Top stories today:
- Manus AI said to seek $500M valuation, 5x from previous round
- CoreWeave cuts IPO size to $1.5B at $23B valuation
- Signal downloads spike following accidental chat leak
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).
All times are ET.
1. Manus AI said to seek $500M valuation, 5x from previous round
Butterfly Effect reportedly met with U.S. investors for the funding.
Mar.: Manus AI agent gained popularity after its beta launch.
Tencent and HongShan led Butterfly Effectās last round in 2024.
$1M burned on Claude in 2 weeks by the Beijing startup.
2.6M+ users are currently on its waiting list.
Tokyo office is in the plans ā first office outside China.
2. CoreWeave cuts IPO size to $1.5B at $23B valuation
37.5M shares at $40 apiece is said to be the new IPO plan, down from the 49M shares at $47-$55 each planned earlier.
NVIDIA is said to anchor the share sale with a ~$250M order.
Fri.: CoreWeave stock is expected to start trading.
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4. Signal downloads spike following accidental chat leak
Climbed to #9 social media app in Yemen on Mon. from #50 earlier.
Separately, Trump admin told to keep Signal chats on the Yemen strike by a U.S. judge.
Tue.: American Oversight sued federal agencies involved in the Signal chat leak.
5. Kling 1.6 (Pro) dominates Artificial Analysisā Image-to-Video leaderboard
OpenAIās Sora has underperformed compared to its rank on the Text-to-Video Leaderboard.
6. Facebook returns to its roots by introducing Friends Tab
Posts from friends and family will appear on a dedicated news feed.
Replacing the tab showing new friend requests and suggested friends.
Available to the U.S. and Canada users initially.
Sharp departure from influencer-led content delivery ā common across social media platforms.
No plans to stop adding recommended content to usersā feed, though.
7. Digital media surpasses television industry for 1st time in 2024
40% of Indians use smartphones (562M people, more than in the U.S. or the EU).
Avg. 5 hours/day on mobile screens.
Feb.: Fuzzy Panda and Culper Research published similar reports against AppLovin.
The Bear Cave also issued a cautious piece against the developer-focused marketing company.
700%+ gained in AppLovin stock in 2024.
9. New York metro-area startup funding -39% YoY to $3B in Q1
On track to be the lowest total of the past 5 quarters.
ElevenLabs ($180M), Chestnut Carbon ($160M), and Character Biosciences ($93M) were the 3 big rounds in Q1.
New York metro-area startup funding was +23% to $21.3B in 2024
10. Foldable smartphone shipments +2.9% YoY in 2024, -4% estimated in 2025
11. Interesting videos, posts, and memes
11. Other headlines
AI
Anthropic researchers reveal more details on how LLMs think.
OpenAIās viral Studio Ghibli moment highlights AI copyright concerns.
Perplexity partners with Firmly AI to boost shopping features.
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Tech
Elon Musk pressured Reddit CEO to take down posts.
TikTok Shop continues to expand in EU with uncertain U.S. future.
Tech & Law
Biotech
SIRT6 gene therapy trial in dogs kicked off by Genflow.
Business
Chinaās Xi woos global business leaders as Trump intensifies trade war.
Canadaās Carney says nothing off table on tariff retaliation plans.
Crypto
Q1 hacks reach $1.6B, led by Bybitās $1.4B hack linked on North Korea.
South Carolina dismisses staking lawsuit against Coinbase, joining Vermont.
U.S. politics
Automakers warned by Trump not to increase prices in face of tariffs.
Signal chats on Houthi attacks to be preserved, judge orders U.S. agencies.
Ukraine pressured by Trump for more economic concessions.
Robert Muellerās former law firm targeted in latest Trump legal attack.
Canadaās Carney says Trumpās office reached out to schedule call on tariffs.
World
Israel provided intel for U.S. strike on Yemen mentioned in Signal chat.
Houthis still fire back at Israel after Trump airstrikes.
Philippines still has āironcladā commitment from U.S.: Hegseth.
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