OpenAI and Microsoft Are Partners, Until They Vie for the Same Customers Read More

Briefing
asia startups travel venture capital

SoftBank-Backed Travel Startup Klook Raises $200 Million

By
Juro Osawa
· · Source: The Information

Klook, a Hong Kong-based online travel startup backed by SoftBank and Sequoia Capital China, said it has raised $200 million in its latest funding round, even as the global coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the industry. Klook didn’t disclose its valuation in the funding round. The fundraising, led by Asia-focused investment fund Aspex Management, also comes weeks after Airbnb’s...

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
Exclusive facebook
Meta Rehires Partnerships Executive After Vowing to Shrink Management
By Sahil Patel and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · March 22, 2023 7:16 AM PDT
Nick Grudin. Photo by Dapper Labs.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg’ effort to cut back on middle managers isn’t stopping the company hiring more middle managers. Meta has re-hired a veteran manager, Nick Grudin, to oversee its relationships with media companies and other creators, just seven months after Grudin quit to join Dapper Labs, an NFT startup. Grudin will resume his old job, reporting to his previous boss...
Latest Briefs
 
Virgin Orbit Nears $200 Million Funding Deal
By Becky Peterson · March 22, 2023
Amazon Tests Palm-Scanning Technology at Panera Bread
By Theo Wayt · March 22, 2023
Toyota Phases Out Amazon Alexa in Vehicles, Explores ChatGPT
By Theo Wayt · March 22, 2023
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
Sarah Nagy gives a demo of her startup, Seek.ai, at an AI event at the San Francisco Wine Society in January. Photography by Laura Morton
First Look startups ai
Boom Times in San Francisco’s AI Underground
By Arielle Pardes
Not even a banking crisis could chill the fever sweeping San Francisco. Last Wednesday, as the tech industry recoiled from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a party was scheduled at the offices of Maverick Ventures in an old army hospital in the Presidio.
Cover art and portraits by Clark Miller
The Big Read
The Instant Oral History of the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse
By Abram Brown, Annie Goldsmith, Margaux MacColl, Arielle Pardes, Nick Wingfield and Kaya Yurieff
On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble began last Wednesday, the panic spread via group texts and Twitter threads on Thursday, the bank went under on Friday, the government got its act together on Saturday, and on Sunday every current and former customer of SVB could breathe a cautious sigh of relief.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion startups economy
SVB Is Dead. Long Live SVB.
By Jason Pontin
We all know how it began. It started on March 9, when the run on Silicon Valley Bank made the innovation economy totter and threatened a global financial crisis.
A pedestrian passes a Silicon Valley Bank branch in San Francisco, on Monday, March 13, 2023. Photo by AP.
Exclusive startups venture capital
SVB’s $9.5 Billion Venture Unit Included Large Investments in Andreessen, Sequoia, Documents Show
By Kate Clark
As potential buyers circle the remnants of Silicon Valley Bank and its affiliates, one asset could be particularly appealing: the company’s venture capital arm.
Clockwise from top left: Julie Bornstein, Esther Crawford, Mark Hammond, Max Cutler, Kağan Sümer. Photos via Julie Bernstein, Robert Cowherd, Microsoft, Wikimedia and Kağan Sümer.
Free Agents startups
On the Market: The Founders Who Joined Microsoft, Spotify, Coinbase and Twitter
By The Information Staff
Call them acqui-fires. Several founders who took positions at the bigger tech companies that bought their startups recently lost their jobs when layoffs rolled through Silicon Valley.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive cloud
In Search of Profits, Google Cloud Shifts Focus to Midsize Customers
By Kevin McLaughlin
During Thomas Kurian’s nearly five years at the helm of Google’s cloud-server business, the unit has raised its profile by inking long-term agreements with companies such as Deutsche Bank, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings and Mayo Clinic.