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

Photo via Instacart

What Instacart, Arm and Klaviyo Have in Common

By Martin Peers · Aug 25, 2023 3:00pm PDT

That special category of finance geeks who know what the term S-1 means (it’s a fancy industry term for an IPO filing) had their hands full this week, the first time in a long while we’ve seen a bunch of tech companies filing to go public. (Pause here for clapping.) After Monday’s filing by Arm, today brought filings from Instacart (known... That special category of finance geeks who know what the term S-1 means (it’s a fancy industry...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Pepsi, Norway and a Lockup Quirk: Our Takeaways From Instacart’s IPO Filing

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 25, 2023 2:30pm PDT · 4 comments

How is Instacart trying to ensure the first major initial public offering of a venture-backed company in more than 18 months goes smoothly? By getting support from some of its friends…and the Norwegian government. In the paperwork it filed Friday, Instacart named Pepsi, one of its major advertisers, as an investor that will buy $175... How is Instacart trying to ensure the first major initial public offering of a venture-backed...

Art by Clark Miller.

Subscriber Survey

The Brain-Body Investment Survey: What 500 Subscribers Are Spending to Boost Their Performance

By Annie Goldsmith · Aug 25, 2023 9:00am PDT · 9 comments

Silicon Valley has long been the haunting ground of the ultramarathon runner, the supplement stacker and the quantified selfer. But recently, tech leaders' passion for fitness and wellness hacks have spilled over into the mainstream. Blame the growing adoption of nutritional supplements, the dawning acceptance of... Silicon Valley has long been the haunting ground of the ultramarathon runner, the supplement...

The Companies Readers Think Will Go Public

The Companies Readers Think Will Go Public

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 25, 2023 8:00am PDT

The Companies Readers Think Will Go Public

The Companies Readers Think Will Go Public

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 25, 2023 8:00am PDT

The Information readers have heard the chatter about a coming wave of initial public offerings. In our monthly survey, more than 40% of the 660 respondents expected new listings to pick up this year, and almost 60% expected the pace to accelerate by the first half of 2024. Equally interesting is which companies respondents think will go... The Information readers have heard the chatter about a coming wave of initial public offerings....

Photo by Getty.

The IPO Window Is Open. But Are Founders Ready?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 24, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Bankers are busy. IPO lawyers are hard to reach. It’s go time again for Silicon Valley IPOs. Arm, Instacart and Klaviyo are preparing their offerings, with filings from the last two expected tomorrow. Beauty company Oddity and restaurant brand Cava have gone out and are trading above their IPO prices. Companies are hiring chief financial... Bankers are busy. IPO lawyers are hard to reach. It’s go time again for Silicon Valley...

Photo by Getty.

Amazon in Talks With Disney About ESPN Streaming Partnership

By Sahil Patel · Aug 24, 2023 3:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon has had early talks with Disney about working on the streaming version of ESPN it is developing, said people familiar with the matter. The tech giant could offer the service through one of its streaming offerings, helping to expand its distribution, while possibly also taking a minority stake in ESPN. Such an arrangement could shore up... Amazon has had early talks with Disney about working on the streaming version of ESPN it is...

Daniel Abas, the founder of Creators Guild of America. Photo: CGA

Creator Economy

A New Creator Labor Group Launches

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 24, 2023 2:00pm PDT

The Hollywood strike has highlighted the lack of a similar labor movement within the creator economy, but new efforts to change that are emerging. The latest: the Creators Guild of America, a new group that aims to protect the rights and promote the interests of digital creators, launches Thursday. The nonprofit advocacy organization backed... The Hollywood strike has highlighted the lack of a similar labor movement within the creator...

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Photo by Getty

New SEC Rules Could Hurt VC’s Newcomers

By Kate Clark · Aug 24, 2023 12:50pm PDT

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Photo by Getty

New SEC Rules Could Hurt VC’s Newcomers

By Kate Clark · Aug 24, 2023 12:50pm PDT

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules for private funds Wednesday meant to give limited partners—the individuals and institutions that invest in these funds—more transparency. The ramifications for the much larger private equity industry have drawn most of the attention, but venture capital funds will also need to bend... The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules for private funds Wednesday meant...

Connie James, StubHub's next CFO. Photo via YouTube/Light & Wonder.

StubHub Hires New CFO With Eyes on 2024 IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 24, 2023 12:37pm PDT

Ticket-reselling company StubHub has hired a new finance chief to try to take it public next year, following the departure of its previous CFO in 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. StubHub’s new CFO is Connie James, the people said. She stepped down last month from the same post at Light & Wonder, a publicly traded... Ticket-reselling company StubHub has hired a new finance chief to try to take it public next...

Photo by Convoy.

Digital Trucking Company Convoy Explores Options Including a Sale

By Maria Heeter · Aug 24, 2023 12:11pm PDT · 4 comments

Convoy, a digital trucking marketplace that counts Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as angel investors and Fidelity and T. Rowe Price as later-stage backers, is weighing strategic options that could include a sale of the company, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, which competes with Uber Freight, hired an investment bank... Convoy, a digital trucking marketplace that counts Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as angel investors...

Art by Clark Miller.

Apple Needs to Think Differently About Vision Pro for a Fractured World

By Steve Weber and Shea Agnew · Aug 24, 2023 9:00am PDT · 4 comments

Apple in June revealed its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, which it hopes will change how humans engage with technology as much as—or perhaps more than—the iPhone and mobile computing did. Developers building for this new platform don’t think of themselves as just creating applications, but new digital worlds that users will... Apple in June revealed its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, which it hopes will change how...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo via Shutterstock.

Five Takeaways From Nvidia’s Earnings Call

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 24, 2023 7:00am PDT

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo via Shutterstock.

Five Takeaways From Nvidia’s Earnings Call

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 24, 2023 7:00am PDT

Nvidia stock is trading up Thursday morning, as investors applaud Wednesday evening’s blowout quarterly earnings report. Of course, that quarter is history now: what’s more important is what comes next. On that subject, CEO Jensen Huang was less than illuminating on Wednesday’s call. Nevertheless, we learned a lot from listening to comments from... Nvidia stock is trading up Thursday morning, as investors applaud Wednesday evening’s blowout...

Image by Clark Miller and Midjourney.

Startups to Watch

Eight Startups Challenging Nvidia in AI Chips

By Kevin McLaughlin, Anissa Gardizy, Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Aug 24, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia dominates the market for graphics processing units used to train artificial intelligence models, although rivals like AMD and Intel are trying to catch up. Now some scrappy startups are entering the fray with alternative designs for AI chips they claim work better and more efficiently than Nvidia’s GPUs. Other startups are targeting... Nvidia dominates the market for graphics processing units used to train artificial intelligence...

Gotion's facility in Fremont, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Gotion

Exclusive From The Electric: China’s Gotion Expects U.S. Tax Credits for Its U.S. Battery Production

By Steve LeVine · Aug 24, 2023 4:30am PDT

For the first time, Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion has said it expects lithium-ion batteries it plans to make in the U.S. to qualify for millions of dollars in U.S. tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, a law designed to create a U.S.-led battery supply chain. For the first time, Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion has said it expects lithium-ion batteries...

Art by Clark Miller

Chip Startup Sued By Apple Has Struggled to Raise Capital

By Wayne Ma · Aug 23, 2023 7:40pm PDT

Rivos, a server chip developer that Apple sued for alleged trade secret theft, has since struggled to raise funds from investors and recruit employees, its co-founders have told some staff. Apple sued the startup last year after it hired numerous employees from Apple’s chip design unit. Rivos last week laid off nearly two dozen employees,... Rivos, a server chip developer that Apple sued for alleged trade secret theft, has since...

Photo via Shutterstock

Nvidia’s Rocket-Ship Year

By Martin Peers · Aug 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Shutterstock

Nvidia’s Rocket-Ship Year

By Martin Peers · Aug 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang should be taking notes about his daily life. This is sure to be a year he’ll want to remember in detail. Nvidia’s dominance of chips that are vital for generative AI is translating into growth that is extraordinary for a 30-year-old company. Not only did it report better-than-projected second-quarter revenue growth of... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang should be taking notes about his daily life. This is sure to be a year he...

Paulina Hoong. Photo: Faith Cao.

Creator Economy

What TikTok’s $200 Billion Shopping Plans Mean for Creators

By Erin Woo · Aug 23, 2023 3:37pm PDT

This morning, my colleague Jing and I published reporting on how far TikTok is willing to go to make shopping a big business on the app. Leaders are aiming for TikTok Shop, its name for its fledgling shopping service, to generate about $200 billion in annual customer orders in the U.S. by 2028—or roughly what TikTok’s Chinese sister app Douyin... This morning, my colleague Jing and I published reporting on how far TikTok is willing to go to...

A SpaceX rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Working with Cloudflare to Speed Up Starlink Service

By Becky Peterson · Aug 23, 2023 12:38pm PDT

Space Exploration Technologies, Elon Musk’s rocket company, is working with Cloudflare to boost the performance of SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink, according to a person with direct knowledge of the project. The two companies are working on a way to increase Starlink’s terrestrial network of mini data centers... Space Exploration Technologies, Elon Musk’s rocket company, is working with Cloudflare to...

OpenSea CEO, Devin Finzer. Photo by AP.

NFT Startup Casualties Pile Up

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 23, 2023 9:00am PDT

The past week has been filled with NFT drama, with OpenSea changing its policy for collecting royalty fees and drawing the ire of investors and NFT creators alike. But first, let’s take a look at the latest in a string of NFT startups that are calling it quits. Recur, a startup that helps other businesses create and manage NFT collections,... The past week has been filled with NFT drama, with OpenSea changing its policy for collecting...

The Information Readers Expect More IPOs

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 23, 2023 8:00am PDT

Subscriber Survey

The Information Readers Expect More IPOs

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 23, 2023 8:00am PDT

Chip designer Arm filed its prospectus for an initial public offering Monday and readers of The Information expect more IPOs to follow soon. More than 40% of respondents to our latest reader survey expect the pace of IPOs to accelerate later this year. Nearly 60% of the respondents expect IPOs to pick up by the first half of next year. Readers... Chip designer Arm filed its prospectus for an initial public offering Monday and readers of The...