CrowdStrike’s mess, fintech’s comeback, and multi-agent AI

Top News

• The CrowdStrike fallout continues: Microsoft reports that less than 1% of Windows machines (8.5 million devices) were impacted by CrowdStrike’s recent update mess. The issue felt systemic because many impacted Windows devices were linked to critical economic activity, like flying and healthcare. Shares of CrowdStrike are down again today after a sharp selloff to close last week. The lesson here is that with great power comes great responsibility.

• Pesa’s growth is a reminder of fintech’s promise: Startups that reach profitability in just a few years are far from the norm. And yet that’s what Pesa has managed. The remittance-focused fintech with roots in Canada and Nigeria has managed. TechCrunch notes that Pesa’s rapid growth comes as rival Nala recently raised $40 million.

• Multi-agent AI is coming: Large language models power AI agents, intelligent software that can execute tasks on behalf of humans. Many startups are pursuing an ‘agentic AI’ approach to building software. Sierra is a good example. But a new paper, CNBC reports, indicates that mutli-agent software may be coming, a future in which AI agents can work with one another to do even more. And they could be coming next year.

TWiST500

We’re adding more companies to the TWiST500 tomorrow on the pod, provided that no breaking news changes our recording schedule. Not that anything much has been going on, right?

Today, let’s talk about TollBit and HumanNative. Recall that we added the two startups to the list back in episode 1963, right at the start of the TWiST500 project. Why were the pair of startups such obvious additions? They both want to offer a place where content owners can license their data to AI companies.

Why is that interesting? Several reasons. First, foundation model companies are racing one another to build faster and better models. And with more AI model concerns scaling up, the data requirements will be massive. Second, the startups are aggregating demand, meaning they will race one another to get lots of websites signed up. That’s going to be fun to watch.

Finally, the two companies are racing against changing norms. Today, automated website access is largely controlled by the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP), or what is better known as Robots.txt, instructions given to search engines and other crawlers to either stick around or go away. New research indicates that more and more websites are saying no thanks to AI models accessing their data.

If Robots.txt holds as the way the Internet works, then TollBit and HumanNative will be able to sell their bridge between content and AI companies. If not, well, we’re in largely uncharted waters. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E1982: Jason was joined on TWiST by True Anomaly’s Even Rogers this week. True Anomaly builds satellites and software to run them, focused on getting close to other satellites. Why does that matter? Defense applications, for one. The pair dug into defense contracts, national security, and even China-Taiwan tensions. If you are into space, startups, and security, this one is for you.

E1981: Liquidity is back! David Weisburd and Jason Calacanis had Jamie Rhode (Screendoor), and Matthew Mulvey (Liquid 2 Ventures) on to chat about the potential Google-Wiz deal and the importance of cash returns in venture, how emerging managers and secondary markets impact VC today, and why LP focus on larger funds could make it harder for smaller, younger funds to stay afloat.

E1980: A news roundtable after a historic weekend. Jason and Alex talked social media in the wake of a weekend of political violence, what some venture folks hope to get out of a second Trump administration, the Google-Wiz deal, and how Sequoia is working to cash out some of its LPs who are sitting on Stripe equity that they cannot sell.

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