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

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The Briefing

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

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

Art by Mike Sullivan

CoreWeave’s Quiet Rival May Be the Better Bet

By Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 27, 2025 10:00am PDT · 10 comments

CoreWeave, the AI–focused data center company set to go public Friday, is the hottest name in both finance and tech right now. Then there’s Nebius. Nebius also builds data centers aimed at artificial intelligence. It is already listed, so there is no IPO fanfare. It is also growing fast and has almost no debt. The most surprising thing... CoreWeave, the AI–focused data center company set to go public Friday, is the hottest name...

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference. Photo by Getty

Why Nvidia and CoreWeave Want to Buy AI Inference Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

Yesterday, Kevin and I broke the news that Nvidia was in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a startup that rents out servers powered by Nvidia’s chips and helps AI developers train and run open-source models on those servers, otherwise known as an inference provider.A deal would put Nvidia in direct competition with a slew of other inference... Yesterday, Kevin and I broke the news that Nvidia was in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a...

Art by Clark Miller

Cybersecurity Startups’ Revenue Surges on AI Threats

By Sri Muppidi · Mar 27, 2025 6:10am PDT · 1 comment

Just as artificial intelligence has helped programmers slash the time it takes to write code, hackers are also finding it’s a productivity boon. The increased number of threats, along with risks from companies’ adoption of AI, has helped some cybersecurity startups grow more quickly. Take Chainguard, a startup developing software to detect... Just as artificial intelligence has helped programmers slash the time it takes to write code,...

Asma Sharafi, U.S. CEO of VW's PowerCo.

Exclusive From The Electric: An Interview With the New U.S. CEO of VW’s PowerCo

By Steve LeVine · Mar 27, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Asma Sharafi, U.S. CEO of VW's PowerCo.

Exclusive From The Electric: An Interview With the New U.S. CEO of VW’s PowerCo

By Steve LeVine · Mar 27, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

For 15 years, QuantumScape has struggled to develop a next-generation lithium-metal battery that would substantially increase the driving range of electric vehicles. Now its top investor—Volkswagen—has brought in its own lithium-metal expert to help push the battery into commercial use by the end of the decade. For 15 years, QuantumScape has struggled to develop a next-generation lithium-metal battery that...

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. Photo via Getty

Stripe Likes Its Privacy; Autodesk’s Activist Travails

By Martin Peers · Mar 26, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Why do profitable companies bother to go public nowadays? That’s a question my colleague Cory Weinberg raised today in this piece, which revealed that payments processing firm Stripe doubled its free cash flow to $2.2 billion in 2024 on just $5.1 billion in revenue. That’s a free cash flow margin of 43%, which is unusually high for a company... Why do profitable companies bother to go public nowadays? That’s a question my colleague Cory...

Cameron Zoub, Steven Schwartz and Jack Sharkey of Whop. Credit: Bain Capital Ventures.

Creator Economy

Startup Whop Reaps Revenue Gains from Influencer Storefronts

By Alex Perry · Mar 26, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Whop, a four-year-old startup that helps influencers and other entrepreneurs sell digital goods and services, such as video tips to make options trades or the lines of code to create a shopping bot, has been growing at a fast clip. It now has ambitions to expand and offer extended storefronts and online communities for large retailers, according... Whop, a four-year-old startup that helps influencers and other entrepreneurs sell digital goods...

Nvidia Nears Deal to Buy GPU Reseller for Several Hundred Million Dollars

By Kevin McLaughlin and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 26, 2025 10:06am PDT · 4 comments

Nvidia is in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a two-year-old startup that rents out servers powered by Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, in a deal worth several hundred million dollars, according to a person close to the company. The move is part of Nvidia’s push into the cloud and enterprise software market, in competition with major... Nvidia is in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a two-year-old startup that rents out servers...

Craig Federighi announces ChatGPT integration with Siri at WWDC 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

How Good Is The Apple Deal for OpenAI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 26, 2025 7:00am PDT

Craig Federighi announces ChatGPT integration with Siri at WWDC 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

How Good Is The Apple Deal for OpenAI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 26, 2025 7:00am PDT

Last June, OpenAI landed in headlines for its splashy partnership with Apple. The iPhone maker’s Siri assistant would tap OpenAI’s models and ChatGPT to handle some queries and also help customers with writing and generating images.It looked like a huge win for the ChatGPT maker—at first. Nine months later, we’re wondering whether the deal has... Last June, OpenAI landed in headlines for its splashy partnership with Apple. The iPhone maker’s...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Discusses Building Its First Data Center for Storage

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 26, 2025 6:30am PDT

OpenAI recently discussed purchasing billions of dollars’ worth of data storage hardware and software, according to three people involved in the private discussions. To house the hardware, the company has considered building its own data center for the first time, two of these people said. Such a deal would make OpenAI one of the world’s biggest... OpenAI recently discussed purchasing billions of dollars’ worth of data storage hardware and...

Patrick Collison,CEO of Stripe. Photo by Getty

Stripe Minted More Than $2 Billion in Cash Last Year. Why Go Public?

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 26, 2025 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Stripe is putting up the kind of numbers that would send its stock soaring, if it had public stock. The payments processing firm doubled its free cash flow last year to about $2.2 billion and grew revenues about 28% to $5.1 billion, according to financial figures obtained by The Information. This year’s tech initial public offering parade is... Stripe is putting up the kind of numbers that would send its stock soaring, if it had public...

Alibaba chair Joe Tsai. Photo via Getty

Warnings of an AI Bubble

By Martin Peers · Mar 25, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We keep hearing that companies are still hesitating about paying for new artificial intelligence tools. Yet companies filing to go public nowadays appear to have no such hesitation. Trading app eToro, for instance, which filed to go public Monday night, said in its IPO paperwork, “We’re already using AI to provide users with personalized... We keep hearing that companies are still hesitating about paying for new artificial intelligence...

MIchael Moritz. Photo via Getty

This IPO Slate Won’t Have Many Major VC Winners

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 25, 2025 3:36pm PDT

MIchael Moritz. Photo via Getty

This IPO Slate Won’t Have Many Major VC Winners

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 25, 2025 3:36pm PDT

Three technology companies are preparing to go public with valuations north of $15 billion over the next few weeks. So, cue the balloons on Sand Hill Road, the party at the Rosewood, the juicy bonuses for venture capitalists? Not so fast. The largest shareholder of AI cloud upstart CoreWeave is a debt-focused hedge fund. The biggest backer... Three technology companies are preparing to go public with valuations north of $15 billion over...

The Information Wins Four SABEW Awards for Tech, Finance and Transportation

By The Information Staff · Mar 25, 2025 2:41pm PDT

The Information won four awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing for its 2024 reporting on Tesla, TikTok, Stripe, as well as the growing market for private stock investing. Members of the industry group also awarded four honorable mentions for The Information articles on chip giant TSMC, a U.S. trade loophole exploited... The Information won four awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing for...

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

TikTok Bidders Seek Potential Cloud Support from Microsoft, Google

By Kaya Yurieff and Sri Muppidi · Mar 25, 2025 1:00pm PDT

TikTok bidders are trying to get their ducks in a row as President Trump’s April 5 deadline to find a buyer for TikTok’s U.S. operations approaches. That means making sure they have a cloud firm lined up to keep TikTok running after a sale.Those interested include smaller investor groups who want to run the app and leverage the TikTok brand, but... TikTok bidders are trying to get their ducks in a row as President Trump’s April 5 deadline to...

Art by Mike Sullivan

How AI Is Changing Hollywood’s United Talent Agency

By Jon Victor · Mar 25, 2025 10:41am PDT

United Talent Agency, whose agents represent Hollywood stars like Will Ferrell and Cynthia Erivo, has struggled to give its staff real-time information on film and TV viewership or ratings because such data come from numerous sources. Agents have long wanted such data at their fingertips so they could share it with clients, said Joe... United Talent Agency, whose agents represent Hollywood stars like Will Ferrell and Cynthia Erivo,...

ALOHA Robot. Screenshot via YouTube

Why Apple, Meta and Google Are Buying Remote-Controlled Robot Arms

By Rocket Drew · Mar 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

ALOHA Robot. Screenshot via YouTube

Why Apple, Meta and Google Are Buying Remote-Controlled Robot Arms

By Rocket Drew · Mar 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that creates computer simulations of robots. Those simulations aim to teach robots how to perform tasks, from washing dishes to picking up household objects.But some robot makers I spoke to say it’s better to train robots to do such tasks by having a person... During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that...

Photo by Getty

Google Strips DEI Language From Some Internal Research Studies

By Erin Woo · Mar 25, 2025 6:00am PDT

Google employees have told staffers doing user research around Google devices to remove language related to diversity, equity and inclusion from their work or else lock down access to their documents, according to a person with direct knowledge of the instructions. Employees working on internal research studies for building new products and... Google employees have told staffers doing user research around Google devices to remove language...

Photo via Getty

Advertiser Anxiety is Rising

By Sahil Patel · Mar 24, 2025 5:00pm PDT

A truism in the media sector is that economic uncertainty leads marketers to reduce ad spending. And right now, President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and other countries are beginning to make marketers question how much they actually want to spend on advertising in the coming months.In the past week,... A truism in the media sector is that economic uncertainty leads marketers to reduce ad spending....

Evan Robinson-Johnson (from left), Aaron Tilley and Rocket Drew

The Information Hires Reporters to Cover Apple and Musk’s Companies

By The Information Staff · Mar 24, 2025 2:05pm PDT · 4 comments

The Information is pleased to announce the addition of two new reporters to The Information’s newsroom—and the extended fellowship of a third reporter who is already here. Aaron Tilley is returning to The Information as a reporter after more than five years at The Wall Street Journal to cover Apple at one of the most fascinating junctures... The Information is pleased to announce the addition of two new reporters to The Information’s...

Gabriel Stengel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rogo. Screenshot via YouTube

Thrive Capital Leads New Deal in Wall Street AI Startup Rogo

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

Gabriel Stengel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rogo. Screenshot via YouTube

Thrive Capital Leads New Deal in Wall Street AI Startup Rogo

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors think so.Thrive Capital is set to lead at least a $40 million financing into Rogo AI, an artificial intelligence startup selling AI software for investment bankers and Wall Street analysts and investors, at a valuation of up to $350 million, according to... Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors...