Latest news with #FoundersFund
Bloomberg
20 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Founders Fund, Microsoft-Backed Armada Raises $131 Million For AI Data Centers
Armada, a startup that makes movable AI data centers for use in fields like manufacturing and defense, has raised $131 million from investors in a deal that highlights the broad use cases for artificial intelligence. The round included new investors Pinegrove Capital Partners, Veriten and Glade Brook Capital Partners, as well as more funding from existing investors like Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Microsoft Corp.'s venture fund and Marlinspike Partners. The company declined to provide its valuation.
Forbes
21 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
AI Coding Startup Cognition In Talks To Raise At $10 Billion Valuation
Scott Wu, the CEO and cofounder of Cognition. Cody Pickens for Forbes Cognition, maker of the generative coding assistant Devin, is in talks to raise north of $300 million, valuing the AI startup at $10 billion, according to five people familiar with the deal. Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures are both involved in the deal, the people said. The deal would more than double Cognition's valuation, only months after a funding round led by 8VC, the venture firm led by Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, valued the company at $4 billion in March, per Bloomberg. One source cautioned that the terms of the deal could change because it is still being finalized. The funding round comes after a whirlwind acquisition for Cognition. For months, OpenAI had been rumored to be buying Windsurf, a rival AI coding startup. But in a surprise announcement earlier this month, the startup's founders announced they were instead joining Google in a $2.4 billion deal. Two days later, Cognition said it was buying the remainder of Windsurf for an undisclosed sum. 'The new Cognition will work faster than ever,' CEO Scott Wu said in a video announcing the deal, sitting next to Windsurf's new CEO Jeff Wang. 'We want to redefine how humans and agents work together.' Cognition, Founders Fund and Khosla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Founded in 2023 by three Olympiad-level gold medalist coders, Cognition launched its AI agent Devin last year to much fanfare. A demo video quickly went viral, but the company also garnered criticism from skeptics worried that the company was overhyping Devin's capabilities. 'Software engineering in the real world is just very messy,' Wu told Forbes last year. Since then, the company has won over corporate customers including expense management company Ramp, data platform MongoDB and fintech Nubank. Meanwhile, the generative AI coding market has exploded. Rival Anysphere, maker of the wildly popular Cursor tool, has been heralded as one of the fastest growing startups of all time, with annualized revenue now tallying more than $500 million. It was last valued in June at $9.9 billion in a $900 million round led by Thrive Capital. Sweden's Lovable, another AI 'vibe coding' startup that focuses on non-technical people, has reached $100 million in annualized revenue in eight months, beating Cursor to that milestone. At tech giants, CEOs including Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella have said more than a quarter of code at their companies are now being written by AI. Cognition president Russell Kaplan told Forbes last year that the company wants Devin to act like 'an army of junior engineers' that could automate coding tasks for enterprise customers. At the time, Wu acknowledged the anxiety it could cause software engineers. 'There really is a lot of fear out there,' he said. 'People have a lot of questions about what happens in this new paradigm.' Iain Martin contributed reporting.
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Hadrian Raises $260 Million on ‘Factories As a Service'
Defense tech startup Hadrian has raised a $260 million Series C funding round led by Founders Fund. Hadrian CEO Chris Power joins Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Tech' to discuss how the company's tech addresses a manufacturing skills shortage in the US. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ethereum Treasuries Boom as Companies Look Beyond Bitcoin
In crypto, coming in second can pay even better than winning, as long as Peter Thiel is writing the checks. The tech billionaire's venture capital firm Founder's Fund has snatched up a 9% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies. BitMine recently pivoted its focus from Bitcoin mining to building up its treasury stash of ether, disclosing this week that it now holds more than $500 million worth of the second-biggest crypto by market cap. Companies have been racing to bulk up their Ethereum treasuries as they look to copy-and-paste strategies that worked for Bitcoin, the No. 1 crypto. READ ALSO: Uber Paying $300M Fare in Robotaxi Deal and Gaming Platform Roblox Adds Age-Verification to Safeguard Kids Mimicking Michael Saylor Michael Saylor pioneered crypto treasuries in 2020 while leading Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin by far, with more than 600,000 Bitcoin in its stash. For investors, buying Strategy shares is a way to get indirect exposure to Bitcoin without directly investing in the digital asset. Dozens of companies have copied Strategy's model in recent months — even GameStop bought more than $500 million worth of Bitcoin. Now, companies are jockeying to become the Strategy of Ethereum: In the past 30 days, Ethereum treasury companies scooped up more than 545,000 ether worth at least $1.6 billion, CoinTelegraph reported. As companies piled into ethereum, the asset rallied to a five-month high yesterday, breaking the $3,200 mark for the first time since February. SharpLink now controls the largest corporate treasury of ether, even though the gaming and crypto company only started buying the asset last month. The firm has quickly accumulated 280,000 ether worth $846 million. But ether and Bitcoin are fundamentally different, and so are their treasuries. While Bitcoin acts as a digital store of value that sits in a vault, ether has myriad uses on the blockchain. For instance, SharpLink revealed that nearly 100% of its ether stash is staked, meaning it's being actively used to generate more ether. Shifting Spotlight: Bitcoin miners like BitMine could be looking for new sources of revenue after the crypto last year underwent its latest 'halving,' an event that cuts mining rewards in half. At the same time, Bitcoin has become crowded with investors piling into its ongoing rally (it broke past $120,000 for the first time Monday). Meanwhile, Ethereum, which many stablecoins are built on, could soon see an influx of traditional finance investors once the stablecoin regulatory framework that has been moving through the House gets President Trump's official green light. Treasury firms are ready and waiting … with giant piles of ether. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Tech: Netflix Shares Fall Despite Earnings Beat
Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow discusses Netflix earnings as the company's shares fall. Plus, the CFO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing discusses the company's $165 billion US expansion plan. And defense tech startup Hadrian closes a $260 million Series C funding round led by Founders Fund.
