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Art by Mike Sullivan

How an Online Pharmacy’s Automation Project Went Awry

By Paris Martineau · Apr 19, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Last summer, Capsule—an online pharmacy startup that had won attention with its speedy prescription-drug deliveries and quirky practice of addressing customers in emails and over the phone as “dear”—had a crisis on its hands in New York, its most important market. Beginning in August, Capsule customers in the city began... Last summer, Capsule—an online pharmacy startup that had won attention with its speedy...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Readies AI Chip as Machine Learning Costs Surge

By Anissa Gardizy and Wayne Ma · Apr 18, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

After placing an early bet on OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Microsoft has another secret weapon in its arsenal: its own artificial intelligence chip for powering the large-language models responsible for understanding and generating humanlike language. The software giant has been developing the chip, internally code-named Athena, since as... After placing an early bet on OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Microsoft has another secret weapon...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by AP.

OpenAI Wraps Up Tender as AI Talent War Heats Up

By Jon Victor and Erin Woo · Apr 17, 2023 7:31am PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI has told employees it has finalized a tender offer that allowed some staff to cash out their holdings, one person with direct knowledge of the situation said. The move caps a process that began last fall alongside talks to raise billions of dollars from Microsoft. Over the past few months, the San Francisco startup behind artificial... OpenAI has told employees it has finalized a tender offer that allowed some staff to cash out...

Nicola Mendelsohn and Mark Zuckerberg. Art by Shane Burke/Bloomberg

Meta Tries to Lure Advertisers With Reels Discounts, AI Tools

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Sahil Patel · Apr 17, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Nicola Mendelsohn and Mark Zuckerberg. Art by Shane Burke/Bloomberg

Meta Tries to Lure Advertisers With Reels Discounts, AI Tools

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Sahil Patel · Apr 17, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

After suffering its first-ever drop in ad sales, Meta Platforms has abandoned its once-brash tone with advertisers in favor of a more flexible approach to winning business. Instead of demanding that ad agencies commit to increases in spending of 20% or more, as they typically did in past years, Meta's salespeople are signaling... After suffering its first-ever drop in ad sales, Meta Platforms has abandoned its...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Palo Alto Networks Woos Customers With Years of Free Software as Cloud Security Sales Slow

By Aaron Holmes · Apr 14, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

The slowdown in enterprise software spending is forcing some software firms to go to extraordinary lengths to win business. Palo Alto Networks, for instance, is giving away cloud security service—literally. The company, which is the biggest stand-alone security software firm measured by market capitalization, is offering its cloud security... The slowdown in enterprise software spending is forcing some software firms to go to...

Fraser Kelton, venture partner at Spark Capital. Photo via Fraser Kelton

Former OpenAI Exec Joins Spark Capital as Venture Push Into AI Heats Up

By Kate Clark · Apr 13, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

To gain an edge in the suddenly hot artificial intelligence category, one venture firm is hiring from the startup—OpenAI—that set off the generative AI craze in the first place. Spark Capital has hired Fraser Kelton, the former head of product at OpenAI, as a venture partner, Kelton and Nabeel Hyatt, a Spark general partner, told The... To gain an edge in the suddenly hot artificial intelligence category, one venture firm is hiring...

Photo by Shutterstock.

Cybersecurity Firm Zscaler Loses Coveted Spot in Gartner Ranking Due to ‘Sales Arrogance’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 12, 2023 5:00am PDT · 4 comments

Competition between the two of the biggest cybersecurity firms selling software monitoring employee access to cloud applications and data is set to intensify after influential market research firm Gartner cut its ranking on the market leader, Zscaler. In a regular update about the best positioned firms, Gartner ranked privately held... Competition between the two of the biggest cybersecurity firms selling software monitoring...

YC CEO Garry Tan. Photo by Getty.

Garry Tan’s First Big Move as Y Combinator CEO Roils Founders

By Kate Clark · Apr 11, 2023 6:00am PDT · 14 comments

YC CEO Garry Tan. Photo by Getty.

Garry Tan’s First Big Move as Y Combinator CEO Roils Founders

By Kate Clark · Apr 11, 2023 6:00am PDT · 14 comments

The first big change made by Y Combinator’s new CEO and president Garry Tan—to shutter a fund investing in mature startups so it could sharpen its focus on much younger companies—has set off an uproar among founders backed by the esteemed startup accelerator. The first big change made by Y Combinator’s new CEO and president Garry Tan—to ...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon Starts Charging for Some UPS Store Returns

By Theo Wayt · Apr 10, 2023 12:33pm PDT · 4 comments

Amazon has started charging fees to make some returns at UPS Stores, marking the latest effort by the e-commerce giant to cut down on costs associated with customers sending back items. Returns have been an expensive headache for e-commerce companies after they skyrocketed during pandemic lockdown and have remained stubbornly high.... Amazon has started charging fees to make some returns at UPS Stores, marking the latest effort by...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

TikTok Struggles to Enlist U.S. Merchants for Shopping Service

By Juro Osawa, Theo Wayt, Ann Gehan and Kaya Yurieff · Apr 10, 2023 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

As TikTok tries to win over U.S. politicians, it may have kneecapped its shopping service, TikTok Shop. Relatively few U.S. merchants are showing interest in signing up for the nascent service, both because they’re more focused on expanding in bricks and mortar and because they’re concerned the app could be banned, merchants say. ... As TikTok tries to win over U.S. politicians, it may have kneecapped its shopping service, TikTok...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AI Developers Stymied by Server Shortage at AWS, Microsoft, Google

By Aaron Holmes and Anissa Gardizy · Apr 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Startups and other companies trying to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom sparked by OpenAI are running into a problem: They can’t find enough specialized computers to make their own AI software. A spike in demand for server chips that can train and run machine-learning software has caused a shortage, prompting major... Startups and other companies trying to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom sparked by...

OpenAI President Greg Brockman. Photo via OpenAI

The OpenAI Coder Who Spun Tech On its Head

By Jon Victor · Apr 6, 2023 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

OpenAI President Greg Brockman. Photo via OpenAI

The OpenAI Coder Who Spun Tech On its Head

By Jon Victor · Apr 6, 2023 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Greg Brockman needed a win. In 2017, Brockman—then chief technology officer of OpenAI, a 50-person nonprofit at the time—was worried about getting left in the dust by bigger rivals like DeepMind, an AI lab owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. He also was concerned that OpenAI might fall into the trap that had ensnared... Greg Brockman needed a win. In 2017, Brockman—then chief technology officer of OpenAI, a...

Tiger founder Chase Coleman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tiger Global Tried to Sell VC Fund Stakes in Latest Sign of Strategy Shift

By Kate Clark · Apr 5, 2023 6:31am PDT · 2 comments

Tiger Global Management, the most prolific investor in private tech companies during the recent boom, also invested in dozens of venture capital firms as it sought to forge closer ties to the young startups those funds backed. But in recent months, the New York–based investment firm has been looking to dump some of those VC fund stakes. ... Tiger Global Management, the most prolific investor in private tech companies during the recent...

Art by Shane Burke/Shutterstock

Sequoia and Other U.S.-Backed VCs Are Funding China’s Answer to OpenAI

By Juro Osawa · Apr 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 13 comments

A boom in artificial intelligence startup funding sparked by OpenAI has spilled over to China, the world’s second-biggest venture capital market. Now American institutional investors are indirectly financing a rash of Chinese AI startups aspiring to be China’s answer to OpenAI. The American investors, including U.S. endowments, back... A boom in artificial intelligence startup funding sparked by OpenAI has spilled over to China,...

Kevin Mayer. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Disney Exec Kevin Mayer Looks to Double VC Fund Size to $1 Billion

By Kate Clark and Sahil Patel · Apr 4, 2023 1:17pm PDT · 3 comments

Smash Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Disney veterans including Kevin Mayer, is seeking to raise as much as $500 million in fresh capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. The new fundraising would supplement half a billion dollars the fund previously raised. The fund, which is separate from Mayer’s ... Smash Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Disney veterans including Kevin Mayer, is seeking...

Art by Clark Miller.

Amazon Hands Out ‘Small Business’ Label to Huge Sellers

By Theo Wayt · Apr 4, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Amazon Hands Out ‘Small Business’ Label to Huge Sellers

By Theo Wayt · Apr 4, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

What do a bottle of shampoo made by Johnson & Johnson, a lamp from a Chinese seller and an Arc’Teryx jacket all have in common? Amazon has labeled them all as coming from American small businesses. Amazon began adding a “Small Business” badge to items on its U.S. site about a year ago, pitching it as an effort to... What do a bottle of shampoo made by Johnson & Johnson, a lamp from a Chinese seller and an...

Ben Horowitz (left) and Marc Andreessen at the Future Investment Initiative Institute conference in Miami in late March. Photo courtesy of FII Institute

Saudi Arabia Discloses Ties to Andreessen Horowitz, Dozens of Other Venture Funds

By Becky Peterson and Kate Clark · Apr 3, 2023 12:49pm PDT · 10 comments

For several years, venture capital firms have been cagey about whether they have raised money from Saudi Arabia, following the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in one of the country’s consulates. The Saudis, for their part, are no longer keeping quiet. The venture arm of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the... For several years, venture capital firms have been cagey about whether they have raised money...

Salesforce’s Benioff Discussing Management Reorg

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Salesforce has always been known for internal power struggles. Now, as the dust settles from the January departure of Bret Taylor as co-CEO, at least two senior executives are vying for a wider range of responsibilities, perhaps anticipating the day CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff finally steps aside. Srinivas Tallapragada, chief engineering... Salesforce has always been known for internal power struggles. Now, as the dust settles from the...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg

In Reversal, Instacart Hikes Its Valuation 18%

By Cory Weinberg and Erin Woo · Apr 2, 2023 1:10pm PDT · 4 comments

After slashing its private stock price four times last year, Instacart is feeling better about itself. The grocery delivery firm, whose business skyrocketed during the pandemic but later cooled off, in late February raised its internal stock price 18% compared to December, according to a person with direct knowledge. While the company’s... After slashing its private stock price four times last year, Instacart is feeling better about...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg

Revenue at TikTok Owner ByteDance Rose More Than 30% in 2022, Topped $80 Billion

By Juro Osawa · Apr 1, 2023 6:00am PDT

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg

Revenue at TikTok Owner ByteDance Rose More Than 30% in 2022, Topped $80 Billion

By Juro Osawa · Apr 1, 2023 6:00am PDT

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, generated more than $80 billion in annual revenue last year, up more than 30% from roughly $60 billion in 2021, according to two people with knowledge of the figure. The 2022 result, which hasn’t previously been reported, is significant because most technology companies with that kind of revenue... ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, generated more than $80 billion in annual revenue last...