September 13, 2024

E148: OpenAI launches 'OpenAI o1,' in talks for $6.5B at $150B valuation, hits 10M subscribers; SpaceX sets civilian space travel record; Glean raises $260M at $4.6B valuation; Klarna cuts losses, integrates AI; Poolside in talks for $500M at $3B valuatio

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00:06 | SpaceX Sets New Record in Civilian Space Travel
- Space payload delivery and satellite internet company
- Polaris Dawn mission: first commercial spacewalk, civilian crew led by Jared Isaacman
- Crew spent 20 minutes outside SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule
- Reached 870 miles above Earth, setting a civilian space travel record
- Tested new EVA suits, conducted 40 experiments
- Secondary market valuation: $223B (+6.3% vs Jul 2024 round)

01:20 | OpenAI Launches New AI Model, "OpenAI o1"
- AI large language model business
- Announced "OpenAI o1," focusing on enhancing reasoning abilities in math, coding, and science
- Achieved 83% on International Mathematical Olympiad exam (up from 13% with prior models)
- Available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users
- Competitors like Google and Anthropic developing similar AI models

01:59 | OpenAI in Talks for $6.5B Funding Round at $150B Valuation
- OpenAI in discussions to raise $6.5B at a $150B valuation (primary round)
- Previous valuation: $86B earlier in 2024
- Seeking $5B in debt via revolving credit facility
- Key investors include Thrive Capital, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and UAE-backed MGX fund

02:55 | OpenAI's ChatGPT Hits 10M Paying Subscribers
- ChatGPT: 10M paying subscribers, 1M on higher-priced business plans
- Generates $225M in monthly revenue, or $2.7B annually
- Projected $4B in annual revenue in the next 12 months (up from $1.6B in late 2023)
- Valuation at $150B, 37.5x forward revenue

03:48 | Glean Raises $260M Series E, Valued at $4.6B
- Enterprise AI solutions company
- Raised $260M in Series E, valuing Glean at $4.6B (primary)
- Competes with Microsoft Copilot and Amazon's chatbot
- Global generative AI spending expected to rise to $143B by 2027

04:30 | Klarna Cuts Losses and Integrates AI Across Operations
- Consumer credit and payments company
- Severed ties with Salesforce and Workday, focusing on AI automation
- 2023 losses dropped to $241M (from $1B in 2022)
- AI-powered customer service assistant handled 2.3M interactions in its first month
- Headcount reduced from 4,500 to 3,800, aiming for 2,000
- Secondary market valuation: $10.1B (+50.4% vs Jul 2022 round)

05:33 | Poolside in Talks to Raise $500M, Potential $3B Valuation
- AI solution for software developers
- In talks to raise $500M, potentially valuing the company at $3B (primary)
- Co-founded by former GitHub CTO Jason Warner and Eiso Kant
- Secured $126M in seed funding; secured Nvidia GPUs with Iris Energy Ltd

06:17 | eToro Settles with SEC, Limits Crypto Offerings in the U.S.
- Retail brokerage company
- Agreed to $1.5M penalty with SEC over operating as an unregistered broker and clearing agency
- U.S. users can trade only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether; 180-day window to sell/withdraw other tokens
- 38M registered users globally, offering over 100 cryptoassets outside the U.S.
- Secondary market valuation: $7.3B (+107.7% vs Mar 2023 round)

07:05 | Anduril Launches Modular, Autonomous Barracuda Air Vehicles
- Defense contractor
- Introduced Barracuda family of autonomous air vehicles with three versions
- Barracuda-100, 250, and 500 models: ranges from 85 to 500 nautical miles
- Systems are 30% cheaper and 50% faster to produce than competitors
- Secondary market valuation: $17.0B (+21.5% vs Aug 2024 round)

08:10 | Pre-IPO Stock Market Weekly Performance

09:08 | Pre-IPO Stock Vintage Index Wee