October 18, 2024

E157: SpaceX hits milestones with Starship, Science Corp targets brain-computer interfaces, Stripe to acquire Bridge for stablecoin growth, Databricks partners with Amazon for AI chips, Klarna integrates Apple Pay for payments, Shein adds bankers to Londo

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NEW FUND ANNOUNCEMENT: The AG Dillon Anduril Pre-IPO Stock Fund is now accepting investors. Anduril Industries is a defense technology company that specializes in building advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems for military and national security purposes. Financial advisors only. Email [email protected] to invest or request fund materials. Note important disclosures at the end of this post.

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00:58 | SpaceX Achieves Milestones with Starship Test
- Caught Super Heavy booster mid-air; landed the rocket in the ocean
- Starship needs 10 refueling flights for moon missions; demo projected by 2025
- Aims for multiple daily Starship flights to reduce costs, boost Starlink deployment
- Payload capacity 5x that of Falcon 9; increases incremental revenue
- Secondary market valuation: $226B (+7.4% vs Jul 2024)

01:55 | Science Corp Targets Brain-Computer Interface Market
- Founded by Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak
- Affordable tech: Axon probes ($500), SciFi units ($1,000) – 10% of traditional costs
- Nexus software manages terabytes of data for brain research
- Running clinical trials for ocular implants; plans for human applications
- Raised $186M; no public valuation announced

03:09 | Stripe Eyes Acquisition of Bridge Amid Stablecoin Focus
- Acquiring fintech Bridge to enter $170B stablecoin market
- Bridge has raised $58M, including $40M Series A led by Sequoia
- Follows Stripe’s USDC crypto payments resumption after six years
- Secondary market valuation: $83B (+18% vs Jul 2024)

04:05 | Databricks Partners with Amazon for AI Chip Cost Reduction
- Five-year deal to use Amazon Trainium AI chips, reducing costs by 40%
- Expanded collaboration on AWS, generating $1B+ in revenue
- Aims to save companies up to $950,000 monthly on AI model development
- Secondary market valuation: $43.8B (+1% vs Nov 2023)

05:16 | Klarna Integrates with Apple Pay for Flexible Payments
- Integration in the US and UK; expansion to Canada planned
- Offers installment payments for $35-$2,000 purchases with 0% APR financing options
- "Apple from Klarna" storefront launched for U.S. customers
- Secondary market valuation: $10.3B (+54% vs Jul 2022)

06:17 | Shein Adds Bankers to London IPO

07:11 | Hugging Face Expands as AI Developer Platform Grows
- 5M AI developer community
- 1M public and 1M private models
- 300,000 public apps and numerous private spaces for enterprise use
- 200,000 data sets for model customization
- Decentralized team, largest office in Paris; freemium model for enterprise users
- Secondary market valuation: $4.5B (+1% vs Aug 2023)

08:20 | OpenAI Tests ChatGPT Windows App with Enhanced Features

09:15 | X Updates Privacy Policy to Monetize User Data

10:28 | Pre-IPO Stock Market Weekly Performance
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11:13 | Pre-IPO Stock Vintage Index Weekly Performance
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* NOTE: AG Dillon ("AGD") is not affiliated with Anduril. Anduril may require company approval for purchases (aka transfers). AGD has not been pre-approved by Anduril to purchase their stock. AGD purchases pre-IPO stocks in the secondary market and may gain exposure by directly purchasing the stock (on the company's capitalization table) and/or through a third-party fund (aka special purpose vehicle, or SPV).