Swiper, No Swiping

PRESENTED BY REFILLGENIE

Happy Monday, Future Party. Last week brought the newest iteration of the long-running PC vs. Mac showdown… but for Silicon Valley investors. General Catalyst Partners took a shot at rival VC firm Andreessen Horowitz with an ad recreating the seminal 2006 Apple commercial starring Justin Long. It’s very funny, but even more revealing of how much venture capital has become part of the mainstream news cycle. Plus, it features Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot being a very bad dog.

Anthropic announced that investors who hold “stock” in the company issued by several secondary-share platforms may not actually be legitimate shareholders.

Why It Hurts: Retail investors are in a tizzy over the announcement, especially since Anthropic is widely expected to be one of the three biggest IPOs this year — and one of the biggest of all time. Making certain secondary shares null and void could trigger panic across the industry, knocking down secondary firms like dominoes.

Behind The Shares: Anthropic is stirring up some drama before going public.

Final Transaction: Secondary-share sale platforms operate on the promise that customers can invest in privately held companies by contributing to firms’ “special purpose vehicles” (SPVs) that represent holdings in those companies. It’s a complicated setup — made even murkier by the fact that some SPV holders are themselves investors in other SPVs. It’s easy to see how quickly things can become convoluted.

While Open Doors and Lionheart have yet to comment on the Anthropic announcement, Sydecar claims it has approval, while Hiive and Forge say investors who already hold Anthropic shares will still be recognized. Still, thousands of investors are now in limbo, wondering whether the Anthropic shares they purchased will ultimately be honored — a situation that could spark serious legal battles later this year.

Next IPO: Thousands of investors hold SPVs, which could seriously sour not just Anthropic’s IPO, but also the public offerings of SpaceX and OpenAI in the coming months. Better double-check those investment accounts!

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Bumble, one of the biggest dating apps in the US, announced it will do away with the classic swipe functionality for matching.

The Big Picture: The vibe around dating apps has seriously shifted in recent years, with many daters now finding them more exhausting than inspiring. That’s led to significant financial issues for dating-app companies — Bumble’s overall revenue dropped 14% year over year — and pushed young daters to go analog in search of love. Maybe getting rid of the swipe can bring a bit more humanity back to the apps.

Between The Matches: Bumble no longer wants your snap judgments.

Last Look: Breaking up with the swipe is a big bet for Bumble that users won’t buzz away in droves to rivals still doing things the old-fashioned way. While users have soured on dating apps, they’ve been more successful than many might think — a Pew Research study found that 1 in 10 committed relationships now start from an online connection.

Still, there’s little argument that the swipe function has created a more superficial dating culture. People want deeper connections and don’t want to feel like they’re spinning their wheels because someone had a flattering profile picture. Whether AI is the answer to fixing that problem remains to be seen.

Prediction: No one likes spending hours swiping, so maybe AI will lead people to simply run dating apps in the background at all times — offloading the search for a partner. That could crater engagement on these platforms, forcing them to shift to a subscription-only model.

49.5% of you voted No, and I don’t plan to in Friday’s poll: Have you ever used AI tools to help with tasks around your home?

“Only if you count Alexa — but otherwise, no, and I don’t plan to.”

“If cooking counts, I’ve used an AI assistant to pull recipes from websites into my cookbook app. I just typed a prompt and watched it handle all the tedious copy-and-paste work for me. I’ve also asked AI to recreate dishes I’ve eaten at restaurants, so I could cook them at home.”

“For quick meal plans and grocery lists, AI can be a huge help and a time-saver.”

“I used it to diagnose and fix my fridge.”

“AI is handling most of my meal planning right now. I make decisions all day at work, and by the time I get home, I’m too exhausted to make yet another decision about dinner. Instead, I tell ChatGPT my dietary needs and household preferences and ask it to build a focused plan based on what’s already in my fridge and freezer. I get a full plan for the week and the peace of mind of not having to figure it all out on my own.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

💿 Drake surprise-released three albums last week… and it may be a sly way of getting out of his record deal with Republic Records.

👀 Byron Allen is now setting his M&A sights on Starz after taking a controlling stake in BuzzFeed.

⚽ TikTok has unveiled the first 30 digital creators it recruited as official Creator Correspondents for the World Cup.

🏦 OpenAI released a new suite of financial tools that allow users to connect ChatGPT to their bank accounts.

🛰️ AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are partnering to expand service coverage in remote locations via satellite.

📹 GoPro has hired investment bank Houlihan Lokey to potentially put the company up for sale.

👕 LVMH’s Marc Jacobs’ 50/50 sale to WHP Global and G-III Apparel Group was revealed to be an $850 million deal.

💰 DTC brand Quince is now valued at $10 billion following a $500 million funding round.

🎧 BEAMS is going all-in on Y2K nostalgia with a transparent orange portable CD player. Feels like sixth grade all over again…