E92: Neuralink implants computer chip in human brain, FTX to make creditors whole!, Astera Labs $4b IPO in Mar 2024, Apple Vision Pro + AR and photorealistic avatars | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Feb 2, 2024

This Week in Pre-IPO Stocks

00:10 | Neuralink implants computer chip in human brain
- FDA approved human trials in May 2023
- Goal is allow quadriplegics to control a phone or computer with their thoughts, product is called Neuralink Telepathy
- 11 human surgeries planned in 2024
- $3.9b secondary market implied valuation, +12.5% from last primary round in Nov 2023
01:35 | FTX to make creditors whole!
- Restructuring advisers told bankruptcy judge that FTX creditors are likely to be made whole
- FTX Dec 2023 cash reserve is now $4.4b
- Top 50 FTX creditors are owed $3.1b
- FTX posted a $32.5b valuation in a Jan 2022 primary round, company was bankrupt in late 2022
- FTX invested $500m into Anthropic AI at a $4b valuation (12.5% stake) … Anthropic raising now at $18b valuation putting FTX’s stake at $2.25b
03:55 | Astera Labs $4b IPO in Mar 2024
- Make AI-focused data center infrastructure, proper AI picks and shovels play
- $3.15b valuation in May 2023 primary round
- 2024 revenue projected to be $250m to $300m putting valuation at 13x to 16x revenue
- Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are bankers
05:21 | Apple Vision Pro + AR and photorealistic avatars
- $3,500 Apple Vision Pro is now available for sale, 400k units expected to be sold in 2024 for $1.4b total revenue
- Vision Pro will unleash a new set of tech companies similar to the app companies the iPhone powers, great VC investor opportunity
- End state of this technology is an eye contact and earpiece (or maybe a Neuralink chip in brain)
- AR and photorealistic avatars have potential to disrupt business travel … airlines, hotels … as business can easily reduce T&E expense
08:28 | Pre-IPO +1.13% for week
- Week winners: Cohere +25.2%, Revolut +11.8%, Epic Games 11.2%, Rippling +9.1%, Discord +8.9%
- Week losers: Snyk -29.2%, Brex -12.7%, Deel -6.9%, Flexport -6.1%, Anthropic -5.2%
- Top valuations: ByteDance $285b, SpaceX $185b, OpenAI $92b, Stripe $57b, Databricks $48b
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