August 16, 2024

E144: xAI launches Grok-2 and Grok-2 Mini on X platform, Klarna expands into banking with new products, Epic Games targets mobile market with new storefront, Ramp’s AI-powered growth drives $9.1B valuation, X projects $2B in 2024 ad revenue, Databricks ac

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00:07 | xAI Launches Grok-2 and Grok-2 Mini on X Platform
- AI large language model platform business
- Released Grok-2 and Grok-2 Mini beta LLMs on X platform
- Enterprise API arriving later this month
- Top-four position on LMSYS chatbot leaderboard
- Grok-2 Mini: efficient, ideal for speed/resource-critical scenarios
- Focus on expanding multimodal understanding
- Available to Premium/Premium+ subscribers on X at $8/month
- Secondary market valuation: $25.7B (+6.9% vs May 2024 round)

02:11 | Klarna Expands into Banking with New Products
- Payments and consumer lending business
- Launched "Klarna balance" and "cashback" in 12 markets, including U.S. and Europe
- Klarna balance offers up to 3.58% interest in EU, no interest in U.S.
- Expansion to disrupt retail banking and increase customer loyalty
- Tied to lending products, potentially reducing default rates
- Secondary market valuation: $10.3B (+53.4% vs Jul 2022 round)
- Rumored tender offer could precede IPO

03:15 | Epic Games Targets Mobile Market with New Storefront
- Virtual reality and video game tech company
- Launching new mobile storefront, targeting 100M installs by year-end
- Aims for significant share of $188B games market, 50% from mobile
- 12% transaction fee vs. 30% from Apple/Google
- Store to open to third-party developers in December
- Secondary market valuation: $18.0B (-20.2% vs Feb 2024 round)

04:21 | Ramp’s AI-Powered Growth Drives $9.1B Valuation
- Fintech company founded in March 2019
- Valued at $9.1B (secondary), +19.6% vs Apr 2024 round
- Serving 25,000+ businesses, including Shopify and Boys and Girls Club of America
- AI used for transaction categorization, bookkeeping, expense management
- AI in sales and marketing boosts efficiency and profitability
- Rapid growth with lean operational structure

06:28 | X/Twitter Projects $2B in 2024 Ad Revenue
- Projected $2B in 2024 ad revenue, down from $2.5B in 2023 and $4.5B in 2021
- Focus on payments, video, and AI innovations
- Plans for payments system with "Payments" button in navigation
- X TV app launched on Amazon and Google platforms
- Competing directly with YouTube's massive market share
- Fidelity values X at $12.3B (-72% from Oct 2022 acquisition)

08:45 | Databricks Acquires Tabular in $2B Deal
- Analytics and AI company
- Acquired Tabular for nearly $2B, despite $1M in annual recurring revenue
- Tabular backed by $30M from Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Zetta Venture Partners
- Acquisition driven by competition with Snowflake
- Databricks' current valuation: $42.7B (secondary), -1.2% vs Nov 2023 round
- Snowflake's struggles compounded by a data breach affecting AT&T customers

09:49 | Hadrian Acquires Datum Source to Enhance Defense Capabilities
- Defense tech company
- Raised $220M since 2020, valued at $500M (secondary)
- Acquired Datum Source, valued at $30M, to better serve defense startups
- Acquisition brings 30 new customers, Datum's 14-person team
- Part of a broader trend of acquisitions in defense tech, with $129.3B VC invested since 2021

10:50 | Pre-IPO Stock Market Weekly Performance
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11:38 | Pre-IPO Stock Vintage Index Weekly Performance
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