San Francisco is not giving up the startup crown

Top News

• Founders love building in San Francisco: Data from venture group SignalFire indicates that San Francisco is not only retaining its clout but increasing it. TechCrunch’s Julie Bort reports that the “Bay Area’s share of tech engineers has been increasing since 2022.” Mix in an outsized chunk of the global venture capital market, and you have a city that — while hardly free from problems — is still the leading nexus for startup formation and growth.

• IBM cuts China footprint: After seeing its fortune decline in China, IBM is axing around 1,000 R&D jobs. The Wall Street Journal notes that China’s push to limit domestic demand for foreign technology products could be driving IBM’s revenue lower in the country. A TWiST analysis of IBM’s results thus far in 2024 indicates that the trend of IBM losing revenue share in China has continued. The latest move by Big Blue is certainly part of the China-U.S.-decoupling story, albeit one that seems more driven by business results than ideology.

• Indian AI startups are offering big value: While attention paid to AI startups often circles the Bay Area — see above — tech startups worldwide are hardly sitting still. Bloomberg reports that Sarvam AI, an Indian startup, has built AI technology that allows businesses to interact with customers via voice, and charges a single rupee per minute for it. That’s just over $0.01 per minute. Impressive.

A New Addition to TWiST500

I just got off a recording with Sara Mauskopf, co-founder and CEO of Winnie. That will be out in a hot second, but I am adding Winnie to the TWiST500 today. Why? The company just landed at #275 on the Inc. 5000 list, down a little from its 2023 ranking but still an impressive result.

Any startup growing at north of 1,500% over a three-year period is going to be a contender for the TWiST500 because it has clearly found product-market fit. Mauskopf had quite a lot to say about the subject of product-market fit on the podcast, so stay tuned.

Winnie’s growth comes after a pivot earlier in its life. When the startup chose to narrow its focus to the childcare market, its business took off. Now, the Series A-backed company is financially self-sufficient and tackling a market that is measured in the tens of billions. Let’s see if Winnie can repeat the feat and nail another Inc. 5000 win next year.

p.s. Remember when we added several humanoid robotics startups to the TWiST500? Recent reporting indicates that the market for their products is heating up — both in terms of potential demand and budding competition.

— Alex

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