Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | | | Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got notes on the rabid investor interest in Databricks, the choice ahead of Perplexity, and a scoop on 20VC's latest partner. We've also got Grubhub's settlement, startups helping boost website traffic in the age of AI search, Intel's big win, and more. Let's dive in! — Rebecca | | | Image Credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images | 1. Why bother with an IPO? Databricks' $10 billion Series J (didn't know they went that high!) begs the question: Why risk going public, when you can slay in the private markets? The company's CEO isn't ruling out an IPO in 2025 or even 2026, but he's not trying to squeeze one in before the AI bubble bursts. Read More 2. Going up against the big guys: The DOJ has called on Perplexity to testify in its antitrust case against Google, specifically about "search access points" — places where people go to search the internet. Will Perplexity play ball with the DOJ? Read More 3. Musical chairs in VC Land: 20VC closed its third investment vehicle a few weeks ago, and now TC has learned that the new firm has gained a new general partner: Julien Codorniou is leaving Felix Capital where he's been since 2015 to join 20VC. Read More | | | Image Credits: Otterly.AI | 💻 SEO? Tired. GEO? Wired: AI-generated search results are killing organic traffic to companies' websites. Otterly.AI, which just came out of stealth, thinks it can help with a dashboard that monitors for "generative engine optimization", or AI search visibility optimization. Read More 🧑🤝🧑 Spread the AI gospel: Salesforce wants to hire 2,000 people to sell its AI tools – like its upcoming second-generation AI agent – to customers, which is double the hiring plans that CEO Marc Benioff shared last month. Real question: Will Salesforce train its AI agents on how salespeople work to one day automate that job, too? Read More 📷 In a moment of uncharacteristic restraint, OpenAI says it has no plans to release an API for Sora, its AI model that creates realistic videos when provided with text prompts. The reason could be capacity issues after heavier-than-anticipated traffic. Read More 💰 Favoring the middle ground: Grubhub has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit from the FTC and Illinois' attorney general, who allege the company misled customers about delivery costs, deceived drivers about potential earnings, and listed restaurants on its platform without their permission. Read More 🥵 Investor fervor is a thing: A few more words on Databricks' insane $10 billion funding round and the near-religious zeal that it involved as investors clambered to get a piece of the action: TC's Julie Bort spoke to George Mathew of Insight Partners, co-lead on the deal that closed with a $62 billion valuation, for some additional color. Read More | | | 🔍 Hey, that's my identity! Cybersecurity startup Bureau has nabbed $30 million in a round led by Sorenson Capital, Reuters reports. Bureau's tech focuses on preventing user identity fraud, a service that is already in high demand with corporations like Microsoft, UnitedHealth, and Walt Disney being peppered with cyberattacks. Read More 📈 Take notes, Nvidia: Intel has taken a lot of Ls this year, but it's finally scored a win. The company is selling out its $250 Arc B850 GPU after getting stellar reviews, according to The Verge. Reviewers are calling it the worthiest budget GPU of the past few years. Read More 📚 Some light reading: Wired published a round up of its six-word sci-fi stories written by readers, and they're pretty entertaining. My favorite came from the prompt: "A story about a new flavor," which led to someone submitting: "Dog focus group favorite flavor: human." Read More | | | ⏲️ Schedule later: Threads is testing a post scheduling feature, and it's about time. This might really give it a leg up in the social media wars. Bluesky? You've been assigned. Read More | | | Featured jobs from CrunchBoard | | | Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. | | | Update your preferences here at any time | | Copyright © 2024 TechCrunch, All rights reserved.Yahoo Inc. 110 5th St,San Francisco,CA | | | | |
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