August 16, 2024 | Read Online

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0. Data and calendar

All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).

All times are ET.

1. California's AI bill adjusts to disallow lawsuits before catastrophic events

Before event: CA's attorney general can still seek injunctive relief even before any catastrophic event has occurred.
After event: developers are liable for catastrophic damages.
Board of Frontier Models would be created to issue guidance and regulations and to set compute thresholds for covered models.
Unclear whether Governor Newsom will sign this bill into law, as he has presented himself as pro-innovation.

2. 28 of 70 new unicorns in 2024 hit $1B valuation after early-stage round

More startups after seed and until Series B are becoming unicorns this year:

Crunchbase.

~12 were AI startups, including Elon's xAI and China's Moonshot AI.
3 Web3 early-stage startups also became unicorns.
Q1 saw 17 early-stage unicorns, while Q2 saw only 8.
-3% YoY, with 29 early-stage startups receiving unicorn status in 2023.

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4. Google expands AI Overviews to 6 new countries, 3 months after U.S. debut

Google AI Overviews is rolling out in new markets with support for local languages such as Portuguese, Hindi:

Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Britain are getting Google's update.
May 14: Google unveiled AI-generated summaries for search queries in U.S.
Factually inaccurate answers were spotted.
Google introduced restrictions in late May to address inaccuracies.
Inline links to answers are being tested internally.

A "Save" feature to show same AI results next time is also in testing

9to5Mac.

Separately, some publishers are complaining that blocking the AI Overviews bot hamper discoverability.

5. Crypto hack value 2x YoY to $1.6B in first 7 months of 2024

Chainalysis.

BTC represented 40% proceeds of this year's heists.
149 hacks so far this year, up from 145 in corresponding period in 2023.
Crypto price growth boosted hacks' value despite marginal incident increase.

Centralized exchanges thefts were the highest since 2018

Chainalysis.

6. Hyperscaler cloud marketplaces to grow from $16B in 2023 to $85B by 2028

Canalys.

50%+ of sales expected to flow through cloud marketplaces by 2027.
AWS Marketplace has so far led market, followed by Microsoft & Google Cloud.
$1B total cumulative sales via marketplaces claimed by CrowdStrike, Snowflake.
Cisco, Citrix, IBM, others launched or grown sales on hyperscalers' marketplaces.

$360B+ has been committed by enterprises on the top-3 hyperscalers' cloud services

Canalys.

7. Harris outspends Trump on Google, Meta Ads by 10x

$57M vs. $5.6M since Biden dropped out on July 21:

FT.

Total ad spending has been more similar among campaigns, who are focused on 7 swing states

WSJ.

Both parties talk about crime, as Dems also focus on healthcare and abortion, and the GOP on immigration

WSJ.

8. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

YouTube video by The Peel with Turner Novak

Inside the Logan Bartlett Show, Investing Through Market Cycles + Bubbles, Dissecting VC Frameworks

Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid | Startup School

Why will healthcare be the industry that benefits the most from AI?

9. Other headlines

AI

Meta: Russia's AI efforts for U.S. election interference failing.
Google expands Imagen 3 to all U.S. users via ImageFX.
Midjourney releases web editor to change AI-generated images with tweaks.
Geekbench releases AI benchmarking app as Geekbench ML successor.

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Tech

Texas Instruments gets $4.6B from Chips Act ($1.6B grants, $3.0B loans.)
Revolut gets $45B valuation in share sale by employees.
Google removes Showcase app from Pixel that left security hole.
Waymo to double down on winter testing robotaxis.
Apple Watch Ultra more popular than Apple Watch SE.
Jeff Bezos' brother's PE firm, HighPost Capital, launches $100M VC fund.

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Tech earnings

JD.com Q2 net revenue +1% to ~$40.7B, ~$1.7B net income.
Alibaba Q1 FY25 revenue +4% to ~$34B, net income -27% to ~$3.4B.
Grab Q2 revenue +17% to $664M, net loss -60% to $53M.

Tech & law

TikTok tells federal appeals court that DOJ misstated ties to China.
California allows Apple, Google wallet apps to add driver's licenses, IDs.
Apple will require devs on EU App Store to share phone number, address.
19 lawmakers questions Meta on illicit drug ads.

Biotech

Bayer pharma BD chief says group overhaul won't disrupt dealmaking.
FDA approves Incyte, Syndax Pharmaceuticals' Niktimvo for chronic GvHD.

Business

Citadel's Ken Griffin: WSJ profile.
CEOs afar while workers returning to office becomes more common.

Crypto

Crypto4Harris convenes 1st virtual gathering.
Trump holds $1M+ in ETH.

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U.S. politics

Harris may propose $25K housing support for first-time buyers.
Trump expands campaign staff before news conference at NJ golf club.
Secret Service preps bulletproof glass for outdoor Trump rallies.

World

Zelensky says Ukraine took full control of Russia's Sudzha town.
Ukraine claims record 102 soldiers captured.
Russia sentences U.S. citizen to 12 years over $52 donation to Ukraine.
Ukraine's troops on the eastern front could be in trouble.
Navalnaya doesn't believe Russia's explanation of Navalny's death.
Thailand gets Paetongtarn Shinawatra as youngest prime minister.

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