SBF's sentencing, Robinhood's new credit card, and more woes for Fisker | Equity Podcast

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Robinhood's New Credit Card and Tech Companies in Finance

Robinhood launched the Robinhood Gold Card, offering 3% cash back on all purchases that can be rolled into a Robinhood brokerage account.
The card has no annual or foreign transaction fees but requires a Robinhood Gold membership ($5 per month or $50 per year).
Robinhood's move into consumer credit is part of a broader trend of technology companies expanding into financial services, including Apple and LinkedIn.

Fisker, an electric vehicle company, faces customer complaints, federal investigations, internal money problems, and a failed deal with an unnamed automaker.
The company lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments and delivered cars to unpaid customers.
Fisker's stock dropped 28%, and the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading due to these issues.
The company slashed vehicle prices by up to 39%, potentially damaging the resale value for existing Fisker Ocean owners.
Fisker is running out of money and may file for bankruptcy protection.
The broader issue of software-centric vehicles and the impact of companies going out of business on long-term vehicle maintenance and updates is highlighted.

DataBricks developed its generative AI model, DBRX, for $10 million, comparable to leading models but not as good as OpenAI's GPT-4.
DBRX requires at least four expensive Nvidia H100 GPUs, making it suitable for enterprise customers rather than individuals.
The competition for foundation models is expanding beyond OpenAI, Anthropic, and Alphabet, with other players entering the market due to sufficient capital resources and customer bases.
Generative AI has many potential dangers, but having multiple companies working on it can be positive.

Kid-focused startups are gaining attention, with companies like Playtime Engineering creating musical instruments for children and Kidy reselling discounted kids' clothing, toys, and gear from major retailers.
Kidy partners with retailers to purchase unsold or returned items and resells them on its website, generating revenue and reducing waste.
The co-founder of Kidy, a former journalist, was inspired to start the company after learning about inventory glut and supply chain issues in the US through a documentary she directed on child labor and global supply chains.

New Summit Investments is raising a new $100 million impact fund focused on investing in managers backing startups and companies addressing environmental and social problems.
This fund represents a significant increase from New Summit's previous funds, highlighting the growing interest in impact investing.
Sequoia, the top fund that invested in unicorns, backed only 2.8% of unicorns, suggesting that many big venture firms are not spotting future unicorns.
The venture capital market is fragmented, with no clear dominant winning VC, and venture capital funds often turn down businesses that go on to become unicorns.