The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Zepto delivery drivers near New Delhi, India. Photo via Shutterstock.

Indian Delivery Star Discusses $5 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark · Jun 25, 2024 3:31pm PDT

Last week, I reported that Zepto, an Indian instant-delivery company, was closing a new round at a valuation of $3.6 billion, the first financing for a non–artificial intelligence startup I’ve written about in ages. Since then, I’ve learned the company is already in discussions with investors about raising more, at a higher valuation, as U.S.... Last week, I reported that Zepto, an Indian instant-delivery company, was closing a new round at...

Creators on stage at VidCon 2023. Photo by Unique Nicole/Getty Images.

Creator Economy

What to Expect at VidCon

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 25, 2024 2:00pm PDT

I’m in Los Angeles this week ahead of VidCon, the annual conference focused on creators. The organizers of the event, which last year drew 55,000 people, expect the biggest theme this year to be the creator economy’s “coming of age.” After the boom in venture funding for startups and hype around the sector dissipated, investments have ... I’m in Los Angeles this week ahead of VidCon, the annual conference focused on creators. The...

Xu Zhijun, the rotating chairman of Huawei, introduces the original Ascend 910 chip in 2019 in Shenzhen, China. Photo by Zhang Yang/Huanqiu.com/VCG via Getty Images.

A New U.S. Crackdown Is Crippling China’s Best Hope to Rival Nvidia

By Qianer Liu and Amir Efrati · Jun 25, 2024 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Biden administration has suddenly imperiled China’s ability to produce alternatives to Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips. Officials at the U.S. Commerce Department in recent months have pressured American chip equipment makers and their suppliers to stop selling to Huawei Technologies, China’s top chip designer, and to... The Biden administration has suddenly imperiled China’s ability to produce alternatives to...

OpenAI Ceo Sam Altman. Photo by Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images.

Businesses Want Slower AI Models—And That Might Hurt Nvidia

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jun 25, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI Ceo Sam Altman. Photo by Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images.

Businesses Want Slower AI Models—And That Might Hurt Nvidia

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jun 25, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI isn’t normally an acquirer of other companies but it has announced two purchases in the last week, of search and analytics firm Rockset and collaboration startup Multi. Both highlight how OpenAI is focused on enterprise offerings, and features that big business appreciate such as retrieval augmented generation, despite the attention... OpenAI isn’t normally an acquirer of other companies but it has announced two purchases in the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Why a $14 Billion Startup Is Now Hiring PhD’s to Train AI From Their Living Rooms

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 25, 2024 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Matt Mattingly sold the bed-and-breakfast inn he owned in southern Maine several years ago and was trying to “figure out what I want to be when I grow up.” This year, after looking for a remote job that would put his communications Ph.D. to use, he responded to an online ad looking for people to train artificial intelligence models... Matt Mattingly sold the bed-and-breakfast inn he owned in southern Maine several years ago and...

Photo by Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Anduril Nears $12.5 Billion-Valuation Round Led by Founders Fund, Sands Capital

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jun 24, 2024 6:04pm PDT

Anduril has lined up backers for one of the biggest venture deals this year. The defense startup is close to finalizing a $1.5 billion investment co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, according to two people involved in the deal. Sands Capital, known for investments just before public offerings, is co-leading the deal as a new... Anduril has lined up backers for one of the biggest venture deals this year. The defense startup...

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age. Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images.

Europe-U.S. Tech Regulatory Battle Opens New Front

By Martin Peers · Jun 24, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Students of history will recall the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the 1300s and 1400s. It feels like we’re in the early stages of a second Hundred Years’ War, this time pitting U.S. tech firms against the European Commission.On Monday, the commission opened a new front in that war by issuing “preliminary findings” that Apple... Students of history will recall the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the 1300s...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Google Develops Challenger to Meta’s Chatbots and Character.AI

By Julia Hornstein and Jon Victor · Jun 24, 2024 2:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Google Develops Challenger to Meta’s Chatbots and Character.AI

By Julia Hornstein and Jon Victor · Jun 24, 2024 2:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Google wants chatbots that people can hang with—not just pelt with questions. The search engine giant has been developing a product for creating and conversing with customizable chatbots, which could be modeled on celebrities or made by users, two people with direct knowledge of the project said. The bots would be similar to the online... Google wants chatbots that people can hang with—not just pelt with questions. The search...

HSBC's London headquarters. Photo via Adobe Stock.

The Big Interview

Inside HSBC’s VC Charm Offensive

By Michael Roddan · Jun 24, 2024 8:03am PDT

Shortly after HSBC swooped on the carcass of Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year, picking up around 50 U.S. bankers and an $8 billion U.K. loan book, the London-headquartered bank’s management drew up plans to win over the biggest venture capitalists in the U.S. that had historically been SVB customers. Fifteen months on, the bank... Shortly after HSBC swooped on the carcass of Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year, picking...

Klarity co-founders Nischal Nadhamuni (left) and Andrew Antos (right).

Startup Klarity Raises $70 Million to Automate Document Reviews

By Kalley Huang · Jun 24, 2024 7:00am PDT

Read through enough contracts, invoices or purchase orders—any business documents, really—enough times, and your eyes probably glaze over. Ondrej Antos experienced it as a law clerk nearly a decade ago. When Antos met Nischal Nadhamuni at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, the pair went on a three-hour-long walk in... Read through enough contracts, invoices or purchase orders—any business documents, really—enough...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Aims to Cut Headcount on Some iPhone Assembly Lines by Up to 50%

By Wayne Ma · Jun 24, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

It was the kind of incident Apple executives never want to repeat. In November 2022, at a factory in Zhengzhou, China—the largest plant in the world for making iPhones—police officers in white hazmat suits beat factory workers, who had begun protesting over strict Covid-19 lockdowns and disputes over pay. Video of the episode, which... It was the kind of incident Apple executives never want to repeat. In November 2022, at a factory...

Mutanda, the world's largest cobalt mine, in Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Emmet Livingstone/AFP/Getty

The Electric: A New Geopolitical Melee Erupts Over Battery Metals

By Steve LeVine · Jun 24, 2024 4:30am PDT

Mutanda, the world's largest cobalt mine, in Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Emmet Livingstone/AFP/Getty

The Electric: A New Geopolitical Melee Erupts Over Battery Metals

By Steve LeVine · Jun 24, 2024 4:30am PDT

Within days of taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden reversed a decision by the Trump administration to lift sanctions on one of the most controversial Western mining executives in central Africa. Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler didn’t merit a reprieve, Biden’s State Department said, alleging that in a two-year period he had corruptly... Within days of taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden reversed a decision by the Trump...

Art by Clark Miller

The Anti-Altman’s Hail Mary Pitch to Investors

By Abram Brown · Jun 22, 2024 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Meet Jacob Helberg, the MAGA star popular with tech liberalsThe best apps for exploring naturePlus: Ferrets, puffins and guinea pigs, oh my; Scottish scaries; and how to summer in Italy from your sofa.Wanted! Investors for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shove millions of dollars into a nascent... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:Meet Jacob Helberg, the MAGA star popular with tech...

Art by Clark Miller

Downloads for the Backroads: A Techie’s Guide to the Best Apps for Exploring Nature

By Brigid Mander · Jun 22, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Modern technology is everywhere, often in various forms of screen time. That makes it a popular scapegoat for the increasing, collective loss of our human connection to the natural world. It’s not just that time spent using technology has replaced time in nature, it’s also that for many nature is farther away: Over half the... Modern technology is everywhere, often in various forms of screen time. That makes it a popular...

Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images.

Apple Throws Down the Gauntlet to European Regulators

By Martin Peers · Jun 21, 2024 3:00pm PDT · 10 comments

Will Europeans start to regret their governments’ aggressive regulation of U.S. tech? That’s surely going to be a question sparked by Apple’s decision today to withhold a bunch of attractive new technologies—such as its artificial intelligence–powered offerings—from its products in Europe, citing the continental rules on how tech firms operate.... Will Europeans start to regret their governments’ aggressive regulation of U.S. tech? That’s...

Incoming Stability AI CEO, Prem Akkaraju. Photo via Stability AI.

Stability AI Gets New CEO and a Bailout From Investor Group Led By Sean Parker

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jun 21, 2024 11:39am PDT · 2 comments

Incoming Stability AI CEO, Prem Akkaraju. Photo via Stability AI.

Stability AI Gets New CEO and a Bailout From Investor Group Led By Sean Parker

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jun 21, 2024 11:39am PDT · 2 comments

Stability AI, a startup that rode the boom in generative artificial intelligence to a $1 billion valuation before experiencing financial trouble and employee defections, has a new CEO. Prem Akkaraju, former CEO of visual effects company Weta Digital, will step into the role, according to a person involved in the decision. The 51-year-old... Stability AI, a startup that rode the boom in generative artificial intelligence to a $1 billion...

Elad Gil on What to Build in AI (Part II)

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 21, 2024 10:56am PDT · 1 comment

Happy 1st birthday to the More or Less podcast! We marked the special occasion with a continuation of our What to Build series, featuring the always sharp Elad Gil. Gil was making big investments in AI before it was cool and has a lot to say about how to value the market today and how he thinks about exit opportunities for AI startups. Plus, we... Happy 1st birthday to the More or Less podcast! We marked the special occasion with a...

Art by Clark Miller

Trump’s Young Man in Silicon Valley

By Margaux MacColl · Jun 21, 2024 9:00am PDT · 16 comments

Soon after a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records last month, the former president headed uptown to a restaurant, where a dinner party awaited him. Trump, who appeared unfazed by the conviction, walked in with a smile on his face, greeted by about 20 supporters and members of his innermost circle. The crowd... Soon after a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records last month,...

Chart by Shane Burke

Pro Weekly: Surging Optimism About Apple

By Akash Pasricha · Jun 21, 2024 8:00am PDT

Shares of Apple surged more than 10% in the days after the company announced new artificial intelligence features at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week. Respondents to our monthly survey also are feeling more bullish about the iPhone maker. Roughly 42% of survey respondents said they were optimistic about Apple’s prospects in the... Shares of Apple surged more than 10% in the days after the company announced new artificial...

The San Francisco Databricks office. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.

Databricks Has an Edge on Snowflake—but It May Not Be as Big as Investors Think

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jun 21, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

The San Francisco Databricks office. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.

Databricks Has an Edge on Snowflake—but It May Not Be as Big as Investors Think

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jun 21, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

It may not be on the scale of Apple’s rivalry with Google, but the battle between Databricks and Snowflake is one of the most intense in Silicon Valley. Both firms help companies store and manage massive amounts of data—a service that should become more valuable with the rise of generative AI models. Their duel has become so intense... It may not be on the scale of Apple’s rivalry with Google, but the battle between...