1Password to rule them all

Author

Alex Wilhelm
November 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Top News

  • 1Password is IPO-ready: Two years ago, 1Password crossed the $250 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) threshold. Today? The password manager has crossed the $400 million ARR mark, while remaining free cash-flow positive. Market demand for AI products and services is helping 1Password grow, the startup said, as companies look to secure agentic access to their information and services. 1Password was valued at $6.8 billion back in 2022 during a Series C, giving it an effective ARR multiple of 17x today. Does anyone else smell a 2026 IPO brewing?

  • Meta argues data centers are good, actually: In a post detailing its planned $600 billion worth of spend by 2028 “to support AI technology, infrastructure, and workforce expansion,” Meta agues that the great data center boom creates jobs and won’t harm local resilience by consuming all the available power and water. In the same post, the social media giant sets a goal of becoming “water positive by 2030.” Data centers need a little PR love. The installations, critical for national GDP, often contribute modest continuing impacts to communities after they are built. They do not need many humans to operate, but they do consume voluminous electricity and water inputs, which can distort local prices.

  • Moonshot’s new model is incredible: While we wait for Grok 5, GPT-5.1 and Gemini 3, Chinese AI model companies are not sitting still. Moonshot AI’s Kimi family of LLMs dropped K2 Thinking this week, which is open-source while remaining very competitive with leading American models. Relatedly, MiniMax’s recent M2 model, released in October, continues to impress. (M2 was designed for a mix of speed, price, and performance.) K2 Thinking has secured the third-place spot on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, besting Grok 4 and only losing out to GPT-5 (High) and GPT-5 Codex (High).

TWiST 500

Mercury, a TWiST500 company, is a neobank of sorts aimed at corporations. The startup survived the post-ZIRP fintech winter, emerging on the other side in fighting form. Fortune interviewed the company, reporting that it has reached $650 million worth of annualized revenue, up from $500 million at the start of the year.

Essentially, they’re printing money:

Mercury’s annualized revenue figure takes monthly revenue, multiplies it by 12, Akhund said. The company added that it has now been GAAP profitable on both net-income and EBITDA for three consecutive years.

Much like 1Password, Mercury appears ready to go public whenever it wants. Not that we expect to see a Mercury S-1 in the very near future. Today’s unicorns don’t list when they can; they list when they want.

2025 has proved a fecund year for fintech exits, as we’ve covered on the show. It’s exciting to know that 2026 could feature even more financial technology names, if they decide to pull the trigger. (The current IPO calendar is bare for tech companies, apart from a number of SPACs looking to raise buyout capital.)

If it did list next year, Mercury might be able to surpass its final private-market valuation. After raising $300 million earlier this year at a $3.5 billion valuation, Mercury is worth just 5.4x its current run rate. Sure, they’re not growing as quickly as Anthropic, but surely it can manage a mid-single digit multiple in a listing? Come on, Mercury, prove us wrong and list. We can’t wait to read the filing. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2204: It’s another special VC Roundtable episode, in which Jason and Alex welcome esteemed guest Deedy Das of Menlo Partners and Jay Eum of GFT Ventures. Together they discuss Roelof Botha’s unexpected exit from Sequoia, why being a VC may no longer be the best way to get rich, the growing importance of the pro-sumer market for AI apps, some tasty ChatGPT smile curves, and much more.

E2203: Starcloud has sent its first chips into orbit… so we’re debating whether or not we’ll one day keep our datacenters up there… and also wondering whether or not wifi connections work in the vacuum of space. (See, we ask the IMPORTANT questions.) PLUS will OpenAI ever be able to earn back the trillions it’s dropping on power and GPUs? Can ChatGPT still help me identify this rash? AND why Jason thinks Netflix should consider picking up CNN along with the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery.

E2202: Producer Oliver makes an actual appearance on the pod to give us a deep dive Suno AI demo, showing Jason and Alex just how easy it is to compose and produce an original song based purely on text prompts. PLUS we’re checking out Higgsfield AI and their incredible face-swapping technology, debating when OpenAI will finally go public, and offering a STRONG WARNING to anyone relying on OpenAI’s APIs to build their business.

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Founder U and Angel University in Japan!

Jason’s coming to Tokyo on Nov 14 to launch a partnership with JETRO — bringing Founder University and Angel University to Japan, and connecting Japanese founders and investors with the global ecosystem. This event kicks off a ten-week program that we're starting in January, all culminating in an Immersion Week and Demo Day in SF. Register here: https://luma.com/cm0x90mk

We’re Hiring a Program Manager!

LAUNCH is seeking a program manager to help organize and manage the Japanese versions of Founder University and Angel University. Candidates must be fluent in both English and Japanese, and should plan on splitting their time between Tokyo and our home base in Austin, Texas. If you’re interested in this exciting opportunity, reach out to [email protected]!

SF Live-Work Space Now Available

Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details.

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