Exaforce is strong with this one

Author

Alex Wilhelm
April 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Top News

  • Exaforce lands $75M: Many of the public cloud companies with the richest revenue multiples are cybersecurity companies. Many private-market tech companies that enjoy premium revenue multiples are AI firms. So, what happens when you bring AI to cybersecurity? In the case of Exaforce — AI agents in a cybersecurity context — you raise a massive Series A. Khosla, Mayfield, and Thomvest took part in the deal.

  • $100M for AI safety: No, we’re not discussing yet another foundation model AI company’s Seed round. Instead, SAIF, the Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund, has locked up $100 million for its first fund. Founded by well-known former YC President Geoff Ralston, it’s website says they’ll invest $100,000 checks through SAFE notes into startups “developing tools to enhance AI safety, security, and responsible deployment.” It’s always great to see new funds pop up — especially those working outside of the Valley’s main thesis for DPI mining.

  • Taobao, DHgate rise as Temu, Shein fall: Well known low-cost shopping apps Temu and Shein recently told their customers that their prices are going up. The economics of their businesses have changed so much that Temu yanked its sizable advertising spend in the American market. But when a gap opens, other companies rush in. Now, two other Chinese shopping apps — DHgate and Taobao — are climbing domestic app charts. Precisely how they will survive a trade war better than their rivals who are busy pulling back isn’t clear — but what’s limpid as liquid crystal is that American consumers want cheap stuff.

TWiST500

Alex here. Lon and I are promising you here that the next batch of additions to the TWiST500 are coming off of our spreadsheets and onto the list next week. Get excited. (You can suggest entrants to us via email if you’d like. [email protected]. Say hi!) If you want a hint as to who has made the list, we’ve listed a few names in the last week here in the newsletter, but I won’t spoil the rest of the upcoming additions.

Today, a few fun notes from the ever-newsy TWiST500 member company OpenAI. Earlier in the week, we brought you news concerning its new models. If you were not sufficiently confused by having to choose between 4o or GPT4 or o1, they’ve now added o3 and o4 into the mix. The good news is that we’re starting to see what people can do with the new models, apart from bragging to their friends that they are so up on what’s new. To wit: o3 is great at sorting out where an image was taken, even with very few clues.

TechCrunch has a list of examples including sparse neighborhood photos, library books on a shelf, and other examples that OpenAI’s latest models can sort out in location terms on the double. Presumably this means that non-geotagged images shared on social patforms are now effectively geotagged, period. Still, the new use-case is a lot of fun.

Elsewhere in OpenAI news, the company’s consumer-facing interface will now use stored memory from prior interactions when searching the web for users. It’s a small update, but one that could add even more weight to the market heft of non-Google search challengers. OpenAI is, of course, competing with Google in more ways than simply creating and offering the slickest new AI model.

More companies next week. Chat soon, and have a lovely weekend! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2114: It’s Friday TWiST! Jason, Alex, and Lon chat about LMArena’s pivot from research project to full-blown company, the rise of application-layer AI startups, and they muse about the future of autonomous drone and weapons systems. PLUS a brand-new “Tips from the Trenches” featuring design and product UX advice from branding expert Scott Bair!

E2113: On a brand new TWiST, Jason, Lon, and Alex examine Figma’s surprise IPO filing (sorry, Adobe…) and make some informed guesses about OpenAI’s new social media plans. PLUS a chat with Chris Tung about his comic book art marketplace Nerd Crawler AND Steven Borrelli of Cuts Clothing gives us the lowdown on his viral appeal to President Trump and how tariffs are wrecking havoc on his ecommerce business.

E2112: On a very special TUESDAY EDITION of This Week in Startups, Alex chats with the founders of not one but TWO companies at the forefront of so-called “Vertical AI.” (That is, AI applications tailored for specific industries or use cases!) First up, Abacus founder David Moscatelli tells us about how they help banks and insurers install data-secure LLM systems. Then, Victor Riparbelli walks us through how his company, Synesthesia, is turning internal documents into scalable AI video.

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