The Information

Targets to Watch as AI Dealmaking Picks Up

By Valida Pau · Jul 24, 2025 6:00am PDT

Google’s and Meta Platforms’ unconventional multibillion-dollar deals to obtain artificial intelligence talent have dominated headlines in recent weeks. But large technology companies including Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, Snowflake and cloud provider CoreWeave have gone beyond recruiting talent: Each has recently acquired at least one AI startup for... Google’s and Meta Platforms’ unconventional multibillion-dollar deals to obtain artificial...

Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, on stage at an event. Photo by Getty.

The Takeover Targets Emerging Out of IPO Dead Ends

By Akash Pasricha · Jun 2, 2025 1:02pm PDT

This year has seen trickles of tech initial public offering activity, but there’s still a sizable list of IPO hopefuls whose public market ambitions have stalled. Bankers say that dynamic is encouraging more private companies to try to find a buyer instead. To that end, we updated our Tech IPO Tracker to highlight the likeliest takeover targets... This year has seen trickles of tech initial public offering activity, but there’s still a sizable...

Art by Clark Miller; photos via Shutterstock.

Eight Food and Drink Startups Primed for a Takeover

By Ann Gehan · Mar 10, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Celsius’ $1.8 billion purchase of influencer-founded energy drink brand Alani Nu last month sparked fresh hope among investors in startups touting healthier versions of mainstream food and beverage brands. Among the fast-growing brands that could be the next targets for purchase are Good Culture, which sells cottage cheese packaged in single... Celsius’ $1.8 billion purchase of influencer-founded energy drink brand Alani Nu last month...

A Fabletics store in 2017 in Torrance, California. Photo by Getty.

‘Zombie’ Brands and IPO Doldrums: Inside the Consumer Deep Freeze

By Ann Gehan · Jan 17, 2025 6:00am PST

A Fabletics store in 2017 in Torrance, California. Photo by Getty.

‘Zombie’ Brands and IPO Doldrums: Inside the Consumer Deep Freeze

By Ann Gehan · Jan 17, 2025 6:00am PST

A mergers and acquisitions slowdown for beauty, apparel and other consumer startups, plus a yearslong initial public offering drought, have created a quandary for once-hot brands: Many risk becoming too passé to go public but too big for buyers to swallow. Avoiding that fate was top of mind for many investors, advisers and executives I... A mergers and acquisitions slowdown for beauty, apparel and other consumer startups, plus a...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Goldman, JPMorgan Eye Crypto Clients as IPO Prospects Brighten

By Yueqi Yang · Nov 6, 2024 6:00am PST

Investment bankers from top Wall Street firms including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been meeting with crypto executives, according to industry participants, hoping to get a foot in the door for lucrative initial public offerings that crypto companies might pursue after the election. The new enthusiasm reflects optimism that... Investment bankers from top Wall Street firms including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan...

Perplexity CEO, Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Flickr/TechCrunch Disrupt.

Perplexity Nears $9 Billion Valuation in Investment Led by IVP

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Nov 5, 2024 2:26pm PST

Institutional Venture Partners is in talks to lead a $500 million investment in Perplexity, which has developed an artificial intelligence-powered search engine that competes with Google, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The company is set to raise the round at a $9 billion valuation, triple the valuation from a round earlier... Institutional Venture Partners is in talks to lead a $500 million investment in Perplexity, which...

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman. Photo by Getty

Cerebras CEO’s Past Felony Conviction Hangs Over IPO Listing

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 5, 2024 7:43am PDT · 4 comments

Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as one of the few tech startups aiming to list its shares publicly this year, trying to capitalize on investor interest in hardware that powers artificial intelligence. What may dampen some of the fervor is another unusual detail: Its co-founder and CEO,... Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as...

Products from Shein, Temu, On Running, Skims and Vuori. Photos via retailers.

Amid Consumer IPO Logjam, Picky Shoppers Take the Spotlight

By Ann Gehan · Sep 6, 2024 10:32am PDT · 1 comment

Products from Shein, Temu, On Running, Skims and Vuori. Photos via retailers.

Amid Consumer IPO Logjam, Picky Shoppers Take the Spotlight

By Ann Gehan · Sep 6, 2024 10:32am PDT · 1 comment

Consumer companies are staring down a stark divide: Shoppers either want ultracheap goods, like $3 crop tops from sites like Temu, or high-end items, like $300 running shoes from On Holding, a sneaker company that went public in 2021. That’s according to investors, analysts and executives I spoke with at a Goldman Sachs retail conference... Consumer companies are staring down a stark divide: Shoppers either want ultracheap goods, like...

Skims co-founder, Kim Kardashian. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.

Skims, Chime Take New Steps to 2025 IPOs

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 30, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

The bankers, lawyers and other advisers who usher tech companies through initial public offerings have already written off 2024 as another lost year. That has put an added spotlight on which companies are taking new concrete steps to list publicly next year. The lineup is starting to take shape: Skims, the apparel company co-founded by Kim... The bankers, lawyers and other advisers who usher tech companies through initial public offerings...

Llion Jones, left, and David Ha. Photos courtesy of Jones and Ha.

OpenAI’s Japanese Rival Gets $1 Billion Valuation From Silicon Valley Investors

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Jun 14, 2024 11:51am PDT

In their hunt for artificial intelligence investments, U.S. venture capitalists are looking past Silicon Valley at foreign AI startups, betting that locally developed large-language models will outperform imports from the U.S. The latest to win their affections is Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based large-language model developer. Founded last year by... In their hunt for artificial intelligence investments, U.S. venture capitalists are looking past...

Left to right: Keith Rabois, managing partner at Khosla Ventures, and Ramp cofounders Karim Atiyeh (CTO), Eric Glyman (CEO) and Gene Lee (CPO). Photos by Bloomberg and Ramp.

Ramp’s Value Rises 36% in New Deal as Fintechs Rebound

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Apr 17, 2024 3:03pm PDT · 3 comments

After a bruising couple of years for cash-burning financial technology startups, valuations are starting to rise again. Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund are co-leading a $150 million financing of Ramp, which offers credit cards and software for managing corporate expenses, at around a $7.65 billion valuation including the new capital, according... After a bruising couple of years for cash-burning financial technology startups, valuations are...

Mustafa Suleyman. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images.

Microsoft-backed Inflection Arranges Unusual Payout for Startup’s Investors

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Mar 19, 2024 8:09pm PDT · 3 comments

Mustafa Suleyman. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images.

Microsoft-backed Inflection Arranges Unusual Payout for Startup’s Investors

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Mar 19, 2024 8:09pm PDT · 3 comments

Microsoft’s decision to hire most of the staff of Inflection AI, including co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, leaves the would-be OpenAI rival a shell of its former self. But Inflection has arranged an unusual deal for investors that should take the sting out of that blow. At the same time it revealed the staff... Microsoft’s decision to hire most of the staff of Inflection AI, including co-founders...

YouTube cofounder, Chad Hurley, in October 2014. Photo by David Buchan/Getty.

YouTube Co-Founder Hurley’s Stealth AI Startup Raises Money from A-Star Capital, Ron Conway

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 13, 2023 2:00pm PST · 1 comment

Eighteen years after co-founding YouTube, Chad Hurley is back with a new startup, EyeTell, which uses artificial intelligence to generate short-form video scripts and content, according to two people familiar with the matter. The five-month-old startup has raised a seed round led by Kevin Hartz’s A-Star Capital with an investment from Ron... Eighteen years after co-founding YouTube, Chad Hurley is back with a new startup, EyeTell, which...

Photo by Getty

Palo Alto Networks Finalizing $600 Million-Plus Acquisition of Israeli Security Startup

By Maria Heeter and Aaron Holmes · Nov 5, 2023 11:09am PST · 1 comment

Palo Alto Networks is close to acquiring Israeli startup Talon Cyber Security in a deal that could value it at $600 million to $700 million, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The deal could be announced as soon as Monday, one of the people said. The acquisition would extend Palo Alto Networks’... Palo Alto Networks is close to acquiring Israeli startup Talon Cyber Security in a deal that...

Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Mistral, a Wannabe OpenAI of Europe, Seeks $300 Million

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 30, 2023 12:36pm PDT · 3 comments

Mistral, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former Meta Platforms and Alphabet researchers, plans to raise an additional $300 million from investors just four months after raising $113 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The round is expected to value the... Mistral, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former Meta Platforms and Alphabet...

Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, chief executive officer of Qatar Investment Authority, during a panel session at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, Qatar, on May 23, 2023. Photo: Getty.

Qatar’s Hamas Ties Could Thwart $475 Billion Investing Ambition

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Jon Victor · Oct 21, 2023 7:00am PDT · 25 comments

Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, chief executive officer of Qatar Investment Authority, during a panel session at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, Qatar, on May 23, 2023. Photo: Getty.

Qatar’s Hamas Ties Could Thwart $475 Billion Investing Ambition

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Jon Victor · Oct 21, 2023 7:00am PDT · 25 comments

Qatar last year signaled it wanted to be a much bigger investor in tech when its $475 billion sovereign wealth fund backed Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Now, the war between Israel and Hamas—a Palestinian terrorist group with ties to Qatar—may hamper those ambitions. The petroleum-rich Persian Gulf nation has been trying to... Qatar last year signaled it wanted to be a much bigger investor in tech when its $475 billion...

Photo via Convoy.

Trucking Company Convoy Halts New Orders, Tells Employees to Prep for ‘Transition’

By Maria Heeter and Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 10:37am PDT · 1 comment

Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and said that it was canceling existing shipments, promising to share additional details with staff in the coming days, according to an internal message. The abrupt message comes after months of Convoy exploring strategic options including a potential... Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and...

Everett Cook, CEO of Rho (left) and Sima Gandhi, CEO of Creative Juice. Photos via Rho and Creative Juice.

Banking Startup Rho in Talks to Buy MrBeast-Backed Creative Juice

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 13, 2023 12:35pm PDT

Rho Technologies, a New York-based banking startup, is in talks to buy Creative Juice, a startup backed by star YouTuber MrBeast that offers upfront financing and other financial tools for creators, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. A completed deal would mark at least the second acquisition so far this year by Rho,... Rho Technologies, a New York-based banking startup, is in talks to buy Creative Juice, a startup...

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station outside of Berwick, Penn. Photo via Jakec/Wikimedia.

Cloud Providers Eye Nuclear Power as AI Saps Data Centers

By Anissa Gardizy and Maria Heeter · Oct 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

As cloud providers struggle to cope with fast-growing demand for artificial intelligence computing, they may turn to a source of power that has gone largely untapped by the cloud industry: nuclear. What might be the first data center site with direct access to a nuclear power plant, located outside Berwick, Pa., is now on the auction block.... As cloud providers struggle to cope with fast-growing demand for artificial intelligence...

Arm CFO Jason Child. Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Startup ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ Trying to Break Open the IPO Market

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 13, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Arm CFO Jason Child. Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Startup ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ Trying to Break Open the IPO Market

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 13, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When bankers working on Arm’s impending initial public offering wanted to talk to one of the executives in charge of the SoftBank-owned chip designer, they sometimes heard heavy breathing on the other end of the phone. It was the sound of Jason Child, a longtime Amazon executive who is now Arm’s chief financial officer, running up a... When bankers working on Arm’s impending initial public offering wanted to talk to one of...