Sora, please make a video of Google’s Willow quantum chip

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• Sora is here: Today, OpenAI released its Sora video model to the public, albeit in limited fashion. You have to be a paid subscriber of ChatGPT to get access. There are limitations, and as of the time I am writing, the ability to get into the product itself is currently down. People want to test it out. MKBHD has a good overview of the service. OpenAI— a TWiST500 company —is on a year-ending product release tear, including a new higher-priced offering that includes its full o1 model.

• Google’s quantum breakthrough: In a Nature article, Google announced that its new ‘Willow’ quantum chip with 105 physical qubits could complete a task “in roughly 5 minutes” that would take “the world’s largest supercomputer an estimated 1025 years.” That’s massive. The change between Willow and other quantum chips is that it packs more physical qubits into a single package. As Google notes, “Willow can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits,” adding that the development “cracks a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.” Implications for both quantum computing and existing software applications like encryption could prove incredible.

• Reddit’s build vs. sell moment: Curious why Reddit has not announced more data deals with AI model companies? It’s been building a search product based off its own data. The company’s Reddit Answers service will use a custom AI chatbot to answer user queries. Given that Reddit’s huge bounty of human questions, answers, and commentary is nearly without compare online today, conserving the value inside its own walls instead of selling them for pennies is a bold move but not one without risks. Google, after all, is a key source of Reddit traffic.

TWiST500

Finix. Finix is the next company to join the TWiST500 because I now understand what it is and what it is building. Back when Finix was raising its early rounds, the pitch that I heard — and some of my former staff heard at the time — was that Finix was not a payments company but instead a “payment infrastructure company” in the words of its CEO, Richie Serna. That meant it helped larger companies with material payment processing needs and costs to bring that work in-house.

Making payment infra tech without the central component of payment processing always felt slightly weird. The company’s product goals at the time, however, and its growth trajectory meant that it was able to raise a fat Series B led by Sequoia. Despite the company’s insistence that it wasn’t going after Stripe directly, Sequoia eventually cut ties with its invested monies to protect its relationship with the larger payments company.

Now that we have more time under our belts, the Sequoia choice makes sense. Finix became a payment processor in early 2023. And when it recently raised $75 million more, Serna noted the move as critical to its success:

Between the expanded product remit and the evidence that it is becoming more than just the payments infra tech provider, it started life as I am very bullish on Finix carving out a chunk of its market for its own. And with every 100 bips of payments marketshare coming with a gold-plated chunk of valuation, well, Finix deserves TWIST500 inclusion. Onto the list! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2056: Jason and Alex sit down with Anthony Pompliano to unpack Bitcoin's resurgence and MicroStrategy’s high-stakes strategy. They dive into Reddit’s new Answers feature, exploring its potential to reshape the platform and its impact on the broader tech landscape. The episode wraps with a deep dive into SEC accreditation rules and the Kids Online Safety Act’s far-reaching implications for social media.

E2055: Jason and Alex open with a quick dive into the economic outlook, job data trends, and the tragic murder of United Healthcare’s CEO. Menlo investor Deedy Das joins the show to weigh in on "quiet quitting" and its impact on engineering teams. Then, Coffeezilla makes a special appearance to unpack the cautionary tale of Haliey Welch's $HAWK memecoin fiasco. The episode wraps with insights on regulatory challenges, Silicon Valley's government influence, and AI's growing role in policy. This is a must-watch!

E2054: Jason and Alex kick things off with a look at SEC leadership changes and corporate security concerns before welcoming Mike Sherbakov (Veteran fund) and Herbert Dwyer (EMPEQ) to discuss EMPEQ's tech and SaaS growth. Jason and Alex highlight updates from Twist500, including a feature on Hugging Face's recent progress. They also have a quick look at the state of EU startup culture and wrap up with a great discussion on capitalism's role in safety nets.

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Applications are open for Cohort 2 of the LAUNCH CloudKitchens Incubator (LiCK). We're looking for food entrepreneurs who wish to expand into the ghost kitchen space or tech founders with a team and a great idea. The application and more information can be found at https://ck.launch.co/.

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