2025-12-30
Manus was acquired by Meta. This remarkable group of people created a product that was the fastest ever to go $0 to $100M ARR and changed how consumers used AI to get things done. It was an extraordinary privilege for me and Benchmark to have invested in this incredible company pre-launch earlier this year and to have been on the board with Red and Pan.
Wall Street Journal
Sources: Meta is buying Manus for $2B+; Manus was raising at a $2B valuation when Meta approached it; Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Meta COO Javier Olivan
The deal for more than $2 billion is one of the first in which a major U.S. tech company has bought a startup with Chinese roots
Manus was acquired by Meta. This remarkable group of people created a product that was the fastest ever to go $0 to $100M ARR and changed how consumers used AI to get things done. It was an extraordinary privilege for me and Benchmark to have invested in this incredible company pre-launch earlier this year and to have been on the board with Red and Pan.
Bloomberg
Meta agrees to acquire Singapore-based startup Manus, which makes an AI agent for SMBs; Manus said earlier in December its annual revenue run rate was $125M+
Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to buy Manus, a popular Singapore-based artificial intelligence agent with Chinese roots …
2025-12-18
A remarkable team building a remarkable AI application. They've set a new speed record for $0 to $100M ARR in 8 months. They are not only the best technical team in Singapore, but one of the best in the world. Thrilled to have backed this sensational group of people pre-launch.
Bloomberg
Manus says it crossed $100M ARR eight months after launch and is growing at 20%+ MoM since Manus 1.5's release; its total revenue run rate is now over $125M
Singapore-based AI pioneer Manus said its annual run rate for revenue is over $125 million, eight months after it released artificial …
2025-01-05
Fascinating call out by Microsoft yesterday to say that AI is moving from GPUs to “AI Accelerators with Tensors” Seems like a clear indication by Microsoft that they're shifting to optimizing around a new paradigm of test-time/ inference
CNBC
Microsoft says it is on track to invest ~$80B in FY 2025 to build out datacenters to train AI and deploy AI and cloud apps, with 50%+ of the spending in the US
plans to spend tens of billions of dollars to build out AI data center … Rounak Jain / Benzinga : Microsoft To Invest $80 Billion In AI Data Centers For Fiscal 2025 Minh Le / Tech ...
2024-12-28
It really does seem like it comes down to Microsoft agreeing to changing their agreement. This is stood out to me: “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space.”
OpenAI
OpenAI says its board of directors is evaluating its corporate structure, including a plan to turn its for-profit arm into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation
A stronger non-profit supported by the for-profit's success. — OpenAI's Board of Directors is evaluating our corporate structure …
2024-12-27
New details here about the Microsoft/ Open AI partnership are fascinating. The various scenarios of how this partnership plays out will ripple through the ecosystem. Most interestingly: will Open AI models be available on AWS? Will Microsoft invest billions in other models?
The Information
Source: Microsoft and OpenAI wrangle over Microsoft's stake in the for-profit entity, use of OpenAI's IP, continued collection of 20% of OpenAI's revenue, more
The Information :
It really does seem like it comes down to Microsoft agreeing to changing their agreement. This is stood out to me: “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space.”
OpenAI
OpenAI says its board of directors is evaluating its corporate structure, including a plan to turn its for-profit arm into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation
A stronger non-profit supported by the for-profit's success. — OpenAI's Board of Directors is evaluating our corporate structure …
New details here about the Microsoft/ Open AI partnership are fascinating. The various scenarios of how this partnership plays out will ripple through the ecosystem. Most interestingly: will Open AI models be available on AWS? Will Microsoft invest billions in other models?
The Information
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits
Finally, a verifiable, numbers-based description of artificial general intelligence has arrived!
2024-07-11
Likely a positive outcome for both Google Cloud and HubSpot. It'll be interesting to see if this motivates another large software player to pursue HubSpot.
Bloomberg
Sources: Alphabet shelves efforts to acquire HubSpot after the companies failed to reach a point of detailed discussions around due diligence; HUBS drops 10%+
Shares of HubSpot Inc. (HUBS Quick Quote Tom Jowitt / Silicon UK : Alphabet Walks Away From HubSpot Deal George Fitzmaurice / ITPro : Alphabet's HubSpot acquisition is dead in the ...
2023-09-19
Thrilled to finally announce our investment in Levelpath, an AI powered platform to make procurement delightful! Alex and Stan, having built procurement software before, are back to solving critical challenges facing enterprise procurement. More here: https://techcrunch.com/...
TechCrunch
Levelpath, which provides enterprise procurement services, raised a $30M Series A led by Redpoint, following an unannounced $14.5M seed led by Benchmark
2023-07-10
Great read, well written. And sadly agree. https://twitter.com/...
Remains of the Day
How a TikTok-like algorithm and pay-to-play scheme ruined Twitter's complex but functional community, causing the social network to suddenly lose its vitality
2023-07-09
Great read, well written. And sadly agree. https://twitter.com/...
Remains of the Day
How a TikTok-like algorithm and pay-to-play scheme ruined Twitter's complex but functional community, causing the social network to suddenly lose its vitality
NOTE: I'd been working on this piece on and off for a few weeks while trying to move to NYC and settle into my new apartment …
2020-10-13
From Twilio's call this morning: “marketing now drives 70% of purchase decisions” for Segment. The Segment acquisition seems to continue Twilio's ambitious strategy to expand from infrastructure to business applications.
TechCrunch
Twilio confirms it is buying customer data infrastructure company Segment for $3.2B in an all-stock deal, expected to close in Q4 2020
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
2020-10-10
According to Forbes, Twilio is acquiring Segment for $3B. With its suite of APIs, it makes a ton of sense for Twilio to offer its customers the ability to integrate and make sense of all of that data.
Forbes
Sources: Twilio has agreed to acquire customer data infrastructure company Segment for $3.2B; the deal is not yet finalized
Covering venture capital, software and startups — With cloud companies booming during the pandemic, one of the category's recent public-company success stories …
2020-09-15
Snowflake's updated S-1 this morning values the company at ~$34B on $532M of revenue run-rate, 65x run-rate. Zoom currently trades at 41x revenue run-rate. And Berkshire Hathaway is buying $695M of Snowflake shares at the updated price.
CNBC
In an updated S-1 filing, Snowflake raises its expected IPO price by around 30% which would value the company between $27.7B-$30.5B compared to $20.9B-$23.7B
a dozen VCs to me, this year https://www.cnbc.com/... @cnbcdisruptors : Snowflake raised its estimated IPO price by around 30% in a new S-1 filing earlier today. This #Disruptor50 ...
2020-08-30
Triller, reportedly valued at $1B, is partnering with a PE firm to bid $20B for TikTok. Similarly, it's time for $83B Zoom to buy $1.7T Microsoft.
Bloomberg
Source: London-based investment firm Centricus and Triller seek to buy TikTok's US, AU, NZ, and India operations for $20B; TikTok says it hasn't received a bid
Dinesh Nair / Bloomberg :
2020-08-29
Triller, reportedly valued at $1B, is partnering with a PE firm to bid $20B for TikTok. Similarly, it's time for $83B Zoom to buy $1.7T Microsoft.
Bloomberg
Source: London-based investment firm Centricus and Triller seek to buy TikTok's US, AU, NZ, and India operations for $20B; TikTok says it hasn't received a bid
- London firm, video app said to propose $10 billion up front — Bid includes assets in U.S., Australia, New Zealand, India
2020-04-22
Simply an extraordinary Q1 from Snap: 20% growth in DAUs to 229M $462M revenue/ 44% growth 2x growth in Shows 35% growth in Discover $73M improvement in quarterly free cash flow Full release here: https://investor.snap.com/...
Snap
Snap reports in Q1 DAUs increased 20% YoY to 229M, revenue increased 44% YoY to $462M, time spent watching Discover content rose 35%+; stock up 20%+
2019-08-09
Roku is a fascinating company because it breaks so many “rules”: 1. Consumer hardware company with ad-based monetization 2. Competing against the largest companies in tech and telecom 3. Low ARPU 31M active accounts and projecting $1B+ revenue in 2019 https://www.wsj.com/...
Wall Street Journal
Strategy Analytics: Roku, through partnership with TCL and others, crossed Samsung to become the top-selling smart-TV platform in the US with a 33% market share
Abigail Summerville / Wall Street Journal :