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

Qasar Younis, co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition. Photo via Getty.

Self-Driving Software Supplier Applied Intuition in Talks for Funding at $15 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Sri Muppidi and Alex Perry · Mar 11, 2025 8:27pm PDT

Applied Intuition, an eight-year-old developer of simulation software for training self-driving vehicles, is in talks with investors to raise capital at a $15 billion valuation, more than double its valuation from a year ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. Existing investor Kleiner Perkins is in talks to... Applied Intuition, an eight-year-old developer of simulation software for training self-driving...

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

What TikTok Didn't Say at SXSW

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 11, 2025 5:22pm PDT

I’m just back from the tech and arts festival South by Southwest in Austin. TikTok was there: it held a private, invite-only “leadership summit” on Monday as well as a happy hour. TikTok staffers talked up products such as Symphony, its suite of AI tools to make it easier to create content for the app. Executives scheduled to speak... I’m just back from the tech and arts festival South by Southwest in Austin. TikTok was...

Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Asana. Photo via Flickr/Web Summit

Moskovitz Should Sell Asana

By Martin Peers · Mar 11, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We saw a muted recovery in some tech stocks on Tuesday, but there were a few notable exceptions. One was Asana, which makes a workplace collaboration software tool and is also known as the second act of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. The stock plunged 24% today, the day after the company reported a middling quarter—and, perhaps more... We saw a muted recovery in some tech stocks on Tuesday, but there were a few notable exceptions....

Photo via Getty

A VC-Backed Startup Tempts Volatile Stock Market

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 11, 2025 2:54pm PDT

Photo via Getty

A VC-Backed Startup Tempts Volatile Stock Market

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 11, 2025 2:54pm PDT

Venture capitalists backing Hinge Health, which sells software to help people dealing with chronic pain, were likely cheering on Monday when the company filed to go public. It turned out to be the worst day of the year for the stock market, with the S&P 500 falling nearly 3%. Hinge was one of the few tech firms to attempt to go public... Venture capitalists backing Hinge Health, which sells software to help people dealing with...

Photo by Shutterstock

$120 Billion Fintech Firm Trains Chatbot—on Customer Data

By Anita Ramaswamy, Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Mar 11, 2025 10:21am PDT

Seemingly every week, a large company in an old, regulated industry is taking the cover off an artificial intelligence application that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.The latest example is Fiserv, a 41-year-old provider of software for thousands of financial firms to process payments, manage operations and provide banking... Seemingly every week, a large company in an old, regulated industry is taking the cover off an...

Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic’s Claude Drives Strong Revenue Growth While Powering ‘Manus’ Sensation

By Juro Osawa, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2025 8:30am PDT

Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past month's revenue multiplied by 12—has grown from $1 billion at the end of last year to $1.4 billion as of earlier this month, according to a person who has seen the numbers. In other words, Anthropic is generating more than $115 million a month. That’s... Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past...

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy via Getty

Snowflake, Databricks Discuss AI Data Security Deals With Google, Anthropic

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 11, 2025 8:00am PDT

After Sridhar Ramaswamy became CEO of database provider Snowflake a year ago, customers such as banks and healthcare firms said they might move their business elsewhere because they felt they couldn’t safely access artificial intelligence from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google through Snowflake’s core product. Some customers considered switching to... After Sridhar Ramaswamy became CEO of database provider Snowflake a year ago, customers such as...

Europe’s Banks, Unlike U.S. Rivals, Play With DeepSeek

By Michael Roddan · Mar 11, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Europe’s Banks, Unlike U.S. Rivals, Play With DeepSeek

By Michael Roddan · Mar 11, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

The sudden rise of DeepSeek represents an opportunity for banks and financial firms to access a low-cost but still sophisticated artificial intelligence model—if only it wasn’t from China. Geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing, along with perceived security risks posed by the Chinese-made AI tool, have kept U.S. banks from... The sudden rise of DeepSeek represents an opportunity for banks and financial firms to access a...

Oracle's Larry Ellison. Photo via Getty.

Oracle’s Cash Squeeze

By Martin Peers · Mar 10, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Larry Ellison has done a remarkable job of making Oracle part of the conversation around artificial intelligence data centers alongside much bigger cloud rivals such as Microsoft and Google. But as Oracle’s February-quarter results, released on Monday night, show, the enterprise software firm is hitting the limits of what it can spend on new... Larry Ellison has done a remarkable job of making Oracle part of the conversation around...

Left to right, Mike Lewis, Ethan Perez, Summer Yue, Ronen Eldan, Rafael Rafailov, Evan Hubinger, Tengyang Xie. Images courtesy of subjects

20 Rising Stars at OpenAI and Its Rivals

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Kalley Huang, Rocket Drew, Aaron Holmes and Jon Victor · Mar 10, 2025 11:43am PDT

Sam Altman, Elon Musk and other artificial intelligence leaders dominate headlines as they raise unprecedented funds. But talent, not capital, has separated the winners and losers in generative AI. We’ve identified 20 up-and-coming researchers who have been at the forefront of their firms’ successes but whose names typically aren’t found in news... Sam Altman, Elon Musk and other artificial intelligence leaders dominate headlines as they raise...

Larry Page. Photo via Getty

Why is Google’s Owner Developing AI Outside of Google?; DeepSeek Gets Microsoft’s Attention

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2025 7:00am PDT

ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm announced first thing this morning, an effort by ServiceNow to get a jump on agent-powered services. We included Moveworks in our Generative AI Takeover List, which you can see here. And now on to the rest of the column…We’ve written a lot about how... ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm...

Art by Clark Miller; photos via Shutterstock.

Eight Food and Drink Startups Primed for a Takeover

By Ann Gehan · Mar 10, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller; photos via Shutterstock.

Eight Food and Drink Startups Primed for a Takeover

By Ann Gehan · Mar 10, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Celsius’ $1.8 billion purchase of influencer-founded energy drink brand Alani Nu last month sparked fresh hope among investors in startups touting healthier versions of mainstream food and beverage brands. Among the fast-growing brands that could be the next targets for purchase are Good Culture, which sells cottage cheese packaged in single... Celsius’ $1.8 billion purchase of influencer-founded energy drink brand Alani Nu last month...

Gotion's cylindrical EV batteries. Photo: Getty

The Electric: The Chinese Companies That Want to Show Americans How to Make First-Rate EV Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Mar 10, 2025 4:30am PDT

Late next year, Massachusetts-based electrode developer 6K plans to deliver iron-based cathodes to a surprising customer—Chinese battery maker Gotion, which will turn the dark powder into batteries at an Illinois factory carved out of a former Kmart. Late next year, Massachusetts-based electrode developer 6K plans to deliver iron-based cathodes...

Bolt CEO Markus Villig.

The Big Interview

Bolt, Uber’s European Rival, Takes Aim at North America

By Alex Perry · Mar 9, 2025 8:10am PDT · 6 comments

Uber and Lyft dominate ride-hailing in North America, a position that has helped them turn cash-burning operations into moneymakers. Now Bolt, an Uber rival in Europe and Africa, is trying to undercut the two ride-hailing companies in their home markets. Earlier this year, Bolt started offering ride-hailing services in Toronto and scooter... Uber and Lyft dominate ride-hailing in North America, a position that has helped them turn...

Art by Clark Miller (Photos: Getty Images)

Altman’s Opportunism Should Worry Trump

By Abram Brown · Mar 8, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: We know how Project Stargate begins• The Top 5: The think tanks that matter to Trump and tech• Plus, our Recommendations: Anne Frank in America; how to make a millennial LOL; and when heart cancer warms the heart In Washington, time is a malleable concept. In some moments, it seems... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: We know how Project Stargate begins• The...

Art by Clark Miller

The Most Important Think Tanks for Tech to Know

By Julia Black · Mar 8, 2025 6:00am PST

Art by Clark Miller

The Most Important Think Tanks for Tech to Know

By Julia Black · Mar 8, 2025 6:00am PST

In the new Trump era, Washington and Silicon Valley are increasingly merged together, with scores of the top tech talent decamping for the capital. And in this upended landscape, a new wave of think tanks has emerged as a critical player. Many of them have direct ties to tech through funding and board members, and all are assembling research and... In the new Trump era, Washington and Silicon Valley are increasingly merged together, with scores...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo via Getty

Google Is Still Behind in AI. Why?

By Martin Peers · Mar 7, 2025 3:00pm PST · 6 comments

Here’s an exercise: Try asking a selection of AI chatbots for a list of the big tech news stories of the day. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and xAI’s Grok both deliver a good list of specific stories—ChatGPT even offers links. Google’s Gemini, not so much: Its list is a bunch of vague bullet points with no examples. Gemini’s performance was no better when I... Here’s an exercise: Try asking a selection of AI chatbots for a list of the big tech news stories...

Cursor CEO Michael Truell. Art by Clark Miller.

The Math Behind a $10 Billion Valuation For Cursor

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 7, 2025 1:51pm PST · 1 comment

Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding assistant, talking to investors about a new round that would value it at $10 billion, it’s important to explain why a deal may happen at that price.The new valuation—up four times from a deal struck just three months ago—would actually be in line with... Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding...

America’s Crypto Reserve, Nvidia’s $600M Hit & Digg’s Comeback

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 7, 2025 1:35pm PST

This week, the gang dissects Trump’s crypto reserve play, the truth about live sports and how nostalgia is sneaking back into everything. YouTube Apple Podcasts This week, the gang dissects Trump’s crypto reserve play, the truth about live sports and...

Art by Clark Miller

Inside the Start of Project Stargate—and the Startup Powering It

By Abram Brown · Mar 7, 2025 9:51am PST · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Inside the Start of Project Stargate—and the Startup Powering It

By Abram Brown · Mar 7, 2025 9:51am PST · 4 comments

On the barren outskirts of Abilene, Texas, traffic had snarled to a crawl: It was shift-change time at Project Stargate, and as several hundred workers drove off the 800-acre site that contains the debut Stargate data center, plumes of dust from the red clay dirt followed the caravan of pickup trucks out of sight. Even without the oxidized haze,... On the barren outskirts of Abilene, Texas, traffic had snarled to a crawl: It was shift-change...