Happy Thursday.
The current thing in tech and business is America’s four-year trucking slump is over.
Today’s lineupNEURA Robotics Founder & CEO David Reger at 11:45 AM
Allen Control Systems Co-Founder & CEO Mike Wior at 12:00 PM
Navan Co-Founder & CEO Ariel Cohen at 12:15 PM
TensorWave Co-Founder & CGO Jeff Tatarchuk at 12:35 PM
Minerva Co-Founder & CTO Mathew Joseph at 12:45 PM
Base10 Managing Partner Ade Ajao at 1:00 PM
Fundamental Co-Founder & CEO Jeremy Fraenkel at 1:10 PM
Bezos’ Prometheus Raises $12B
It’s been just six months since Prometheus emerged from stealth with $6.2B in funding. Now, Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj’s industrial AI startup has raised another $12B in its Series B at a $41B valuation. Back in November, there was very little disclosed about Prometheus, and not much has changed since. In Bezos’ defense, he did said the company isn’t being secretive, just heads down. The co-CEOs spoke with CNBC today to discuss the fundraise, with Bezos outlining what the company is actually working on.
Our goal at Prometheus is building a set of tools that accelerate that invention loop. How long does it take to improve something? How long does it take to go from idea to actually manufacturing something at rate and have a useful object… This is an age-old dream, the idea that you might build a set of tools that could actually do engineering, an artificial engineer. An artificial general engineer is a dream that we’ve had for decades, but it’s never really been possible. But now it is.
The news also had me revisiting a theory John and Jordi discussed on the show last year: could this be Jeff Bezos’ version of NeXT, the company Steve Jobs started after he was fired from Apple? Of course, Bezos wasn't fired from Amazon, but maybe Prometheus represents his return to day-to-day company building. — Jackson
Here’s a clip of the guys discussing it last November.
Thrive Holdings is Long Humans
Thrive Holdings just published a new essay outlining the firm’s core belief: AI won’t replace trusted professionals, it will amplify them. Thrive argues that as intelligence becomes cheaper and more abundant, the scarce assets like trust and expertise become the things that are hardest to replicate.
The firm’s strategy is to buy and hold service businesses indefinitely, starting with accounting and IT services, then rebuild them around what AI makes possible. Rather than creating AI-native firms from scratch, Thrive believes the real moat already exists inside established businesses that have spent decades earning customer trust.
The essay is built around three principles: hold forever, own the work, and build from the ground up. The idea is that the biggest gains from AI won’t come from selling software into industries, but from owning the workflows and redesigning them alongside those who understand the work best.
“Much of the conversation today is short on humans, wagering that AI makes people redundant. We believe the opposite.”
Thrive’s bet is that AI doesn’t eliminate the value of human expertise. It raises the ceiling on what trusted advisors can accomplish. In a world of abundant intelligence, Thrive is betting the winners will be the firms closest to their customers. — John
CAA Launches $250M Creator Fund
CAA is getting back together with TPG, at least for creators. The agency and TPG’s Integrated Media Company have formed Compound Creative Holdings, a $250M holding company designed to invest in and acquire creator-led businesses. The focus is YouTubers, podcasters, and other digital-native entertainers who are starting to look like standalone media companies more than traditional solo influencers.
Compound will be led by CAA veteran Tucker Brown, who has already worked on financing for creator businesses including Dude Perfect and the MeidasTouch Network. The basic thesis is that there are now creators doing tens of millions in ad sales, but many still do not have the capital structure, M&A support, or operating infrastructure to scale into something more durable.
CAA co-Chairman Kevin Huvane said: “Creators around the world are building full-fledged media companies with direct audience connections and true ownership of their intellectual property.”
CAA already represents talent. TPG knows how to buy and scale assets. Compound is the bridge between the two. CAA and TPG are effectively saying: what if the next Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, or Barstool-style media empire starts on YouTube or a podcast feed, and we own part of the operating company? — John
Endurance Energy Raises $54M
Endurance Energy has raised a $54M Series A to go after offshore geothermal. The company was founded last year by Andrew Redd, a former SpaceX engineer who worked on Dragon and Starship, and the round was led by Founders Fund with participation from Ascend, Construct Capital, Felicis, First Round, Point72 Ventures, Riot Ventures, and Voyager Ventures.
Traditional geothermal is real, clean, and baseload, but geographically constrained. You usually need to drill deep into hot rock, often far from major demand centers. Endurance wants to move the whole thing offshore, where tectonic activity around the Ring of Fire brings heat much closer to the surface, and where coastal cities could theoretically tap into massive nearby resources.
25 employees now and notably 12 are former SpaceX employees. The SpaceX DNA playbook has worked many times: take an old industrial category, attack it from first principles, and assume the engineering is hard but not impossible.
CEO Andrew Redd estimates offshore geothermal potential around the Ring of Fire in the 6 terawatt range, which is enormous, even in the world of gigawatt data centers. For context, the world uses about 20 terawatts of energy on average across all sources. His bigger ambition is to “support any major coastal city on the Ring of Fire.” - probably makes desalination economically viable too. — John
Clip Spotlight: Matthew Prince on the smartest thing he did before Cloudflare’s IPO“Qualtrics Co-Founder Ryan Smith, asked, 'What are you doing about friends and family?' because you can take 5% of the IPO and allocate it to friends and family. I said we weren't going to do it."
“He said, 'No, you're thinking about it wrong. Think about the people, who if they owed you a favor, could make a meaningful difference in the future of Cloudflare, and then offer them the ability to invest in the IPO.'"
HeadlinesAxios: Prometheus, Jeff Bezos’ AI startup, is now worth $41 billion
WSJ: Bezos Bats Down AI Job Loss Fears While Launching New Venture
TechCrunch: Thrive raises $10B for new fund, its largest yet
WSJ: See the VCs and Family Offices at the Core of the Mega IPO Wave
The Economist: Texas is America Inc’s new centre of gravity
Wired: Anthropic Walks Back Policy That Could Have ‘Sabotaged’ AI Researchers Using Claude
Bloomberg: Creative Artists, TPG Back $250 Million Fund for YouTube Talent
WSJ: America’s Four-Year Trucking Slump Is Finally Over
Road & Track: Porsche CEO Says Company Will Not Produce an Electric 911: Report
Bloomberg: Wedding Inflation Has Desperate Brides Paying Witches for Perfect $100,000 Days
WSJ: The Airport Lounges Where Videogames Are More Important Than Drinks
WSJ: The Revenge of the Publicists: How Comms Execs Stormed the C-Suite
WSJ: The Metric CFOs Struggle to Track: AI Usage
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