Rachel Warren

They know exactly what you've swapped out, let's say in the case of Instacart in your grocery cart when an item was out of stock, or in the case of Expedia, which hotel filters you care about.

And AI allows these aggregators to turn that raw data into a concierge experience that's way more valuable than just a simple search.

And I think AI can help these companies move from being more reactive to proactive.

So let's say you are looking for a place to stay, a hotel for your next vacation.

Instead of spending 20 minutes filtering for family-friendly hotel with a gym near the beach, an AI-integrated platform could build that itinerary based on your specific history, maybe within seconds.

So I think if these aggregators execute the AI revolution correctly, they're not just going to stay relevant, but they could actually be able to more effectively manage those transactions from start to finish.

That could mean higher conversion rates, higher retention rates.

I think it's good news in the long run.

I actually do think I'm a bit more bullish on these platforms.

And I'm not necessarily singling out Instacart or Expedia Group as the best buys of the next decade, per se.

But I do think some of these platforms, when you look at them at the end of the day, the AI is only as good as the data it's fed, right?

So a general chatbot can give you a great travel itinerary, a recipe, but it can't actually guarantee, for example, a hotel room that's available or ensure a bag of groceries ends up at your door.

I know the vision is for agents to do that in the long run.

but i think the more realistic uh outcome in many ways would be that ai doesn't replace that infrastructure it just makes it more efficient to navigate so i think one example of this in action a company i really like is uber right people often think of the platform as a ride-hailing app obviously a food delivery app but they're the ultimate demand aggregator for mobility and delivery and they already are using ai to process you know billions of data points on

traffic, on writer intent, on career efficiency in real time.

And because they own the interface, they've got this massive network of drivers, AI has become a tool that makes their marketplace stickier and more profitable rather than a threat that replaces them.

I don't think that will be the case across the board, but I also don't think we're going to reach a situation where all these aggregators and all these software different companies are just replaced by agents.

Yeah, you know, NASA's looking at the moon, Wall Street's looking at SpaceX, right?

And you're right about that expected valuation.

It would be the largest IPO in history, aiming to raise $75 billion, as you noted, at $1.75 trillion valuation at the top end.