Top News | You’re only as good as your last model: Baidu’s newly released Ernie 5.0 AI model failed to impress the market, sending shares of the Chinese Internet giant lower after the product’s unveiling. Hailed by its progenitor for offering “comprehensive multimodal understanding and generation” thanks to a “fully upgraded foundational abilities,” Baidu finds itself in a similar place to OpenAI in the wake of GPT-5. The ChatGPT maker’s most recent model refresh brought better technology to market, but failed to wow its backer and competitors as much as it had hoped. Nvidia’s China business is dead: American tech giants Amazon and Microsoft are backing the GAIN Act, a piece of legislation that would give domestic companies the right of first refusal for chips that might be exported to overseas competitors. The bill fits neatly into the China-US AI rivalry, in which the world’s two largest economies are dueling for AI prominence, and, indirectly, the viability of their political-economic models. Nvidia opposes the bill, naturally, as it would like to sell its gear everywhere without encumbrance, thank you very much. CloudX underscores Anthropic’s growth curve: Startup CloudX has raised a $30 million round, AdWeek reports, writing that the company “uses Anthropic’s Claude technology to test pricing and optimize inventory for publishers.” CloudX is a neat startup — you can read its own announcement post here — but as we consider the growth of Anthropic versus OpenAI, it’s worth keeping in mind that its B2B sales are predicated on companies like CloudX using its services to bring intelligence to their own niches.
| TWiST 500 | Back when Thinking Machines Lab raised $2 billion at a $12 billion post-money valuation, many asked what the AI company co-founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati would do. That question has been partially answered thanks to Tinker, its first product. Tinker is revenue-generating, so Thinking Machines is now a real business. | What’s the natural next step? Raising more money, of course. Bloomberg reports that Murati’s startup is “is in early talks to raise a new round of funding at a roughly $50 billion valuation.” | You read that right: $50 billion for a company with all but no operating history and even less experience generating revenue. On one hand, Murati is clearly incredible at her job as the company’s CEO. (CEOs make sure there is always money in the bank, after all.) And her team is working on enough interesting stuff to get capital backers to line up once again. | But what is the company cooking up? A new approach to building AI models that will be faster, cheaper, or smarter? All three? A $50 billion valuation at Cursor’s current multiple would require $1.67 billion worth of recurring revenue. That’s more than Thinking Machines Lab makes today, likely by several orders of magnitude. | So while the news is cool, and I’ll never complain when a TWIST500 company raises more capital at an attractive price, my curiosity is burning. — Alex | A message from Quo | Founders move fast. Their phone systems should too. Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at quo.com/TWiST. | This Week in Startups | E2208: On TWiST, Alex chats with Ben Schleuniger of Orbital Operations stops by to tell us about using reusable rockets to tow objects into higher orbits than other space startups can reach. The secret? Extremely cold cryo-propellents! Plus we’re looking back on two classic TWiST episodes from the late ‘10s featuring Greg Brockman of OpenAI and Vlad Tenev of Robinhood. | E2207: We’ve got a pair of fresh TWiST 500 interviews for you today. First up, Alex chats with Harvey AI president Gabe Pereyra about why legal work is so perfectly suited to LLMs, and how to charge for legal services when you can get things done in billable minutes, not hours. Then we’ve got OpenRouter CEO Alex Atallah helping us compare and contrast the major LLMs, and noting why evals and benchmarks have become so central to the entire AI industry. Finally, Jason stops by to answer some more Founder Questions from around the Web. | E2206: Jason’s in Japan this week launching Founder University, Tokyo, but thankfully he stayed up into the wee hours to record this special edition of TWiST. THREE TWiST 500 companies are circling IPOs: Ledger, 1Password, and Mercury. So you know Alex and JCal had thoughts. Plus, why is Marc Andreessen feuding with The Pope on X? Should we trust these viral allegations against AI startup Giga? Friends of the pod Gamma are growing FAST! Plus lots more news and updates. | TWiST Partner Offers | Miro: Help your teams get great done with Miro. Check out miro.com to find out how! Perspective AI: Surveys? They never capture what customers are really thinking. That’s why we use Perspective AI. Real insights, straight from your customers. AND the first two months are on us. Just go to getperspective.ai/twist. Pilot: Focus on your product, let Pilot handle your bookkeeping. Pilot provides the most reliable accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses. Head to https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.
| Investor Networking Lunch in SF | Jason and LAUNCH are hosting an investor networking lunch, followed by pitches from our latest Accelerator batch. We'd love for you to join us for Dim Sum in San Francisco on Friday, December 5th. (Or forward this to your investor friends.) | Date/Time: Friday, December 5th, 2025 at 12-3PM PT Format: Dim sum lunch, followed by founder pitches & investor networking Location: TBA (Chinatown area)
| Spots are limited, please RSVP here. The LAUNCH team will email you confirmation once your registration is accepted. You must be an accredited investor or work for a VC Fund to join. | We’re Hiring a Program Manager | LAUNCH is seeking a program manager to help organize and manage Founder University and Angel University in Japan. Candidates must be fluent in both English and Japanese, and should plan on splitting their time between Tokyo and our home base in Austin, Texas. If you’re interested in this exciting opportunity, reach out to japan@launch.co! | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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