Apple and OpenAI are besties, Koo shutters, and AI is making climate goals harder to reach

Top News

• OpenAI hugs Apple: Bloomberg and the FT report that Apple is poised to secure an observer position on OpenAI’s board. Microsoft’s Dee Templeton is already a board observer at the AI company. (Recall that Redmond owns just under half of OpenAI’s for-profit arm.) Apple’s recent tie-up with ChatGPT in its future software products appears to be a big enough deal to garner similar visibility into what the AI company is working on. While it would be easy to say that Apple’s inclusion snubs Microsoft, having Apple involved with OpenAI makes it harder for governments to argue that the company is effectively Satya’s subsidiary.

• Koo will shutter: Indian alternative to X (Twitter) Koo is set to shut down after a deal with DailyHunt failed to materialize. TechCrunch reports that the company raised over $60 million from well-known backers, including Tiger Global and Accel. The company became prominent when X was in a feud with the Indian government.

• All eyes on AI costs: A recent report from Google detailing its greenhouse gas emissions raised eyebrows. While Google is not breaking out AI compute versus other workloads, data center power usage is increasing. And I think we all have a good idea as to why. Alex points out that while Google and Microsoft are bumping up their power demands, it’s worth remembering that both companies are doing more — and sharing more — than most.

TWiST500 Updates

Yesterday, we riffed through a host of robotics startups that we might add to TWiST500. Due to an upcoming American holiday, that conversation is currently pipped to happen on Monday (tune in live if you can, it’s a fun hang).

Today, we’re looking at a number of recent news updates from the first few dozen companies already part of the TWiST500:

• Coinbase and Stripe link up: Stripe’s status as one of the most valuable private-market tech companies means it can land big deals with big public companies. Its recent agreement with crypto giant Coinbase is a good example. As part of the deal, Stripe will support Base, an “open source, optimistic rollup protocol” that Coinbase is helping to develop, and Coinbase will bring Stripe’s “fiat-to-crypto onramp into Coinbase Wallet.”

• Adobe and Klarna boost ties: Companies that use Adobe’s Commerce product (previously Magento) can offer Klarna’s buy now, pay later service to their customers. The two companies already work together, so the news extends their link. More distribution for Klarna could mean more potential growth and, thus, a quicker IPO.

• xAI’s big compute project draws scrutiny: Musk’s AI company was reported earlier this year to have plans to build a supercomputer for its processing needs. The company confirmed the news, with Memphis as the chosen location and Dell and Super Micro as suppliers. Most recently, local reporting indicates that some South Memphis residents are worried about grid draw and what they consider to be a lack of communication from xAI itself.

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This Week in Startups

E1975: In the latest Liquidity Podcast, David Weisburd and Jason spoke with Logan Allin (Fin Capital) and Neil Datta (NKD Advisory) about AI, AI regulation, exit pacing, and immigration policy. The group also dug into Carta data detailing longer periods between rounds for startups, which Neil predicated on the non-ZIRP environment that startups and their backers are operating in today.

E1974: A news roundtable to start the week saw Jason and Alex digging into the DEI v MEI debate, with a side order of media economics and norms. From there, the pair dug into Amazon’s recent AI not-acquisition and what to make of Chime and Salt Labs teaming up. The latter startup was new, making its nine-figure exit all the more interesting to unpack.

E1973: On this episode of Liquidity, David Weisburd introduces Konstantine Buhler, Ana Marshall, and Jason, who discuss the challenges for new fund managers, the impact of VCs not raising new funds, and current market trends. They also cover topics like capital deployment, portfolio assessment, AI applications, and investment strategies for M&A versus IPO.

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