The Information

Philip Johnston, CEO of Starcloud. Screenshot via YouTube

Starcloud in Talks for $2.2 Billion Valuation as SpaceX Stirs Interest

By Theo Wayt and Julia Hornstein · Apr 30, 2026 2:24pm PDT

Starcloud, a two-year-old startup building orbital data centers, has told investors it’s in talks to raise at least $200 million at a valuation of around $2.2 billion after the investment, according to a person involved in the deal. The discussions come just one month after Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud said it raised $170 million at a $1.1... Starcloud, a two-year-old startup building orbital data centers, has told investors it’s in talks...

Photo by David Kawai/ Getty Images.

Shopify Seeks Licenses to Push Deeper Into Fintech

By Ann Gehan · Apr 30, 2026 6:00am PDT

Commerce giant Shopify is seeking regulatory approvals to take a bigger role in offering financial and payments services to the millions of merchants using its software. Shopify has already secured money transmitter licenses in more than a dozen U.S. states to hold and move funds itself, and it is seeking them nationwide. If that happens, the... Commerce giant Shopify is seeking regulatory approvals to take a bigger role in offering...

Michael Nicolls, senior vice president for Starlink at SpaceX, during a keynote speech at MWC Barcelona 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, March 2, 2026. Photo by Angel Garcia/Getty Images

SpaceX’s Starlink Revenue Per User Fell 18% As Customers Quadrupled

By Valida Pau and Theo Wayt · Apr 29, 2026 10:53am PDT

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service quadrupled its individual subscribers between 2023 and 2025—but the average revenue each subscriber brought in fell 18% to $81 a month in that period, a draft version of SpaceX’s initial public offering prospectus shows. The decline in Starlink’s ARPU reflects the service’s introduction of... SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service quadrupled its individual subscribers between 2023...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Sees $8 ChatGPT Driving Consumer Subscribers to 122 Million This Year

By Sri Muppidi · Apr 28, 2026 2:56pm PDT · 6 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Sees $8 ChatGPT Driving Consumer Subscribers to 122 Million This Year

By Sri Muppidi · Apr 28, 2026 2:56pm PDT · 6 comments

For three years, OpenAI has generated most of its revenue from people paying $20 a month for subscriptions to ChatGPT. This year, it is forecasting a massive shift, expecting a cheaper, ad-supported tier will both draw new users and cause tens of millions of its paying subscribers to downgrade, according to previously undisclosed projections. ... For three years, OpenAI has generated most of its revenue from people paying $20 a month for...

Satya Nadella, left, and Sam Altman. Photos by Getty Images.

How Nadella and Altman Averted a Legal War Over AWS

By Aaron Holmes and Sri Muppidi · Apr 28, 2026 6:44am PDT

For years, executives at Microsoft have become accustomed to tussling with OpenAI over the terms of the companies’ complicated business partnership, which gave Microsoft exclusive rights to sell OpenAI’s technology to cloud customers. Then two months ago, the ChatGPT maker announced a surprise deal to sell its AI to businesses through Amazon, a... For years, executives at Microsoft have become accustomed to tussling with OpenAI over the terms...

Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen. Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images

Tencent’s New Model Shows Improvement, Partly Thanks to Anthropic

By Juro Osawa · Apr 28, 2026 6:00am PDT

Chinese tech giant Tencent’s latest AI model has generated positive reviews from developers. But the company probably owes some of that success to Anthropic. Tencent employees used Anthropic’s Claude to assist them with evaluating and fine-tuning the model, known as Hy3, to improve its performance, according to two people with direct knowledge... Chinese tech giant Tencent’s latest AI model has generated positive reviews from developers. But...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai attends a dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the State Dining Room at the White House on March 19, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Google Signs Classified AI Deal With Pentagon Amid Employee Opposition

By Erin Woo · Apr 27, 2026 9:55pm PDT · 1 comment

Google and the Department of Defense signed a deal allowing the Pentagon to use Google’s AI models on classified work, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The agreement allows the Pentagon to use Google’s AI for “any lawful government purpose,” according to the person—echoing language that has been controversial in other... Google and the Department of Defense signed a deal allowing the Pentagon to use Google’s AI...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Tightens Grip on GPUs, Pressuring AI Customers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 24, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art via Mike Sullivan

Microsoft Tightens Grip on GPUs, Pressuring AI Customers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 24, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

AI startups are struggling to access Nvidia graphics processing units as Microsoft and other cloud providers divert GPU stockpiles to their internal teams or bigger cloud customers, leaving smaller firms scrambling for the remaining servers at higher prices. The supply crunch is impacting well-funded AI startups that have raised money from... AI startups are struggling to access Nvidia graphics processing units as Microsoft and other...

Michael Truell, CEO of Cursor. Photo by Big Event Media/Getty Images.

Behind Cursor’s Deal With SpaceX, Anthropic and Compute Costs Loomed Large

By Cory Weinberg, Julia Hornstein, Erin Woo and Katie Roof · Apr 23, 2026 7:41pm PDT

Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding startup set out to raise billions of dollars. As its leaders made the rounds among tech’s largest investors, they started to hear an unfamiliar message: No, thanks. Many investment firms usually capable of writing the largest checks into startups,... Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb Win Approval to Drop AI Insurance Coverage

By Laura Bratton · Apr 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Major insurers including Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb and Travelers are taking steps to cut AI-related damages from corporate insurance policies, and U.S. state regulators are giving them the green light. Insurers are trying to get ahead of risks from companies that use generative artificial intelligence to automate tasks, stoked by the fast pace... Major insurers including Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb and Travelers are taking steps to cut...

Art via Shutterstock

Tencent, Alibaba in Talks to Invest in DeepSeek at $20 Billion-Plus Valuation

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2026 4:17am PDT

Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI upstart that recently started fundraising for the first time, according to four people with knowledge of the conversations. DeepSeek, owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, is now seeking to raise funding at a valuation of more... Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in talks to invest in DeepSeek, the AI...

Ethan Swope/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

SpaceX Debt Jumped to $23 Billion Last Year

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 11:50am PDT

Ethan Swope/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

SpaceX Debt Jumped to $23 Billion Last Year

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 11:50am PDT

SpaceX increased its debt load by nearly two-thirds last year, to about $23 billion at the end of 2025 from $14 billion the year prior. That surge illustrated how much its acquisition of xAI added new financial obligations to the company, according to a confidential initial public offering prospectus reviewed by The Information. Much of the debt... SpaceX increased its debt load by nearly two-thirds last year, to about $23 billion at the end of...

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Photo by Getty Images.

SpaceX Gives Musk Incentive to Hit $6.6 Trillion in Market Cap

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 21, 2026 12:21am PDT

Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4 billion of stock from current and former employees, part of a series of moves leading up to the company’s initial public offering that increased his sway over the company. The large secondary stock purchase was made through the mega-billonaire’s trust. It was disclosed in a... Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4 billion of stock from...

Phononic founder, Tony Atti. Screenshot via YouTube/NYSE.

AI Data Center Startup Phononic Discusses Multi-Billion Dollar Valuation in Possible Sale

By Valida Pau and Anissa Gardizy · Apr 20, 2026 4:25pm PDT

The unrelenting demand for AI data centers is spilling over into lesser-known companies that supply components for essential tasks such as cooling chip servers. Phononic, a 17-year-old company whose semiconductor components prevent overheating in AI data centers, is hoping to cash in on that demand. The Durham, N.C., company is talking to... The unrelenting demand for AI data centers is spilling over into lesser-known companies that...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Google Creates Strike Team to Improve Coding Models

By Erin Woo · Apr 20, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Google has assembled a strike team of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation, as it looks to automate more of its own coding and ultimately its AI research. The push was prompted in part by Anthropic’s recent AI model releases, according to two of the people.... Google has assembled a strike team of researchers and engineers to improve its AI coding models,...

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Polymarket in Talks to Raise Money at About $15 Billion Valuation

By Yueqi Yang and Katie Roof · Apr 19, 2026 7:33pm PDT

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan rings the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Polymarket in Talks to Raise Money at About $15 Billion Valuation

By Yueqi Yang and Katie Roof · Apr 19, 2026 7:33pm PDT

The predictions site Polymarket is talking to investors about raising $400 million in funding at a valuation of about $15 billion including the new money, according to two people familiar with the talks. The financing would add to the $600 million already invested in the funding round by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York... The predictions site Polymarket is talking to investors about raising $400 million in funding at...

Anthropic CFO Krishna Rao. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Anthropic’s CFO Wields Power Behind the Scenes

By Sri Muppidi, Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Apr 18, 2026 7:30am PDT · 4 comments

These days, Anthropic is a crowded place: a startup with its own in-house philosopher, researchers devoted to preventing Armageddon and a CEO willing to go toe-to-toe with the Pentagon. And then there’s Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao, who has emerged as a key force within the company while staying far out of the spotlight. When Rao... These days, Anthropic is a crowded place: a startup with its own in-house philosopher,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

China’s DeepSeek is Raising Money for First Time, At $10 Billion-Plus Valuation

By Qianer Liu, Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Apr 17, 2026 7:36am PDT

DeepSeek is in talks to raise outside capital for the first time, seeking to beef up its financial war chest so it can better compete in the costly battle to develop leading AI models, according to five people familiar with the matter. DeepSeek is owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, which has financed the startup so far.... DeepSeek is in talks to raise outside capital for the first time, seeking to beef up its...

A Flock Safety license plate reader in Boulder, Colo. Photo by Getty.

Police Tech Startup Flock Safety Valued at $8.4 Billion Amid Civic Protests

By Cory Weinberg and Julia Hornstein · Apr 17, 2026 6:00am PDT

Flock Safety, which sells cameras, drones and AI software to police departments, was valued at $8.4 billion in a new round of funding completed in recent weeks, a modest bump from its financing last year, according to a publicly filed corporate charter and people familiar with the round. The company raised the new funds amid the largest... Flock Safety, which sells cameras, drones and AI software to police departments, was valued at...

Sam Altman (left) and Andrew Feldman (right). Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

OpenAI to Spend More Than $20 Billion on Cerebras Chips, Receive Equity Stake

By Anissa Gardizy and Valida Pau · Apr 16, 2026 6:19pm PDT · 1 comment

Sam Altman (left) and Andrew Feldman (right). Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

OpenAI to Spend More Than $20 Billion on Cerebras Chips, Receive Equity Stake

By Anissa Gardizy and Valida Pau · Apr 16, 2026 6:19pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI recently struck an unusual deal to lessen its dependence on Nvidia’s AI chips and potentially lower its computing expenses in the coming years. OpenAI has agreed to pay chip designer Cerebras more than $20 billion to use servers powered by the firm’s AI server chips over the next three years, according to multiple people with knowledge of... OpenAI recently struck an unusual deal to lessen its dependence on Nvidia’s AI chips and...