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Top stories today:
- Google’s Isomorphic Labs raises $600M led by Thrive Capital
- OpenAI concludes $40B funding at $300B valuation, led by SoftBank
- Trump family seizes control of WLF after $550M in token sales
- Tinder unveils voice-based AI chatbots to boost engagement
- S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite post worst quarter since 2022
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
No major events today.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):
1. Google’s Isomorphic Labs raises $600M led by Thrive Capital, valuation unclear
Nobel laureate Demis Hassabis has tapped AI to accelerate drug discovery through Isomorphic.
Researching potential treatments for diseases including cancer and immune disorders.
Eli Lilly and Novartis collaborated with Isomorphic last year.
External funding will help expand research models including AlphaFold and recruit top talent.
Alphabet and GV have also invested in the new funding.
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3. OpenAI concludes $40B funding at $300B valuation, led by SoftBank
$30B has been committed by SoftBank.
Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive joined as part of a syndicate.
SoftBank may slash stake to $20B if OpenAI doesn’t restructure into a for-profit by Dec. 31.
~$18B of the investment is expected for OpenAI’s Stargate commitment.
Relatedly, SoftBank is reportedly seeking a $16.5B loan to fund AI investments in the U.S.
ChatGPT now has 500M weekly users, up from 400M last month
“[A]dded one million users in the last hour,” Sam Altman said.
Plans to “release a powerful new open-weight” LLM with reasoning “in the coming months,” Altman stated.
4. Trump family reportedly seizes control of WLF after $550M in token sales
Crypto buyers swamped Trump tokens a day after his inauguration ceremony:
