20VC: Groq's $20BN NVIDIA Acquisition | Manus Acquired by Meta for $2BN | Why Sam Altman Does Not Care About Dilution | Navan Trading at 4x ARR & Why Going Public Does Not Make Sense Anymore | The Rise of Invisible Unemployment and Labour Markets in 2026
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
1h 23m
8 chapters
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What are the implications of Groq's $20 billion acquisition by NVIDIA?
Everyone's coming for NVIDIA now. NVIDIA's numbers are going to crush this year, but we're going to see all the daggers really coming out. In the end, words are words and half a billion dollars is life-changing, right? No, no, no. I just think for venture, this is the era of the spite startup. No one ever said to Winston Churchill, congratulations, you won World War II on budget. They just said, congratulations, you won World War II. Honestly, I think the most important thing that's going to happen this year is when we are in AI 24-7. I do genuinely think you can identify a top 0.1% founder without talking to them. I've done multiple billion dollar exits from cold inbound. This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings.
It is back. Jason Lemkin, Rory O'Driscoll. I have missed this over the holidays. And my word, what a schedule we have for you today. Grok acquired for $20 billion by NVIDIA. Manus acquired for $2 billion by Meta.
Did Meta sell Manus too early for $2 billion?
Then we have Navan trading at 4X ARR. And what that means for companies considering going public and so much more. But before we dive into the show today, I run the 20VC Fund and I get this question from founders all the time. Oh, Harry, I can't find a good dot com. Do you have a good hookup? Well, let me tell you now, the answer is always going to be no. I don't have a guy or a gal for that. I do have a recommendation, though. If you're building a tech startup, get a .tech domain. Tech startup, .tech domain. It could not be more obvious. As an investor, I appreciate founders who put thought into their branding. When I see .tech in your name, it tells me right away that tech is at the core of your build.
It'll say that to your customers too. A clean and sharp domain like .tech pays off in the long run. You know, nothing .tech, 1x.tech, Aurora, .tech, all of these great tech companies, they all use .tech as their domain. These are my two cents. If you're building a tech startup, don't overthink it.
How does OpenAI's stock-based compensation strategy work?
Get a .tech domain. After .tech establishes your digital presence, checkout powers the payments experience your customers see. Digital commerce is exploding, but payments are still where revenue leaks. Checkout.com launched in 2012 to fix that. They don't try and be everything to everyone. No, they just do one thing better than anyone. Digital payments, cloud native, sub 500 millisecond latency and 99.999% uptimes. Today, that bet has paid off with a $12 billion valuation and 65 plus merchants, each processing over a billion dollars annually. 65 doing over a billion annually is insane. Checkout powers $300 billion in e-commerce for brands like Uber, Klarna, eBay, Vinted and more. Now they're building for agentic commerce, where AI agents buy on behalf of your customers in real time, partnering with Visa, Mastercard, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.
Will AI eventually replace venture capitalists?
Now, if you want payments built for what's next, talk to the team at Checkout.com. That's Checkout.com. Once Checkout gets customers through the paywall, Invisible helps you scale your operations with on-demand talent and processes. Why don't we hear more real AI success stories from big companies? The models are insanely good, but implementation is the problem. It's really, really hard. There's data all over the place. There's legacy tech and manual workarounds. It's a Ferrari engine in a shopping cart.
What does it mean for Navan to be trading at 4x ARR?
Meet Invisible. Invisible trains 80% of the top models and then adapts them to the messy reality of your business. Take the Charlotte Hornets NBA team. Invisible took years of game tape and analog scouting notes to go from uncertainty to a draft pick and summer league championship win in weeks, not seasons. Get the data in order first, and suddenly AI can do almost anything for you in the enterprise. If you want AI that hits the P&L, go to invisibletech.ai forward slash 20VC. You have now arrived at your destination. Guys, it is so good to be back. Now, so much happened while we were away. I want to start with one of the most prescient. Grok being acquired for 20 billion in cash. It happened just before Christmas.
Chamath obviously coming out as one of the big winners.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the implications of Groq's $20 billion acquisition by NVIDIA?
0:00–0:55
2
Did Meta sell Manus too early for $2 billion?
0:55–1:56
3
How does OpenAI's stock-based compensation strategy work?
1:56–2:57
4
Will AI eventually replace venture capitalists?
2:57–3:26
5
What does it mean for Navan to be trading at 4x ARR?
3:26–4:17
6
What is invisible unemployment and how will it impact labor markets in 2026?
4:17–4:43
7
How will education and work evolve in an AI-driven world?
4:43–7:17
8
What are the future trends in the labor market and AI integration?
7:17–1:23:46
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