The Information: OpenView: by 2025's end, 79 of 500 tracked software companies, like HubSpot, Adobe, and Salesforce, adopted usage-based AI fees, more than double that of 2024 — Dozens of enterprise software firms have shifted away from charging customers flat, per-user subscription fees as AI threatens their seat-based pricing model.
Eli Rosenberg / The Information: 33% of S&P 500 companies provided security perks for execs in 2025: Jensen Huang's security cost rose from $690K in 2023 to $3.5M in 2025, Zuckerberg spent $22M — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang cuts a distinctive image, habitually clad in one of his many leather jackets.
The Information: Sources: Cursor hit $2.7B in annualized sales in March, up ~14x from a year ago, and reported a ~$900M loss in its last fiscal year on $770M in total revenue — Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding startup set out to raise billions of dollars.
The Information: Sources: Tencent and Alibaba are in talks to invest in DeepSeek at a $20B+ valuation, partly benchmarked against Moonshot's pending round at an $18B valuation — Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI upstart that recently started fundraising …
The Information: Draft of SpaceX's confidential IPO prospectus: Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4B of stock from current and former employees — Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4 billion of stock from current and former employees …
Erin Woo / The Information: Sources: Google has created strike team to improve its coding models; Sergey Brin told DeepMind staffers that they must aggressively pivot to catch up on agents — Google has assembled a strike team of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models, according to three people …
The Information: Sources: Polymarket is in talks to raise $400M at a ~$15B post-money valuation, up from $9B in October 2025, but below Kalshi's $22B valuation from March 2026 — The predictions site Polymarket is talking to investors about raising $400 million in funding at a valuation of about $15 billion including …
Qianer Liu / The Information: Sources: Google is in talks with Marvell Technology to develop a memory processing unit that works alongside TPUs, and a new TPU for running AI models — Google is in talks with Marvell Technology to develop two new chips aimed at running AI models more efficiently, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions.
Abram Brown / The Information: A look at Dylan Patel's SemiAnalysis, an AI newsletter and research firm that expects $100M+ in 2026 revenue from subscriptions and AI supply chain research — For Dylan Patel, founder of SemiAnalysis, an influential AI industry newsletter and research firm, Nvidia deserves the kind …
Erin Woo / The Information: Sources: Google is negotiating a deal with the US DOD that would let the Pentagon deploy Gemini AI models in classified settings, reversing its previous stance — Google is negotiating an agreement with the Department of Defense that would allow the Pentagon to deploy Google's Gemini AI models …
Michael Roddan / The Information: Polymarket is auditing its Builders Program, which gives up to $2.5M in grants, after concerns that some participating startups are facilitating insider trading — Polymarket was already under pressure to curb insider trading when it launched a program late last year to support startups that sent trades to its prediction market.
Aaron Holmes / The Information: Microsoft says it is “exploring the potential of technologies like OpenClaw in an enterprise context”, including a team of always-on agents within Microsoft 365 — As Microsoft faces growing competition for business customers from Anthropic, it is developing new features …
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information: Chapter, which uses AI to help seniors enroll in Medicare, raised a $100M Series E, doubling its valuation to $3B and bringing its total funding to $285M — Meta Platforms' Wednesday release of Spark, the first model in its broader Muse model family, doesn't blow other frontier models out of the water …
Sri Muppidi / The Information: Documents: OpenAI expects ads to generate ~$2.4B in revenue in 2026, ~$11B in 2027, and ~$102B in 2030, or 36% of its total revenue for 2030 — OpenAI's advertising effort is so new that the company is still working out the kinks in it. That hasn't stopped it from setting ambitious aims for the business …
The Information: Sources: Sam Altman has excluded OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar from some key financial meetings; Friar began reporting to Fidji Simo instead of the CEO in August 2025 — Sam Altman has committed OpenAI to spend $600 billion in the next five years and privately said he wants to go public as soon …
Katie Roof / The Information: Sources: Supabase is in talks to raise ~$500M at a ~$10B valuation, roughly doubling its October 2025 valuation; GIC is expected to lead the funding round — Singapore's GIC is in talks to lead an investment in database startup Supabase at a valuation of about $10 billion …
The Information: Source: Anthropic has acquired Coefficient Bio, which was developing a platform that enables AI to run biotech tasks such as planning drug research, for ~$400M — Anthropic has acquired AI biotech startup Coefficient Bio for roughly $400 million, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information: Sources detail Fidji Simo's moves at OpenAI, including spearheading the TBPN acquisition and pushing OpenAI to cut Sora and avoid other social media products — In recent weeks, Fidji Simo has burst into public view as the OpenAI executive bringing much-needed discipline to the AI startup …
Catherine Perloff / The Information: Sources: advertisers that bought ChatGPT's first ad campaigns say the process was low tech and that they haven't received much data showing if their ads worked — As OpenAI prepares to open up ad sales to more marketers next month, it is trying to address what some advertisers say was lacking in the initial ad sales offering.
Aaron Tilley / The Information: CEO of Halide-maker Lux Optics, Ben Sandofsky, sues his co-founder Sebastiaan de With, now on Apple's design team, alleging improper use of funds and stolen IP — Last summer, Apple held talks to acquire Lux Optics, a tiny startup that makes Halide, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed camera apps in the App Store.
The Information: Sources: Apple stops vibe coding apps from pushing updates, citing rules on running code; Replit thinks Apple may approve opening AI-generated apps in a browser — Apple has quietly prevented AI vibe coding apps such as Replit and Vibecode, which help people create games and other applications …
The Information: Sources: ByteDance suspended the global launch of Seedance 2.0 amid copyright disputes with Hollywood studios and streamers; it was launched in China last month — ByteDance has put on hold the global launch of its latest video-generation model, Seedance 2., due to a string of copyright disputes …
The Information: Sources: Tencent is developing a top-secret AI agent for WeChat, and has tested using models from Zhipu, Alibaba, and DeepSeek, to compete with Qwen and Doubao — Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, in hopes of leapfrogging rivals …
Cory Weinberg / The Information: Financial figures shared with prospective investors: Anduril expects its revenue to grow 100% in 2026 to ~$4.3B, and its operating loss to rise by ~50% to $1.2B — Weapons maker Anduril expects to roughly double revenue this year to about $4.3 billion, while its operating loss would rise …
The Information: Sources: online DTC luxury brand Quince is in talks to raise funding at a $10B+ valuation, up from $4.5B in July; its annualized revenue run rate has hit ~$2B — Online retailer Quince is in talks with investors to raise a funding round that would value the company at above $10 billion after the investment …
Anissa Gardizy / The Information: How OpenAI scrambled for compute as Stargate stalled amid clashes with SoftBank; sources say OpenAI building its own data centers is not its near-term priority — When President Donald Trump announced the $500 billion Stargate AI data center project in January 2025, the three companies charged …
The Information: Sources: Grafana Labs, which makes cloud and AI monitoring tools, is in talks to raise at a $9B valuation, up from $6.6B in 2024; its ARR hit $400M in Sept. — Grafana Labs, a software startup that helps companies monitor cloud and AI activity and spending, is finalizing a new funding round …
Martin Peers / The Information: This year's projected capex ramp-up will all but wipe out free cash flow for Amazon, Google, and Meta, potentially forcing stock buyback cuts or more borrowing — Big tech's dramatic ramp-up in projected capital expenditures this year will all but wipe out free cash flow for Amazon, Google and Meta Platforms.
The Information: Sources: ByteDance and Alibaba both plan to release flagship AI models around China's mid-February Lunar New Year holiday, including ByteDance's Doubao 2.0 — The battle for AI dominance in China is reaching new heights. Tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba Group are both poised to release …
The Information: Source: OpenAI mulls new tools to help business users understand the financial benefits of using its products and has made changes to its sales force strategy — Some of OpenAI's most attention-grabbing efforts over the past year have involved products for consumers, from a social app …
The Information: Source: Greenoaks, one of Brex's top investors, will return twice its investment after Capital One's Brex acquisition for $5.15B in a half-cash, half-stock deal — Brex's $5.15 billion agreement to sell to Capital One isn't the kind of exit employees or investors would have dreamed of four years ago …
The Information: Sources: OpenAI begins offering its chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, initially charging per ad view, not per ad click, and asks them for <$1M commitments — OpenAI has started offering its new chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Information: Sources: after five Thinking Machines staff left, investors are rattled, potentially impacting fundraising; two researchers quit via Slack during an all-hands — The timing couldn't have been more awkward for Thinking Machines Lab. — On Wednesday, during an all-hands meeting at the AI startup …
The Information: Source: Lambda, which rents access to AI chips and is backed by Nvidia, is in talks to raise $350M+ led by Mubadala Capital, ahead of an IPO planned for H2 2026 — Lambda, an upstart cloud provider that rents out Nvidia AI chips—and whose biggest customer was recently Nvidia itself …
Miles Kruppa / The Information: Brookfield is starting cloud company Radiant and a new $10B AI fund, after saying it plans to acquire up to $100B in land, data centers, and power assets for AI — Private-equity firm Brookfield is starting its own cloud business, going up against tech giants like Amazon by arguing it can bring down the costs of developing AI.
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information: Sources: OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its AI-powered personal device, which is expected to be largely audio-based — OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its eventual release of an AI-powered personal device, said a person with knowledge of the effort.
The Information: Sources: Nvidia's licensing deal with Groq, which has raised ~$1.8B, includes payouts to Groq's key execs and investors, including BlackRock and Tiger Global — Nvidia stunned Silicon Valley on Wednesday by agreeing to pay about $20 billion to license technology from Groq …
The Information: Sources: OpenAI staff discussed prioritizing sponsored content in ChatGPT when users ask relevant queries and created mockups with ads in sidebars or as pop-ups — OpenAI executives have kept a tight lid on how the company could show advertisements to users of its popular ChatGPT chatbot …
The Information: Sources: in recent months, Tencent aggressively hired AI researchers from ByteDance, including offering to double their salaries, and reorganized its AI team — Throughout the past couple of years, as AI fever swept China's technology sector, one giant—Tencent—seemed to mostly be sitting on the sidelines.
The Information: Sources: DeepSeek is developing its new AI model using several thousand Nvidia Blackwell chips, which were smuggled into China via third-party countries — DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup, has been developing its next major model using several thousand Nvidia's state-of-the-art Blackwell chips …
Katie Roof / The Information: Sources: SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it is aiming for an IPO in the second half of 2026 — Elon Musk's SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it is aiming for an initial public offering in the second half of next year …
Abram Brown / The Information: A profile of Klay, whose app will let users remake songs using AI; Klay has raised ~$10M and is the first AI startup to close deals with the three major labels — “So here's a real surprise,” said Ary Attie, holding open a hidden door in the bowels of the Walker Hotel in the city's Greenwich Village neighborhood.
Qianer Liu / The Information: Sources: ByteDance bought more Nvidia chips than any other Chinese company in 2025, but Chinese regulators now block it from using the chips in new data centers — ByteDance bought more Nvidia chips than any other Chinese company in 2025, according to three people with direct knowledge of its purchases.
The Information: Internal memo: Sam Altman told OpenAI employees last month that Google's recent progress in AI could “create some temporary economic headwinds for our company” — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told colleagues last month that Google's recent progress in artificial intelligence could …
Valida Pau / The Information: Dealogic: 51 US tech IPOs raised $16.8B in 2025, driven by AI and crypto, above the past three-year average but far below 2021's 127 IPOs raising $74.4B — The drought in initial public offerings ended this year, led by big winners in AI and crypto, but gains were rare for companies outside those industries.
The Information: Sources: Apptronik, a humanoid robot maker backed by Google, is in the process of raising at least $400M led by B Capital at a $5B pre-money valuation — Apptronik, a humanoid robot maker backed by Google, is in the process of raising at least $400 million at a $5 billion valuation not including …
Theo Wayt / The Information: Elon Musk says Grok 5 would be released “in Q1 sometime”, later than a deadline he previously set of releasing the model by the end of 2025 — XAI plans to release its next-generation Grok 5 artificial intelligence model in the first three months of next year, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday.
Qianer Liu / The Information: Sources: the White House has told others in the government it won't allow Nvidia to sell its scaled-down AI chip B30A to China, despite Trump's hints he might — The White House has told others in the federal government it won't allow Nvidia to sell its latest scaled-down AI chips to China …
Rocket Drew / The Information: Court documents: in a deposition, Ilya Sutskever documented significant internal conflicts at OpenAI prior to Sam Altman's firing and discusses his OpenAI exit — Anthropic initially expressed “excitement” about a possible merger with OpenAI two years ago, after OpenAI's board fired CEO Sam Altman …
Valida Pau / The Information: Sources: AI chip startup SambaNova is exploring a sale after it struggled to complete a fundraising round; SambaNova was last valued at $5B in 2021 — Artificial intelligence chip startup SambaNova Systems is exploring a sale, after it struggled to complete a fundraising round, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.