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OpenAI $110B Raise, Stripe at $159B, and the Donor Money Tax Hack VCs Use | Trading Places Podcast E25

OpenAI just closed a historic $110B funding round — the largest private raise ever.

At the same time:

• Stripe surged to a $159B valuation

• Anthropic is selling $6B of employee shares

• The Pentagon reportedly blocked Anthropic from defense work

• Sam Altman quickly picked up a DoD AI contract

• ByteDance hit a $550B valuation

• And Jack Dorsey laid off 4,000 employees citing AI productivity

Welcome to Episode 25 of Trading Places, where Dave McClure and Aman Verjee break down the biggest stories in venture capital, AI, and private markets.

In Valuation Corner, we analyze why Stripe now…

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