Getting past our Crypto Reserve reservations

Top News

• The crypto reserve takes shape: If you were worried that the US government would plow public capital into purchasing crypto assets, fret not. The U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the companion U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile will instead be formed from digital assets that were already acquired by the government through legal proceedings. If, on the other hand, you had hoped that the government was about to snap up a mountain of bitcoin or Cardano, this news is a disappointment.

• Meet Larry Page’s new startup: The Information reports that the former Google co-founder has a new company, Dynatomics, which plans to use LLMs to create “highly optimized” designs for products, and then build them. Much hay has been thrown over the use of AI in robotics, biology and other domains. This is a natural place for the technology to find application. And you had best bet that Dynatomics is going on the TWiST500.

• Another startup aims for superintelligence: Feeling lost trying to keep tabs on all the different startups working on AGI? It’s time to add one more to the mix. This time it’s Reflection AI, which is coming out of stealth with more than $100 million raised and a valuation of more than $500 million, per Bloomberg. It plans, the publication writes, to reach “superintelligence through AI-powered coding agents capable of self-direction.”

TWiST500

OpenAI is perhaps the most valuable company on the TWiST500. SpaceX, Stripe, and a few others are other contenders for the crown. But OpenAI’s perch amongst the most valuable private companies in the world could be in slight doubt thanks to a fraying relationship with Microsoft. Redmond is not only training a whole host of its own models that are close to OpenAI’s own performance metrics, but they’re testing “alternative models for Copilot [including] ones from Anthropic and Musk’s xAI, along with open-source models from DeepSeek and Meta Platforms,” reporting indicates.

This is huge not only for OpenAI, but open-source AI in general. The fact that Microsoft is potentially turning away from closed-source AI to power some of its products adds credibility to the concept that open-source AI models will win the future. Microsoft has north of $10 billion invested into OpenAI, so its position is healthily conflicted. Still.

As an addendum: If Microsoft does release AI models that are even pretty good — closed or open-source — it has a massive cloud platform to lever, ensuring at least some market uptake. That’s an enviable place to be if you want to, say, diversify your AI bets.

Microsoft and OpenAI remain close today, at least on paper. But if they split up, companies like Anthropic and Mistral — also TWiST500 members — could find themselves facing yet another credible competitor for market share, and revenue. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2093: Jason and Alex cover CoreWeave’s filing for a $35 billion IPO after explosive revenue growth. But with 77% of its revenue coming from just two customers, is it built to last? Meanwhile, AVRide is bringing autonomous Hyundai robotaxis to Uber in Dallas, pushing the self-driving revolution forward as Waymo scales to 200,000 weekly rides. And finally, Digg is back!

E2092: Jason and Alex are back on an all new This Week in Startups, talking about a US Crypto Reserve. Do we need one? How is this going to work? Should we fund it with a Crypto Tax? One that’s out of the way, there’s still time to talk Ramp’s big raise, Jason’s ETF pitch, a potential CoreWeave IPO, PLUS a brand new Founder Hack.

E2091: On a busy, news-heavy Friday, Jason and Alex break down the SEC’s head-scratching memecoin ruling, which seemingly codifies pump-and-dump schemes into law. Plus a chat with GRIN co-founder and former CEO Brandon Brown, a look at the rise of AI-driven startups, Tesla’s latest challenge to Google’s Waymo, Jason’s response to Palmer Luckey, and much much more.

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Angel University

Angel University is back! Jason and Mike, President at LAUNCH, are hosting our next live Angel.University workshop in person on Wednesday, April 23rd, in NYC. Jason will be teaching the strategies he’s used to invest $100M+ in 300+ startups over the past decade. Register at: angel.university.

Founder University

Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 10, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Spring 2025!

LAUNCH Accelerator

Applications are open for the 34th cohort of the LAUNCH Accelerator; a 14-week program focused on fundraising and growth. We invest $125K in our accepted companies and help them raise their pre-seed or seed round. Submit your application at LAUNCH Accelerator.

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