Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Pickleball is the past—the tech elite is obsessed with padel. • Plus, an Americana-themed batch of Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “The Americans,” “East of Eden,” “High Desert Daydream,” “Lonesome Dove,” USA vs. Belgium, and “The Twilight Zone.” The year’s midpoint is an apt moment for some studied reflection, and I’ve been thinking about how much has changed in the last six... Read more ›
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As if the technology industry hadn’t spit out enough news lately, today brought another big batch of headlines. Once again techies are closely tracking the arrival of OpenAI’s latest conversational artificial intelligence model, dubbed GPT-4. And then there are the sweeping layoffs at Meta Platforms. News of the layoffs, expected to total a whopping 10,000, was largely expected based on news reports. But what I didn’t expect was the form... Read more ›
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When Silicon Valley Bank was crumbling last week, eyes turned to the biggest lender in the country—the bank that had stepped in to save failing competitors during the financial crisis in 2008, whose CEO has been called “America’s banker” and whose views and decisions influence the corporate world. But JPMorgan Chase was nowhere to be found—and its absence from the SVB crisis was purposeful, according to people familiar with the... Read more ›
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A big shift at South by Southwest this year is the buzz around artificial intelligence and the relative absence of crypto events after a bonanza last year. Last year, crypto was hard to escape at the tech and arts festival: SXSW attendees sipped on mimosas at a brunch for women in Web3 or waited in long lines to see an interactive event focused on Doodles, a collection of pastel-colored NFTs.... Read more ›
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Private equity giant Apollo Global Management has asked major venture capital firms to help finance a bid for the assets of Silicon Valley Bank, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion. Earlier, The Information reported that several firms, including General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, had discussed the possibility of a bid from Apollo with a representative from the private equity firm. It’s not clear if any firms... Read more ›
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The government-appointed CEO of the Silicon Valley ‘bridge bank’ asked venture capitalists on Tuesday morning to keep deposits at the bank and return them to the institution. He also said clients with existing debt facilities will be honored. “I’m not asking you to do this as an act of charity,” said Tim Mayopoulos, the CEO appointed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to run the entity that will operate until... Read more ›
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SoftBank-backed shopper rewards startup Fetch Rewards laid off around 100 employees on Monday, making up at least 10% of its workforce, the company confirmed to The Information. Fetch had pitched itself as a way for sellers to battle rising digital marketing costs following Apple’s privacy restrictions. But the Madison, Wis.-based company hasn’t been immune to the broader slowdown in retail spending, which has prompted job cuts at e-commerce giants like... Read more ›
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March 9, 2023, will be remembered as a sad day in Silicon Valley’s history. We have been through crises before—the Japan Inc. fears of the 1980s; the dot-com bubble during which my firm, General Catalyst, was founded; the global financial crisis of the late 2000s; the Covid-19 crisis we’re still getting over. But throughout all of these, we have never cannibalized our own quite like we did last week. It’s... Read more ›
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As customers of the failed Silicon Valley Bank rush to open new accounts at other banks, SVB’s China-based customers are in a bind. They face far more obstacles than their American counterparts when it comes to setting up new U.S. bank accounts, making an immediate switch from SVB much harder. That’s in part because Chinese tech startups backed by foreign investors are typically incorporated in the Cayman Islands as a... Read more ›
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Allbirds, the sneaker brand that gained a cult following in Silicon Valley for its eco-friendly, slipperlike shoes, is at a make-or-break moment. The company is trying to reel its original fans back in after a lackluster push into more-competitive categories like shoes for serious runners and apparel such as leggings over the past two years. But now the marketing landscape looks very different from when Allbirds first rocketed to popularity... Read more ›
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Finally, there’s an advantage to being broke—you never have to worry about where to put your cash! The failure of three banks in the past few days, and today’s sell-off in the stocks of First Republic and other banks, has put the spotlight on the inherent risk in bank accounts. Of course, putting your money into bonds or stocks is much riskier than the typical bank account, as the past... Read more ›
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A large private equity firm has been talking to General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Upfront Ventures and other venture capitalists as the PE firm considers bidding for part of the bank, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions. The identity of the private equity firm couldn’t be confirmed, but both Bloomberg and Financial Times reported earlier that PE firm Apollo Management had expressed interest in SVB assets. The PE... Read more ›
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It’s been a wild few days at South by Southwest, the annual tech and arts festival in Austin. The conference is hopping again, with deep lines for many corporate events and parties. But Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion hung over the kickoff, ranging from panic on Friday as startups and investors scrambled to navigate the collapse, to relief by Sunday when regulators announced they would backstop all deposits. One founder of... Read more ›
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The failure of Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves through the tech financing universe. Roughly 1,000 firms, from big names such as Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark to key crypto and China tech investors, had disclosed that SVB was a custodian for their funds’ capital, according to data compiled by Castle Hall’s DiligenceExpress platform, which investors use to analyze regulatory filings. The Federal Reserve Sunday guaranteed SVB’s depositors—including many of... Read more ›
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After Chris Herndon raised $9 million from venture capitalists for his travel startup The Guild five years ago, he wanted to take out a loan to pad the firm’s finances. He went with Silicon Valley Bank over JPMorgan, which had more onerous lending terms. SVB also had a closer relationship with his startup’s lead venture investor. While he got to know other lenders that cater to startups over the years,... Read more ›
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Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator won’t raise another continuity fund, which backs mature private tech companies, two people familiar with the matter said. The partners who led the fund, Anu Hariharan and Ali Rowghani, plan to leave the firm, the two people said. The pair plan to set up a fund together, one of the people said. The decision comes during a sharp pullback in venture funding, particularly for... Read more ›
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Crypto in many ways used to be a 24/7 market, but the escalating crisis among a set of small U.S. banks has upended that. Regulators’ abrupt closure Sunday of Signature Bank following Silvergate’s shuttering last week knocked out the two biggest crypto-friendly banks and also means the round-the-clock payment systems both offered have disappeared. Some signs of problems have already started to emerge. Crypto exchange Okcoin said that Signature was... Read more ›
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What a weekend! The term “everything everywhere all at once” seems a better description for the turmoil sparked by Friday’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank than for an incomprehensible movie that’s up for an Oscar tonight. The good news is that the worst-case scenarios some on Twitter were broadcasting the past few days seem increasingly unlikely. A report on Bloomberg this afternoon suggested the Fed was poised to take steps... Read more ›
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The influential investors that back startups pushed for government action and took other emergency measures Sunday to avoid the growing threat of furloughs if startups with money tied up at Silicon Valley Bank can’t meet payroll this week. With the clock ticking down to the government’s auction for Silicon Valley Bank’s assets, some lobbied lawmakers to suspend the California state law that would require companies to furlough employees if they... Read more ›
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Regional banks are the likeliest bidders to prevail in the sale process for Silicon Valley Bank, people familiar with the matter said, as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seeks a new buyer and sorts through the wreckage of the failed bank. The FDIC, which took over SVB on Friday, has sought bids from interested parties during the weekend. The regulator is looking for a bank that has the financial wherewithal... Read more ›
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At least one Wall Street firm is sensing an opportunity in the panic around failed Silicon Valley Bank. Traders from Jefferies are contacting startup founders with money stuck at the bank, offering to buy their deposit claims at a discount, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. The firm is offering at least 70 cents on the dollar for deposit claims, one of the people said, although... Read more ›
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09.07.2026 22:53
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