Waymo hits 100,000 weekly paid rides as Defcon AI locks down $44M

Top News

• Defcon AI raises $44M: Imagine that you had to coordinate a large, complex array of physical and human capital goods in response to an emergency. How would you go about it? Defcon AI wants to answer that question for the U.S. military and others. That work was good enough for a $44 million round, TechCrunch reports.

• India-made iPhones accelerate: Apple’s efforts to diversify its production chains outside of China are bearing fruit, Bloomberg reports. The American consumer technology giant has built iPhones in India before, but it’s now expanding to include its Pro line of devices. That brings its Indian production lines closer to parity with its massive Chinese operations and gives it more flexibility to source hardware from more locations in the future.

• Waymo accelerates: Back in May, Waymo announced that it was serving 50,000 paid trips each week. Throw a $15 per-ride into a rough revenue estimate, and the company was on a $39 million annual run rate. Today Waymo announced that it is now serving 100,000 paid rides weekly, double its prior count in just a few months. Waymo is now accelerating on a path to generate real revenues compared to its cost basis. (Alphabet recently pledged $5 billion more for Waymo.)

Adding Rebellions to the TWiST500

The race to build next-gen chips to power AI computing demand is a big darn deal. Look at TWiST500 member Etched, for example. Focused on building application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for transformers — the underlying tech that powers LLMs — they are taking a swing at building a chip that could prove perfectly-fit for the future of AI development. Or, if something comes along that replaces transformers, this bet would be tough to transition.

Etched has raised north of $125 million in known capital today.

But it’s hardly alone in striving to snag a piece of the hugely lucrative high-end chip market. Rebellions made noise this week by merging with SK spinout Sapeon, forming a corporate AI chip archon for the Korean market. Why the tie-up? The two firms “share the view that Korea needs a leading AI chip design company” to compete effectively with the Nvidia’s of the world, they said.

Rebellions had raised about $223 million before the merger. Now it’s even beefier. Given its potential — Samsung might want to source AI chips locally, for example — and capital backing, Rebellions is an obvious add to the TWiST500. Onto the list it goes! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E1995: Jason and Alex dug into the latest news to start the week, including data on the current state of venture investing. Both how venture investors are faring, and how founders are doing themselves. (If you ever wanted a breakdown of venture terms, this is a great show to watch). The duo also chatted through the latest Silicon Valley-media dustup, and closed with good news for founders looking to dodge a down round.

E1994: David Weisburd and Jason brought on Elad Gil and David York to dive into the current state of Silicon Valley. They discussed everything from recession jitters affecting startups to the slowdown in SaaS spending, private equity buyouts, and the evolving AI market. The conversation also touched on new trends in startup ecosystems, the role of accelerators, and the ongoing debate over remote work versus office culture in the tech world.

E1993: James Hicks from Final Boss Sour and Rae Lambert from River swung by the podcast to chat with Jason about what they are building. Final Boss Sour is a CPG company that makes incredibly sour pieces of fruit, akin to a candy. We’ve tasted them. They are indeed very sour, but in a good way. Lambert’s River startup is one that we’re a fan of. The service helps people connect IRL, and we use it for Founder Fridays!

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