startup
Nearly 25 years ago, a mariachi band played at a SpaceX party while Elon Musk posed for a photo. The rocket company’s head count was single digits back then. Today, it’s over 22,000.SpaceX started with two long-shot goals: make rockets cheaper to launch and, eventually, send mankind to Mars.More than…
The cybersecurity startup Tanium, which was last valued at $9 billion, recently underwent a leadership reshuffle after losing five top executives.Tanium, based in the Seattle area, was founded in 2007 and has stayed private since then. It has raised nearly $1 billion, according to PitchBook, and is backed by investors…
Silicon Valley is buzzing with concerns about excessive spending on AI. Executives at the startup Foyer aren’t worried — they have a simple budget-saving tactic.On the surface, Foyer, which makes an AI browser tool and an AI companion app, might seem like a poster child for running up AI costs.…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer Lankford, the 45-year-old CEO of Lankford Communications, who relocated to Costa Rica. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I’m the CEO of Lankford Communications, and I live in Jaco, Costa Rica. I formerly lived in Portland and the…
Tilt, a live shopping auction app that says it uses AI to make selling online faster and easier, has raised $26 million in funding.The London-based startup, founded in 2021 by ex-Revolut employees Abhi Thanendran and Neil Shah, has raised $50 million to date.Buyers select a category on the app —…
Nico Laqua said he’d rather shave years off his life than see his startup fail.He cofounded Corgi, an AI insurance company, in 2024. Corgi became a unicorn in May, raising its Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation — before raising a Series B1 round at a $2.6 billion valuation…
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is backing a stealthy physical AI startup run by former Tesla and Meta employees, in the latest sign that investors are rushing into robotics.The startup, called Alfred, is also being funded by Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, Chapter One, and others, according to internal documents reviewed by…
Anthropic has arrived with the newest entrant in the AI race — and a new stack of cash.On Thursday, the AI lab announced a new $65 billion fundraise, valuing it at a staggering $965 billion and making it the most valuable AI startup — surpassing its rival OpenAI.The same day, Anthropic…
Before some startup founders raise their Series A, they’ll be raising AI tokens. Loading audio narration… OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a new offer for Y Combinator’s current batch of founders: fork over some equity, and OpenAI will offer up $2 million in API tokens. YC general partner Tyler Bosmeny…
Venture capitalists have spent the last few years hunting for the next great AI startup. Increasingly, they’re also using AI to scout for the next OpenAI or Anthropic. Loading audio narration… Early-stage investors are weaving chatbots and agents into nearly every part of the job: mapping markets, stress-testing ideas, preparing…
