Institutional Investor (August 29)
“Ever since ChatGPT burst onto the scene last November…so-called “generative AI” has turned the markets on their heads.” Venture capitalists, “coming off the worst year in recent history,” have “redirected their dollars to AI upstarts. Meanwhile, the stock prices of the big tech names suspected to be the major beneficiaries of this often-called ‘revolutionary’ form of artificial intelligence have skyrocketed.” In 2023, “generative AI and machine learning start-ups raised about $39.4 billion.” The massive inflows are creating an ideal environment for fraudsters and critics “are starting to wonder whether the latest technology is really transformational or merely evolutionary.”
Tags: Big tech, ChatGPT, Critics, Evolutionary, Fraudsters, Generative AI, Machine learning, Markets, Revolutionary, Skyrocketed, Start-ups, Stock prices, Technology, Transformational, VC
Financial Times (November 11)
The bankruptcy of “Sam Bankman-Fried’s business empire includes billions of dollars of illiquid venture capital investments… including exposure to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boring Company.” The giant sprawl of his “venture capital portfolio will add to the complexity of the insolvency proceedings, which itself includes more than 130 companies controlled by Bankman-Fried. FTX’s collapse is among the most dramatic failures in the crypto industry not just this year, but since the creation of bitcoin more than a decade ago.”
Tags: Bankman-Fried, Bankruptcy, Bitcoin more, Business empire, Complexity, Crypto, Exposure, Failure, FTX, Illiquid, Insolvency, Investments, Musk, SpaceX, Sprawl, VC
Institutional Investor (September 14)
“In a sign of the times, VC is bragging about being slow and thorough. Thanks to an unfriendly exit environment and lower fundraising, venture capitalists have finally started to focus more on due diligence than closing deals quickly.”
Tags: Closing deals, Due diligence, Exit environment, Fundraising, Slow, Thorough, Unfriendly, VC
Institutional Investor (August 23)
“With an influx of cash from nontraditional investors, average late-stage valuations could hit $1 billion this year, according to PitchBook,” which attributed the surge in “valuation growth to a positive economic outlook and cash influx from nontraditional investors, including mutual funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate venture capitalists.”
Tags: $1 billion, Cash, Economic outlook, Hedge funds, Influx, Investors, Late-stage valuations, Mutual funds, Nontraditional, PitchBook, Sovereign wealth funds, Surge, VC
New York Times (March 21)
“Gig companies have drawn billions in venture capital funding to help underwrite a system that is a race to the bottom for labor protections. But it doesn’t have to be that way.” Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Uber must now classify its drivers as workers. “If Uber can sustain its business while granting drivers improved guaranteed benefits and a financial safety net, then surely that model can be replicated elsewhere.” Uber drivers and other Gig workers “deserve the opportunity to make financial headway.”
Tags: Benefits, Drivers, Gig, Labor, Opportunity, Protections, Safety net, Supreme Court, Uber, UK, VC, Workers
