Pro Weekly by The Information Staff

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Pro Weekly

By The Information Staff

Our analysts will sort through and send the biggest updates to our data every week in an exclusive newsletter, in case you don’t have the time to go through it all.

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Recent Editions

Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman. Photo via Flickr/Fortune.

Pro Weekly: Investors Eye AI Chip Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 21, 2025 8:00am PST

Our AI Chip Startup Database is expanding quickly. Positron AI, which has raised $23.5 million from investors including Flume Ventures and Valor Equity Partners, is the latest Nvidia challenger we’ve added to our database. Positron is testing its chip, which it claims will be cheaper and more energy-efficient than Nvidia’s, with customers.... Our AI Chip Startup Database is expanding quickly. Positron AI, which has raised $23.5 million...

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Lead Fourth-Quarter AI Funding Surge

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 14, 2025 8:00am PST · 1 comment

As public companies report their fourth-quarter financial results, we’ve been running the numbers on fourth-quarter venture funding for startups in our Generative AI Database. Two headlines emerged: It was the biggest quarter yet, and venture capitalists are bullish on artificial intelligence agents.Investors poured nearly $20.9 billion into AI... As public companies report their fourth-quarter financial results, we’ve been running the numbers...

Photo via Shutterstock

Pro Weekly: Chime Taps IPO Veterans in Run-Up to Likely Stock Debut

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 7, 2025 8:00am PST

In the run-up to its expected initial public offering this year, Chime has been adding C-suite executives and leaders from public companies, according to The Information’s updated Chime Org Chart. More than one-third of the 42 people on our chart have joined the digital banking company in the past two years. New hires include Sarah Wagener,... In the run-up to its expected initial public offering this year, Chime has been adding C-suite...

Left to right: Atomicwork's founders Kiran Darisi, Vijay Rayapati and Parsuram Vijay. Photo via Atomicwork.

Pro Weekly: Freshly Funded AI Founders Go Deep on DeepSeek

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 31, 2025 8:00am PST

Left to right: Atomicwork's founders Kiran Darisi, Vijay Rayapati and Parsuram Vijay. Photo via Atomicwork.

Pro Weekly: Freshly Funded AI Founders Go Deep on DeepSeek

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 31, 2025 8:00am PST

China’s DeepSeek rocked the technology world this week with its innovative and cheaper large language model. The founders of companies we’ve newly added to our Generative AI Database tell me they’ve been studying DeepSeek’s approach and thinking about how it could help their businesses.Geraldo Ramos, co-founder and CEO of Music AI—which... China’s DeepSeek rocked the technology world this week with its innovative and cheaper large...

Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk at Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: The Trump Bump on Reader Sentiment

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 24, 2025 8:00am PST

Call it the Trump effect. Leaders of Google, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple all appeared at the president’s inauguration Monday. And respondents to our latest reader survey said they were decidedly more optimistic about the outlook for those four companies. The survey drew 803 responses between Jan. 15 and Tuesday, covering the long... Call it the Trump effect. Leaders of Google, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple all appeared at the...

Jay Parikh will lead Microsoft's new Core AI team. Photo via Getty.

Pro Weekly: Big Tech Strengthens Its AI Muscles

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 17, 2025 8:00am PST

Several big tech companies are laying off employees and making performance-based job cuts. But firms are also hiring and shifting senior executives to bolster their artificial intelligence credentials—as reflected in The Information’s Org Charts. This week, Microsoft said Executive Vice President Jay Parikh would lead a new “Core AI” team.... Several big tech companies are laying off employees and making performance-based job cuts. But...

Pro Weekly: A Creator Economy Banker Predicts a Blockbuster Year for M&A

Pro Weekly: A Creator Economy Banker Predicts a Blockbuster Year for M&A

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 10, 2025 8:00am PST

Dealmakers have been busy in the early days of 2025, as we’ve noted. Creator economy companies have been in on the action. On Monday, YouTube production company Brat TV bought a similar digital video studio, Electric Monster, in a possible harbinger of more consolidation in the sector. Last week, influencer marketing company Later bought... Dealmakers have been busy in the early days of 2025, as we’ve noted. Creator economy companies...

Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Tech Crashes the Sports Streaming Party

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 3, 2025 8:00am PST

Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Tech Crashes the Sports Streaming Party

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 3, 2025 8:00am PST

An exciting addition to The Information Pro in 2024 was our Sports Rights Database, which we launched in May. Between the NBA’s latest contract negotiations and the developments regarding Venu, the planned joint venture of ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, the database has kept us on our toes.In line with The Information’s other predictions... An exciting addition to The Information Pro in 2024 was our Sports Rights Database, which we...

Photo via Getty

Pro Weekly: Cloud Spending Soars

By Akash Pasricha and Jon Victor · Dec 27, 2024 8:00am PST

Welcome back!Selling cloud services is a good business these days. More than a dozen companies in our Cloud Database have increased their cloud spending lately. For many, it reflects a broader push to embed artificial intelligence into every part of their business. Those AI offerings are powered by cloud computing.Take Snap, for example. We now... Welcome back!Selling cloud services is a good business these days. More than a dozen companies in...

Pro Weekly: Big Winners Among Our Most Promising Startups

Pro Weekly: Big Winners Among Our Most Promising Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 20, 2024 8:00am PST

We’ve been selecting promising startups for The Information 50 for five years now, and we’ve compiled those 250 picks into The Information 50 Database. Many have grown to impressive heights. To be considered for the list, companies must be valued at less than $1 billion; since we selected them, 39 of our picks have been valued at more than that... We’ve been selecting promising startups for The Information 50 for five years now, and we’ve...

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 13, 2024 8:00am PST

After a November full of optimism, The Information’s readers have turned decidedly pessimistic. Nearly 39% of respondents to our monthly survey expect conditions for technology companies to worsen over the next six months, outnumbering the 27% who expect conditions to improve. (The remainder expect conditions to stay the same.) Last... After a November full of optimism, The Information’s readers have turned decidedly...

Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Nvidia Draws More Rivals With More Funding

By Scott Thurm · Dec 6, 2024 8:19am PST

Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Nvidia Draws More Rivals With More Funding

By Scott Thurm · Dec 6, 2024 8:19am PST

As Nvidia’s market cap tops $3 trillion, entrepreneurs and investors are looking for new ways to grab pieces of the lucrative market for chips that power artificial intelligence.Some startups are looking to build more-specialized chips. We recently added two companies to our AI Chip Database that are designing chips primarily for computer... As Nvidia’s market cap tops $3 trillion, entrepreneurs and investors are looking for new ways to...

Anthropic's Dario and Daniela Amodei. Photo via Getty.

Pro Weekly: Megadeals Dominate AI Funding

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 29, 2024 8:30am PST

Anthropic’s sibling co-founders, Dario and Daniela Amodei, had much to celebrate over Thanksgiving dinner this year. One week ago, Amazon said it would be stuffing their company with yet another $4 billion investment. It’s the second time Amazon has done so—it announced its first Anthropic investment of that size into the company back in... Anthropic’s sibling co-founders, Dario and Daniela Amodei, had much to celebrate over...

Pro Weekly: The Companies Riding Trump's Coattails

Pro Weekly: The Companies Riding Trump's Coattails

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 22, 2024 8:00am PST

Here’s another November comeback story: For more than a year, The Information’s readers have held starkly negative views about Coinbase’s prospects in our monthly surveys. This month, however, survey respondents were more bullish about the cryptocurrency exchange than about any of the 13 other companies on our list.The reason for the change of... Here’s another November comeback story: For more than a year, The Information’s readers have held...

Photo by Getty

Pro Weekly: Help Wanted! Job Openings in Tech

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 15, 2024 8:00am PST

Longtime readers of The Information know our Free Agents stories. Every few months, our newsroom publishes a list of executives and investors who are searching for their next gig after leaving high-profile roles. Today, we’re flipping Free Agents on its head. Instead of people looking for jobs, we’re focusing on jobs looking for people. Longtime readers of The Information know our Free Agents stories. Every few months, our newsroom...

Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential. Photo via YouTube

Pro Weekly: Deals Reveal a Maturing Creator Economy

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 8, 2024 8:00am PST

Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential. Photo via YouTube

Pro Weekly: Deals Reveal a Maturing Creator Economy

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 8, 2024 8:00am PST

My colleague Kaya reported last month that nine companies in our Creator Economy Database were acquired in the third quarter. Interestingly, none of the nine was on our Creator Startup Takeover List of firms that have not raised funding since 2021 nor raised beyond a Series A.Three of those deals fascinated me because they show how the creator... My colleague Kaya reported last month that nine companies in our Creator Economy Database were...

Tesla's gigafactory in Germany. Photo via Getty

Pro Weekly: The Red Wave on Our Gigafactory Database

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 1, 2024 8:00am PDT

Two years ago, we launched our Gigafactory Database to help readers track the progress of more than 50 proposed factories to make batteries for electric vehicles. The database arrived amid surging optimism about the transition to EVs: The U.S. government had enacted subsidies and tax credits for making and buying EVs, and automakers were... Two years ago, we launched our Gigafactory Database to help readers track the progress of more...

Pictured: Logos of Viture, Aruna and Tezza, three companies on this year's edition of The Information 50.

Pro Weekly: The Numbers Behind This Year’s Most Promising Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 25, 2024 8:00am PDT

The technology world often fixates on how much venture capital startups raise. But perhaps more interesting are the companies that generate meaningful revenue without raising any venture capital at all.Tezza, a 12-person startup running a video- and photo-editing business, is one such company. It is generating $37 million in annual recurring... The technology world often fixates on how much venture capital startups raise. But perhaps more...

Photo via Getty

Pro Weekly: The Big Tech Names Investing in Generative AI

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 18, 2024 8:00am PDT

If you’re looking to bolster your company’s artificial intelligence cred, you should check out our Generative AI Takeover List, where we identified 78 companies from our Generative AI Database as potentially ripe for a takeover. The list includes companies that haven’t raised money in at least two years or that are working on expensive projects... If you’re looking to bolster your company’s artificial intelligence cred, you should check out...

Left, Demi Guo and Chenlin Meng, the co-founders of Pika. Right, Anthony Woods, Raj Dutt and Torkel Ödegaard, co-founders of Grafana Labs. Photos via Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Pro Weekly: The Latest on Our Most Promising Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 11, 2024 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Left, Demi Guo and Chenlin Meng, the co-founders of Pika. Right, Anthony Woods, Raj Dutt and Torkel Ödegaard, co-founders of Grafana Labs. Photos via Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Pro Weekly: The Latest on Our Most Promising Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 11, 2024 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome back!October is an exciting time in our newsroom. Every year, we probe our sources and assemble The Information’s list of the 50 most promising startups. The 2024 list—our fifth edition—will appear later this month. Ahead of that, I revisited our previous years’ lists to see how our picks are doing. You can track all 200 of our prior... Welcome back!October is an exciting time in our newsroom. Every year, we probe our sources and...