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X is working on a fintech future, new TWiST500 companies, and Apple’s headset reset

Author

Alex Wilhelm
June 18, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Top News

  • The FTC takes on Adobe: Poor Adobe. First, its attempt to buy Figma failed, and now the FTC has filed a complaint in federal court regarding its subscription business. The government alleges that Adobe hid fees and made it very hard to cancel a subscription. The company disagrees. Is the tide turning against subscriptions that are easy to sign up for but hard to get out of?

  • Apple’s headset reset: Apple may hedge its bets on its Vision line of face computers. The Information reports that Apple is pulling back on a new ‘Pro’ model while continuing work on a less expensive version for 2025. That’s pretty far in the future for what many hope will become Apple’s next major hardware line.

  • X really is working on consumer fintech: New reporting from Bloomberg indicates that X, formerly Twitter, is serious about building a consumer finance app. Akin to Venmo, Bloomberg writes that “Venmo-like payments feature that will let users store money on their X accounts, pay other users or businesses, and even buy goods and services in physical stores” could be coming to the social network we all cannot quit.

TWiST500

It’s a busy week for the TWiST500, with two names added during the Monday news recording and more coming later today in the upcoming episode. Yesterday, Jason and Alex added the following companies:

  • Webtoon: South Korean company Webtoon is going public. Largely owned by Naver, the online service offers hosting and monetization for comics. It’s a big business with a run rate of more than $1 billion, but some of its user metrics are lacking. Alex has more here.

  • Bilt: A fintech startup that is worth $3 billion and change thanks to backing from General Catalyst investing $200 million into it earlier this year. The company is not only a consumer fintech unicorn with an interesting pitch — it offers credit card rewards on rent payments — it is also the feature of reporting indicating that its deal with Wells Fargo to offer the cards is costing the bank up to $10 million per month. Any startup that can reach unicorn status on a bank’s tab is one to watch.

  • Sakana: This Japanese AI company is not like its rivals. Instead of fighting for max compute, it’s a self-stated “GPU-poor” enterprise that is working on making LLMs cheaper to train, and AI models in Japanese. Given its impending $100 million round and non-traditional approach to its market, Sankana is an obvious addition to the list. (Keep an eye on regional/national AI model companies in the coming quarters).

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This Week in Startups

E1967: Jason and Alex dug into how Google Maps handles design decisions, Bilt’s relationship with Wells Fargo, AI progress in both China and Japan, and AI regulation. The pair also took audience questions at the end of the show, and touched on how we might define AGI.

E1966: What is Unreasonable Hospitality? Former hospitality boss Will Guidara came on the pod to chat with Jason about what he learned from getting his former restaurant to the number one spot in the world. He learned a lot about customer and staff care, much of which can be applied directly to founders and startups.

E1965: Jason and Alex dug into Waymo’s self-driving update for its hundreds of robotaxis, how much more Apple is worth thanks to its AI news, the good news on inflation and rates for startups, and finally, the startups expected to list next.

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