huberman, Alexis Ohanian isn't, Elon, —, Sam Altman, Andreessen didn't, A16z Organizations: Service, OpenAI Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ The cofounder of Fanhouse explains why she resigned from the startup and what she would have done differently if she started it today — including not raising VC funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Creator Rosie Nguyen started Fanhouse in 2020 with two other cofounders. Nguyen explains what she would do differently as a founder if she were building the startup today. Nguyen launched Fanhouse in 2020 as a subscription platform for creators to monetize, share exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and connect with top fans. The added investments helped Fanhouse in many ways, like hiring more staff and paying creators more money through the platform. She'd also tap into equity crowdfunding like creator startup Gumroad did.

Persons: Rosie Nguyen, Fanhouse, Nguyen, Lucy Guo, @jasminericegirl, Khoi Le, Jerry Meng, VCs, Jeff Morris Jr, Andreessen Horowitz, She'd, she'd, Le, Meng, shouldn't Organizations: Twitter, Investors, didn't Locations: American, Los Angeles, Fanhouse, VCs

☆ Big startups are a bust so prestige investors are fighting for deals into tiny European companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Funding to European startups across the board dropped by almost 60% to $23 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase data. ElevenLabs, a London-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Google and Palantir alumni, pulled in $18 million at a $100 million valuation a year after it was founded. Mistral, another European startup set up by ex-Facebook and DeepMind staffers, raised $113 million a month after it was founded. AI has been of particular interest to investors with similar hype surrounding a deal for London-based text-to-voice startup ElevenLabs. Industry stakeholders believe that teams springing from already successful companies to set up their own startups will be very attractive with some predicting startups founded between 2022 and 2024 primed to be very in demand in the future.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Schreiber, Duco van, Pivot, Marc, Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, Sifted, Filip Dames, Dames Organizations: Google, Mistral, Facebook, Ventures, Cocoa, Club, Cherry Ventures, Sequoia, Industry Locations: Europe, London, Paris, Berlin

☆ A company that counts billionaires Marc Andreessen and Laurene Powell Jobs as investors says it's bought 50,000 acres of land to build a new 'walkable' city in northern California. Here's everything w
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

California Forever says it wants to build a "walkable" city with new jobs, surrounded by an agricultural greenbelt. The company, Flannery Associates, has been quiet until now, but its parent company California Forever just launched a new website detailing its master plan. Solano County sits between Sacramento, San Francisco, and Napa Valley, and has a population of around 450,000 across just over 900 square miles. Sramek founded California Forever in 2017 and recently bought a family home there. "Now that we're no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin a conversation about the future of Solano County," it says.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Marc Andreessen, Laurene Powell Jobs, Flannery, Jan Sramek, he'd, Jan, Sramek, it's, Who's, Chris Dixon, John Doerr, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Reid Hoffman, Michael Moritz, Andreessen Horowitz, Patrick, John Collison Organizations: Goldman, Service, Flannery Associates, California Forever, Travis Air Force Base, California Forever's, California Delta, California Locations: San Francisco, California, Wall, Silicon, Solano County, Sacramento, Napa Valley, Solano, Fairfield, Rio Vista, walkable

☆ Exclusive: Deel, a $12 billion HR startup, is contemplating an acquisition of competitor Papaya Global
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In the letter, Bouaziz says Deel "may contemplate an acquisition offer" of Papaya Global. "The Deel leadership team and I have been following Papaya Global for quite some time now with great interest," Bouaziz wrote to Papaya's board of directors. A spokesperson for Papaya Global said in a statement that the company is not for sale. Papaya Global is an Israel-based payments processing startup that last raised at a $3.7 billion valuation in 2021 in a round led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global. He also floated the possibility of an eventual full takeover of Papaya Global, which would require the approval of its board.

Persons: Philippe Bouaziz, Bouaziz, Deel, Eynat Guez, Dovi Frances, Guez, Francis, onboarding, Andreessen Horowitz, Emerson, Alexis Ohanian, Elad Gil, Y, Goldman Sachs, Adam Schiff, Julie Su Organizations: Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Global, Coatue Management, Nike, Labor Locations: San Francisco, Israel

☆ AI is killing the grand bargain at the heart of the web. 'We're in a different world.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Kali Hays | Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementAI is undermining the web's grand bargain, and a decades-old handshake agreement is the only thing standing in the way. Now, though, generative AI and large language models are changing the mission of web crawlers radically and rapidly. Without a supply of potential consumers, there's little incentive for content creators to let web crawlers continue to suck up free data online. It's also open to manipulation, especially given the voracious appetite for quality AI data. Because robots.txt is voluntary, web crawlers can also simply ignore the blocking instructions and siphon the information from a site anyway.

Persons: Microsoft's Bing, Joost de Valk, It's, de Valk, Nick Vincent, Valk, OpenAI, robots.txt, Jason Schultz, Catherine Stihler, Archie, NYU's Schultz, Steven Sinofsky, who's, Andreessen Horowitz, De Valk, Stihler Organizations: Big Tech, Google, Wordpress, NYU's Technology, Policy Clinic, AWS, Creative Commons, Creative, Microsoft, Nvidia, Star Wars, DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Marvel, Disney, Atlantic, Meta Locations: CCBot, EleutherAI

☆ The US Copyright Office just took a big step toward new rules for generative AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US Copyright Office is taking a big step toward new rules for generative AI. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe US Copyright Office is inching closer to creating new rules and regulations around generative AI and how the technology uses the work of authors and other creators. In the government rule-making process, a public comment period typically happens before a final rule is proposed and adopted. The major tech companies behind these generative AI tools use the crawled data to train their models without paying the creators who produced the original content. More online businesses are slowly becoming aware of the degree to which the web is being scraped for the benefit of generative AI.

Persons: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Bard, Andreessen Horowitz, Bard Organizations: Morning, US, Google, Microsoft, Meta, New York Times, CNN, Office, Hollywood

☆ OpenAI launches ChatGPT Enterprise, the company's biggest announcement since ChatGPT's debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI on Monday announced its biggest news since ChatGPT's debut: It's launching ChatGPT Enterprise, the AI chatbot's business tier, available starting Monday. ChatGPT Enterprise includes access to GPT-4 with no usage caps, performance that's up to two times faster than previous versions, and API credits. One key differentiator between ChatGPT Enterprise and the consumer-facing version: ChatGPT Enterprise will allow clients to input company data to train and customize ChatGPT for their own industries and use cases, although some of those features aren't yet available in Monday's debut. When asked how ChatGPT Enterprise compares with Bing Chat Enterprise, Microsoft's enterprise AI chatbot, an OpenAI representative told CNBC, "This is an OpenAI product independent of Microsoft. The biggest obstacle to ChatGPT Enterprise's development was figuring out how to prioritize features, Lightcap told CNBC.

Persons: OpenAI, Brad Lightcap, Lightcap, Estée Lauder Cos, Andreessen Horowitz, Brian Burke, ChatGPT, Bard chatbot, Bing, Claude 2, Sam Altman, — Organizations: Monday, ChatGPT, CNBC, ChatGPT Enterprise, Beta, Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, Gartner, Fortune, Google

☆ Mysterious new California city backed by some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view of the city of San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge in California, October 28, 2021. Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader, has been quietly working to build an urban utopia in California nestled near San Francisco and Silicon Valley. But just a few years after the mysterious project got underway, it is facing increasing scrutiny from local officials and residents. Local residents were unnerved by the company as it bought up more and more land, according to the report. Read more at The New York Times.

Persons: Jan Sramek, Goldman Sachs, Sramek, Flannery, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Michael Moritz, Read Organizations: The New York Times, Flannery Associates, Bloomberg, LinkedIn, Democratic, Times Locations: San Francisco, California, Silicon

☆ Tech IPOs are coming back — now they have to perform
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

It's been 20 months since a notable venture-backed tech company went public in the U.S., and the chatter in Silicon Valley has centered around who will break the ice. The three companies have very little in common, but collectively they represent a test of the excitement level among public market investors for new opportunities. Depending on how they perform out of the gate, their offerings could propel others to follow in the fourth quarter. By "yesteryear," Buyer is referring to the kinds of valuations tech companies were achieving in 2020 and 2021, which were record years for tech IPOs. DoorDash, which is probably Instacart's closest public market comparison, currently trades at 3.8 times revenue.

Persons: It's, Japan's SoftBank, Lise Buyer, yesteryear, DoorDash, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Nasdaq, V, Software, Sequoia Locations: U.S, yesteryear

☆ Instacart files to go public on Nasdaq to try and unfreeze tech IPO market
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Instacart, the grocery delivery company that slashed its valuation during last year's market slide, filed its paperwork to go public on Friday in what's poised to be the first significant venture-backed tech IPO since December 2021. In May, Instacart said it was leaning into the generative AI boom with Ask Instacart, a search tool that aims to answer customers' grocery shopping questions. Instacart will try and crack open the IPO market, which has been mostly closed since late 2021. In March of last year, Instacart slashed its valuation to $24 billion from $39 billion as public stocks sank. Apoorva Mehta, Instacart's founder and executive chairman, plans to transition off the board after the company's public market debut, according to a 2022 release.

Persons: Instacart, Fidji Simo, haven't, Japan's SoftBank, Uber, They've, Simo, Mark Zuckerberg, Apoorva Mehta, Barry McCarthy, Snowflake, Frank Slootman, Andreessen Horowitz's Jeff Jordan, Shipt, Goldman Sachs, Nick Giovanni Organizations: Nasdaq, PepsiCo, Maplebear Inc, Target, Walmart, Meta, Walmart Grocery, Google, Sequoia Capital, DJ Capital Partners, Norges Bank Investment Management, TCV, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management Locations: what's

☆ As the IPO market comes back to life, Navan (formerly TripActions) is targeting an April 2024 listing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, Insider has learned. Navan, formerly known as TripActions, is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter not authorized to speak publicly. However, this month the nearly two year dormant IPO market has finally shown signs of coming to life. Andreessen Horowitz first invested in TripActions in 2018, when it led the company's series C funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation and general partner Ben Horowitz joined the board. Navan has raised more than $2 billion in equity and debt financing since it was founded 2015, according to Pitchbook.

Persons: Ariel Cohen, Kelly Soderlund, Instacart, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, It's, " Horowitz Organizations: Navan, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, Softbank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, Zeev Ventures Locations: Navan, Caplight, TripActions

☆ Fin Capital has become the most prolific fintech investor in the world. Behind the scenes, there's been a phishing attack, whistleblower complaints, and a wave of exits.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

It was August 2021, during the waning months of the frothy startup bull market, and Fin Capital was on the ascent. The message was a phishing attack — Fin Capital had been hacked. But there is dispute over how Fin Capital handled the attack and its aftermath. Still, as other firms have sharply pulled back on investing in the downturn, Fin Capital has done the opposite. It's unclear whether the whistleblower complaints that former Fin Capital employees filed with the SEC are being investigated.

Persons: Logan Allin, Fin Capital, Allin, you've, Gene Price, Frost Brown Todd, who'd, It's, fiduciaries, Capital, Tom Allin, Obama, Forbes, you'll, he'd, Peter Thiel ., Henry Kravis, Roelof Botha, Thiel, Kravis, Botha, fintech, Pipe's cofounders, Peter Ackerson, Ackerson, Andreessen Horowitz, fundraisings, Ben Bergman, bbergman Organizations: Fin, Sequoia, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Fin Capital, Francis Yacht Club, Constellation, titans, KKR, Sequoia Capital, Caplight, FT Partners, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Locations: York, Los Angeles, Fin, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, fintech, Sequoia

☆ Tech's broken promises: Streaming is now just as expensive and confusing as cable. Ubers cost as much as taxis. And the cloud is no longer cheap.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The various bundles are now as annoyingly confusing as cable, and cost basically the same. The Financial Times recently reported that a basket of the top US streaming services will cost $87 this fall, compared with $73 a year ago. Cloud promises are being brokenFinally, there's the cloud, which promised cheaper and more secure computing for companies. In the roughly five years since going public, the company has spent about $3 billion on cloud services from Google and AWS. So, cloud services connected to the internet are great for everyone, except Google?

Persons: we're, Uber, Lyft, Steven Levy, Dara Khosrowshahi, Khosrowshahi, Slack, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Morning, Netflix, Disney, Wall Street, Paramount, Showtime, Financial Times, Tacoma International, Microsoft, Google, CNBC Locations: New York City, Seattle

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes Elon Musk's devastating exit: 'I had to reorient a lot of my life and time'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he had to "reorient a lot of my life and time" after Elon Musk left the company. Elon Musk's 2018 departure from OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT — rocked the artificial intelligence organization, according to a sweeping new report from The New Yorker. It is estimated that Musk poured between $50 million to $100 million of his own funds into OpenAI, The New Yorker reported. In 2018, Musk left the company's board. When he stepped down, Musk also backed out of his commitment to continue funding OpenAI, a source told The New Yorker, which left Altman scrambling.

Persons: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Musk, Musk's, Elon Musk's, OpenAI, ChatGPT —, Altman, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Tesla, Semafor, Hoffman, ChatGPT, Andreessen Horowitz, ChatGPT's, company's Organizations: Elon, Morning, Yorker, New Yorker, Microsoft, Sequoia, K2 Global Locations: OpenAI, New Yorker

☆ Instacart’s slow IPO delivery spoils the goods
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Aug 18(Reuters Breakingviews) - Instacart may finally be in the market for new investors. The grocery delivery company is set to submit an initial public offering prospectus to regulators as soon as next week, Bloomberg reported. Fund managers were on a shopping spree when Simo was appointed Instacart’s boss in August 2021. The slow IPO delivery has spoiled the goods. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Fidji Simo, Simo, Jay Ritter, Instacart, Andreessen Horowitz, Rowe Price, Jennifer Saba, EY’s loveless, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Bloomberg, University of Florida, Twitter, TPG, Thomson

☆ The CEO of Rewind AI publicly shared his performance reviews. Some criticized his communication while others praised his leadership.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The CEO of Rewind AI made his own 360-degree performance reviews public to be transparent. Some criticized his communication style while others praised his resourcefulness and leadership. The CEO of Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup Rewind AI has taken the unusual step of publicly sharing his own performance reviews in an effort to demonstrate the level of transparency at his company. Dan Siroker, who previously founded A/B testing company Optimizely, posted his last five 360 reviews, which include feedback from colleagues, in a tweet on Thursday. One of the Rewind AI chief's reviews suggested that he needed to change his tone when communicating with workers on Slack.

Persons: Dan Siroker, Andreessen Horowitz, Siroker, Sam Altman, Siroker's, Brett Bejcek, Dan Siroker didn't Organizations: Morning, Siroker, New Enterprise Association Locations: New York

☆ How $7.75 billion Hopin went from pandemic darling to selling off its flagship business for $50 million and handing back some investor cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Tasmin Lockwood | Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Virtual-events startup Hopin was a pandemic winner when it hit a $7.8 billion valuation in 2021. Now its CEO is stepping down, it's selling off parts of its business, and is set to hand back investor cash. But as vaccinations arrived and the travel restrictions eased, demand for Hopin's platform waned. "The pandemic was an extraordinary time to be investing," one London-based tech investor who had not backed Hopin said. Armed with more than $1 billion in investor cash, Boufarhat opted to make acquisitions.

Persons: Johnny Boufarhat, Boufarhat, Andreessen Horowitz, Catalyst, Slack, Hopin, Johnny ", Hopin Boufarhat, outsized, Streamyard, Badri Rajasekar, Klarna Organizations: Tiger, UPS, RingCentral, University of Manchester, Financial Times, Venture, Founders, Microsoft, Private Locations: London, Australia, Lebanese, US, Dubai, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, Hopin

Da Ponte denied a Bloomberg report that the payments processor paused development of its stablecoin in February. But da Ponte argues this troubled backdrop is exactly why PayPal is poised to succeed. Then there's the hypothetical digital dollar that would be the Fed's take on a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. "We have a large base of consumers; we have a large base of merchants," da Ponte said of PayPal's "two-sided network." Da Ponte sees PayPal's more than 20-year tenure in the payments space as one of the company's chief advantages in the stablecoin market.

Persons: Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal's, Da Ponte, Paxos, it's, Ponte, stablecoins, Nic Carter, Stablecoins, Carter, Andy Bromberg, Andreessen Horowitz, Bromberg, PYUSD, Jeremy Allaire, Allaire, Patrick McHenry, McHenry Organizations: PayPal, CNBC, Bloomberg, SEC, New, Regulators, Valley Bank, U.S ., U.S, Castle, Ventures, Companies, Eco, Coinbase Ventures, Paypal, Facebook, Financial Services, America Locations: U.S, New York, Bromberg, web3, United States, R, DexTools

Hands hold the biometric imaging device, the Orb, of the identity and financial public utility Worldcoin, which aims to create a World ID digital passport, with a tradeable cryptocurrency, in Berlin, Germany August 1, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File PhotoAug 8 (Reuters) - Worldcoin has no problem attracting eyeballs. More than 2.2 million people have signed up, getting their irises scanned in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free crypto. The new project from ChatGPT founder Sam Altman aims to create a blockchain-based "identity and financial network". PitchBook analyst Robert Le said there were several startups trying to build blockchain-based digital identity systems, but none on Worldcoin's scale.

Persons: Annegret, Sam Altman, WLD, Gordon Grant, Andreessen Horowitz, Robert Le, James Butterfill, Worldcoin, It's, Riyad Carey, Elizabeth Howcroft, Pravin Organizations: REUTERS, Genesis, Reuters Graphics, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Pravin Char, Thomson, Reuters Locations: Berlin, Germany, Kenya

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