Cory Weinberg

1 week ago | theinformation.com | Cory Weinberg

Billions and even tens of billions don't generate much excitement at the annual Milken conference, taking place now in Los Angeles. But trillions, and especially $6.7 trillion, get some attention. That's the much-talked about number from a McKinsey report about the money needed to build out data centers to power artificial intelligence by 2030. Silicon Valley inventions are creating more places for pension funds to park capital. And more avenues for Wall Street to capture fees.

1 week ago | theinformation.com | Cory Weinberg

It’s the startup equivalent of misplacing a winning lottery ticket. Former employees of Scale AI are being excluded from a planned share sale at a $25 billion valuation. “I just heard back from the stock admin. Former employees won’t be participating in the tender offer. rip,” one ex-employee wrote last month in a private Slack channel of former Scale workers. “So the only way is to re-join?” another person asked. I got outreach from other former Scale AI employees annoyed about this.

2 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Cory Weinberg

My ears perked up Monday when I heard the words “unparalleled capital implosion.” That came from venture capitalist Eric Vishria, who unspooled some of his anxieties about the current artificial intelligence funding boom at our “Financing the AI Revolution” conference. For more than a decade, Vishria has helped VC firm Benchmark navigate the latest tech booms and busts. He drew a contrast between the funding boom for AI and the zero-interest-rate startup bonanza in 2021.

2 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Cory Weinberg

My colleagues and I are sharpening our questions for Monday’s Financing the AI Revolution summit at the New York Stock Exchange. It will be the perfect New York spring afternoon to pressure-test how investors and executives are adjusting to new realities in the business. More companies are slowing their spending on artificial intelligence tools, and big tech companies aren’t sure how their huge data center investments will pay off.

3 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Cory Weinberg

There are many ways to visualize the boom and slowdown in tech startups. One is the image of Carta CEO Henry Ward, dressed in a suit in a Midtown Manhattan hotel, describing how he once raised billions and is now trying to restart his company’s growth. Ward and I were sitting together, across the street from offices that house some of the largest private equity firms and asset managers. Those are the kinds of firms Carta hopes will buy its accounting, cap table and portfolio monitoring software.