Episodes
00:09 | Noland Arbaugh controls a computer with his brain (Neuralink)
- 29yr old is a quadriplegic, Neuralink implanted into his brain last month
- Live stream of Arbaugh using only his brain to move a computer cursor, play chess, and play video games
- Implant is size of a large coin; 1,024 electrodes connected to brain for neural signal transmission
- Neuralink is pre-revenue; $4b secondary market valuation, +14.5% from its last round in Nov 2023
01:52 | Reddit IPO +48% day 1
- Social...
Published 03/22/24
00:07 | Stripe 2024 revenue at $17b?, only 3.8x multiple!
- $1 trillion in 2023 total payment volume, +25% vs 2022
- Stripe 15yrs vs PayPal 23yrs to get to $1t
- Estimated $17b in 2023 revenue, positive cash flow
- $65b Feb 2024 tender, 3.8x revenue multiple is a steal
02:19 | Telegram’s $30b valuation!
- 900m monthly active users, +80% vs 2021; on track for 1b users by Dec 2024
- "hundreds of millions of dollars" from advertising and subscriptions revenue
- $30b valuation from investors
-...
Published 03/15/24
00:10 | IPOs return in 2024?; Joshua Brown, Michael Batnick, CFA, + The Compound
- Nasdaq has to be performing well for IPOs to come and perform well
- the IPOs that are coming, e.g. Reddit, Inc., need to do well post-IPO if we want to see the flood gates open
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02:54 | $1.5 trillion Starlink valuation
- Starlink has satellite internet monopoly
- 2.6 billion people (33%...
Published 03/15/24
00:11 | Stripe’s $65b valuation
- Online payment infrastructure company
- $1b buyback/tender at a $65b valuation; Sequoia and Goldman participated alongside Stripe itself
- Stripe has $59.8b implied secondary market valuation prior to this announcement; $65b valuation is +8.7% increase
- Second private company buyback in last few months; ByteDance $5b buyback from employees in Dec 2023 at $268b valuation
02:00 | Klarna’s $20b IPO?!
- IPO rumored for 2025 at $20b
- Klarna has $8.3b implied...
Published 03/01/24
00:09 | Human controls computer with brain via Neuralink
- A robot surgically implanted the Nueralink chip into the human’s brain
- Human can control a computer mouse with just their brain
- $4.2b implied secondary market valuation, +21.2% from last primary round in Nov 2023
01:17 | Reddit sells data to AI shop for $60m/yr
- Filed S-1 for Mar 2024 IPO
- Licensing data for AI training is a new revenue stream
- $804m revenue, $91m net loss in 2023
- 75,000 most active Reddit users are invited...
Published 02/23/24
00:10 | OpenAI hits $2b in run rate revenue
- $0 to $2b revenue in only 1 year
- Google 5 yrs to reach $1b in revenue, Meta 6 years
- 92% of Fortune 500 use OpenAI
- 100m weekly users
- 18,000 OpenAI customers through Microsoft Azure
- OpenAI currently raising a primary round at $100b valuation
01:16 | OpenAI launches Google Search competitor
- Search partnership with Microsoft Bing
- Goal is faster response times
- Perplexity AI also competing in AI search; $100m raise at $520m valuation
-...
Published 02/16/24
00:10 | Epic Games takes $1.5b from Disney
- $22.5b valuation, Disney gets 7% stake of Epic
- Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar character’s in Fortnite
- Lego invested $1.0b at a $31.5b valuation in Apr 2022
- Disney transaction is -29% from Lego valuation
- Disney transaction is +118% from secondary market valuation of $10.3b
- 5.1x revenue multiple based on Disney transaction value and Sacra revenue estimates
02:32 | Adam Neumann aims to “buy back” WeWork
- Flow Global is Neumann’s new business
-...
Published 02/09/24
00:36 | How to buy SpaceX stock in the private stock market
- Purchased at $101.75 … no individual can buy at a lower price right now
- Buying a pre-IPO stock is similar effort to buying a house; a lot of parties involved, a lot of steps, 2-4 month process in total
- How to get price discovery in the secondary market on SpaceX stock
- How to perform counterparty due diligence when buying SpaceX stock
- Best practices when using brokers to buy SpaceX stock
12:31 | Private stock market price...
Published 02/06/24
00:10 | Neuralink implants computer chip in human brain
- FDA approved human trials in May 2023
- Goal is allow quadriplegics to control a phone or computer with their thoughts, product is called Neuralink Telepathy
- 11 human surgeries planned in 2024
- $3.9b secondary market implied valuation, +12.5% from last primary round in Nov 2023
01:35 | FTX to make creditors whole!
- Restructuring advisers told bankruptcy judge that FTX creditors are likely to be made whole
- FTX Dec 2023 cash...
Published 02/02/24
00:14 | xAI raising $6b at $20 valuation or not?
- xAI is Elon Musk’s large language model; X owns 25% of xAI
- Media stated xAI was raising $6.0b at a $20b valuation, $500m already raised
- Musk posted on X that “xAI is not raising capital and I have had no conversations with anyone in this regard” … that seems pretty clear
- Musk's infrastructure and data resources at X and Telsa give him a competitive edge
- Quality of X data for training AI models may have poor data integrity (i.e....
Published 01/30/24
00:09 | ElevenLabs AI $1b valuation
- AI-powered browser-based app for generating lifelike voices; applications for audiobooks, film dubbing, game character voices, marketing
- $80m Series B at $1.0b+ valuation; co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman
- 10x increase vs last round in Jun 2023
- co-founded in 2022 by ex-Google and ex Palantir employee
02:00 | Kazakhstan fintech Kaspi.kz IPO at $17b
- Kazakhstan fintech offering payments, e-commerce, buy now pay later,...
Published 01/26/24
00:31 | Reddit IPOs in March
- IPO coming in Mar 2024, S-1s coming end of Feb
- Revenue growth from $400m in 2021 to $500m+ in 2023
- Only 10% of the company expected to float in the IPO
- Reddit's last funding round was at a $10b valuation in Aug 2021
- Current secondary market valuation at $5.6b, 43% decrease
05:45 | Private stock markets mature in 2023
- Companies offering tenders; Databricks, Canva, SpaceX, Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic
- ByteDance doing a buyback!
- Private companies are...
Published 01/24/24
00:09 | Shein IPO in US
- Shein filed with China securities regulator for its IPO (?)
- Shein to IPO in US market (NYSE or Nasdaq)
- Last valuation was May 2023; $66b post-money valuation, $2b raise
- Company moved headquarters to Singapore from China … Singapore is a developed market (MSCI EAFE) vs China emerging market … interested to see where MSCI/FTSE Russell/S&P place Shein in indexes
01:19 | Musk to build AI outside of Tesla
- Musk wants increased ownership of Tesla if he plans to...
Published 01/19/24
00:09 | Circle (USDC) to IPO
- Circle offers the USDC stablecoin with a $25b market cap
- company was to go public via SPAC in 2021 but deal fell apart
- last round was $9.0b in Feb 2022
- good timing for IPO with bitcoin ETFs launching this week
01:13 | Rabbit large action model hits
- Rabbit R1 is an AI first personal device that could replace your iPhone
- Rabbit sold out of R1’s on first day of offering; 10,000 units (goal was 500)
- the Rabbit OS leverages a large language model (LLM),...
Published 01/12/24
00:21 | Carta’s public blow up
- Kerri Saarinen, CEO of Linear, complained on X about Carta's secondary brokers contacting his shareholders for secondary market stock sales
- Saarinen raised concerns about the use of private data from Carta's cap table management for brokerage purposes
- These conflicts are not new in financial services but Chinese walls are important
- Carta can use cap table data but any product/service would need to benefit their startup clients; e.g. Carta Venture Fund to...
Published 01/09/24
00:10 | SpaceX’s satellite-to-cell launches
- 6 Starlink satellites launched providing satellite to cell service
- Text messaging now; voice and data coming later
- T-Mobile is US partner
- In conversation now with cell providers in Australia, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, and Japan
- Starlink to generate $10b in 2024 revenue
- SpaceX is currently completing a tender at $180b
01:16 | Fidelity cuts X 71% to $12.5b
- Fidelity cut its X position valuation by 10.7% in Nov 2023
-...
Published 01/05/24
00:09 | Revolut £1.5b 2023 revenue
- £1.5b 2023 revenue, +76% vs £850m 2022 revenue
- 300,000 new users weekly
- 40 million total customers globally
- $14.9b secondary market valuation, -55% from $33b primary round in Jul 2021
01:13 | $20b Adobe+Figma deal off
- European/UK regulators suggested significant remedies that were rejected by Adobe
- Adobe to pay Figma $1.0b breakup fee
- Tbd on Figma’s currently valuation; Canva, a competitor, is at $25.3b down 37% from its last primary round in...
Published 12/22/23
00:29 | 2013 to 2023 emerging tech trends; apps, social media, EVs, blockchain, cloud, data, clean energy
- Mobile apps following the iPhone's release in 2008
- Shift from desktop to mobile platforms
- Explosive growth in social media
- Evolution of electric cars from a novelty to a mainstream choice
- Integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) in daily life (e.g., smart appliances)
- Emergence and growth of blockchain and cryptocurrencies
- Increased focus on data analytics and knowledge...
Published 12/19/23