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Tim Chen, the solo VC behind Essence VC, has successfully closed his fourth fund with $41 million. This occurred without active fundraising efforts, as investors eagerly pre-empted the process.
The surge in interest followed the acquisition of Tabular, one of Chen's portfolio companies from his second round, by Databricks for approximately $2.2 billion in 2024. This acquisition significantly elevated Chen's profile among LPs, who began to recognize his expertise.
Chen's focus on early-stage developer-tool and infrastructure startups, combined with his background as a software engineer, sets him apart in the venture capital landscape. His ability to assist founders in product development, as demonstrated with ComfyUI, further enhances his appeal to both founders and investors.
Fund IV is supported by investors such as Tomasz Tunguz and Ethan Kurzweil. Chen's unique background as an infrastructure engineer is recognized as a valuable asset in the VC world.
Google is updating the Play Store to enhance personalization and engagement for its users. Key changes include:
OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT Go subscription plan, initially launched in India, to Indonesia. The plan costs Rp75,000 ($4.50) per month and offers users 10 times higher usage limits compared to the free version.
ChatGPT Go is a mid-tier option between the free version and the $20/month ChatGPT Plus, providing better memory of previous conversations for more personalized responses.
Since launching ChatGPT Go in India, OpenAI has seen its paid subscribers more than double. This expansion puts OpenAI in competition with Google's similarly-priced AI Plus subscription plan in Indonesia.
The Oakland Ballers, an independent baseball team, experimented with AI management during a game, partnering with Distillery to use AI software trained on baseball data. The AI made similar decisions to the human manager, Aaron Miles, who only intervened once due to a player's illness.
Despite the smooth execution, the AI experiment sparked backlash from fans, who viewed it as prioritizing technology over baseball tradition and community. This reaction highlighted a broader debate about the role of AI in sports and society. The Ballers do not intend to repeat the AI experiment in the future.
Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build massive data centers for AI model training and deployment. The companies intend to deploy 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems to power OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure. This deal could reduce OpenAI's reliance on Microsoft. OpenAI will collaborate with Nvidia as a preferred strategic compute and networking partner for its AI factory growth, complementing existing partnerships with Microsoft, Oracle, and SoftBank.