AI Wars: Google vs. Microsoft

Welcome Shareholders,

In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we'll cover the latest on Google's big AI bet, Ohio's plan to launch a Fund, and a Startup Looking to help Shopify merchants scale their business.

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today 👏

Google Goes to War with Microsoft: Invests $300 Million in ChatGPT Rival Anthropic

• Search Giant Google is gearing up to take on Microsoft and ChatGPT with its own AI acquisition by investing $300 million in Artificial Intelligence startup Anthropic.

Under the terms of the deal, Google will take a stake of 10%, which is similar to the terms of Microsoft's first investment in OpenAI ($1 billion investment for 10%), which was made three years ago. The deal also stipulates that Anthropic will buy computing resources from Google's cloud computing division, although google is not interested in integrating the company's AI into its products and services just yet.

Anthropic was founded by former a group of former OpenAI researchers, who left the company after disagreeing with the direction it was taking after Microsoft first invested money. Anthropic has built a similar chatbot to OpenAI's ChatGPT, dubbed 'Claude,' although it is yet to be released publicly. Anthropic had already raised $700 million before the google investment, with a majority ($500 million) coming from crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, led by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried before it filed for bankruptcy last year.

Who's Raising?

Ohio Looking to Raise $500 Million For Sovereign Style Wealth Fund

• Venture capitalists Mark Kvamme and Ray Leach are proposing a new $500 million sovereign fund for the State of Ohio to invest in startups, real estate, and infrastructure projects.

Dubbed the 'Ohio Fund,' the investment company will be backed by individuals and institutions living in Ohio to take advantage of the state's booming economy. The economy ($600 billion) of Ohio would be ranked the 21st largest globally if it was considered a country, just behind Switzerland and ahead of Poland, so there's clear interest from investors. The fund will draw inspiration from Singapore's state-owned venture fund Temasek since it will be funded by Ohio stakeholders, with profits being returned to the state economy.

Singapore's model has largely been successful, reporting a portfolio of $297 billion last year, with a 14% CAGR since its inception in 1974. The proposed fund would raise $500 million across two vehicles, including a main $375 million fund to back startups and a $125 million impact fund to invest in other private funds. This would then be used for investments in a mix of asset classes, including 30% for Ohio companies, 30% across growth startups, 20% in real estate projects tied to Ohio, 10% for infra projects and 10% for Ohio venture funds.

Startup of the Day

Analytics Firm Triple Whale Nets $25 Million in Series B

• Columbus, Ohio-based Shopify Analytics startup Triple Whale said it raised $25 million through a Series B from NFX and Elephant with strategic participation from Shopify.

Triple Whale has built an analytics platform for Shopify store owners that helps improve conversion and improve insights on various marketing campaigns. The new funding raised supplements the $24 million Series A that was led by Elephant and the $2.7 million Seed that NFX led. Triple Whale said that it had seen a growth of 1400% YoY in users, with over 5,000 brands using its service, collectively generating $14 billion in sales.

With its new funding, the company wants to use AI, ML, and automation to automatically recommend the best time to buy media/ad campaigns. The company also wants to use AI to help merchants generate Advertisement Copy and Images and launch a new tool called Lighthouse to take advantage of sales anomalies.

Memes and Other Things

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