The Information

Anthropic’s Gross Margin Flags Long-Term AI Profit Questions

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Maria Heeter · Jan 22, 2024 6:00am PST · 9 comments

In the past year, artificial intelligence developer Anthropic has raised billions of dollars at a more than $15 billion valuation due to its fast revenue growth and big projections for future sales. But as Anthropic and scores of rivals mature, they’ll need to prioritize profit margins and cash flows if they want to build a sustainable... In the past year, artificial intelligence developer Anthropic has raised billions of dollars at a...

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Photo by Getty

Struggling Logistics Firm Flexport Raises $260 Million from Shopify

By Theo Wayt · Jan 19, 2024 2:11pm PST · 3 comments

Flexport is raising $260 million from e-commerce software giant Shopify, one of its biggest shareholders, according to two people with direct knowledge, giving the struggling logistics startup more breathing room after it burned through cash last year. Shopify will get notes that are convertible into Flexport equity in exchange for the money.... Flexport is raising $260 million from e-commerce software giant Shopify, one of its biggest...

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images.

Citi in Talks With Analytics Startup to Expand Lending

By Michael Roddan · Jan 19, 2024 1:04pm PST · 3 comments

Citigroup is in discussions with cash flow analytics startup Prism Data about incorporating the firm’s technology in its consumer credit underwriting, according to people close to the discussions between the two firms. A Citi deal with Prism would be a boost for the startup. Spun off from Peter Thiel–backed credit card fintech firm... Citigroup is in discussions with cash flow analytics startup Prism Data about incorporating the...

Photo via Shutterstock

Databricks Preps Employee Share Sale

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Jan 17, 2024 1:13pm PST · 2 comments

Photo via Shutterstock

Databricks Preps Employee Share Sale

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Jan 17, 2024 1:13pm PST · 2 comments

Databricks, one of the most valuable of the private tech companies, told employees last week it is planning to allow early staffers to cash out some of their shares in the coming months by lining up investors to buy their stock, people familiar with the matter said. In arranging the share sale, Databricks is following in the footsteps of... Databricks, one of the most valuable of the private tech companies, told employees last week it...

Photos via Getty.

Why Shopify Has Payments Power Over Amazon

By Theo Wayt · Jan 17, 2024 7:53am PST

For Amazon, providing customer checkout and delivery services to merchants that don’t sell on its site offers a tantalizing growth opportunity. But to take full advantage of it, Amazon has to figure out how to work with archrival Shopify, which is a key gatekeeper because it sells e-commerce software to millions of mostly small online... For Amazon, providing customer checkout and delivery services to merchants that don’t sell...

From Left: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Photos by Getty

Behind OpenAI Meltdown, Valley Heavyweight Reid Hoffman Calmed Microsoft Nerves

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 17, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Minutes after OpenAI’s board of directors announced it had fired CEO Sam Altman on Nov. 17, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman received a call from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The board’s decision shocked executives at Microsoft, which had agreed to invest more than $13 billion in the fast-growing artificial intelligence startup.... Minutes after OpenAI’s board of directors announced it had fired CEO Sam Altman on Nov. 17,...

Left to right: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks; and OpenAI director Adam D'Angelo; Photos via Getty

OpenAI Board’s Search for New Directors Includes a Rival

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 16, 2024 2:22pm PST · 5 comments

Last month, OpenAI board director Adam D’Angelo called Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi to see if he might consider joining OpenAI’s board, according to a person familiar with the situation. That kind of request might not seem unusual—except that Ghodsi has positioned Databricks as a kind of anti-OpenAI through its business of helping... Last month, OpenAI board director Adam D’Angelo called Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi to see if...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (left) and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Photos via Getty.

Google’s Defense Against OpenAI Talent Grab: Special Stock

By Jon Victor · Jan 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (left) and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Photos via Getty.

Google’s Defense Against OpenAI Talent Grab: Special Stock

By Jon Victor · Jan 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Even as Google makes a major round of staff cuts, it is tapping a special pool of stock compensation to retain its top artificial intelligence researchers as rival OpenAI lures them with multimillion-dollar pay packages. Select researchers at Google’s DeepMind unit, which is at the center of its most important initiatives, have received... Even as Google makes a major round of staff cuts, it is tapping a special pool of stock...

HongShan's chief, Neil Shen, and Iluvatar GPUs. Photos by Bloomberg via Getty.

Sequoia’s Former Chinese Arm Backs Another Nvidia Challenger

By Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Jan 11, 2024 7:25am PST

HongShan, a prominent Chinese venture capital firm that recently separated from Sequoia Capital, has invested in a startup that competes with U.S. artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia in the Chinese market, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. It’s the latest of several investments HongShan has made in domestic AI... HongShan, a prominent Chinese venture capital firm that recently separated from Sequoia Capital,...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Midjourney

Cybersecurity Startups Face Down Rounds, Sale Pressures

By Maria Heeter and Cory Weinberg · Jan 11, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

It’s a paradox: Cyberattacks against governments, companies and individuals are escalating dramatically, lifting cybersecurity spending to a record. And yet there are so many cybersecurity startups competing with each other—and with bigger tech companies such as Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks—that a shakeout in the sector is... It’s a paradox: Cyberattacks against governments, companies and individuals are escalating...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

JPMorgan’s WePay Abruptly Dumps Business Customers

By Michael Roddan · Jan 10, 2024 6:00am PST

JPMorgan Chase has stopped providing payments services for many long-standing clients of WePay, the payments processing business for small accounting and marketing businesses it acquired in 2017, suggesting a retreat in the bank’s efforts to compete with Stripe. JPMorgan had bought WePay, a Silicon Valley–based firm, to try to... JPMorgan Chase has stopped providing payments services for many long-standing clients of WePay,...

Kosas product displays at the Kosas, Beauty Undone launch party in 2018. Photo by Getty.

Kosas Taps Bankers to Explore Sale as Beauty Startup M&A Heats Up

By Ann Gehan · Jan 9, 2024 3:28pm PST · 1 comment

Kosas product displays at the Kosas, Beauty Undone launch party in 2018. Photo by Getty.

Kosas Taps Bankers to Explore Sale as Beauty Startup M&A Heats Up

By Ann Gehan · Jan 9, 2024 3:28pm PST · 1 comment

The Gen Z-favorite cosmetics brand Kosas has hired bankers to explore a potential sale, according to two people familiar with the matter, signaling that a recent wave of beauty startup sales is likely to keep gaining steam. Dealmaking among beauty companies has remained relatively resilient even as mergers and acquisitions have slumped broadly,... The Gen Z-favorite cosmetics brand Kosas has hired bankers to explore a potential sale, according...

Relativity engineers and technicians prepare the Terran 1 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla.. Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images.

Relativity Space Closes in On New Funding for Its 3D Printed Rockets

By Becky Peterson · Jan 9, 2024 1:49pm PST

Relativity Space, which last year launched into space the first rocket made with 3D printing, is in talks to raise money in a round that values the company at around $4.2 billion, flat with its last funding round in 2021, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Existing investors Bond and Social Capital are among the firms... Relativity Space, which last year launched into space the first rocket made with 3D printing, is...

Keith Rabois. Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Founders Fund’s Keith Rabois to Return to Khosla Ventures

By Kate Clark · Jan 9, 2024 12:14pm PST · 7 comments

Two days before Christmas, Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois boarded a flight to Park City, Utah, to have dinner with Vinod Khosla, the founder of venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and an early backer of OpenAI. By the end of the evening, the pair had agreed that Rabois would join Khosla Ventures as a managing director, its most... Two days before Christmas, Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois boarded a flight to Park...

Image by Getty.

Fintech-Focused Vetamer Capital Shuts Down Hedge Fund

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 8, 2024 4:18pm PST

Vetamer Capital, an investor in public and private tech companies started by a Lone Pine Capital veteran just three years ago with $350 million to invest, has shut down its public-equities hedge fund and returned capital to investors, the firm said in a recent letter to its investors. The San Francisco-based firm is a notable addition to the... Vetamer Capital, an investor in public and private tech companies started by a Lone Pine Capital...

Parag Agrawal, former Twitter CEO, during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 7, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.

Former Twitter CEO’s AI Startup Raises $30 Million in Khosla-Led Deal

By Kate Clark · Jan 8, 2024 1:52pm PST

Parag Agrawal, former Twitter CEO, during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 7, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.

Former Twitter CEO’s AI Startup Raises $30 Million in Khosla-Led Deal

By Kate Clark · Jan 8, 2024 1:52pm PST

Parag Agrawal, who was CEO of Twitter for a year before Elon Musk took over the social media app in late 2022, recently raised about $30 million in funding for an artificial intelligence startup, according to two people familiar with the deal. Khosla Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI, led the funding in Agrawal’s company, which... Parag Agrawal, who was CEO of Twitter for a year before Elon Musk took over the social media app...

Athelas' Tanay Tandon. Screengrab of Tandon via YouTube. Art by Mike Sullivan

A Healthtech Unicorn Leaves a Trail of Clinic Complaints, Concerns Over Billing Practices

By Paris Martineau · Jan 5, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Early last year, salespeople from a health tech startup, Athelas, gave Rich Schlauch a pitch he couldn’t resist. The salespeople told Schlauch, who runs a behavioral health clinic in South Carolina, that he could increase his practice’s revenue by at least 15% and submit insurance claims faster using Athelas’ new billing... Early last year, salespeople from a health tech startup, Athelas, gave Rich Schlauch a pitch he...

Investor Nat Friedman and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang

OpenAI Board Has Discussed Seats With Scale AI’s Wang, Investor Friedman

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jan 4, 2024 4:49pm PST · 4 comments

OpenAI’s board and its representatives have started talking to candidates to fill its board of directors in the wake of CEO Sam Altman’s ouster and subsequent return. The candidates include two familiar names: Scale AI CEO and co-founder Alexandr Wang, and former GitHub CEO and startup investor Nat Friedman, according to two people... OpenAI’s board and its representatives have started talking to candidates to fill its board...

Amazon’s Five-Year Corporate Hiring Binge, Revealed

By Theo Wayt · Jan 4, 2024 1:13pm PST

Amazon’s corporate headcount more than tripled over five years to hit around 415,000 by the end of 2022, according to internal figures seen by The Information, far outpacing growth at other big tech companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet. The figures seen by The Information reveal that cloud computing and advertising, which have become... Amazon’s corporate headcount more than tripled over five years to hit around 415,000 by the...

TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew. Photo via Getty.

TikTok Shop Hikes Seller Fees, Axes Subsidies

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Jan 3, 2024 11:27am PST

TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew. Photo via Getty.

TikTok Shop Hikes Seller Fees, Axes Subsidies

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Jan 3, 2024 11:27am PST

TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers’ fees and footing the bill for deep discounts. But that free ride is quickly coming to an end. The company on Wednesday told sellers it will start taking a bigger cut of the sales they make on its app, by raising the commission it charges on most items to 8%... TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers’ fees and...