E55: Stripe's profitability, Twitter’s new direction, Shein’s record profit, AI fast food take over

Send us Fan Mailwww.agdillon.com to invest in pre-IPO stocks like SpaceX and OpenAI00:29 | Stripe returns to profitability- Stripe aims to increase its workforce by up to 12% by 2024, a move to return to profitability- $100 million in adjusted 2023 ebitda, -$75 million in 202201:26 | Twitter’s new brand/direction- Twitter rebrands to X- X aims to be the China’s WeChat for the US market; social, messaging, payments, app store- X has reduced advertising prices03:35 | Shein’s record profit- Shein reported record profits in the first half of 2023, with accelerated sales volume growth and improved profits compared to the latter half of 2022- Expanded marketplace strategy incorporates third-party vendors, increasing revenue and attracting new customers- Rumors of a US IPO by the end of 202404:24 | AI starts fast food take over- Fast-food chains including White Castle, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Del Taco, and Checkers are increasingly using AI chatbots to take drive-through order- Presto is one company that makes this tech- AI is being praised for its efficiency and ability to upsell vs humans05:28 | Big capital raises- Musinsa | $154m Series C, $2.3b valuation- Sky Mavis | $11m Series B, $1.9b valuation- Thunes | $72m Series C, $802m valuation- Hightouch | $38m Series C, $615m valuation- Manta Network | $25m Series A, $500m valuation06:43 | Pre-IPO +3.67% for week- Week to gainer: Brex +71%, Flexport +23%, Klaviyo +21%, OpenAI +11%- Week to losers: Deel -5.5%, ConsenSys -5.3%, Revolut -4.4%, Neuralink -4.1%, Chainalysis -3.9%- Top 5 current valuation: ByteDance/TikTok $207b, SpaceX $156b, Stripe $47b, OpenAI $36b, and Databricks $32b lead in current valuation