June 6, 2024

All about the models

Hi there,

Here is this week’s Hot or Not.

Hot: Databricks acquisitions

Databricks continues its acquisition streak. 

This week, it made its latest billion-dollar bet: acquiring Tabular for north of $1B.

The open-source-focused data management startup, which has a team of about 40, raised $37M from investors including a16z and Altimeter Capital prior to the acquisition. 

The purchase is another step in Databricks’ strategy to build a one-stop shop for AI. Bringing in Tabular will help create support for more data formats, which is important for enterprises looking to leverage their own data for AI applications.

Not: FTX bankruptcy 

FTX sold the rest of its stake in Anthropic for $452M as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. 

That brings its total haul from selling its shares in Anthropic to roughly $1.3B.

The bankrupt crypto exchange invested $500M in the AI startup in 2021. 

We mapped FTX’s web of investments and most valuable holdings here.

Hot: Altman x sustainable energy

Sam Altman is known for his role as CEO of OpenAI, but he is also a prolific startup investor.

At the end of last year, we visualized Altman’s wide investment web — and you can check it out here.

But what has he been up to more recently?

Altman’s 2 most recent investments went to:

Both are significant. We’ll get to Apex below, but let’s first talk about Exowatt.

Exowatt focuses on sustainable energy solutions for data centers.

And Altman’s recent bet underscores the pressure weighing on companies like OpenAI to find solutions that can help them pursue energy-intensive AI efforts — and do so in a sustainable way.

Altman has invested in other companies — like fusion energy startup Helion Energy — to address the same goal, per CBI investment insights.

CBI customers can explore other key themes across Sam Altman’s investments on his investor profile.

Not: LLM vulnerabilities

OpenAI recently revealed that several covert influence operations had used its tools to create and spread disinformation.

This reflects the broader risks companies face as they rush to adopt LLMs, such as data leakage, malicious injections, and copyright violations.

Under pressure to adapt, companies are turning to startups working to combat these threats, like Apex, Sam Altman’s latest investment target.

Told you we’d get to Apex. 

Apex is joined by a vast network of other companies aiming to secure LLMs.

Learn more about who they are and just how much their customers are paying them here.

I love you.

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. Live briefing alert: On June 13, we’re diving into the trends you should watch in H2’24 and beyond. Register here.

Get started with CB Insights

CB Insights' emerging technology insights platform provides all the

analysis and data from this newsletter. Our data is the easiest way to discover and respond to emerging tech. 

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here