Topic: investor relations
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Markiplier Becomes GoPro’s Largest Shareholder
YouTuber Markiplier has become GoPro's largest individual shareholder by acquiring an 8.5 percent stake, citing the company as undervalued and aligning the move with his mission to make filmmaking more accessible. The investment coincides with Fischbach’s recent promotion of GoPro’s new Mission 1...
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Snap CEO dodges Specs preorder queries in Q2 earnings call
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel avoided revealing Specs smart glasses preorder numbers, instead directing attention to an upcoming September launch event and emphasizing the need for in-person trials due to the device's high $2,195 price point. Spiegel defended Snap's standalone strategy for Specs, arguing...
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Bolt Secures Up to $27M Bridge Funding From Ryan Breslow
Bolt secured up to $27 million in bridge financing via a convertible note with punitive "pay-to-play" provisions, marking a high-stakes effort to stabilize the company after its valuation plummeted 97% from $11 billion. CEO Ryan Breslow returned to lead the turnaround, committing $5 million perso...
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How to End Things Gracefully
The author secured startup funding by demonstrating preparedness for failure, which built trust with investors through honesty and realism. When the startup failed, they returned leftover funds to investors and maintained relationships, leading to support for future ventures. The author reflects ...
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VCs: Founders Now Hold the Power in a Shifted Market
The venture capital landscape is shifting, giving founders more leverage and forcing investors to actively market themselves as strategic partners to attract top startups. Investors now emphasize that choosing a VC is a long-term partnership, requiring founders to evaluate the individual's trustw...
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Ubisoft UK: Gamers Prefer Live Service Over One-Time Purchases
Ubisoft UK is shifting from traditional one-time game purchases to live service models due to projected declines in physical software sales and overall revenue. This change is driven by consumer trends favoring subscription services, games-as-a-service, and free-to-play titles, leading players to...
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Corgi doubles valuation to $2.6B after $106M raise
Insurance tech startup Corgi raised a $106 million Series B1 at a $2.6 billion valuation, doubling its valuation just 21 days after a $160 million Series B, a rare feat that has drawn scrutiny from limited partners concerned about frequent internal markups. Investors, including Kindred Ventures, ...
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Elon Musk's Epstein Emails Threaten His Crucial Year
Newly released emails show Elon Musk inquired about visiting Jeffrey Epstein's private island, contradicting his previous public denials of any association with the convicted sex offender. The controversy creates a significant public relations and financial risk, potentially denting his image wit...
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Snap Spins Off Its Smart Glasses Division Into New Company
Snap has spun its smart glasses hardware division into a new subsidiary, Specs Inc., to sharpen focus, attract investment, and prepare for a 2026 consumer launch. The restructuring aims to create a distinct brand identity for the hardware and potentially insulate it from controversies associated ...
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SandboxAQ Accuses Ex-Exec of Extortion Attempt
SandboxAQ is embroiled in a lawsuit with its former Chief of Staff, Robert Bender, who alleges wrongful termination after raising concerns about CEO misconduct and misleading financial disclosures. The company has forcefully denied all allegations, calling Bender a "serial liar" and asserting its...
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Happl secures $11M Series A to expand global benefits platform
Happl, an AI-native global benefits platform, raised an $11 million Series A led by Portage Ventures to accelerate product development and expand its workforce in the UK and US. Founded in 2022, Happl integrates a configurable rules engine with HRIS and payroll systems to replace fragmented, manu...
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How to Accurately Calculate Your True Customer Acquisition Cost
Understanding true customer acquisition cost (CAC) is essential for informed financial decisions and sustainable growth, as oversimplified methods lead to inefficient spending and misguided strategies. Traditional CAC calculations often fail by examining channels in isolation, ignoring interconne...
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Wispr Raises $25M as Voice Dictation App Gains Traction
Wispr secured $25 million in new funding, bringing its total to $81 million, with strong investor backing and notable growth, including a 40% month-over-month increase and adoption by 270 Fortune 500 companies. The company is focusing on aggressive international expansion, developing proprietary ...
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Sumble Raises $38.5M to Bring AI Context to Sales Intelligence
Sumble addresses a gap in sales intelligence by using AI to provide meaningful context from diverse online sources, revealing companies' internal drivers and operations. The startup, founded by Kaggle creators, has gained rapid traction with major enterprise clients and a 550% revenue increase, l...
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Ex-Stripe Exec Lachy Groom's Startup Builds AI Robot Brains
Physical Intelligence is a well-funded startup pursuing general-purpose AI for robots through pure research, focusing on training versatile foundation models that can transfer skills across different hardware, akin to a "ChatGPT for robots." The company's strategy centers on **cross-embodiment le...
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Anthropic’s revenue run rate hits $65bn, source says
Anthropic privately told investors its annualized revenue run rate surpassed $65 billion by end of July, though this figure is based on a single hot month and an unnamed source, not audited revenue. The company's growth trajectory is steep: run rate rose from ~$9 billion at end of 2025 to ~$47 bi...
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DeepSeek Founder Sets Sights on AGI as $10B Funding Round Advances
DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has told potential backers that the company’s first-ever external funding round, valued at $10 billion, will be used to pursue artificial general intelligence (AGI), not short-term revenue. The Hangzhou-based AI lab plans to maintain its commitment to open-source mo...
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How MAGFAST Rewrote the Crowdfunding Playbook
Most crowdfunding campaigns fail, with only 39% of Kickstarter projects reaching their goals and backers statistically expecting about one in ten projects to fail outright. MAGFAST founder Seymour Segnit leveraged his diverse background in engineering, advertising, and startups to build a premium...
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Disney Plus’s future faces an identity crisis
Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro plans to transform Disney Plus from a streaming platform into the company's central hub for immersive, interactive digital engagement, blurring the line between digital and physical experiences. This strategy signals a shift from chasing subscriber numbers to deepening bra...
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Nothing Aims for $5M Community Raise, Eyes IPO in 3 Years
Nothing is launching a $5 million community investment round, allowing its users to buy shares at its $1.3 billion valuation, building on previous successful grassroots funding events. The company is restructuring to compete in the smartphone market, spinning off its CMF brand and focusing on AI ...
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