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The Information

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Visa and Mastercard face a new threat as Stripe gains ground in payments made by AI shopping assistants. Stripe’s use of single-use virtual cards could weaken the card giants’ visibility into transactions and their influence over how AI purchases work. Full story: https://thein.fo/4iiMbd3

theinformation.comStripe's AI Shopping Lead Puts Card Giants on EdgeAs AI assistants like Instinct and Meta Platforms' Muse start to gain traction in shopping, Stripe has taken a leading position in how the agents pay. That's putting the credit card giants on edge. The reason for their apprehension: Stripe in many cases...
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Ramp's valuation has soared to $60 billion, while rival Airwallex is eyeing a potential IPO. Their rivalry has escalated into a political fight, with Ramp investors seeking a U.S. government investigation into Airwallex's China ties. Full story: https://thein.fo/4z5mxzX

thein.foRamp Investors Went Nuclear Against Airwallex After Doomed DealIn April 2025, Eric Glyman, co-founder and co-CEO of Ramp, received some bad news: A deal was falling apart. Glyman had been hoping Ramp, a highly valued startup that sells corporate credit cards and ...
The Information
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Anthropic employees overwhelmingly believe AI will make Nobel Prize-level breakthroughs by 2030. Wall Street is far less convinced, setting up a crucial test for Dario Amodei as the company prepares to go public next month. More details: https://thein.fo/4BnWWUi

thein.foAnthropic’s Elevator Problem: Persuading Investors to Share Its AI DreamOne quotation has rattled around in my head for a while, which I first heard from early Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn: “The future of the world will be decided by a group of people who fit in an ele...
The Information
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AI startups are raising billions faster than traditional venture funds can keep up. Firms including Lightspeed and B Capital are turning to special co-investment pools that let their backers make bigger bets with lower fees. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hZAadQ

thein.foVC Firms Tap LP Pools, Warehouse Loans for Speedy AI CashWhen Reflection AI set out to raise $2.5 billion early this year, one of its existing venture backers, B Capital, was eager to invest again in the startup, which has emerged as the most high-profile U...
The Information
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AI film startup Utopai Studios raised $60 million at a $1 billion valuation and is already fielding offers that could value it at up to $3 billion. The company plans to release three feature films in theaters next year. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z54f1r

thein.foUtopai Becomes a Unicorn as Video AI Takes OffWhile much of the AI industry has fixated on new personal AI assistants from Meta and OpenAI, video AI is enjoying a quiet renaissance. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is teaming up with the former...
The Information
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Thoma Bravo plans to pursue another cybersecurity deal around the size of its $6.3 billion Varonis acquisition within the next year, betting on rising demand for AI security. Read more: https://thein.fo/47GS27g

thein.foHow Thoma Bravo Found a Discount in a Hot Cybersecurity MarketCybersecurity has been a dealmaking bright spot amid the broader software gloom, fueled by bets that AI adoption will boost demand for security products. But it’s been hard for private equity firms to...
The Information
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Enovix and other battery startups are finding new customers in drones and humanoid robots, but the biggest deals are going to more conventional technologies rather than their ambitious next-generation designs. Full story: https://thein.fo/3WJ57un

thein.foEnovix Went Conventional to Land Its Big Drone DealSince going public five years ago, Fremont, Calif., startup Enovix has promised investors that by this year it would have roughly $1 billion a year in sales of its unusual battery, which is encased in...
The Information
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Datadog's nearly $4 billion offer for Upwind would value the cloud security startup at roughly 80 times annual recurring revenue, highlighting the intense demand for AI-related cybersecurity tools. Read more: https://thein.fo/4i9GQF2

thein.foDatadog Offered $4 Billion to Buy Cloud Security Startup ‘Upwind’Enterprise software firm Datadog recently offered to buy Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup Upwind Security for nearly $4 billion, according to someone with direct knowledge of the talks, the latest ...
The Information
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Sam Altman told OpenAI employees that the industry needs better ways to slow the development of potentially dangerous AI. His proposed paths include international regulation, merging leading AI labs or allowing one company to dominate computing resources. Full story: https://thein.fo/47r0RlB

thein.foAltman Describes Three Endgames for AI, Including One Where a Single Firm ‘Melts Everyone Else’s GPUs’OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week told employees about three proposals the industry has discussed for how to safely develop AI, a stark framing that comes just as the Trump administration sets up its fi...
The Information
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AI startups are raising billions faster than traditional venture funds can keep up. Firms including Lightspeed and B Capital are turning to special co-investment pools that let their backers make bigger bets with lower fees. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hZAadQ

thein.foVC Firms Tap LP Pools, Warehouse Loans for Speedy AI CashWhen Reflection AI set out to raise $2.5 billion early this year, one of its existing venture backers, B Capital, was eager to invest again in the startup, which has emerged as the most high-profile U...
The Information
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A hacking group targeting banks used Grok to gather intelligence, Claude to plan attacks and Kimi to handle tasks Claude refused, exposing how criminals can combine AI models to bypass safety restrictions. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zKvA97

thein.foHow Bank Hackers Got Claude to Do Their Dirty WorkSoon after Anthropic announced its Mythos model in April and said it was exceptionally good at cybersecurity, security professionals said it was only a matter of time before hackers used similar model...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Anthropic employees overwhelmingly believe AI will make Nobel Prize-level breakthroughs by 2030. Wall Street is far less convinced, setting up a crucial test for Dario Amodei as the company prepares to go public next month. More details: https://thein.fo/4BnWWUi

thein.foAnthropic’s Elevator Problem: Persuading Investors to Share Its AI DreamOne quotation has rattled around in my head for a while, which I first heard from early Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn: “The future of the world will be decided by a group of people who fit in an ele...
The Information
@theinformation.com

The secretive investor behind Ramp and Cognition has built a network so influential that more than a quarter of U.S. coding olympiad competitors from 2010 to 2025 have ties to companies he backs. Read our profile: https://thein.fo/4ymGr87

thein.foShroud of Secrecy Cloaks Star Investor Behind Cognition, RampLast month, Zach Dell, son of billionaire Michael Dell and cofounder of Base Power,a billion-dollar battery startup, was gabbing with podcaster David Senra when Senra asked him which of his investors ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Nvidia is helping finance demand for its own chips through more than $170 billion in investments and commitments, even as shares of AI cloud providers tumble and several Nvidia-backed firms delay IPO plans. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hWbkLU

thein.foNvidia Has Put More Than $170 Billion on the Line for NeocloudsNvidia has become something of a central bank for companies expanding the market for its chips beyond tech giants, backstopping customers and demand. But as Nvidia-backed cloud firms come under pressu...
The Information
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Ramp's valuation has soared to $60 billion, while rival Airwallex is eyeing a potential IPO. Their rivalry has escalated into a political fight, with Ramp investors seeking a U.S. government investigation into Airwallex's China ties. Full story: https://thein.fo/4z5mxzX

thein.foRamp Investors Went Nuclear Against Airwallex After Doomed DealIn April 2025, Eric Glyman, co-founder and co-CEO of Ramp, received some bad news: A deal was falling apart. Glyman had been hoping Ramp, a highly valued startup that sells corporate credit cards and ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Hackers turned Claude and Grok into a network of AI agents that autonomously targeted more than 400 financial institutions and other financial targets, according to cybersecurity research shared with The Information. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z5PZ8S

thein.foHackers Used Claude and Grok to Fully Automate Attacks on BanksA hacking group called CyberCartel used a web of AI agents powered by models from companies including Anthropic, SpaceX and Chinese lab Moonshot AI to automate cyberattacks against more than 400 Latin...
The Information
@theinformation.com

One of crypto’s most prominent backers is changing course: Andreessen Horowitz plans to rename a16z crypto to a16z frontier and broaden its investment strategy beyond blockchain. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zSjfjz

theinformation.comAndreessen Horowitz to Drop ‘Crypto’ From Name of Flagship Blockchain FundAndreessen Horowitz, which made one of the boldest bets on blockchain investments in the venture world, is dropping the term crypto from the name of its fund focused on the category. A16z crypto, whic...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Salesforce customers using Claude and other external AI tools to automate work could soon face new charges. Some businesses are already reconsidering their AI usage and may move data out of Salesforce if the fees are too high. Read more: https://thein.fo/4sis2bM

theinformation.comSalesforce Customers Brace For New Fees to Use Claude in Its AppsSalesforce is leading the software industry’s attempt to collect fees from businesses that use Claude and other external AI tools to automate work in enterprise apps.As soon as next month, Salesforce ...
The Information
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AI film startup Utopai Studios raised $60 million at a $1 billion valuation and is already fielding offers that could value it at up to $3 billion. The company plans to release three feature films in theaters next year. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z54f1r

thein.foUtopai Becomes a Unicorn as Video AI Takes OffWhile much of the AI industry has fixated on new personal AI assistants from Meta and OpenAI, video AI is enjoying a quiet renaissance. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is teaming up with the former...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Thoma Bravo plans to pursue another cybersecurity deal around the size of its $6.3 billion Varonis acquisition within the next year, betting on rising demand for AI security. Read more: https://thein.fo/47GS27g

thein.foHow Thoma Bravo Found a Discount in a Hot Cybersecurity MarketCybersecurity has been a dealmaking bright spot amid the broader software gloom, fueled by bets that AI adoption will boost demand for security products. But it’s been hard for private equity firms to...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Enovix and other battery startups are finding new customers in drones and humanoid robots, but the biggest deals are going to more conventional technologies rather than their ambitious next-generation designs. Full story: https://thein.fo/3WJ57un

thein.foEnovix Went Conventional to Land Its Big Drone DealSince going public five years ago, Fremont, Calif., startup Enovix has promised investors that by this year it would have roughly $1 billion a year in sales of its unusual battery, which is encased in...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Datadog's nearly $4 billion offer for Upwind would value the cloud security startup at roughly 80 times annual recurring revenue, highlighting the intense demand for AI-related cybersecurity tools. Read more: https://thein.fo/4i9GQF2

thein.foDatadog Offered $4 Billion to Buy Cloud Security Startup ‘Upwind’Enterprise software firm Datadog recently offered to buy Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup Upwind Security for nearly $4 billion, according to someone with direct knowledge of the talks, the latest ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Sam Altman told OpenAI employees that the industry needs better ways to slow the development of potentially dangerous AI. His proposed paths include international regulation, merging leading AI labs or allowing one company to dominate computing resources. Full story: https://thein.fo/47r0RlB

thein.foAltman Describes Three Endgames for AI, Including One Where a Single Firm ‘Melts Everyone Else’s GPUs’OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week told employees about three proposals the industry has discussed for how to safely develop AI, a stark framing that comes just as the Trump administration sets up its fi...
The Information
@theinformation.com

AI startups are raising billions faster than traditional venture funds can keep up. Firms including Lightspeed and B Capital are turning to special co-investment pools that let their backers make bigger bets with lower fees. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hZAadQ

thein.foVC Firms Tap LP Pools, Warehouse Loans for Speedy AI CashWhen Reflection AI set out to raise $2.5 billion early this year, one of its existing venture backers, B Capital, was eager to invest again in the startup, which has emerged as the most high-profile U...
The Information
@theinformation.com

A hacking group targeting banks used Grok to gather intelligence, Claude to plan attacks and Kimi to handle tasks Claude refused, exposing how criminals can combine AI models to bypass safety restrictions. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zKvA97

thein.foHow Bank Hackers Got Claude to Do Their Dirty WorkSoon after Anthropic announced its Mythos model in April and said it was exceptionally good at cybersecurity, security professionals said it was only a matter of time before hackers used similar model...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Anthropic employees overwhelmingly believe AI will make Nobel Prize-level breakthroughs by 2030. Wall Street is far less convinced, setting up a crucial test for Dario Amodei as the company prepares to go public next month. More details: https://thein.fo/4BnWWUi

thein.foAnthropic’s Elevator Problem: Persuading Investors to Share Its AI DreamOne quotation has rattled around in my head for a while, which I first heard from early Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn: “The future of the world will be decided by a group of people who fit in an ele...
The Information
@theinformation.com

The secretive investor behind Ramp and Cognition has built a network so influential that more than a quarter of U.S. coding olympiad competitors from 2010 to 2025 have ties to companies he backs. Read our profile: https://thein.fo/4ymGr87

thein.foShroud of Secrecy Cloaks Star Investor Behind Cognition, RampLast month, Zach Dell, son of billionaire Michael Dell and cofounder of Base Power,a billion-dollar battery startup, was gabbing with podcaster David Senra when Senra asked him which of his investors ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Nvidia is helping finance demand for its own chips through more than $170 billion in investments and commitments, even as shares of AI cloud providers tumble and several Nvidia-backed firms delay IPO plans. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hWbkLU

thein.foNvidia Has Put More Than $170 Billion on the Line for NeocloudsNvidia has become something of a central bank for companies expanding the market for its chips beyond tech giants, backstopping customers and demand. But as Nvidia-backed cloud firms come under pressu...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Ramp's valuation has soared to $60 billion, while rival Airwallex is eyeing a potential IPO. Their rivalry has escalated into a political fight, with Ramp investors seeking a U.S. government investigation into Airwallex's China ties. Full story: https://thein.fo/4z5mxzX

thein.foRamp Investors Went Nuclear Against Airwallex After Doomed DealIn April 2025, Eric Glyman, co-founder and co-CEO of Ramp, received some bad news: A deal was falling apart. Glyman had been hoping Ramp, a highly valued startup that sells corporate credit cards and ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Hackers turned Claude and Grok into a network of AI agents that autonomously targeted more than 400 financial institutions and other financial targets, according to cybersecurity research shared with The Information. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z5PZ8S

thein.foHackers Used Claude and Grok to Fully Automate Attacks on BanksA hacking group called CyberCartel used a web of AI agents powered by models from companies including Anthropic, SpaceX and Chinese lab Moonshot AI to automate cyberattacks against more than 400 Latin...
The Information
@theinformation.com

One of crypto’s most prominent backers is changing course: Andreessen Horowitz plans to rename a16z crypto to a16z frontier and broaden its investment strategy beyond blockchain. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zSjfjz

theinformation.comAndreessen Horowitz to Drop ‘Crypto’ From Name of Flagship Blockchain FundAndreessen Horowitz, which made one of the boldest bets on blockchain investments in the venture world, is dropping the term crypto from the name of its fund focused on the category. A16z crypto, whic...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Salesforce customers using Claude and other external AI tools to automate work could soon face new charges. Some businesses are already reconsidering their AI usage and may move data out of Salesforce if the fees are too high. Read more: https://thein.fo/4sis2bM

theinformation.comSalesforce Customers Brace For New Fees to Use Claude in Its AppsSalesforce is leading the software industry’s attempt to collect fees from businesses that use Claude and other external AI tools to automate work in enterprise apps.As soon as next month, Salesforce ...
The Information
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Could next year bring a 1Password IPO? CEO David Faugno says there’s no date set, but points to customer growth and AI as tailwinds as the company weighs its next steps.

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Exclusive: Instacart is exploring a sale and has held preliminary talks with Uber and DoorDash. A typical takeover premium could value the grocery delivery company at $16 billion to $17 billion. Read more: https://thein.fo/4sugGle

thein.foInstacart Is Exploring a SaleInstacart is in talks to sell itself in a transaction that would cap the grocery delivery app’s 14-year run as a standalone company. Currently valued at $12 billion, Instacart has been working with an...
The Information
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AI film startup Utopai Studios raised $60 million at a $1 billion valuation and is already fielding offers that could value it at up to $3 billion. The company plans to release three feature films in theaters next year. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z54f1r

thein.foUtopai Becomes a Unicorn as Video AI Takes OffWhile much of the AI industry has fixated on new personal AI assistants from Meta and OpenAI, video AI is enjoying a quiet renaissance. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is teaming up with the former...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Anthropic employees overwhelmingly believe AI will make Nobel Prize-level breakthroughs by 2030. Wall Street is far less convinced, setting up a crucial test for Dario Amodei as the company prepares to go public next month. More details: https://thein.fo/4BnWWUi

thein.foAnthropic’s Elevator Problem: Persuading Investors to Share Its AI DreamOne quotation has rattled around in my head for a while, which I first heard from early Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn: “The future of the world will be decided by a group of people who fit in an ele...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Thoma Bravo plans to pursue another cybersecurity deal around the size of its $6.3 billion Varonis acquisition within the next year, betting on rising demand for AI security. Read more: https://thein.fo/47GS27g

thein.foHow Thoma Bravo Found a Discount in a Hot Cybersecurity MarketCybersecurity has been a dealmaking bright spot amid the broader software gloom, fueled by bets that AI adoption will boost demand for security products. But it’s been hard for private equity firms to...
The Information
@theinformation.com

AI startups are raising billions faster than traditional venture funds can keep up. Firms including Lightspeed and B Capital are turning to special co-investment pools that let their backers make bigger bets with lower fees. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hZAadQ

thein.foVC Firms Tap LP Pools, Warehouse Loans for Speedy AI CashWhen Reflection AI set out to raise $2.5 billion early this year, one of its existing venture backers, B Capital, was eager to invest again in the startup, which has emerged as the most high-profile U...
The Information
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Sam Altman told OpenAI staff that one approach to AI safety could involve merging the biggest AI labs into a single organization. But with OpenAI and Anthropic racing toward IPOs, coordinating with rivals could prove difficult. Full story: https://thein.fo/47r0RlB

thein.foAltman Describes Three Endgames for AI, Including One Where a Single Firm ‘Melts Everyone Else’s GPUs’OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week told employees about three proposals the industry has discussed for how to safely develop AI, a stark framing that comes just as the Trump administration sets up its fi...
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Today on TITV: 1Password CEO goes inside the scramble to patch PHP, Salesforce customers brace for new fees, and fired OpenAI researchers speak out. Plus, our managing editor discusses what’s next for tech IPOs. 📺 Tune in at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET on: https://thein.fo/47CYlIZ

thein.foTITV Daily Show — Weekdays at 10 am PT / 1 pm ETThe Information’s TITV is first in tech news and analysis from the people that break and shape the story. The rest is just commentary. Watch every weekday at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on The Information.com, ...
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Nvidia has already put more than $170 billion on the line to support AI cloud providers and other major customers. Now it's considering another major investment in Firmus, which is seeking at least $2 billion in private funding after its IPO fell apart. Full story: https://thein.fo/3UzBXxf

thein.foNvidia Moves to Back GPU Cloud Provider Firmus After Investors Balk at Its IPONvidia is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Australian AI cloud provider Firmus, which abruptly pulled its initial public offering early this month, according to people familiar wi...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Nvidia is helping finance demand for its own chips through more than $170 billion in investments and commitments, even as shares of AI cloud providers tumble and several Nvidia-backed firms delay IPO plans. Read more: https://thein.fo/4hWbkLU

thein.foNvidia Has Put More Than $170 Billion on the Line for NeocloudsNvidia has become something of a central bank for companies expanding the market for its chips beyond tech giants, backstopping customers and demand. But as Nvidia-backed cloud firms come under pressu...
The Information
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CoreWeave shares have fallen roughly 20% in a week as investors question its debt-heavy approach to financing AI data centers. With borrowing costs climbing, the company’s troubles are raising concerns about how the broader AI boom will be financed. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zGZ6wu

thein.foHow CoreWeave’s Debt Binge Brought a Perilous Moment of ReckoningIn early 2023, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman gathered with Jas Khaira, the company’s lead AI investor, and other top executives at the finance giant’s Park Avenue headquarters in Manhattan for a deb...
The Information
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Ramp's valuation has soared to $60 billion, while rival Airwallex is eyeing a potential IPO. Their rivalry has escalated into a political fight, with Ramp investors seeking a U.S. government investigation into Airwallex's China ties. Full story: https://thein.fo/4z5mxzX

thein.foRamp Investors Went Nuclear Against Airwallex After Doomed DealIn April 2025, Eric Glyman, co-founder and co-CEO of Ramp, received some bad news: A deal was falling apart. Glyman had been hoping Ramp, a highly valued startup that sells corporate credit cards and ...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Hackers turned Claude and Grok into a network of AI agents that autonomously targeted more than 400 financial institutions and other financial targets, according to cybersecurity research shared with The Information. Read more: https://thein.fo/4z5PZ8S

thein.foHackers Used Claude and Grok to Fully Automate Attacks on BanksA hacking group called CyberCartel used a web of AI agents powered by models from companies including Anthropic, SpaceX and Chinese lab Moonshot AI to automate cyberattacks against more than 400 Latin...
The Information
@theinformation.com

One of crypto’s most prominent backers is changing course: Andreessen Horowitz plans to rename a16z crypto to a16z frontier and broaden its investment strategy beyond blockchain. Read more: https://thein.fo/4zSjfjz

theinformation.comAndreessen Horowitz to Drop ‘Crypto’ From Name of Flagship Blockchain FundAndreessen Horowitz, which made one of the boldest bets on blockchain investments in the venture world, is dropping the term crypto from the name of its fund focused on the category. A16z crypto, whic...
The Information
@theinformation.com

Datadog has made another attempt to buy Upwind, offering nearly $4 billion as demand for AI-related security software grows. The startup’s annual recurring revenue has climbed past $50 million, more than doubling since the end of 2025. Full story: https://thein.fo/4sgiyh7

thein.foDatadog Offered $4 Billion to Buy Cloud Security Startup ‘Upwind’Enterprise software firm Datadog recently offered to buy Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup Upwind Security for nearly $4 billion, according to someone with direct knowledge of the talks, the latest ...