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What Quince’s $10 Billion-Valuation Round Says About Consumer Investing

By Katie Roof · Mar 10, 2026 4:24pm PDT

Is investing in consumer startups back? Well, it’s back from the dead.When we broke the news of fashion e-tailer Quince’s $10 billion valuation last week, I thought maybe I was back in 2021. It wasn’t long ago that direct-to-consumer brands like Warby Parker and Daily Harvest and more were raking in investment dollars. But following some... Is investing in consumer startups back? Well, it’s back from the dead.When we broke the news of...

Unreasonable Labs cofounders Yuan Cao and Markus Buehler. Photos courtesy of Unreasonable Labs.

The Startup Trying a New Trick to Develop AI For Science Discovery

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2026 7:38am PDT

OpenAI and Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars on the promise of artificial intelligence that can make new discoveries in fields like medicine, biology and physics. And yet, we’re nowhere close to that. (You might recall this awkward moment from last fall when a ChatGPT-generated math “discovery” was debunked.) The... OpenAI and Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars on the promise of artificial...

Spark General Partner Yasmin Razavi. Art by Clark Miller; Screenshot via Youtube

Anthropic Backer Spark Capital Targets $3 Billion in New Funds

By Katie Roof and Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 7:02pm PDT · 3 comments

Spark Capital, the first venture firm to back Anthropic, is in the process of raising about $3 billion in new funds, 50% more than the size of funds it raised two years ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraise. The fundraising target will test investor demand in a venture firm that made early bets on one of the initial... Spark Capital, the first venture firm to back Anthropic, is in the process of raising about $3...

The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas in September. Kyle Grillot/Getty Images.

The Real Reason OpenAI Walked Away From an Oracle Stargate Expansion in Abilene

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas in September. Kyle Grillot/Getty Images.

AI Infrastructure

The Real Reason OpenAI Walked Away From an Oracle Stargate Expansion in Abilene

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 9, 2026 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

Finance and data center executives have been buzzing about a Friday Bloomberg report that Oracle and OpenAI won’t expand a data center for the ChatGPT maker in Abilene, Texas, where the companies launched their first Stargate-branded facilities. As I have since learned, OpenAI several weeks ago declined to expand its data center usage... Finance and data center executives have been buzzing about a Friday Bloomberg report that Oracle...

Pete Hegseth, left, and Dario Amodei. Photos by Getty.

Anthropic Has a Strong Legal Case Against Trump’s DoD

By Rocket Drew · Mar 9, 2026 7:00am PDT

Anthropic’s lawyers probably spent the weekend preparing a lawsuit the company said it would file against the Department of Defense for designating the Claude AI maker as a “supply chain risk” and cutting off commercial ties to “protect national security.” The designation followed Anthropic’s request for special assurances its tech wouldn’t be... Anthropic’s lawyers probably spent the weekend preparing a lawsuit the company said it would file...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

In Anthropic Feuds, the Personal Collides With the Political

By Nick Wingfield, Erin Woo, Sri Muppidi and Julia Hornstein · Mar 6, 2026 3:08pm PST · 1 comment

There are fierce battles over principles, and then there are grudge matches. In recent days, Anthropic has engaged in an extraordinary mix of both. For over a week, the AI startup and its CEO, Dario Amodei, have been locked in an intense struggle with the Pentagon over Anthropic’s refusal to let the military use its technology for domestic... There are fierce battles over principles, and then there are grudge matches. In recent days,...

Illustration: Clark Miller (photo: Getty Images)

Anne Wojcicki’s Plan to Revive 23andMe: Rich Donors, Improved Tests—and Maybe Even MAHA

By Amy Dockser Marcus · Mar 6, 2026 6:01am PST · 2 comments

When Anne Wojcicki was considering whether she should try to save her life’s work, genetic testing pioneer 23andMe, from bankruptcy last year, many within her inner circle offered the same advice. “There was no shortage of people who would come to me and say, ‘You can walk away: It’s fine,’” she recalled last month, seated on a sunny patio at... When Anne Wojcicki was considering whether she should try to save her life’s work, genetic...

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Quince in Talks to Double Valuation to More Than $10 Billion

By Katie Roof and Ann Gehan · Mar 5, 2026 7:02pm PST

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Quince in Talks to Double Valuation to More Than $10 Billion

By Katie Roof and Ann Gehan · Mar 5, 2026 7:02pm PST

Online retailer Quince is in talks with investors to raise a funding round that would value the company at above $10 billion after the investment, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. If the talks are successful, the buzzy online brand would more than double its valuation from its last funding round. The fundraise follows continued... Online retailer Quince is in talks with investors to raise a funding round that would value the...

Photo by Cosmin Serban

Anthropic Steals the Limelight at Morgan Stanley’s Tech Conference

By Valida Pau · Mar 5, 2026 5:15pm PST

I’ve spent the last week talking to people who are in town for Morgan Stanley’s annual technology, media and telecom conference at the Palace Hotel this week. Even before the fireworks last week between the Pentagon and Anthropic, the gathering was sure to be buzzy, given the lineup of richly valued private startups—including OpenAI and... I’ve spent the last week talking to people who are in town for Morgan Stanley’s annual...

Vipul Ved Prakash, CEO of Together AI. Photo by Getty Images

Nvidia Cloud Ally Together AI in Talks to Raise at $7.5 Billion Valuation

By Valida Pau, Stephanie Palazzolo and Anissa Gardizy · Mar 5, 2026 1:57pm PST

Together AI, one of several up-and-coming cloud providers renting out Nvidia chip servers to AI developers, is in talks with investors to raise around $1 billion in funding at a $7.5 billion valuation before the investment, according to two people with knowledge of the fundraise. The funding would more than double its valuation from a year ago... Together AI, one of several up-and-coming cloud providers renting out Nvidia chip servers to AI...

Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril. Photo by Kyle Grillot/ Getty Images

Anduril Forecasts More Than $4 Billion in Sales, $1 Billion in Losses

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 5, 2026 10:08am PST · 1 comment

Weapons maker Anduril expects to roughly double revenue this year to about $4.3 billion, while its operating loss would rise by nearly half to $1.2 billion, according to confidential financial figures shared with prospective investors. The privately held company is raising $4 billion, valuing it at about $60 billion, in a deal led by existing... Weapons maker Anduril expects to roughly double revenue this year to about $4.3 billion, while...

Art via Getty Images

OpenAI Develops a ‘Bidirectional’ Audio Model to Boost Voice Assistants

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 5, 2026 7:00am PST

Art via Getty Images

OpenAI Develops a ‘Bidirectional’ Audio Model to Boost Voice Assistants

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 5, 2026 7:00am PST

Wow, what a day of news! In case you missed it (which would have been difficult), we broke a number of stories yesterday regarding OpenAI and Anthropic. Most memorable was this piece about the fiery, 1,600-word memo Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned to staff last Friday criticizing the OpenAI-Pentagon deal. (You can check out the full memo... Wow, what a day of news! In case you missed it (which would have been difficult), we broke a...

Art by Clark Miller

A Claude Catharsis: Accepting When Your Life’s Work Becomes Free and Abundant

By Aditya Agarwal · Mar 4, 2026 9:00am PST · 11 comments

Not long ago, I spent a weekend writing code with Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant. I’ve been programming for more than 20 years. I was one of the first engineers at Facebook, where I built the original search engine. I went on to become chief technology officer of Dropbox, where I scaled the engineering team from 25 people to a thousand. Code... Not long ago, I spent a weekend writing code with Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant. I’ve been...

Art via Getty Images

OpenAI’s Next AI Model Will Have ‘Extreme’ Reasoning

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 4, 2026 7:00am PST · 1 comment

OpenAI’s next GPT model is coming—and soon, according to a person with knowledge of it.Among the highlights, the new model, GPT-5.4, will have more than double the context window of the current GPT-5.2 model. That means the model can handle queries with many more words or data, up to 1 million tokens compared to 400,000 tokens today, the person... OpenAI’s next GPT model is coming—and soon, according to a person with knowledge of it.Among the...

Art by Clark Miller.

OpenClaw Rips Through China’s Tech and Startup Landscape

By Juro Osawa · Mar 4, 2026 6:00am PST

OpenClaw mania has swept across China. Last month, at a five-day online hackathon organized by a Hangzhou-based AI startup, one contestant developed the equivalent of Tinder for AI agents seeking love interests on behalf of their human owners. Another created a recruiting site where job seekers’ AI agents talk to employers’ AI agents. A third... OpenClaw mania has swept across China. Last month, at a five-day online hackathon organized by a...