💰 Military Tech VC Surge, Tesla Sales Plunge, Musk’s $97B Move
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, February 11. Today we are covering:
Silicon Valley's 'Gundo' Bros Are Building A Y Combinator For Military Tech
Tesla Sales Are Crashing Worldwide Even as EV Sales Increase
Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI
Google Calendar removed events like Pride and BHM because its holiday list wasn't 'sustainable'
Big Tech's Other Big Battle Is for the Box
Let’s dive in
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Silicon Valley's 'Gundo' Bros Are Building A Y Combinator For Military Tech
By David Jeans via Forbes
Discipulus Ventures, a military-tech accelerator in El Segundo, is attracting major VC support, including Andreessen Horowitz, Lux Capital, and Point72 Ventures, aiming to create a Y Combinator-style hub for defense startups.
The accelerator's first cohort has produced startups like Durin (autonomous drilling), Rune Technologies (military supply chain software), and Vanguard Defense (electronic warfare data), with a $6 million fund raised for its second batch.
Discipulus promotes a pro-Christian, nationalist ethos, aligning with Trump-era priorities and emphasizing "traditional American values," while facing criticism for its lack of female founders and ideological leanings.
𝕏: New: El Segundo is getting its own military tech accelerator, with eyes on Y Combinator. a16z, Point72, Lux + others have backed a stream of companies emerging from Disciplus Ventures in the past year (it's led by a 21-yo who has raised his own fund) - David Jeans (@DavidJeans2)
Tesla Sales Are Crashing Worldwide Even as EV Sales Increase
By Sarah Rumpf via Mediaite
Tesla sales are plummeting worldwide despite overall EV sales increasing, with sharp declines in key markets: Germany (-60%), France (-63%), China (-11.5%), and California (-11.6%), where other EV brands grew.
Analysts link the drop to Elon Musk’s polarizing political stance, citing his alignment with Donald Trump, promotion of misinformation and far-right ideologies, and a shift in public perception that has alienated core EV buyers.
Tesla’s resale value is among the worst in the luxury segment, ranking last in CarEdge’s depreciation analysis, with only 50.44% value retention after five years—lower than Chevrolet, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ford.
𝕏: Tesla Sales Plummet World Wide https://meidasnews.com/news/tesla-sales-plummet-world-wide via @troy_in_tahoe #DemVoice1 #DemsUnited Tesla sales are tanking in Europe and the U.S. will soon follow. The people who bought Teslas are the same people who find Elon’s turn towards fascism in Europe and the U.S. abhorrent. Many present Tesla owners will not purchase them again and are embarrassed to drive them now. Not many right wing fascist leaning folks will drive an EV even if they support Musk… - Marty Taylor (@RealMartyT7)
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Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI
By Jessica Toonkel via Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk and a consortium of investors have made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire the nonprofit entity controlling OpenAI, escalating his rivalry with Sam Altman over the company behind ChatGPT.
The unsolicited offer, submitted by Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff, could disrupt Altman’s efforts to transition OpenAI into a fully for-profit business model.
The bid underscores Musk’s ongoing legal and strategic battle with OpenAI, following his past criticisms of the company’s direction and governance.
𝕏: no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want - Sam Altman (@sama)
Google Calendar removed events like Pride and BHM because its holiday list wasn't 'sustainable'
By Jay Peters via The Verge
Google Calendar has removed events like Pride Month, Black History Month, Indigenous People’s Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day, citing the need to focus only on public holidays and national observances for sustainability.
The decision has sparked backlash, with some users accusing Google of capitulating to political pressure, while the company maintains that manually curating a broad range of cultural moments was no longer scalable.
Google now relies solely on timeanddate.com for its holiday listings but allows users to manually add events they find significant.
𝕏: Google has just removed Pride Month and Black History Month from the calendar app. This comes as they obeyed Trump by changing the Gulf of Mexico’s name to “Gulf of America.” - No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC)
Big Tech's Other Big Battle Is for the Box
By John Herrman via New York Magazine
Big Tech is waging a battle for control of “the Box”, the crucial interface where users search for information—historically dominated by Google’s omnibox, but now contested by OpenAI, Meta, Perplexity, and X.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has evolved into a direct Google competitor, integrating search capabilities and potentially expanding into a web browser, while Google, Meta, and Microsoft race to defend their positions by embedding AI-driven search into their platforms.
Control of the Box is a multibillion-dollar prize, as it dictates how users navigate the internet, with companies competing to monetize AI-powered search through ads, subscriptions, and deep platform integrations.
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