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Welcome back! An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated Thrive Capital has used the option of investing in the latest OpenAI round at the last round's valuation. While it has that option, Thrive invested in the round with the same terms as the other investors, said a person close to the fundraise. An edited version of the rest of the column follows. In a blockbuster year so far for artificial intelligence deals, no startup has come close to OpenAI, which just raised $10 billion in a financing valuing the ChatGPT maker at $260 billion before the investment. SoftBank has led the funding, which include checks from repeat investor Thrive Capital as well as Altimeter Capital Management and Coatue Management. These investors' interest can be explained by OpenAI's recent performance. The ChatGPT maker has told investors it generated $3.7 billion in revenue last year, in line with projections that Cory reported in October, up from $1 billion in 2023. For those of you keeping score, $2.8 billion of that figure came from ChatGPT subscriptions, with the rest coming from its application programming interface business. An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment on the company's financials. As it pitched potential investors on the funding round, OpenAI has been highlighting its plans to reach 3 billion monthly active users, 2 billion weekly active users and 900 million daily active users by 2030, according to a person familiar with its fundraise. That would be a huge increase from today. OpenAI said earlier this month it had 500 million weekly active users, up from 300 million in December. In fact, the monthly active targets would place OpenAI's products among the most widely used tools globally. Meta Platforms reported that Facebook had 3.07 billion monthly active users at the end of 2023, which was the last time the company publicly reported this metric. Meanwhile, OpenAI is plotting ways to attract more customers—including through acquisitions of other startups. Windsurf, the coding assistant formerly known as Codeium, had talked to investors who were interested in funding the company at a $3 billion valuation. But OpenAI expressed interest in buying Windsurf at the same price, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. That overture came after OpenAI late last year approached Anysphere, owner of Windsurf competitor Cursor, about an acquisition, my colleague Stephanie reported Thursday. Now over to Natasha for news on General Catalyst... In February I scooped that General Catalyst plans to launch a fund of funds to back seed stage managers, one of several tactics that the 25-year-old firm is using to expand beyond traditional VC investments. In fact, I've heard that the firm has already committed to investing in a handful of funds. This week we learned more about its early-stage plans. General Catalyst said it had hired Yuri Sagalov, managing partner at Wayfinder Ventures, to lead U.S. seed strategy at the firm. General Catalyst plans to lead or co-lead seed investments and invest in their future rounds. Sagalov, a former founder, started Wayfinder in 2020 after working as an investor at Y Combinator. The San Francisco-based firm has invested in AI startups such as Supabase and Decagon. Wayfinder, which raised a $35 million fund last year, had started to fundraise for its third fund when Sagalov started talking to General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja, according to an e-mail sent from Sagalov to stakeholders in Wayfinder. Now those fundraising plans are kaput. Sagalov, in a memo to investors that I saw, said Wayfinder will continue to make follow-on investments in companies it's already backed but won't make new ones. He noted that General Catalyst was buying the Wayfinder brand but not the firm or the funds, and he promised to recuse himself from voting on any investments at his new firm that presented a conflict with Wayfinder's portfolio. It's a sign of the times. While general partners continue to leave well-known firms like Andreessen Horowitz to launch their own funds, new fund managers—who tend to raise smaller seed or early-stage funds—still face a brutal fundraising environment. First-time U.S. fund managers raised just $700 million in the first quarter, down 56% from the year ago quarter, extending last year's 48% drop, new PitchBook data showed. Wayfinder may have been able to raise its third fund with no problem, and Sagalov didn't respond to my requests to talk about the move. Still, it's easy to understand the appeal of working with a firm that just raised $8 billion in funds last year, including $4.5 billion for its venture strategy, which includes early stage bets. General Catalyst declined to comment. This year, given the stock selloff that may again depress VC fundraising, I'd expect more solo general partners to decide running their own fund isn't for them. | 
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