Top News | Electronics are getting pricier: Looking to update your gadgets? Get ready to shell out. Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation 5 console by $50 in the United States for reasons that don’t need further explanation. But news also broke today that Google has built a new, folding $1,800 Pixel handset. That’s $500 more than today’s basic iMac, for reference. Google is also selling a $799 version of its new Pixel 10 handset, but if you want the latest and greatest, get ready for a far, far thinner wallet. FieldAI raises $405M: Field AI raised nine-figures across two rounds, it announced today. The company said in a post that its business of building and selling “general-purpose robotics intelligence” has seen “rapid customer adoption and multiple expansion contracts,” leading to an oversubscribed funding round. At the core of FieldAI’s success are its “foundational embodied AI models” that can work across robot type and assigned task. Given how many robots we humans want to deploy, FieldAI’s growth curve could prove very, very long. Canva’s new price tag: Allowing existing shareholders to sell shares in a tender offer, design unicorn Canva’s valuation is being set at $42 billion. That’s $10 billion more than the company was worth last year. Reports peg Canva’s 2024 revenue at around the $3 billion mark, meaning that Canva is arguably cheap at its tender price, especially when we consider Figma’s current price/sales multiple. Enthusiasm for Canva shares are likely running hot after Figma’s IPO saw its value more than double from its initial offer price.
| TWiST500 | Canva’s revenue run rate makes it one of the largest TWIST500 companies. But it’s dwarfed by OpenAI, which just announced that it grew by another 20%. | Back in early June, the ChatGPT maker said that it had reached a $10 billion revenue run rate. That was up from a reported $3.7 billion revenue result for 2024. Today, OpenAI’s CFO Sarah Friar told CNBC that her company recorded $1 billion in revenue in July alone. The new figure puts OpenAI on a $12 billion revenue run rate, good for a 20% gain in less than two months. | We don’t often see companies at OpenAI’s revenue scale grow that quickly. | What’s fun is that OpenAI isn’t really that big today. A look at the largest public companies in the world ranked by revenue, and the AI model concern ranks around 1,000th place. By market cap, however, if we use the company’s oft-reported, upcoming $500 billion valuation, it’s ranked around 20th. | Investors are therefore pricing in the company’s exceptional growth; OpenAI cannot afford to slow its growth if it wants to defend its private-market worth. | Good news! In the same interview, the company’s CFO said that her firm is still GPU-constrained, implying that it’s leaving money on the table over compute constraints. That’s a bummer, yes, but implies that OpenAI — and perhaps its rivals — are not about to run out of new customer accounts to spin up. — Alex | A message from Oracle | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI, is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs. Save up to 50% on your cloud bill at https://oracle.com/twist | This Week in Startups | E2166: Dean Leitersdorf of Decart joins to talk about squeezing maximum productivity out of your GPUs. But it’s not all talk: he also shows us the incredible open world model that can magically transform live footage. Then, Jason and Alex chat with Syncere AI founder Aaron Tan about Lume, his robotic lamp device that went viral for folding laundry. Hear why Aaron thinks the future of robotics is not necessarily humanoid, and all about his future plans for the Lume arms | E2165: Jason’s FIRED UP on today’s TWiST about the internal Meta doc laying out their rules and regulations for AI, including what the chatbots can and cannot say to users as young as 8 years old. (It’s unsettling!) PLUS is AI job displacement actually here? Why Jason’s feeling antsy about the spread of surveillance tech, those massive Cohere and Cognition rounds, AND combing through Sam Altman’s post-GPT 5 launch interview with The Verge. | E2164: It’s another all-star VC roundtable, with Jason’s special guests Dave McClure (Practical VC), Grady Buchanan (NVNG), and Tomasz Tunguz (Theory VC). Together, they’re going DEEP on the current venture landscape, discussing why companies are staying private for longer, whether VC marks are BS, when it’s time to embed an expert in a struggling company, and much much more. | TWiST Partner Offers | OpenPhone: Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/perks/twist Netsuite: The business landscape is very chaotic right now. That’s why you need NetSuite, by Oracle. Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist Stripe Startups: Stripe Startups offers early-stage, venture-backed startups access to Stripe fee credits, expert insights, and a focused community of builders. Apply today on stripe.com/startups.
| Angel University is Back! | Jason and Mike Savino are hosting our next virtual Angel University workshop on Tuesday, October 7. Jason will share proven strategies he’s used to invest $200M+ in over 500 startups. Whether you’re new to angel investing or looking to sharpen your skills, this is your chance to learn directly from one of the most active angel investors in the world. Register now at angel.university! | Founder U Cohort 11 is Accepting Applications | Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 11, a 10-week remote pre-accelerator program, where you will learn how to build a venture-scale startup, use AI to become a more efficient founder, and delight early customers. Submit your application at Founder.University - Cohort 11 will kick off in September 2025! | Founder U is Coming to the MENA Region! | Our 12-week pre-accelerator—designed to help early-stage founders build and grow—kicks off this fall in Saudi Arabia. The first cohort launches in Riyadh on November 3rd, followed by in-person and virtual sessions throughout the program. Founders in MENA: this is your chance to turn your idea into a business and get world-class insights on building a successful startup. Apply today: https://mena.founder.university/ | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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