Gm. Here’s what no one is telling you on the secret to Bezos’ success.
Welcome to Issue 07 of The Quest Digest, where we break down Silicon Valley news for you every week, in 3 minutes.
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Epic Games raises $2B at a $32B valuation
Fortnite developer, Epic Games announced that it has raised $2B from Sony and Kirkbi (the parent company of the Lego Group). Both companies invested $1B each, valuing Epic Games at $31.5B.
The news comes after Epic and Lego announced plans to co-develop a “family-friendly” metaverse for kids. The companies plan on shaping a safe and immersive digital experience for children to play in.
Our Take
Epic Games has an extensive track record of creating popular, multiplayer games, so the team should have the expertise to pioneer an immersive gaming metaverse. Yet no concrete plans have been shared on what this metaverse would look like.
The companies have outlined 3 principles saying they will ensure the digital spaces they develop are safe. This comes at a time where people have argued the metaverse is unsafe for children, with claims of sexual harassment on Meta’s Horizon World.
Hopefully by joining forces, Epic and Lego can create an immersive experience and equip children and adults safeguards to ensure the digital spaces they develop are safe.
Musk is no longer joining Twitter’s board
On Monday Elon Musk disclosed he had abandoned plans to join Twitter’s board just before his tenure was due to start.
The company’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, stated they will still be open to Musk’s input on the company. In what could be interpreted as his reply, Musk made the since-deleted tweet, “🤭”
Our Take
Musk made no mention of why he was investing in the company, but it was clear from tweets and to others he would champion freedom of speech on the platform.
Reasons for his leave could be as simple as being a potential distraction from Tesla and SpaceX, but could also extend to growing concerns from Twitter employees, and Twitter’s ask to not speak freely about the company.
Twitter tea on Instacart’s valuation slash
Founder of Bolt, Ryan Breslow spills a tweet storm on “Mob VCs”, picking out Sequoia Capital specifically.
Thread Recap:
Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta was a lights-out visionary and entrepreneur
Estimated values show Mehta led the company to from $2B → $40B in valuation over 5 years
In 2019, Sequoia sought to return money back to LPs via an IPO (for 100x returns)
Sequoia hires Instacart’s CFO Ravi Gupta as Partner and brefriends board members
During a board meeting they call a vote to kick Apoorva out as CEO
The vote passes immediately with Apoorva not knowing what hit him
Our Take
The thread doesn’t point to any specific sources citing Ryan heard it from “people he trusts”. So it’s hard to make any decisive conclusions on the VC firm, but the thread makes a valid point on the incentives of “mob VCs” vs “pro-founder VCs”.
🔥 Press Worthy
Deel tweets about their 100x ARR growth
Clubhouse is testing an in-room gaming feature
Carbon capturing algae farm startup Brilliant Planet closes $12M Series A
Tencent shuts down video game streaming after regulatory crackdowns
Spotify tests Tiktok-like discovery feed
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The Quest Digest is written by Hannah Ahn and edited by Brent Liang, two dropouts who hate long tech newsletters. You can sign up to our next issue below.