Krystal Hu

@readkrystalhu

covering VC, startups & tech investments for @Reuters. Made in China, trained by NYC, trying to vibe with Silicon Valley. Signal: krystalhu.01

SF/NY

Joined February 2014

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Krystal Hu Retweeted

Reuters Legal@ReutersLegal · Mar 28

Exclusive: Blackstone evaluates taking a stake in US TikTok spinoff, sources say reuters.com/markets/deals/…

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 19

TikTok's parent ByteDance, has quietly surpassed Meta in quarterly revenue in Q1, sources told me & @GeniusWu. Meanwhile, one is only worth one-fifth in valuation of the other. Read more from my weekly newsletter, Reuters Artificial Intelligencer bit.ly/4lGlSy4

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 18

Friday scooplet w/ @DawnC331: Blackstone pulls out from a consortium led by SIG and General Atlantic seeking to invest in TikTok’s U.S. operations. The potential deal has been delayed a few times, and the latest deadline is in September.

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Friday scooplet w/ @DawnC331:

Blackstone pulls out from a consortium led by SIG and General Atlantic seeking to invest in TikTok’s U.S. operations. The potential deal has been delayed a few times, and the latest deadline is in September.

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 12

What we've learned on Google/Windsurf deal: -Google paid $2.4b in "licensing fee" to use Windsurf tech non-exclusively, got CEO & researchers, no control/stake -Windsurf investors got liquidity, at least 2x, while retaining stake in the co with 250 ppl bit.ly/4eUbLDm

readkrystalhu's tweet card. Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some members of the coding tool's research and development team will join Google's DeepMind AI division.

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 9

Scoop: what I've learned about TikTok's new US app from people working on it: dhttp://bit.ly/44BQVDR will run its algorithm, which will be trained on U.S. user data going forward. You can expect more U.S.-centric content on for you page in the future. bit.ly/44BQVDR

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Scoop: what I've learned about TikTok's new US app from people working on it:

dhttp://bit.ly/44BQVDR will run its algorithm, which will be trained on U.S. user data going forward. You can expect more U.S.-centric content on for you page in the future.
bit.ly/44BQVDR

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 9

Subscribe to Reuters' new newsletter, Artificial Intelligencer, so OpenAI/Google and other AI scoops like this will be directly delivered into your inbox! reuters.com/newsletters/re…

KKenrick Cai@kenrickcai · Jul 9

Scoop: OpenAI is planning to launch a Google Chrome competitor within weeks. The browser includes a chat interface that would help keep users from having to click through to external links, sources tell @Reuters. from @readkrystalhu @annatonger and me: reuters.com/business/media…

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 8

Of all the AI stories @kenrickcai and I did over the years, this is the one that got read by Jensen? 😆

NNVIDIA@nvidia · Jul 7

We’re proud to partner with @OpenAI and continue powering the foundation of their work.

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 1

Grammarly acquires email startup Superhuman as part of a push to build an AI-powered productivity suite; Superhuman was last valued at $825M in 2021 (@readkrystalhu / Reuters) reuters.com/business/gramm… techmeme.com/250701/p10#a25…

TTechmeme@Techmeme · Dec 1

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jul 1

Scoop w/@MilanaVinn : Surge AI, the lesser-known rival of Scale, is in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of >$15b Craziest part is this would be the FIRST EVER fundraising by Surge, profitable & bootstrapped by CEO Edwin Chen, with no VC $$$ story:bit.ly/44ocGa3

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Scoop w/@MilanaVinn : Surge AI, the lesser-known rival of Scale, is in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of &gt;$15b

Craziest part is this would be the FIRST EVER fundraising by Surge, profitable &amp; bootstrapped by CEO Edwin Chen, with no VC $$$

story:bit.ly/44ocGa3

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jun 11

JUST IN: More on the Google/OpenAI cloud deal we broke earlier--part of the compute Google sells to OpenAI will be from Coreweave, which earlier signed up Google as a customer; Interesting alliance as Microsoft was $CRWV's largest customer 6 months ago reut.rs/3T8hYl7

readkrystalhu's tweet image. JUST IN: More on the Google/OpenAI cloud deal we broke earlier--part of the compute Google sells to OpenAI will be from Coreweave, which earlier signed up Google as a customer;

Interesting alliance as Microsoft was $CRWV's largest customer 6 months ago reut.rs/3T8hYl7

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jun 10

Scoop: OpenAI plans to partner with Google to add more compute, sources told @kenrickcai & me, marking an unprecedented collaboration bw two major competitors in AI. "no permanent enemies, only permanent interest" plays out in AI world every day $GOOGl reut.rs/43zSi6S

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Scoop: OpenAI plans to partner with Google to add more compute, sources told @kenrickcai &amp; me, marking an unprecedented collaboration bw two major competitors in AI.

"no permanent enemies, only permanent interest" plays out in AI world every day $GOOGl
reut.rs/43zSi6S

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Apr 8

scoop: a16z is seeking to raise a $20 billion fund for growth AI investments, the largest in the fund's history, sources told me & @annatonger @kenrickcai Non-US LPs see this as an opportunity to back US AI. New test for VC scale game after SoftBank VF. reut.rs/44iMZJE

readkrystalhu's tweet image. scoop: a16z is seeking to raise a $20 billion fund for growth AI investments, the largest in the fund's history, sources told me &amp; @annatonger @kenrickcai

Non-US LPs see this as an opportunity to back US AI. New test for VC scale game after SoftBank VF. reut.rs/44iMZJE

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Mar 28

When public investors go early: I learned Coatue backed Corewave's Series C with strong downside protection. If 20-day VWAP of $CRWV is below *$68* after 2 years, they can ask Coreweave to pay back the $1.2 bln investment. Corewave closed its first trading day at IPO price $40

readkrystalhu's tweet image. When public investors go early: I learned Coatue backed Corewave's Series C with strong downside protection. If 20-day VWAP of $CRWV is below *$68* after 2 years, they can ask Coreweave to pay back the $1.2 bln investment.

Corewave closed its first trading day at IPO price $40

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Mar 21

scoop: Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt's robotics startup, launched last May, is now valued at $2 billion in a round led by Greenoaks. Without released products, the Bot Company's building hardware & software for non-humanoid at-home robots, sources told us reut.rs/4ivqxS2

readkrystalhu's tweet image. scoop: Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt's robotics startup, launched last May, is now valued at $2 billion in a round led by Greenoaks.

Without released products, the Bot Company's building hardware &amp; software for non-humanoid at-home robots, sources told us reut.rs/4ivqxS2

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Mar 19

Trump admin's impact on tech M&A is already playing out. Sources told us after the inauguration, Google felt confident a mega deal to buy Wiz would get approval within a year and sped up the talks. The chance of closing is 90% vs last year's 60%. bit.ly/4iyfSWb

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Trump admin's impact on tech M&amp;A is already playing out.

Sources told us after the inauguration, Google felt confident a mega deal to buy Wiz would get approval within a year and sped up the talks. The chance of closing is 90% vs last year's 60%. bit.ly/4iyfSWb

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Feb 7

Fastest valuation rise in startup history? Ilya Sutskever's SSI, founded last June, is in talks to raise new funding at >$20 bln, with no revenue, sources told me @kenrickcai @annatonger So curious to see what new mountain Ilya has identified this time reut.rs/3Euc9KF

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Fastest valuation rise in startup history?

Ilya Sutskever's SSI, founded last June, is in talks to raise new funding at &gt;$20 bln, with no revenue, sources told me @kenrickcai @annatonger

So curious to see what new mountain Ilya has identified this time reut.rs/3Euc9KF

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Krystal Hu@readkrystalhu · Jan 15

Over 700,000 new U.S. users, self-IDed as "TikTok Refugees", flocked into another Chinese app Xiaohongshu (Rednote) in the past two days, sources told us. The app is working on new features to retain the users while keep up w/ moderating English content bit.ly/4alwhdu

readkrystalhu's tweet image. Over 700,000 new U.S. users, self-IDed as "TikTok Refugees", flocked into another Chinese app Xiaohongshu (Rednote) in the past two days, sources told us. The app is working on new features to retain the users while keep up w/ moderating English content bit.ly/4alwhdu

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