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

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00:09 | 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 acquired

01:13 | 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 devices

02:02 | 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 OpenAI

03:08 | $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 chips

04:18 | 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 valuation

05:10 | 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 profitability

06:13 | 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 valuation

07:22 | 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