October 03, 2024 | Listen Online | Read Online

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Bay Area Times Daily - Oct. 3, 2024

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1. OpenAI raises $6.6B in largest VC round ever, reaching post-money valuation of $157B

The latest round has 7.9x'd OpenAI's valuation from $20B in 2022:

~1.3B: Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital led the round.
Microsoft, NVIDIA, and SoftBank were among the participating investors.
The deal topped the $6B raised by Elon Musk's xAI.
The funding would help OpenAI "double down our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools."
Avoid backing rival startups including xAI, OpenAI has asked investors.

OpenAI is now worth far more than any VC-backed company at the time of their IPO

PitchBook.

Only SpaceX ($180B) and ByteDance ($220B) are worth more in the private company space.

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3. Crude oil +1% to $70 as markets await Israel's response to Iran

Google Finance.

Biden says U.S. would not support Israeli strike on Iran nuclear sites.
Nuclear site strikes currently not being planned by Israel: 4 officials.
Israel strikes Beirut, continues operations in southern Lebanon.
8 IDF soldiers killed in battles with Hezbollah.
China urges UN Security Council to de-escalate Middle East crisis.

4. Amazon launches new Fire HD 8 tablets with 50% more RAM, new Gen AI features

Amazon.

3 models: Fire HD 8 (2024), Fire HD 8 Kids, and Fire HD 8 Kids Pro.
$99.99 starting price, but an introductory price of $54.99 until Oct. 9.
Up to 13 hours of battery life.
New GenAI features include Writing Assist, Webpage Summaries, and Wallpaper Creator.
Later this month: The AI features will begin rolling out to "all compatible Fire tablets."

5. WP Engine sues WordPress co-creator Mullenweg, his company Automattic

X: WP Engine.

WP Engine accused Mullenweg and Automattic of "extortion and abuse of power:"
Wed.: Mullenweg's Automattic said it demanded an 8% cut of WP Engine's revenue.
Sep. 20: Mullenweg had criticized WP Engine for "infringing" WordPress trademarks.
Sep. 23: WP Engine responded to the criticism with a cease-and-desist letter.
Sep. 25: Mullenweg banned WP Engine from accessing WordPress resources.

6. GV, Salesforce lead top U.S. corporate ventures in 2024 YTD

Crunchbase.

28 rounds led or co-led by GV in 2024 until Sep. 13, vs. 23 throughout 2023.
$859M total worth of deals led or co-led by GV this year.
14 rounds led or co-led by Salesforce Ventures, vs. 9 in 2023.
$240M by Salesforce in rounds led or co-led this year.
PayPal Ventures, M12, and Intel are the other 3 top CVC firms in the U.S.

7. Startup valuations dip as time between funding rounds increases

Carta.

The median valuation for startups raising Series A was 2.8x higher than their seed valuations in Q2 2024, vs 4.9x in 2022.
Startups raising Series C saw a 1.6x valuation jump in Q2, vs. 2.5x 2 years ago.

Rounds are taking longer: Series C rounds are at a median of 822 days, vs. 522 in 2022

Carta.

712 days for moving from seed to Series A in Q2, vs. 607 days in 2022.

8. Global VC deal activity slows for 3rd consecutive quarter

PitchBook.

7,227 VC deals were closed in Q3, -26% from a year ago.
2,958 deals were closed specifically in the U.S., while 1,648 deals closed in Europe.

$70.1B worth of VC deals were closed globally in Q3, -23% YoY

PitchBook.

$242.3B in VC deals were closed globally in 2024 YTD

PitchBook.

U.S.: $136.3B, Europe: $44.6B.
2023 globally: $355B.

9. VC dealmaking shifting back to startup-friendliness after sharply reversing to favor investors in 2022

PitchBook.

Since Q1 2024, VC dealmaking is shifting toward startup-friendliness.
2022: poor market conditions and high demand for capital quickly moved markets to being investor-friendly, after 2 extremely startup-friendly years.
2010-2015: late-stage deals were more investor-friendly than early-stage ones.

Capital demand has increased significantly relative to its supply

PitchBook.

Later stages are seeing the highest ratio of capital demand exceeding supply (2.2x).

10. Tesla deliveries +6.4% YoY to 462.9K in Q3

Bloomberg.

95% were the cheaper Model 3/Y cars and 5% other models.
Relatedly, Tesla discontinued its most affordable Model 3 variant, priced at $38,990. Now the cheapest Model 3 costs $42,490.

11. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

The Automation Endgame, VCs Returning Cash, and the OpenAI Wager | E2019

Julie Gibson Clark's Longevity Routine

YouTube video by 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Bret Taylor: Why Pre-Training is for Morons & Companies Will Build Their Own Software | E1209

12. Other headlines

AI

Google working on AI reasoning model similar to OpenAI's o1.
NVIDIA, Accenture partner to boost corporate AI adoption.
Character.ai abandons making AI models after $2.7B Google deal.
Poolside raises $500M led by Bain Capital to build AI coding software.
Crescendo, AI contact center startup, raises $50M at $500M valuation.
xAI moves into OpenAI's former HQ in Mission, SF.
Cancer AI Alliance joins medical, tech expertise to work on next-gen care.

Athyna: hire incredible global talent with up to 70% savings vs. U.S. hires.*
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Tech

Amazon Prime Video to roll out greater number of ads in 2025.
CRV returning $275M out of $500M due to "overvaluation."
Kalshi resumes election betting markets, as Interactive Brokers preps launch.
iOS 18's new permission system for contact syncing may hurt social apps.
Gmail introduces new summary cards on mobile app.

Sidebar is a personal board of advisors for the next generation of leaders. Join now!*
hear.com's groundbreaking devices that make everything loud and clear.*

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Tech & law

Federal judge blocks California's AI law targeting election deepfake distribution.
Biden exempts some semiconductor factories from environmental reviews.

Biotech

Lilly's weight-loss drug no longer in shortage: FDA.
Kailera emerges with $400M for obesity drugs.
Ovarian aging delayed in mice study with fibrosis drug pirfenidone.
Medicare issues updated rules for second round of drug negotiations.
Lilly to invest $4.5B on new facility to scale-up pipeline drug production.

Business

143K new jobs in Sep., vs. 124K expected: ADP report.
Buffett sells another $338M of BofA stock, slowing down since July.

Crypto

Ripple faces appeal as SEC challenges federal judge's ruling in its case.

U.S. politics

Prosecutors show new details of Trump's bid to overturn election loss.
Trump campaign says it raised over $160M in Sep.
Russia, Iran, China likely to use AI to try to influence US election: report.
43M viewers watched VP debate across 15 networks.

World

Russia rules out nuclear talks with U.S. given its stance on NATO expansion.
CIA expands online recruitment of informants to China, Iran, North Korea.

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