Anthropic Makes OpenAI Look CheapRead more

Tiger Global founder Chase Coleman III. Photo: Bloomberg. Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Tiger Global Partners Commit $1 Billion for Early-Stage Tech Funds

By  |  March 7, 2022 3:26 PM PST
Photo: Tiger Global founder Chase Coleman III. Photo: Bloomberg. Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Tiger Global Management, the world’s most active startup investor last year, is trying a new way to get the inside track.

Partners at the firm, known for its big bets in companies including Coinbase and Roblox, have committed $1 billion of their own cash to invest in seed funds that focus on backing the youngest startups, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Under the initiative, the partners would invest a little over $300 million in the funds every year, the person added.

The commitment, unprecedented for its size, would allow Tiger Global to become the largest investor in dozens of new seed funds that would want its cash. The firm would then get exposure to more early-stage startups it could invest in later. So far this year, Tiger Global has already backed or agreed to back funds for more-established firms including Better Tomorrow Ventures, Moxxie Ventures and Chapter One Ventures, a separate person with direct knowledge added, as well as less well-known funds such as Maple VC.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
From left: Paul Graham, Garry Tan and Michael Seibel. Photos by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan.
Exclusive startups ai
Y Combinator’s Garry Tan Goes to the Mat
Garry Tan was in his happy place. Surrounded by food trucks and techies basking in San Francisco’s September sun, the CEO of Y Combinator snapped selfies with entrepreneurs as he meandered through a crowd of 2,700 attendees at the startup accelerator’s annual alumni event.
Dave Rogenmoser, cofounder of Jasper. Photo via Getty.
Exclusive startups ai
Jasper, an Early Generative AI Winner, Cuts Internal Valuation as Growth Slows
Jasper AI, an early darling of the generative artificial intelligence boom, has cut the internal value of its common shares 20%, according to former employees who were notified by the company.
Dave Rogenmoser, co-founder of Jasper. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
AI Agenda ai
AI Startups Are Facing a Reckoning
A reckoning may be coming for once-hot artificial intelligence startups. Among the most vulnerable: consumer apps (think Character.AI) and “thin wrapper” startups like CopyAI that merely provide a nice user interface on top of a third-party model from model developers like OpenAI.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty
Exclusive semiconductors ai
Nvidia Deepens Push Into AWS’ Turf
Nvidia’s ambition to compete with Amazon Web Services is growing. Nvidia is best known for designing server chips for artificial intelligence, but it has been running a nascent cloud service for corporate customers that develop AI with those chips.
Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg. Photos via Shutterstock and AP.
Meta, OpenAI Square Off Over Open Source AI
Artificial intelligence leaders and policymakers are divided on a key question: Are cutting-edge AI models too powerful to hand to just anyone?
Art by Mike Sullivan.
Exclusive apple asia
How a Hidden Bar Code in iPhone Screens Saved Apple Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Next time you try to wipe a smudge off your iPhone screen, take a closer look. See if you can spot one of the two tiny QR codes etched into its glass.