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

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/Midjourney

Cybersecurity Startups Face Down Rounds, Sale Pressures

By Maria Heeter and Cory Weinberg · Jan 11, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

It’s a paradox: Cyberattacks against governments, companies and individuals are escalating dramatically, lifting cybersecurity spending to a record. And yet there are so many cybersecurity startups competing with each other—and with bigger tech companies such as Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks—that a shakeout in the sector is... It’s a paradox: Cyberattacks against governments, companies and individuals are escalating...

Freyr Battery's factory in Mo-i-Rana, Norway. Photo: Courtesy Freyr.

The Electric: Struggling Freyr Pins its Hopes on the IRA in an Uncertain Election Year

By Steve LeVine · Jan 11, 2024 4:30am PST · 1 comment

Freyr Battery, struggling to manufacture its next-generation battery, hopes to right itself by temporarily producing and selling a different battery technology, and obtaining federal subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act to make it in Georgia. But election-year politics cloud the plan’s future, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump and... Freyr Battery, struggling to manufacture its next-generation battery, hopes to right itself by...

SEC Chair, Gary Gensler. Photo by Drew Angerer via Getty Images.

Bitcoin ETFs Approved After Six-Year Wait

By Martin Peers · Jan 10, 2024 5:00pm PST

This time it’s for real! After at least a six-year wait—and a hoax post on X Tuesday—the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday granted approval for companies to issue spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The approval will make it easier for individuals and institutional investors to invest in bitcoin without holding it directly on a... This time it’s for real! After at least a six-year wait—and a hoax post on X Tuesday—the...

The Tadpole webcam from Opal Camera.

The Webcam Startup That Bucked the Funding Drought

By Kalley Huang · Jan 10, 2024 3:24pm PST

The Tadpole webcam from Opal Camera.

Creator Economy

The Webcam Startup That Bucked the Funding Drought

By Kalley Huang · Jan 10, 2024 3:24pm PST

When most people think about the creator economy, they aren’t thinking about hardware. Yet creators are heavy users of cameras and other video production gear. That may explain why webcam maker Opal Camera has gained a following among creators and managed to raise money during last quarter’s funding drought.In October, the three-year-old... When most people think about the creator economy, they aren’t thinking about hardware. Yet...

Art by Clark Miller

How to Build an AI-Enabled Service Company

By Roddy Lindsay · Jan 10, 2024 9:00am PST · 9 comments

In a blog post last year, Greylock partner Seth Rosenberg surmised that there are three large opportunities for founders in the artificial intelligence era, including “copilot for services.” Services are an attractive category, Rosenberg reasoned, because AI can help frontline service professionals—such as wealth managers,... In a blog post last year, Greylock partner Seth Rosenberg surmised that there are three large...

The Volkswagen ID. 7 on display after a presentation by Volkswagen during CES 2024 Media Days on Monday. Photo by AP.

ChatGPT’s Latest Invasion: Cars; A Threat to OpenAI’s Nonprofit Status

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 10, 2024 7:00am PST

It won’t surprise anyone that artificial intelligence, the hottest subject in tech, is also big at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, underway in Las Vegas. Among the silly and wondrous AI-powered devices unveiled so far: A one-foot-tall robot from LG that can patrol your home for open windows or switch off the lights when you’re out; a... It won’t surprise anyone that artificial intelligence, the hottest subject in tech, is also big...

Amazon to Lay Off Several Hundred Prime Video, Studios Employees

By Theo Wayt · Jan 10, 2024 6:09am PST · 3 comments

Amazon is laying off several hundred employees in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, according to an email sent to employees on Wednesday morning viewed by The Information. It’s the latest example of fresh rounds of targeted job cuts at Amazon following mass layoffs that began in November 2022. Amazon video chief Mike Hopkins... Amazon is laying off several hundred employees in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios,...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

JPMorgan’s WePay Abruptly Dumps Business Customers

By Michael Roddan · Jan 10, 2024 6:00am PST

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

JPMorgan’s WePay Abruptly Dumps Business Customers

By Michael Roddan · Jan 10, 2024 6:00am PST

JPMorgan Chase has stopped providing payments services for many long-standing clients of WePay, the payments processing business for small accounting and marketing businesses it acquired in 2017, suggesting a retreat in the bank’s efforts to compete with Stripe. JPMorgan had bought WePay, a Silicon Valley–based firm, to try to... JPMorgan Chase has stopped providing payments services for many long-standing clients of WePay,...

Carta CEO, Henry Ward. Photo via Carta.

Will Investor Patience for Bad Founder Behavior Finally Wear Thin?

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 9, 2024 5:00pm PST

Marc Andreessen oversees 10 tech CEOs on the corporate boards he sits on. Andreessen, a self-proclaimed techno-optimist who often likes to stick it to the tech press when he finds its coverage unfair, probably doesn’t mind that several of those CEOS are lightning rods for controversy. There’s Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Platforms, Brian... Marc Andreessen oversees 10 tech CEOs on the corporate boards he sits on. Andreessen, a...

Kosas product displays at the Kosas, Beauty Undone launch party in 2018. Photo by Getty.

Kosas Taps Bankers to Explore Sale as Beauty Startup M&A Heats Up

By Ann Gehan · Jan 9, 2024 3:28pm PST · 1 comment

The Gen Z-favorite cosmetics brand Kosas has hired bankers to explore a potential sale, according to two people familiar with the matter, signaling that a recent wave of beauty startup sales is likely to keep gaining steam. Dealmaking among beauty companies has remained relatively resilient even as mergers and acquisitions have slumped broadly,... The Gen Z-favorite cosmetics brand Kosas has hired bankers to explore a potential sale, according...

Graphic by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

The Top Cities for Creator Economy Startups

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 9, 2024 3:14pm PST

As we’ve expanded our efforts to track the creator economy globally, we’ve been looking more closely at where startups and venture dollars have gone. A new analysis of our Creator Economy Database, which now tracks 525 startups, shows that while the Los Angeles area is home to the most startups globally, those in the San Francisco Bay Area... As we’ve expanded our efforts to track the creator economy globally, we’ve been looking more...

Relativity engineers and technicians prepare the Terran 1 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla.. Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images.

Relativity Space Closes in On New Funding for Its 3D Printed Rockets

By Becky Peterson · Jan 9, 2024 1:49pm PST

Relativity engineers and technicians prepare the Terran 1 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla.. Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images.

Relativity Space Closes in On New Funding for Its 3D Printed Rockets

By Becky Peterson · Jan 9, 2024 1:49pm PST

Relativity Space, which last year launched into space the first rocket made with 3D printing, is in talks to raise money in a round that values the company at around $4.2 billion, flat with its last funding round in 2021, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Existing investors Bond and Social Capital are among the firms... Relativity Space, which last year launched into space the first rocket made with 3D printing, is...

Keith Rabois. Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Founders Fund’s Keith Rabois to Return to Khosla Ventures

By Kate Clark · Jan 9, 2024 12:14pm PST · 7 comments

Two days before Christmas, Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois boarded a flight to Park City, Utah, to have dinner with Vinod Khosla, the founder of venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and an early backer of OpenAI. By the end of the evening, the pair had agreed that Rabois would join Khosla Ventures as a managing director, its most... Two days before Christmas, Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois boarded a flight to Park...

Help Us Celebrate Our 10th Anniversary

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 9, 2024 11:32am PST · 1 comment

To celebrate turning 10, The Information is making a video featuring our subscribers and what they have learned from us over the years. If you would like to participate, please film yourself answering one or more of the following questions. Aim for 30 to 60 seconds, filmed horizontally, and uploaded as an mp4. You can use your phone... To celebrate turning 10, The Information is making a video featuring our subscribers and what...

Photo via Adobe Stock.

The Twelve Startups Battling For a Slice of Nvidia’s Pie

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 9, 2024 7:10am PST

No company has been better positioned to profit from the generative AI boom than Nvidia, the maker of graphics processing units. But a host of rival startups developing similar chips or the software to run those chips are trying to capture some of the revenue currently being spent on GPUs. We wrote about eight of these companies in August, but... No company has been better positioned to profit from the generative AI boom than Nvidia, the...

Marco Argenti. Screenshot via YouTube

How Wall Street Firms Are Warming to AI—With Help From Silicon Valley

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jan 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Marco Argenti. Screenshot via YouTube

How Wall Street Firms Are Warming to AI—With Help From Silicon Valley

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jan 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Big banks were slow to adopt cloud services, initially nervous about storing their sensitive customer data on other companies’ servers. But when it comes to generative artificial intelligence, banks and other financial services firms have been early adopters. Goldman Sachs, for instance, has more than 1,000 developers using generative AI... Big banks were slow to adopt cloud services, initially nervous about storing their sensitive...

Twilio CEO, Jeff Lawson, who left the company on Sunday. Photo via Getty Images.

Why Twilio’s Lawson Didn’t Have to Cave to Activists

By Martin Peers · Jan 8, 2024 5:00pm PST

Well, that didn’t turn out to be too much of a fight. Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson on Sunday exited the company he founded, the enterprise software company said today, surrendering to activist Anson Funds with barely a shot fired. It didn’t take much to scare Twilio. Anson had hinted it could mount a proxy fight to win board seats if Twilio didn’t... Well, that didn’t turn out to be too much of a fight. Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson on Sunday exited the...

Image by Getty.

Fintech-Focused Vetamer Capital Shuts Down Hedge Fund

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 8, 2024 4:18pm PST

Vetamer Capital, an investor in public and private tech companies started by a Lone Pine Capital veteran just three years ago with $350 million to invest, has shut down its public-equities hedge fund and returned capital to investors, the firm said in a recent letter to its investors. The San Francisco-based firm is a notable addition to the... Vetamer Capital, an investor in public and private tech companies started by a Lone Pine Capital...

Chart by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Funding For Global Creator Economy Startups Plunged 58% In 2023

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 8, 2024 2:39pm PST · 1 comment

Funding for global creator economy startups continued its downward spiral in 2023, falling nearly 58% to about $1.7 billion compared to the year before, according to the latest update from The Information’s Creator Economy Database. Funding for just U.S. startups plunged 62% to $1.03 billion year-over-year. A once white-hot sector for... Funding for global creator economy startups continued its downward spiral in 2023, falling nearly...

Parag Agrawal, former Twitter CEO, during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 7, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.

Former Twitter CEO’s AI Startup Raises $30 Million in Khosla-Led Deal

By Kate Clark · Jan 8, 2024 1:52pm PST

Parag Agrawal, former Twitter CEO, during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 7, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.

Former Twitter CEO’s AI Startup Raises $30 Million in Khosla-Led Deal

By Kate Clark · Jan 8, 2024 1:52pm PST

Parag Agrawal, who was CEO of Twitter for a year before Elon Musk took over the social media app in late 2022, recently raised about $30 million in funding for an artificial intelligence startup, according to two people familiar with the deal. Khosla Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI, led the funding in Agrawal’s company, which... Parag Agrawal, who was CEO of Twitter for a year before Elon Musk took over the social media app...