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

The rubble after Israeli airstrikes on Islamic National Bank of Gaza destroyed buildings and neighborhoods in Gaza City, Gaza on October 8. Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty

Creator Economy

X’s War Moment; Parade’s Influencer Marketing Costs

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 9, 2023 3:29pm PDT

X, formerly known as Twitter, is undergoing the first real test of its approach to content moderation since Elon Musk took over the app in late October. Hamas’ attacks on Israel over the weekend, and Israel’s strikes in retaliation, exploded over social media, including X. Viral moments from conflict zones, often uploaded by citizens, have been... X, formerly known as Twitter, is undergoing the first real test of its approach to content...

Israeli army deploys military vehicles near the Gaza border in Sderot, Israel on October 9. Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty.

Israeli Tech Workers Head to the Front Lines of War with Hamas

By Aaron Holmes, Jon Victor and Natasha Mascarenhas · Oct 9, 2023 12:42pm PDT · 4 comments

Israel’s tech industry is moving to the front lines of the country’s sudden war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Employees of Israeli software companies have been drafted to Israel’s military reserves to join or support an incursion into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after the group gunned down hundreds of Israeli... Israel’s tech industry is moving to the front lines of the country’s sudden war...

Photo by Midjourney.

The AI Chip Wars Rage On; The Rise of the AI Academic-Turned-Founder; Has No One Seen Black Mirror?

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 9, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

When Microsoft took an early bet on OpenAI in 2019, investing $1 billion into the startup, it also placed a major bet on another project: creating a competitor to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, we reported back in April. Now, years later, Microsoft executives plan to unveil a chip designed for artificial intelligence next month at Ignite,... When Microsoft took an early bet on OpenAI in 2019, investing $1 billion into the startup, it...

Art by Clark Miller

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Looks for Investing Redemption

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Oct 9, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Looks for Investing Redemption

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Oct 9, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

There was a time, not long ago, when Masayoshi Son couldn’t keep his hands off the Vision Fund, the swashbuckling investment firm overseen by the Japanese conglomerate he runs, SoftBank Group. He micromanaged the firm’s partners, frequently butting in on deals to play Silicon Valley kingmaker by throwing billions of... There was a time, not long ago, when Masayoshi Son couldn’t keep his hands off the Vision...

Mercedes-Benz plans to offer a silicon carbon electrode made by Sila Nanotechnologies as an option in some of its mid-decade ultra-luxury G-class electric cars. Photo: Courtesy Mercedes-Benz

The Electric: Fast-Charging Silicon Comes to EVs

By Steve LeVine · Oct 9, 2023 4:31am PDT

Engineers have improved lithium-ion batteries little by little since the debut of the first modern electric vehicles a decade and a half ago, making tweaks that together have tremendously reduced cell prices and boosted driving range. But a truly blockbuster breakthrough has evaded the industry, something that in a single stroke could make EVs... Engineers have improved lithium-ion batteries little by little since the debut of the first...

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last spring. It also loves to pattern-match, projecting visions of future success on entrepreneurs who look a lot like winners of the past. So what happens when an obvious wunderkind doesn’t look anything like her predecessors? It took a lot of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘It’s a Cult’: Inside Effective Accelerationism, the Pro-AI Movement Taking Over Silicon Valley

By Margaux MacColl · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

“Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, Y Combinator president Garry Tan and Notion co-founder Chris Prucha looked up at the cartoon of a shirtless man, his six-pack abs gleaming against a swirling galactic background. They were eager to listen to what the man had to say. The cartoon was the avatar for Beff Jezos (nope, not Jeff Bezos), the... “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, Y Combinator president Garry Tan and Notion co-founder...

Photo via Getty

ByteDance Stock Is Very Cheap—for Good Reason

By Martin Peers · Oct 6, 2023 4:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

ByteDance Stock Is Very Cheap—for Good Reason

By Martin Peers · Oct 6, 2023 4:00pm PDT

You might have missed it, with all the drama this week about Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial (for our deep dive, see here) and the latest updates from the world of AI, but we got a detailed update on ByteDance’s robust financial performance. And what that told us is that shareholders in the parent company of TikTok have reason to be very frustrated.... You might have missed it, with all the drama this week about Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial (for our...

Courtroom sketch of Sam Bankman-Fried, right, and his attorney Christian Everdell during jury selection on Oct. 3. Photo by Elizabeth Williams via AP.

In the Courtroom With SBF

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 6, 2023 3:33pm PDT · 3 comments

Flanked by his two top lawyers, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried sat, mostly silent, on the 26th floor in a Manhattan courtroom for the first week of his criminal trial, where he’s being tried for fraud and conspiracy charges related to his role in the collapse of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. One of the first... Flanked by his two top lawyers, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried sat, mostly silent, on the 26th...

Image via Shutterstock

Microsoft to Debut AI Chip Next Month That Could Cut Nvidia GPU Costs

By Anissa Gardizy · Oct 6, 2023 1:06pm PDT · 3 comments

Microsoft next month plans to unveil the company’s first chip designed for artificial intelligence at its annual developers’ conference, according to a person with direct knowledge. The move, a culmination of years of work, could help Microsoft lessen its reliance on Nvidia-designed AI chips, which have been in short supply as demand... Microsoft next month plans to unveil the company’s first chip designed for artificial...

How to Save Your Startup, Twitter/X, Threads (and Swift’s Stunt Romance)

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 6, 2023 11:57am PDT

On More or Less, we often like to discuss how startups are changing and how investors will adapt (and vice versa). And so, I took the opportunity this week to deliver a little rant about the term "lifestyle business," which has often irked me. Lots of other discussion on what's next for Twitter, Threads, social and—because we... On More or Less, we often like to discuss how startups are changing and how investors will adapt...

Renderings by Transparent House, Kennerly Architecture & Planning and Clark Miller; composite art by Miller

California Scheming: Nine Unsolicited Design Ideas for the Secret City of Solano County

By Margaux MacColl · Oct 6, 2023 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Renderings by Transparent House, Kennerly Architecture & Planning and Clark Miller; composite art by Miller

California Scheming: Nine Unsolicited Design Ideas for the Secret City of Solano County

By Margaux MacColl · Oct 6, 2023 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

For the last five years, a Silicon Valley supergroup has been plotting a secret city in Solano County, Calif., spending $800 million on 50,000 acres of land. Then, in August, The New York Times broke open the story, and the truth poured out. The project—dubbed “California Forever” and financed by a who’s who of tech... For the last five years, a Silicon Valley supergroup has been plotting a secret city in Solano...

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins: “She has a desire for worldwide domination.” AI generated art by Clark Miller

The Unsinkable Melanie Perkins: After 100 Rejections, the Canva CEO Faces Her Greatest Threat Yet

By Annie Goldsmith · Oct 6, 2023 9:00am PDT · 8 comments

In little more than a decade, the expectations placed on 36-year-old Melanie Perkins have gone from negligible to near impossible. Perkins, CEO and co-founder of Canva, a rapidly-growing graphic design platform and one of tech’s most highly valued private companies, was a complete unknown from Perth, Australia, when she appeared on... In little more than a decade, the expectations placed on 36-year-old Melanie Perkins have gone...

Alexander Kvamme, co-founder and CEO of Pathlight. Photo courtesy of Pathlight.

Pro Weekly: Generative AI Startups Hedge Their Bets

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 6, 2023 8:00am PDT

Our Generative AI database includes 78 companies, more than half of which are developing their own machine-learning models. The others rely on models from OpenAI or rivals such as Anthropic and Cohere. But a growing number of companies in our database use more than one machine-learning provider, including Pathlight, which uses five.San Francisco... Our Generative AI database includes 78 companies, more than half of which are developing their...

Vennette Ho. Photo via Getty. Art by Shane Burke.

Meet the Banker at the Center of a Beauty M&A Wave

By Ann Gehan · Oct 6, 2023 6:03am PDT

When Ju Rhyu’s Hero Cosmetics, a brand known for its Mighty Patch acne treatments that got its start selling on Amazon, was closing in on $100 million in revenue in mid-2021, she and her co-founders began to think about selling the five-year-old brand to a bigger company. Rhyu and the company’s board began interviewing bankers that... When Ju Rhyu’s Hero Cosmetics, a brand known for its Mighty Patch acne treatments that got...

Photo via Parade.

How Underwear Startup Parade Wiped Out Investors

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Ann Gehan · Oct 6, 2023 5:00am PDT · 7 comments

Photo via Parade.

How Underwear Startup Parade Wiped Out Investors

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Ann Gehan · Oct 6, 2023 5:00am PDT · 7 comments

When lingerie manufacturer Ariela & Associates International announced its purchase of buzzy direct-to-consumer intimates startup Parade in August, the deal appeared to be yet another example of larger holding companies and licensing firms buying up popular digitally native brands. Parade, valued by investors last year at about $200 million,... When lingerie manufacturer Ariela & Associates International announced its purchase of buzzy...

Photo by Brandon Slater via Getty.

Startup Employees Can Exhale, But Not Relax Too Much

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 5, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Maybe, just maybe, startup employees who held onto their jobs amid spurts of mass layoffs over the last year and a half can exhale. They have survived. The number of monthly job cuts at tech companies—just over 4,600—hit an 18-month low in September, according to Layoffs.fyi, the venerable tracker of employee career pain. The recent sprinkling... Maybe, just maybe, startup employees who held onto their jobs amid spurts of mass layoffs over...

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Flexport Plans to Cut Up to 30% of Workforce

By Theo Wayt · Oct 5, 2023 3:57pm PDT · 10 comments

Logistics startup Flexport plans to lay off up to 30% of its workforce, according to a person close to the company. That would represent about 1,000 people based on a headcount of around 3,300 people. The cuts are the latest and most drastic in a series of cost-cutting moves founder Ryan Petersen has made at the decade-old company since he... Logistics startup Flexport plans to lay off up to 30% of its workforce, according to a person...

Illustration generated in Ideogram

Andreessen Horowitz Discussed Backing a Rival to Midjourney Seeking $500 Million Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Jon Victor · Oct 5, 2023 3:09pm PDT · 3 comments

Investment firm Andreessen Horowitz recently discussed leading a new equity financing for Ideogram, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to create unique images, said a person with knowledge of the situation. The Toronto startup, which has been seeking a $500 million pre-money valuation, doesn’t generate revenue. But... Investment firm Andreessen Horowitz recently discussed leading a new equity financing...

Clockwise from top left: Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Charli D'Amelio and Snoop Dogg. Photos via YouTube/Meta.

Meta Is Paying Creators Millions for AI Chatbots

By Sahil Patel · Oct 5, 2023 3:01pm PDT

Clockwise from top left: Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Charli D'Amelio and Snoop Dogg. Photos via YouTube/Meta.

Creator Economy

Meta Is Paying Creators Millions for AI Chatbots

By Sahil Patel · Oct 5, 2023 3:01pm PDT

Meta Platforms’ decision to create artificial intelligence characters based on the likeness of some of the most famous people on the planet is paying off handsomely—for the stars themselves. Last week, the parent of Facebook and Instagram said it was paying stars including Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio for allowing Meta... Meta Platforms’ decision to create artificial intelligence characters based on the likeness of...