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Waymo's robotaxis coming to Austin, Texas
  + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +2 min
Waymo, the Alphabet -owned autonomous vehicle company, is officially entering the land of breakfast tacos: Austin, Texas will become the newest city to offer Waymo's ride-hailing services, according to a Wednesday announcement. Austin is the fourth major city to allow Waymo's ride-hailing pilot program, behind Metro Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service will be available night and day in areas like downtown Austin, Barton Hills, East Austin, Hyde Park, Riverside and more, according to a blog post. Bonelli declined to share a specific vehicle count for Waymo's planned Austin fleet. Waymo announced in late July it would "push back the timeline" on its autonomous semi-truck development and instead focus on autonomous ride-hailing services.
Persons: Austin, Chris Bonelli, Bonelli, Waymo's, Waymo, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Metro Phoenix, CNBC, Hyde Locations: Austin , Texas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, LA, Barton Hills, East Austin, Hyde Park , Riverside, U.S
Some AI models that compete against Stack Overflow were partly trained on the company's data. Online communities, like Stack Overflow and Wikipedia, thrived as hubs for experts and curious browsers to come together and share information freely. In 2021, Prosus, a major backer of Chinese tech giant Tencent, bought Stack Overflow for $1.8 billion. However, Nat Friedman, the CEO of Github through 2021, expects tech companies to pay for training data in the future. Stack Overflow is also working on new ways to measure the impact of a human's answer on the platform.
Persons: Prashanth Chandrasekar, OpenAI, Chandrasekar, coders, OpenAI's GPT, Stack, Elon Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, JASON REDMOND, Jaap Arriens, GitHub, it's, chatGPT, Nasim Uddin, we're, Nat Friedman, Nat Friedman GitHub Friedman, Friedman, Axel Springer, Semafor, Prashanth Organizations: Union Square Ventures, Getty, Twitter, Publishers, Microsoft, Associated Press Locations: GPT, Prosus, AFP
Hopin, last valued at $7.8 billion, said on Wednesday it has sold its virtual events business. Hopin founder Johnny Boufarhat is also set to depart his role as CEO next month. Hopin, one of Europe's fastest-growing startups in history, has sold its main events business for an undisclosed fee, the company announced on Wednesday. But a slowdown in demand for virtual events as the world reopened mixed with a broader downturn in tech has hobbled the company's growth. Now, Hopin said it has sold its main events business – Events and Sessions – to RingCentral, a publically-listed cloud communications provider.
Persons: Hopin, RingCentral, Johnny Boufarhat, Andreessen Horowitz, Badri Rajasekar, Boufarhat, StreamYard Organizations: Tiger Global, Catalyst, Financial Times, Sunday Times Locations: Hopin
Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen said he introduced his 8-year-old son to ChatGPT shortly after the AI chatbot made headlines late last year. the Andreessen Horowitz cofounder told Joe Rogan of the first time he introduced his son to ChatGPT. Andreessen said his son told him. that my 8-year-old is gonna have by the time he's 20, it's gonna have had 12 years of experience with him," he told Rogan. He told Rogan he believes people typically frame new technology around the potential dangers it presents instead of its advantages.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, ChatGPT, Andreessen Horowitz, Joe Rogan, Horowitz, I've, it's, Rogan, It'll, OpenAI
OpenAI's ChatGPT app now available for Android
  + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +1 min
OpenAI, the buzzy AI startup backed by Microsoft , debuted the Android version of its ChatGPT app on Tuesday. The app's rollout follows the iOS app's debut in May, which marked the first time it was available outside of OpenAI's website. The Android app is available in the U.S., India, Bangladesh and Brazil. The news comes as the AI arms race heats up among chatbot leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft , Google and Anthropic. In an effort to encourage consumers to adopt generative AI into their daily routines, tech giants are racing to launch not only new chatbot apps, but also new features, such as visual search.
Persons: it's, OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Sequoia Capital Locations: OpenAI's, U.S, India, Bangladesh, Brazil
Here are five more tech companies which changed their names — some controversially, and others leading to success. From The Facebook to Facebook, then MetaMark Zuckerberg at Harvard University, three months after The Facebook was created. But the business plan was first written for a company called Cadabra, as in a magician's "Abracadabra." Before Twitter became X, X.com became PayPalPeter Thiel, left, and Elon Musk, right, hold VISA credit cards branded with the X.com company logo on October 20, 2000. Paul Sakuma/APElon Musk cofounded the online payment company X.com in 1999 before it merged with Peter Thiel's Confinity a year later.
Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Rick Friedman, Sean Parker, Justin Timberlake, Zuckerberg, that's, Frances Haugen, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Martin Magunia, Brin, Sundar Pichai, Mike Krieger, Kevin Systrom, Stephen Chernin Instagram, Andreessen Horowitz, Krieger, Systrom, Instagram, Jeff Bezos, Evan Agostini, , Bezos, Mackenzie Scott, X.com, PayPal Peter Thiel, Paul Sakuma, AP Elon Musk, Peter Thiel's Confinity, Jimmy Soni's, Thiel, Walter Isaacson Organizations: Twitter, PayPal, Morning, Facebook, Harvard University, Meta, VR, Reality Labs, Google, Getty, Stanford, Microsoft, REUTERS, Baseline Ventures, Stanford University, Inc, Amazon, AP Elon, eBay Locations: Burbn
Marc Andreessen championed AI as a personalized teaching tool for children in a podcast interview. In AI, children will have a partner "whose goal in life will be to make them as happy and satisfied and successful as possible," he said. Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen — who has long been bullish on the tech — thinks AI is a lifelong "ally" for the children of tomorrow as they both grow up together. Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast last Wednesday, Andreessen shared how he had introduced his 8-year-old son to the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT as an educational tool. One e-commerce CEO sparked outrage for laying off 90% of his support staff after an AI chatbot outperformed them.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, Marc Andreessen —, Joe Rogan, Andreessen, it's, Andreessen Horowitz, Wharton, Ethan Mollick Organizations: ChatGPT, Morning, Billionaire, Microsoft
And, in that same earnings call earlier this year, Novogratz said Galaxy hired some traders based in Hong Kong. Just this week, Societe General 's crypto arm received approval by France's financial regulator to offer crypto services, including crypto assets. The next month, Hong Kong implemented a new licensing regime so crypto exchanges can serve retail customers. Hong Kong, in particular, has tried to position itself as an international hub for crypto. Galaxy Chief Investment Officer Chris Ferraro echoed that sentiment in a recent "Crypto World" interview.
Persons: , Mike Novogratz, Brian Armstrong, Novogratz, Cantor Fitzgerald's Elliot Han, Dean Sovolos, Lily King, Cobo, Owen Lau, Chris Ferraro, Kraken –, Binance, Han, we're Organizations: BlackRock, SEC, Washington, Galaxy, United, Gemini, Payment, Societe, European Union, Crypto, Assets Regulatory Authority, Financial, Oppenheimer, U.S, Coinbase, Huobi, BTC Locations: U.S, Europe, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bermuda, United Arab Emirates, Asia, Gurgaon, India, Singapore, United States, East, VARA, B2C2, Silicon, London, Berlin, China
Marc Andreessen told billionaires to homeschool their children at the Sun Valley conference. Legendary venture capital investor Marc Andreessen has used this week's Sun Valley conference to espouse the benefits of homeschooling. Musk and Zuckerberg have been been trading barbs online since Musk summoned Zuckerberg to a cage fight last month. Meanwhile, it's not the first time that Andreessen has called for more homeschooling. "It certainly feels like we're on the front end of a pretty dramatic homeschooling boom," Andreessen said.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, “ We’re, Puck's Dylan Byers, Peter Thiel, Andreessen, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Byers, Musk, Zuckerberg, it's, Colossus, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz Organizations: Sun, Morning
Marc Andreessen, speaking on a panel with Peter Thiel, backed a Zuckerberg-Musk cage fight. Andreessen and Thiel also said, unrelated, that attendees should homeschool their kids. Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen is apparently rooting for Tesla's Elon Musk and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg to square off in a cage match. He and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel also urged the event's attendees to homeschool their children, Puck reported. Representatives for both Andreessen and Thiel did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Zuckerberg, Andreessen, Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Puck's Dylan Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Puck Organizations: Morning, Allen & Company, Allen, Co, Zuckerberg, New York Times, Thiel Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho, Idaho, Silicon
It's an opportunity worth watching for investors, and crypto speculators have recently been doing just that. Grayscale Investments recently highlighted three potential risks posed by AI that crypto could potentially limit – identity verification, centralization and data ownership and privacy. Accredited U.S. investors can gain direct exposure to AI-related crypto protocols by investing in private venture fundraising rounds, he added. "So far in 2023, venture capitalists have invested $422 million in crypto applications related to AI, privacy, and identity," according to Grayscale. "In total, the crypto-AI intersection represents more than 10% of total crypto venture capital (VC) funding to date, including two out of the four largest funding rounds."
Persons: , memecoin influencer Elon Musk, Jack O'Holleran, O'Holleran, William Ogden Moore, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, Smart, We've Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC Locations: U.S, Gensyn
Google was working on an AI-powered mobile chatbot app for Gen Z users that features interactive digital characters, CNBC has learned. However, the company recently "deprioritized" those efforts amid an internal reorganization, according to materials seen by CNBC. Typically, when a product is deprioritized at Google, work on it ceases. Called "Bubble Characters," the app featured a choice of a talking digital character that would interact in conversations with Gen Z users, according to internal documentation viewed by CNBC. The Gen Z chatbot was one among a range of AI-powered projects using Google's large language models in the last several months.
Persons: Gen, chatbot, Bard, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Google, CNBC
$12 billion HR startup Deel is facing calls for a California Secretary of Labor investigation. Multiple California state senators criticized Deel for misclassifying workers, citing reporting from Insider. The company is heavily reliant on independent contractors, Insider previously reported. A California senator is calling for the state's Secretary of Labor to investigate Deel, a buzzy San Francisco-based HR startup valued $12 billion, over "brazen employment misclassification." 17 current or former Deel workers had told Insider in March that they had concerns the company may be misclassifying contract workers' employment status.
Persons: Deel, Stewart Knox, Stephen Padilla, Andreessen Horowitz, Emerson, Alex Bouaziz, Padilla, Dave Cortese, María Elena Durazo, We've, Thomas Lenz Organizations: Labor, Morning, Labor and Workforce Development Agency, Contractors, Senate Labor, Public, Global Employment, University of Southern California Gould School of Law Locations: California, San Francisco, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Nigeria
The pair discussed a wide range of topics including the rise of AI and the history of Silicon Valley. Andreessen gave a set of traits that he thinks the best founders in Silicon Valley share. Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen says the best startup founders in Silicon Valley share a few important traits. Overall, he said he believes the best founders are "some combination" of super-smart, super-energetic, and super-courageous. The best founders are capable of dealing with lots of rejection, he said.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, Lex Fridman, Andreessen, Fridman, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Billionaire, Netscape Locations: Silicon Valley, Silicon
www.fractalsoftware.comOf the dozens of Fractal startups that have raised a seed round of funding, about half had Bienville Capital lead the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Others say they knew what they were getting into with a venture studio, where a large ownership position is standard. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty ImagesThe biggest draw for some Fractal founders was its plug-and-play approach. The founder of one Fractal startup remembered a time when his company was struggling to grow its customer base. That firm is raising a new $325 million fund to provide additional funding to Fractal companies exclusively, according to a person familiar with the effort.
Persons: Fractal's, he'd, they'd, Andreessen Horowitz, Mike Furlong, Nate Baker, Bienville, , Brendan Smialowski, Founders, Angela Lee, Furlong, Baker, Ezra Shaw, who'd, who's, It's, Lee, She's, 8VC, Bain, Jeff Greenberg, Omri Bloch, who've, didn't, Stephanie Palazzolo, Melia Russell Organizations: Flatiron Health, Bienville, Insight Partners, Bienville Capital, Getty, Columbia Business School, Alpha, Midwest, Science, Olympic Club, Tiger Global, Craft Ventures, Founders, Vertical Venture Partners, Zag, Crew Capital, Bain Capital, Universal, Foundation, Fifth Locations: Bienville Capital, New York, Bienville, Indio, AFP, Santa Monica , California, Miami, San Francisco, GreenSpark, Columbia, Barti, Aktos, Bessemer, 8VC
ICYMI: This is the last week of 10 Things on Wall Street. Insider's Rebecca Ungarino has more details on how long the beef between Overdeck and Siegel has been brewing behind the scenes. What stands out to me about the drama at Two Sigma is how it all seems to be so petty. The Two Sigma cofounder was included only as an example of the type of managers Haider had eclipsed. The asset manager tapped two internal executives to serve as co-CEOs of the firm, succeeding CEO Jay Wintrob, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, I'm, Billy Joel's, , we've, Goldman, Cofounders David Siegel, John Overdeck, David Siegel, cofounders, Insider's Rebecca Ungarino, Siegel, Rebecca, Haidar Capital's Said Haidar, Haider, Penny, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Scott Olson, Ruobing Su, Michael Broadbery, Goldman Sachs, Maza, Andreessen Horowitz, Seth Klarman, Jay Wintrob, Robert O'Leary, Armen Panossian, Everybody's, they're, Joey Hadden, Jeffrey Cane, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Sigma, Baupost, Oaktree Capital, Street, Wall, LinkedIn Locations: Omaha, New York, London
Norwest has hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky to be its third operating executive. The hire is part of the firm's recent expansion of its portfolio services team for its founders. Here's why more VC firms may be doubling down on these roles during the market downturn. "We try to be an invited guest in the companies," he said of his work with his first four Norwest portfolio companies. For Norwest, its portfolio services team was launched 13 years ago by partner Katie Belding, who has been at the firm for over two decades.
Persons: Norwest, David Rudnitsky, Rudnitsky, he's, Marc Benioff, I've, It's, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Katie Belding, Belding, Lisa Ames, Renée Cohen Organizations: Norwest Venture Partners, Oracle, Netscape, Salesforce
Now, Maza has just raised $8 million in seed funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz. A year and a half later, and Maza has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Customers will have access to Maza's banking services, which include card services, check deposit, and tax services. Down the road, however, the cofounders envision Maza as an "identity" company rather than a banking company, akin to CLEAR in airports, said Arango. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck that Maza used to raise $8 million in seed funding: (Note: certain proprietary information has been redacted.)
Persons: Maza, Andreessen Horowitz, Maza cofounders Luciano Arango, Robbie Figueroa, Siggy, Arango, Anré Williams, Figueroa, Wells Fargo, Seema Amble Organizations: Maza's, LinkedIn, SV Angel, Restive Ventures, Global Founders Capital, American Express National Bank, William Hockey, Plaid Locations: United States, Bilstein, Maza, Wells, Colombia
CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Building the backbone of a spacecraft – the satellite bus, which provides the structure, power and movement – has long been a mission-focused endeavor. But Los Angeles-based Apex, founded last year by Ian Cinnamon and Max Benassi, is working to create a satellite bus manufacturer that flips that practice on its head. The startup raised an additional $16 million in a round led by VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Shield Capital, bringing its total raised to over $27 million, Apex said. "Fundamentally, we're building a real business with real unit economics where we're able to make money on every single sale," he added.
Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, , Ian Cinnamon, Max Benassi, Cinnamon, We're, they're, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Aries, Shield Capital, Apex Locations: Los Angeles, Apex
10 Things in Tech: Low morale at Microsoft
  + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
Morale appears to be low at Microsoft. According to internal messages, those changes were another blow to morale, after Microsoft announced it was laying off 10,000 staff in January. In other news:The AGI House is the Bay Area's hottest AI hacker house, hosting dinners, hackathons, and fireside chats on a weekly basis. Founders and VCs are clamoring to get into a $68 million AI hacker house. AGI House, an 18,000 square foot Hillsborough mansion, serves as a hacker house and community hub for the Bay's exploding AI scene.
Persons: Hallam Bullock, Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Stephanie Palazzolo, ElevenLabs, Andreessen Horowitz, Wharton, Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Wu, Meta, Ashley Flowers, Jordan Pettitt, Shona Ghosh Organizations: CBS, US Coast Guard, Microsoft, Workers, Tmall, Getty Locations: London
Earlier this year, Insider highlighted the 32 most important VCs in Los Angeles. Now we are highlighting the next wave of VCs in Los Angeles. To identify the top up-and-coming VCs in LA, Insider surveyed more than 75 local investors. Earlier this year, Insider highlighted the 32 most important VCs in Los Angeles, but venture capital is a young person's game where no one can rest on their laurels. To identify the top up-and-coming VCs in LA, Insider surveyed more than 75 local investors and sought input from its editorial team.
Persons: Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: LA Tech, SpaceX, Netflix, Apple, Meta, Telstra Ventures, Marquee Locations: Los Angeles, LA, Southern California, VCs, New York, Santa Monica
AI company ElevenLabs has raised $19 million in fresh funding, confirming earlier Insider reporting. Year-old AI voice startup ElevenLabs has raised $19 million in early-stage funding, as venture capital investors rush to back firms in generative AI. Cofounder and CEO Mati Staniszewski previously told Insider that the startup saw huge potential in the publishing and audiobooks sector. Since launching its beta platform in January 2023, the startup says it has hit 1 million users and generated over 10 years of audio content. Credo Ventures and Concept Ventures, which backed the startup's $2 million pre-seed round, also joined the new round.
Persons: ElevenLabs, Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Mike Krieger, Mustafa Suleyman, Brendan Iribe, Mati Staniszewski, Staniszewski Organizations: Venture, Ventures, Concept Ventures Locations: London, New York
AI startups raised $60 billion last year and investors have continued to pile in on the tech in 2023. Below are 20 pitch decks used by European startups deploying AI in everything from health to property. V7Generative AI, media, and designThis startup uses generative AI to speed up the property-buying process. This AI startup helps Big Tech firms compress videos while maintaining quality. This AI startup helps firms like TrueLayer and CurrencyCloud meet their revenue targets.
Persons: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, Alberto Rizzoli, Simon Edwardsson, Iris Organizations: Morning, Investment, Venture, Insight Partners, Ventures, Google, Creative Fabrica, Big Tech, Health, Microsoft, Enterprise, Ikea, Twitter, CurrencyCloud Locations: Temasek
Uber is adding groceries and over-the-counter medical items to its Uber Health services. Uber on Tuesday said that it plans to work with health plans and providers to prescribe food as medicine. Instacart in March launched digital tools to allow doctors to prescribe food the way they might prescribe a medication. Caitlin Donovan, global head of Uber Health Uber HealthHealthier eating members could have major financial implications for insurers. "When you combine demand for healthcare services with the core competencies of Uber with the ability to do good, I think that's a very powerful confirmation that speaks to why Uber Health is part of Uber," Donovan said.
Persons: Uber, Andreessen Horowitz, Caitlin Donovan, Donovan, It's, Dara Khosrowshahi, Leigh Vogel, Uber's Organizations: Uber Health, Instacart, Kroger, Health, Getty, Uber
Mark Cuban recently appeared on the a16z podcast "Bio Eats World" to talk about healthcare. Cuban believes healthcare systems need to adopt more of a "Netflix model" to "truly work." Mark Cuban has been disrupting healthcare with his low-cost online pharmacy, but there are other areas of the industry that can be improved upon too, he believes. Cuban believes that this model, in some ways, can also be applied to a local hospital or healthcare system. "If we're going to change healthcare," Cuban said.
Persons: Mark Cuban, Vijay Pande, Andreessen Organizations: Netflix, Dallas Mavericks, Cuban, Plus Locations: Cuban
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