Waymo raises a whopping $5.6 billion

Top News

• Waymo closes a Series C: Waymo has just closed a massive $5.6 billion funding round, bringing its total capital to over $11 billion, to fuel the expansion of its robotaxi service in cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. This Series C round, led by Alphabet alongside big names like a16z and Tiger Global, intends to scale Waymo's reach and refine its self-driving tech for both ride-hailing and business applications. As the only AV company with commercial robotaxis across several major cities, Waymo is making waves with over 100,000 trips a week, despite the hurdles and competition in the driverless race.

• Fediverse welcomes TikTok competitor—Loops: The fediverse—a decentralized, user-driven social network—is expanding with Loops, a new short-video app by Pixelfed creator Daniel Supernault. Currently in its early stages, Loops will soon be open-source and integrated with ActivityPub, making it easy for users to share and interact across the federated social web. With a focus on privacy—no data selling or AI content training—Loops is now accepting signups, with Android and iOS access coming soon.

• Stolen government money has been returned: In a twist for the crypto world, a U.S. government-controlled wallet drained of $20 million on Thursday saw most of its funds mysteriously returned the next day (though $1.2 million is still missing). Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT flagged the transactions as fitting the pattern of a bad actor, with funds shuffling through decentralized finance platforms and exchanges like Uniswap and Binance-associated n.exchange. The wallet’s original funds, linked to the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack and seized by the DOJ, have raised questions, especially with small "test" transfers possibly indicating further moves.

Merge on the Pod

Alex alluded to this a few days ago, and he delivered! Today, we put out an interview with Shensi Ding, cofounder of Merge. For background, they raised a whopping $55 million Series B in late 2022 for their API integration service, and given the rising importance of data, we have high hopes for this company.

During the interview, Shensi shared her transition from finance to tech and highlighted the critical role of integrations in modern businesses. She and Alex explored the challenges of building and maintaining these integrations, highlighting the importance of standardized data models. Shensi also discussed partnerships and the strategies to overcome resistance.

Near the end of the episode, you even get to see Alex push for their IPO. Surprisingly though, they have not been approached for acquisition, but given their vision for building infrastructure for the next generation of internet, they have no interest in acquisitions. As they continue to expand beyond just API integrations, the world should become their oyster. Keep an eye on this one — they raised two years ago, we’d love to see another round come together soon.

Watch the full episode here.

— Erika and Maddie

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This Week in Startups

E2032: In this episode, Alex sets the stage for the "Jam with JCal" season recap, highlighting innovative startups using .TECH domains. Ramsey Shaffer introduces Uptrends AI, helping financial advisors stay on top of market news, while Ana Malhotra unveils Rome, a yard-sharing service for dogs. Other standout pitches include Tyce Herrman's Ulama, a tool for architects, Ulan Abdurazakov's AI sleep aid CorePod, and Elliot Easterling’s gamified engagement platform Bonbon.

E2031: Jason and Alex start by discussing Anthropic’s new AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and its implications for AI assistants and employment. They get into AI’s potential impact on white-collar jobs before welcoming Andrew Lissimore from Headphones.com for a deep dive into high-end audio and leveraging content for brand growth. The show wraps up with insights from Prandtl Dynamics on anti-drone tech and TollBit's Series A funding for its AI data marketplace.

E2030: Jason and Alex dive into election integrity, discussing the Heritage Foundation's stance, tech advancements for secure voting, and Hans von Spakovsky’s take on the 2020 election. Later, they shift to rumors about a potential Uber-Expedia acquisition, exploring challenges in the online travel industry and Uber's strategic moves. They also cover AI’s role in travel and media, Skift’s growth, and wrap up with Uber's expansion into airlines and the latest in AI with Anthropic's Claude 3.5 model.

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Angel University

Angel University is just around the corner. It’s a four-hour online workshop with Jason and Mike, President at LAUNCH, covering key factors to consider when angel investing. They also provide insights into our investment process at LAUNCH, including the criteria we use when evaluating startups. If you’re interested, you can find more information here. The next workshop is on November 6th.

Founder University

Founder University Cohort 9 will kick off on October 25th. It’s a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored to navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. There’s still time to apply—submit your application at Founder University.

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