Eva Zhuang’s Post

Sam Altman’s opaque investment strategies have significantly contributed to his wealth, leveraging his position at OpenAI. - 🌟 Altman’s diversified investments extend beyond AI. - 💼 His portfolio includes tech startups and venture capital. - 🧠 Strategic partnerships have amplified his financial growth. #Investing #AI #WealthManagement - 🌐 Altman's investment empire spans various industries, ensuring steady returns. - 🚀 His early bets on disruptive technologies have paid off. - 🏦 Altman leverages connections with key players in tech and finance. - 📈 Consistent reinvestment into innovative ventures keeps his portfolio robust. - 🔍 Transparency in his strategies might offer lessons for aspiring investors. - 💡 Altman’s approach emphasizes the importance of foresight and adaptability. - 📊 He utilizes data-driven decision-making to identify high-potential investments. - 🤝 Collaboration with other visionaries in tech has been pivotal in his success. - 🔒 Maintaining a mix of high-risk and stable investments balances his portfolio. - 📚 Learning from his journey can provide invaluable insights for entrepreneurs and investors alike. The Opaque Investment Empire Making OpenAI’s Sam Altman Rich https://lnkd.in/eWizz2U9

DeepSeek🐋 has already shaken up the market, and now SoftBank is reportedly eyeing a massive $25 billion investment in OpenAI, potentially becoming its largest financial backer. The Japanese giant is considering a $15B–$25B stake in the ChatGPT maker!

Are we back to the Zirp, Yolo, Fomo years of the pandemic where money if not life was cheap? A $500m reported agreed investment by SoftBank in a startup, OpenAI, valued at $150bn would indicate 'yes'. Kate and Cory at the Information have more on their scoop here as MGX, Nvidia and Microsoft are also in the fray to invest in the ChatGPT developer. https://lnkd.in/e8DXrtsQ But is this new, new thing - a reference to Michael Lewis's book on the internet bubble era of the 1990s - going to create a licence for VCs to print money? There it seems less clear. Azeem's discussion thread at Exponential View on one side points to Stripe’s analysis of payment flows showing genAI startups racing to $30m in revenue three times faster than enterprise software firms and, separately, research from a panel of economists showed that the consumer update of AI exceeds that of the internet. https://lnkd.in/e2sbMgUr Making money, however, as VCs also requires the ability to get in early and buy cheaply - not a slam dunk at a $150bn valuation but more feasible in other areas. The smartest investors, such as Christine, Jeff, Jay, Douglas, Eileen, Tara, Miles, David, Eric, Nagraj (disclosure: GCV is an LP or partner in these VCs) seem to be looking at how this general purpose technology is affecting real-world businesses, such as how it can improve drug discovery tasks by a factor of 15 to give Azeem's example. And Robert at GCV is tracking the most active CVCs in AI here https://lnkd.in/gkeEuuBf Just as incumbents rather than startups captured most of value in the mobile era through sophisticated use of corporate venturing allied to M&A and R&D so they could again in this current genAI period. Fortunately, In-Q-Tel, the co-chair with GFT of GCV's Global AI Council of strategic investors is hosting our next Executive Leadership Forum this month in California H/T Christina, George, https://www.gcvelf.com/ If anyone will know, they will - please join the world's largest community of 2000+ CVCs now in its 15th year and share your insights in our annual survey: https://lnkd.in/eZV3rpAv

The commitment of Temasek to Alpha Intelligence Capital’s new $337 million fund aimed at artificial intelligence ventures, including a stake in OpenAI, highlights a significant recognition of AI’s transformative potential. Personally, I see this as a strategic move not just for financial gain but also for positioning in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. Investments in broad AI applications indicate a forward-looking approach to technology that could fundamentally alter how businesses operate globally. For more details, you can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gZj55U9C

OpenAI's valuation reaches $157B OpenAI recently raised $6.6 billion in its latest funding round, making it "the largest venture capital deal of all time," according to Axios. Thrive Capital led the funding round and has pushed the company's valuation to $157 billion — nearly double what it was just nine months ago. This places #OpenAI alongside leading venture-backed startups such as SpaceX and TikTok. Despite recent leadership changes, the significant investment reflects confidence in #artificialintelligence technology, including ChatGPT. According to Reuters, OpenAI reportedly plans to restructure as a for-profit benefit corporation, a move generally welcomed by its investors. #corporatelaw #DataPrivacy #SaaS #bigtech #AI #venturecapital #samaltman #BigData #socialmedia #TechEthics #microsoft #ChatGPT #CloudComputing #DataProtection 

https://lnkd.in/gTZU5Rzi The #wealth management industry is undergoing a significant transformation driven by #AI and #fintech. This has resulted in a surge of funding this year for startups providing innovative tech solutions to both clients and advisors. Traditionally, #wealthmanagement services were only available to the ultra-wealthy who could afford to hire financial advisors and invest in #private funds. But a growing trend of startups is democratizing the sector by making these services accessible to a wider audience.

Yun Li, CNBC. Catherine Wood's investment firm, ARK Investment Management LLC, has added OpenAI to its portfolio through the ARK Venture Fund. OpenAI is renowned for its advancements in AI, including the development of models like ChatGPT and DALLE, and for launching ChatGPT, which rapidly gained 100 million active users. Catherine Wood launched the ARK Venture Fund in September 2022 to offer smaller investors venture capital opportunities with a minimum investment of $500. The fund includes investments in major companies like SpaceX, Discord, and Epic Games. Catherine Wood has highlighted OpenAI's "data advantage" from scraping the internet to generate content, positioning AI as a pivotal element in her investment strategy focused on disruptive innovation. She has also praised other AI enterprises, such as Tesla for its AI-driven robotaxi goals and Google DeepMind, acquired by Google, for being top in the field. #arkinvest #openai #cathiewood #venturefund #artificialintelligence #generativeai #chatgpt #techinvestment #disruptiveinnovation #tesla #spacex #discord #epicgames #deepmind #google #investmentstrategy #technology #aiinnovation #robotaxi #dataadvantage

The Story of Liang Wenfeng, Founder of DeepSeek This guy, Liang Wenfeng, is the brains behind DeepSeek. His life proves one thing. If we want to succeed, we need to know who we are, what we want, and what value we bring to the world. That’s it. Life itself is a brand. Born in 1985 in a small town in Guangdong, he was the son of a primary school teacher. Life was simple but his mind was always racing. He studied engineering at Zhejiang University but he wasn’t obsessed with circuits or machines. He wanted to use technology to change the world. After graduating, he moved to Chengdu, lived in a cheap apartment, and spent his days experimenting with AI coding. He failed. A lot. But he knew his brand couldn’t stop there. In 2015, he and two university friends founded High-Flyer Quant. In no time, it became China’s first hedge fund to manage 100 billion RMB (RM65 billion). But even with all that money, something felt off. His brand was more than just numbers on a screen. Then in 2023, he made a move that left people speechless. He walked away from High-Flyer and built DeepSeek. His focus? Not chasing fast money like the big US firms burning 500 billion USD (RM2.3 trillion). His budget? 6 million USD (RM27 million). And yet, the results were insane. Yeah! The results. His secret? Transparency. While other companies locked their AI tech away like treasure, he made it open-source. He believed that a real brand is built on honesty and impact. The result? DeepSeek became the most downloaded app on the US App Store. Nasdaq dropped 5 percent because his tech shook the market. DeepSeek overtook three AI giants including ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, and Claude. Research shows that DeepSeek-R1 delivers more accurate and comprehensive results compared to these three giants. Life itself is a brand. We build it our way. It is not about who is the loudest but who people trust. Liang Wenfeng proves that when we build our life on honesty, our value will speak for itself. Our brand is our legacy. What kind of brand are we building for ourselves? . #hidupinijenama #realbrand #realbisnes

Happy Friday, network! Sharing a quick Q&A with our SVP AI/ML Products, Aparna Sinha. My favorite answer: "Capital One is that rare enterprise that is cloud-native, extremely data and ML driven, and entrepreneurial. And being in the financial services industry gives us a unique position to do [this work] responsibly, and in a risk-managed way, so we can benefit the financial lives of our millions of customers. As a result, the opportunity for invention and impact here is unmatched." #LifeatCapitalOne #womenintech #techleadership https://lnkd.in/ghZJSY6D

Something to think about with your morning coffee ☕️ Venture capitalists have debated the best way to invest in A.I. ever since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. Some investors have argued that the technology underpinning ChatGPT and other products — often referred to as “foundation models” because they can power many applications, including chatbots, search engines and image generators — is not a good investment because the systems are expensive to create and easy for competitors to copy. For a while, VCs have been acted like a "flock of sheep" as entrepreneurs search endlessly for funds. It's well known phenomenon that once a few firms invest in a startup, the floodgates open as other VC firms then jump on the investment rollercoaster... thoughts? #venturecapital #AI