E66: OpenAI up 200% at $90b, $4b raise for Anthropic, Jony Ive’s AI hardware, Microsoft moves from OpenAI (a bit), Faire takes Shopify $s, 16% layoff at Epic Games | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Sep 29, 2023

Send us Fan Mail00:09 | OpenAI up 200% at $90b- In discussions for a share sale at $80b to $90b valuation- Revenue project at $1b in 2023, multi-billion in 2024- Employees will sell shares in round, CEO Altman signaled no desire to IPO or be acquired01:13 | Jony Ive’s AI hardware with OpenAI’s Sam Altman- Jony Ive, renowned iPhone designer, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are reportedly exploring the development of a new AI hardware device- SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son involved- Altman is investor Humane, a company focusing on developing innovative AI-incorporated wearable devices02:02 | Microsoft moves from OpenAI (a bit)- Microsoft is developing cost-effective, “distilled” AI models as a contingency against rising costs of running advanced AI (i.e. OpenAI)- Could provide Microsoft with more negotiating leverage with OpenAI03:08 | $4b raise for Anthropic from Amazon- Amazon invests $4 billion in Anthropic, minority take, over $10b+ valuation?- Also strategic partnership btwn Amazon/Anthropic to allow AI models accessible to AWS customers- AWS becomes Anthropic’s primary cloud provider, use Amazon chips04:18 | Faire takes Shopify $s- Shopify invests in wholesale e-commerce site Faire, Faire valuation not disclosed- Shopify similarly invested $100m investment in Klaviyo in 2022- Faire last raised $816m in May 2022 at a $12.6b valuation05:10 | 16% layoff at Epic Games- 830 employees impacted- Divesting Bandcamp (music platform) and spinning off SuperAwesome (tools fro brands to target kids)- Moves are an attempt to move the company back to profitability06:13 | Big capital raises- Cato Networks (www.catonetworks.com) | $238m Series F, $3.0b valuation- Mapbox (www.mapbox.com) | $280m Series E, $1.8b valuation- bolttech (www.bolttech.io) | $246m Series B, $1.6b valuation- JOKR (www.jokr.com) | $50m Series D, $800m valuation- ReCode Therapeutics (www.recodetx.com) | $260m Series B, $700m valuation07:22 | Pre-IPO 0.65% for week- Week winners: Anthropic +33.7%, OpenAI 15.2%, Brex +4.6%, Stripe +2.8%, Plaid +1.2%- Week losers: Discord -11.4%, Klarna -5.0%, Airtable -4.4%, Neuralink -3.3%, SpaceX -2.5%- Top valuations: ByteDance $211b, SpaceX $152b, Stripe $53b, Databricks $45b, OpenAI $37b lead in current valuation