20VC: Why "Pacing the Frontier" is BS | Instinct Raising $1BN at $10BN & Meta Launches Muse | Miro Sells for $1.35BN After a $17.5BN Valuation | Mistral Raises €3BN & Could Sam Bankman-Fried Win His Freedom? · podgraph
20VC: Why "Pacing the Frontier" is BS | Instinct Raising $1BN at $10BN & Meta Launches Muse | Miro Sells for $1.35BN After a $17.5BN Valuation | Mistral Raises €3BN & Could Sam Bankman-Fried Win His Freedom?
Rory O'Driscoll calls Dario Amodei's proposal to pace the frontier widely panned, saying the 10 percent extinction claim is overwrought while cyber risk is real.
Jason Lemkin argues Meta should not back Instinct's $1bn round at a $10bn valuation, since Meta can out-compute any startup and Muse threatens the app layer.
Bending Spoons bought Miro for about $1.35bn, roughly 2.7 times revenue against buyers trading at 14 times, and Rory O'Driscoll predicts 40 percent price increases for customers.
Amodei's Call to Pace the AI Frontier Draws Fire
Funding and deals
Instinct. AI tool Harry Stebbings calls strong for power users is reportedly raising $1bn at a $10bn valuation, up from $2.5bn previously.
Mistral. European AI lab raised €3bn in Europe's largest tech round ever, led by Samsung. Harry Stebbings expects $1bn revenue this year.
Miro. Bending Spoons bought Miro for $1.35bn, far below its $17.5bn 2021 valuation, with part paid in Bending Spoons stock.
News
Amodei's call to pace AI frontier gets panned. Rory O'Driscoll calls the 10 percent extinction claim overwrought but says the cyber risk is real. Jason Lemkin says Anthropic is getting ahead of risk before a $2tn IPO.
Meta launches Muse consumer AI assistant. Jason Lemkin says about 500 people built it and each free virtual machine costs $3 to $4 per user. Rory O'Driscoll says Meta must go all in after over $100bn of AI spending.
Cyber stocks jumped 10 percent on AI risk news. CrowdStrike and other cyber stocks rose 10 percent while broader markets moved about 1 percent. Rory O'Driscoll notes the muted reaction to the extinction claim.
Lemkin predicts Supreme Court takes Bankman-Fried case. His lawyer argues a $12bn forfeiture breaches the eighth amendment on a 30-year sentence. Rory O'Driscoll says the crime deserved punishment but 30 years was disproportionate.
Mullenweg ousted and reinstated as Automattic CEO. Rory O'Driscoll calls the WP Engine fight sad, as WordPress loses relevance to Lovable and Replit. Jason Lemkin says Automattic would be better without venture capital.
Adobe names new leader as growth stalls. Market cap is about $105bn. Jason Lemkin predicts 6 to 9 percent growth, and Rory O'Driscoll says it trades below 10 times cash flow.
Menlo Ventures targets 100 exits above $25bn. Alex Kerlin joined the firm. Jason Lemkin counts about 81 tech companies now worth $25bn or more, up from 23 ten years ago.
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