Dealmaker by The Information Staff

Two times/week

Dealmaker

By The Information Staff

Reporters Cory Weinberg and Katie Roof tell you what’s coming next, who’s winning—and who’s losing—in the high-stakes world of startup investing.

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Recent Editions

NVCA President, Bobby Franklin. Photo via YouTube/NYSE.

Venture’s Presidential Agenda; Sarah Guo’s Next Fund

By Kate Clark · Nov 5, 2024 3:26pm PST

Silicon Valley venture capitalists are at odds over who they want to win this presidential race, but there is growing consensus on the need for the next president to replace Lina Khan as head of the Federal Trade Commission. Such a change, venture capitalists hope, could lead to more acquisitions and reinvigorate venture capital investments.“... Silicon Valley venture capitalists are at odds over who they want to win this presidential race,...

Photos via Shutterstock

Why Nvidia Could Back XAI

By Kate Clark and Natasha Mascarenhas · Oct 31, 2024 1:03pm PDT · 2 comments

Few are as skilled, and quick, as Elon Musk at raising capital—billions of dollars, no less. But if there’s one constant in Musk’s fundraising strategy, it’s that he often changes the details of a round at the last minute. Take the latest process to raise money for his 18-month-old artificial intelligence startup, xAI. Representatives of... Few are as skilled, and quick, as Elon Musk at raising capital—billions of dollars, no less. But...

Participants at the 2024 Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh today. Photo via Getty.

At ‘Davos in the Desert,’ It’s ‘AI or Die’

By Kate Clark · Oct 29, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Few conferences are able to gather a more powerful group of finance and tech moguls than Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which sponsors the annual Future Investment Initiative, also known as “Davos in the Desert.” This year’s conference, held this week in Riyadh, has so far featured Elon Musk, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, Ben Horowitz,... Few conferences are able to gather a more powerful group of finance and tech moguls than Saudi...

HRZ Han River co-founder Chris Koh. Photo via HRZ Han River.

Coupang Co-Founder’s $100 Million VC Fund Wants to Fund the ‘Korea Graph’

By Kate Clark · Oct 24, 2024 3:00pm PDT

HRZ Han River co-founder Chris Koh. Photo via HRZ Han River.

Coupang Co-Founder’s $100 Million VC Fund Wants to Fund the ‘Korea Graph’

By Kate Clark · Oct 24, 2024 3:00pm PDT

New venture capitalists are climbing a wall of skepticism when they raise new funds, particularly as they compete with established firms like General Catalyst, which just raised $8 billion. Even veterans of some of the most successful startups are finding it tough.That was the case for Chris Koh, co-founder of Korean e-commerce giant Coupang. He... New venture capitalists are climbing a wall of skepticism when they raise new funds, particularly...

Stripe CEO and co-founder, Patrick Collison. Photo via Getty.

Stripe’s Crypto Deal Provides Momentary Relief to Investors

By Kate Clark · Oct 22, 2024 3:15pm PDT

Stripe’s announcement that it was buying cryptocurrency payments startup Bridge delivered a dose of optimism to venture capitalists this week. The deal is poised to become the largest-ever crypto acquisition and punctuated a particularly dreary market for mergers and public offerings.The purchase values the two-and-a-half-year-old company at... Stripe’s announcement that it was buying cryptocurrency payments startup Bridge delivered a dose...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo via Adobe.

General Catalyst Plans First Investment in Saudi Arabia

By Kate Clark and Natasha Mascarenhas · Oct 17, 2024 1:11pm PDT

General Catalyst is swiftly widening its global footprint. On the heels of acquiring two smaller venture firms in India and Germany, the firm plans to lead an investment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based financial technology startup Lean Technologies, according to a person with direct knowledge of the firm’s investments.The deal would represent... General Catalyst is swiftly widening its global footprint. On the heels of acquiring two smaller...

Photo via Adobe

Five Red Flags Hanging Over Venture Capital

By Kate Clark · Oct 15, 2024 3:20pm PDT · 2 comments

The artificial intelligence boom has provided a nice distraction from the reality of the venture capital industry, where cracks beneath the surface continue to grow. The latest edition of PitchBook’s quarterly report on the venture business paints a concerning portrait and offers a bleak projection: “the dam created by the headwinds of high... The artificial intelligence boom has provided a nice distraction from the reality of the venture...

Elad Gil. Photo via Getty

Elad Gil’s Latest AI Bet Is in Health

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 10, 2024 4:14pm PDT

Elad Gil. Photo via Getty

Elad Gil’s Latest AI Bet Is in Health

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 10, 2024 4:14pm PDT

The boom in artificial intelligence funding has extended into the healthcare sector, where startups are developing generative AI tools to improve patient care.Abridge, a six-year-old startup that uses AI to transcribe doctors’ conversations with their patients, is raising $250 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion before the investment,... The boom in artificial intelligence funding has extended into the healthcare sector, where...

Photo via Getty

VC Investors Are Excited About Prediction Markets (Again)

By Yueqi Yang · Oct 8, 2024 3:30pm PDT · 1 comment

At the end of the last decade, one of the early ways investors and founders thought they could harness blockchain technology was to run prediction markets. Proponents believed blockchain would help ensure payouts to winners, without the need to find a bookie and argue over results. Those efforts largely failed because those sites were... At the end of the last decade, one of the early ways investors and founders thought they could...

Photo via Getty.

Will OpenAI’s Investor Terms Hurt Anthropic—or Help It?

By Kate Clark · Oct 3, 2024 3:22pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past, avoiding such rival investments was the norm! Still, OpenAI’s private request of its backers, that they avoid investing in other artificial intelligence model makers, stands out. Increasingly investors have been funding rival AI businesses as a way to... It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past,...

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

SoftBank Finally Gets Its Piece of OpenAI

By Kate Clark · Oct 1, 2024 3:00pm PDT

The internet didn’t hold back in mocking OpenAI and SoftBank in response to my scoop on SoftBank’s Vision Fund investing $500 million at a $150 billion pre-investment valuation in the ChatGPT developer. The commentators quickly interpreted the Japanese telecom giant’s participation in the financing as a sign that the artificial intelligence... The internet didn’t hold back in mocking OpenAI and SoftBank in response to my scoop on SoftBank’...

Departed OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s Investors Are Hanging On For the Ride

By Kate Clark · Sep 26, 2024 3:01pm PDT

Departed OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s Investors Are Hanging On For the Ride

By Kate Clark · Sep 26, 2024 3:01pm PDT

OpenAI's investors are accustomed to turmoil. There’s been a steady stream of high-profile departures since last November, when CEO Sam Altman was fired in a board coup of cinematic proportions. That may be why its backers, though surprised by this week’s resignation of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and two other top technical... OpenAI's investors are accustomed to turmoil. There’s been a steady stream of high-profile...

Fadi Ghandour. Photo by Wamda Capital.

Tech Investors Head to Mideast for Deals

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 24, 2024 3:27pm PDT

Silicon Valley has never felt more intertwined with the Middle East—and I’m not just saying that because I’m writing this column as I graze on dates in the lobby of Rosewood Abu Dhabi. I spent the last week meeting investors, operators and founders in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where evidence of U.S. venture capital was easy to find.One of those... Silicon Valley has never felt more intertwined with the Middle East—and I’m not just saying that...

Sam Altman. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

OpenAI Asks Investors to Fork Over $250 Million

By Kate Clark · Sep 19, 2024 3:06pm PDT

Surely if you’re a reader of this newsletter, you know by now that OpenAI is in late-stage talks to raise a mammoth funding round that could value it at $150 billion. What you may not know is that the company has asked investors to fork over a minimum of $250 million, according to people with knowledge of the terms. To recap, OpenAI is... Surely if you’re a reader of this newsletter, you know by now that OpenAI is in late-stage talks...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Crypto Funds Are Hunting for Yield

By Yueqi Yang · Sep 17, 2024 3:44pm PDT

After a two-year drought of initial public offerings, venture capitalists are finding new ways to return cash to shareholders, we wrote last week. Crypto investors have a few other tools to get capital back to their investors, or limited partners. But they also are facing more hurdles these days.Funds that bought tokens, or digital assets tied... After a two-year drought of initial public offerings, venture capitalists are finding new ways to...

Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future. Photo via Recorded Future

Insight Proves There Are Still Home-Run Deals in Cybersecurity

By Aaron Holmes and Anissa Gardizy · Sep 12, 2024 3:01pm PDT · 1 comment

Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future. Photo via Recorded Future

Insight Proves There Are Still Home-Run Deals in Cybersecurity

By Aaron Holmes and Anissa Gardizy · Sep 12, 2024 3:01pm PDT · 1 comment

For cybersecurity investors rattled by a year filled with valuation haircuts for high-priced cybersecurity companies, Thursday offered a glimmer of hope that home-run deals are still possible in the sector.Mastercard announced that it will acquire threat intelligence startup Recorded Future for $2.65 billion from private equity and venture... For cybersecurity investors rattled by a year filled with valuation haircuts for high-priced...

D-Matrix's co-founders, Sudeep Bhoja (left) and Sid Sheth (right). Photos via YouTube/D-Matrix

Nvidia Challenger Woos Investors as It Prepares to Unveil New Chip

By Akash Pasricha and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 10, 2024 4:44pm PDT · 1 comment

Another artificial intelligence chip startup is trying to rally investors as it takes on Nvidia. D-Matrix, a Santa Clara, Calif.–based company designing an AI-focused chip to run large language models more cost effectively, wants to raise $250 million in a Series C funding round, according to two people with direct knowledge of the... Another artificial intelligence chip startup is trying to rally investors as it takes on...

Paul Graham. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

The Cult of Founder Mode

By Kate Clark · Sep 5, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I spent most of Labor Day weekend in bed recovering from a bout of Covid, because I was blissfully unaware of the newest venture capital debate brewing online.Rather than enjoy barbecues with their families, it seems like many venture capitalists and startup founders spent the weekend engaging in an... Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I spent most of Labor Day weekend in bed recovering from...

Photo via Getty

A Dogfight Over a Dog Food Startup

By Julia Hornstein and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 3, 2024 4:12pm PDT · 1 comment

As funding for startups outside artificial intelligence has dried up, more founders have contemplated takeover offers. But such deals can sour if the founders agree to an all-stock deal—and the acquiring business doesn’t live up to its promises.That’s essentially the situation the shareholders of venture-backed Canadian startup Kabo allege they’... As funding for startups outside artificial intelligence has dried up, more founders have...

Sam Altman at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho in July. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

OpenAI's Astounding Price Tag

By Kate Clark · Aug 29, 2024 3:13pm PDT · 8 comments

Sam Altman at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho in July. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

OpenAI's Astounding Price Tag

By Kate Clark · Aug 29, 2024 3:13pm PDT · 8 comments

For weeks we’ve been talking to investors about an expected funding round for OpenAI. The mega financing is finally happening! CEO and co-founder Sam Altman has told employees the company is raising more money, according to a person with direct knowledge. But not every investor approves of the staggering new valuation. For weeks we’ve been talking to investors about an expected funding round for OpenAI. The mega...