October 25th Newsletter

With less than two weeks away from the election, the market seems to be positioning their bets on a potential Trump victory. On the other hand, Bill Gates revealed a donation for Kamala Harris, and Jamie Dimon has privately hinted at possible support for Harris. The IRS announced new federal income tax brackets and standard deductions for 2025. In other markets, T. Rowe Price predicts 10-year Treasury yields could reach 5% in 6 months due to increasing inflation expectations. Goldman Sachs forecasts S&P 500 annual returns could shrink to 3% over the next decade, a view that JP Morgan sees as overly pessimistic. In other news, McDonald's shares dropped after an E. coli outbreak linked to its Quarter Pounders, leading to 10 hospitalizations and one death. Boeing machinists rejected a contract proposal, with 64% voting against it, extending a weeks-long strike and pushing for major concessions in ongoing negotiations.

Top 5 AI highlights

[1]  🖥️ Anthropic's latest feature allows Claude to control your desktop. We’re getting one step closer to agentic AI. Watch it apply to jobs automatically here. More at Anthropic.

[2] 🏛️ Perplexity AI seeks another funding round, this time valuing it as high as $9 billion, up from $3 billion in June. A day after the funding announcement, Perplexity was hit with a lawsuit by News Corp-owned Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, alleging copyright infringement, adding to existing plagiarism accusations from The New York Times. Read more here.

[3] 🚀 Former OpenAI executive Mira Murati is reportedly launching her own AI startup, aiming to raise $100 million. The company will focus on developing proprietary AI models capable of competing with existing systems like ChatGPT. Murati's sudden resignation from OpenAI in September follows governance changes and adds her to the list of former executives launching AI startups, like Safe Superintelligence. More details here. 

[4] 🏢 OpenAI and Microsoft hire investment banks to negotiate equity stakes as OpenAI transitions from nonprofit to a $157 billion for-profit company. More from the WSJ.

[5] ⚠️ Warning for parents of teens: AI companionship apps can be as addictive and dangerous as social media. Teen takes his own life after spending months chatting with an AI chatbot. NYT reporting here.

Founder’s Corner

Importance on Finding the right team

What we read and listened to this week

• Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder, discusses the future of Airbnb including expanding into services businesses (Podcast)

• The Biden administration forgave $4.5 billion in student debt for 60,000 borrowers (CNBC)

• Elon Musk had offered $1 million a day to a swing-state voter who signs a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments, but the giveaway was suspended after only a few days following a warning from the DOJ (NBC)

• U.S. is investigating 2.4 million Tesla vehicles with Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after four crashes, including one fatal (CBC)

• Big Tobacco brands near a $24 billion settlement for lawsuits over failing to warn about smoking risks, while Juul customers received hefty settlement payouts (Reuters and BBC)

• Activist investor Elliott Investment Management and Southwest Airlines settle their fight by announcing the appointment of six new independent directors (Southwest)

• Starboard Value, an activist investor, is pressuring Pfizer for changes. Pfizer's former CEO and CFO initially backed Starboard but have now switched to supporting Pfizer (CNBC)

• AirPods Pro 2 reveals Apple’s hearing health features in iOS 18.1: Hearing aids, protection, and test feature (The Verge)

• Frontier Airlines is exploring a potential merger with Spirit Airlines as Spirit negotiates with bondholders over bankruptcy restructuring (WSJ)

Special Section: Q3 Earnings Highlights

• Tesla expects 20% - 30% vehicle sales growth next year, as Q3 profit beats estimates, shares surged 22%, though its robotaxi unveiling underwhelms investors. (Bloomberg)

• Boeing reported a $6 billion Q3 loss, driven by 777X delays and cash burn, with projected improvement expected by 2025. (CNBC)

• IBM's Q3 software revenue grew 10% driven by Red Hat, but overall revenue missed expectations, falling 3% in extended trading. (CNBC)

• Starbucks reported a 3% drop in Q4 revenue to $9.1 billion and a 24% decline in earnings per share, suspending 2025 guidance. Report will be posted Oct. 30. (YF)

• McDonald’s stock sank this week after the CDC reported an E. coli outbreak linked to the Quarter Pounder. The Company is expected to report Q3 2024 earnings of $3.17 per share on $6.78 billion revenue. Earnings will be released Oct. 29. (YF)

AI M&A and Fundraising news

October 23:

• Granola: AI notepad for meetings, raised a $20M Series A round.

• Infinitus: AI agents for healthcare calls, raised a $51.5M Series C round.

• Nesya: Indian AI/ML infrastructure startup, raised a $30M Series A round.

• Nimble: Autonomous 3PL fulfillment, raised a $106M Series C round.

October 22:

• Attention: AI platform for customer insights, raised a $14M Series A round.

• Counsel Health: AI-powered medical advice, raised a $11M Seed round.

• CrewAI: Multi-agent AI platform, raised a $18M Seed round.

• Desktop AI: Highlight app, raised a $10M funding round.

• Genmo: AI video generation research lab, raised a $28.4M Series A round.

• Interface.ai: Customer automation platform, raised a $20M round.

• LightOn: Paris-based GenAI startup, plans to list on Euronext Growth, targeting a €10M capital raise at a €50M valuation.

• Nooks.ai: Humanize sales pipeline generation, raised $43M Series B round.

• Paccurate: Packing intelligence platform, raised a $8.1M Series A round.

• Pantheon AI: AI architecture startup, raised a $25M Series B round.

• Thomson Reuters: acquired Materia, a US-based AI startup focused on tax, audit, and accounting, to enhance its generative AI tools.

• TollBit: Two-sided marketplace for AI firms and publishers, raised a $24M Series A round. 

• Uprise: Financial decision tool for small businesses, raised a $3.3M Seed round.

October 21:

• Carbon Robotics: AI-powered de-weeding robots for farmers, raised a $70M Series D round.

• DataCrunch: European AI cloud provider, raised a €12M Seed round.

• Genesys: an AI-powered call center software firm, filed for a potential $2B US IPO.

• HealthEx: Patient data consent automation, raised a $14M Seed round.

• Kneron: AI chip startup, seeking to raise $300M at a $1B valuation.

• One Zero: AI-driven retail banking startup, raising a $100M+ round.

• Zip: AI procurement management platform, raised a $190M Series D round.

October 19:

• Lidwave: 4D LiDAR-on-chip sensors developer, raised a $10M Seed round.

• Manifest: AI-driven mental health app, raised a $3.4M seed round.

October 18:

• Auquan: AI-powered investment research, raised a $3M Seed round.

• Eruditus: Edtech firm, raised a $150M Series F round.

• Rollstack: Automated document and slide deck creation, raised an $11M Series A round.

• SandboxAQ: AI spin-off from Alphabet, seeking funds at a $5B+ valuation.

Attached to this email, you’ll find a summary of this week’s highlights and the financial performance of select public companies, providing you with a snapshot of recent market movements.