Latest news with #SequoiaCapital
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Startup founded by expat raises $93 million fund for cross-border digital payments
A cross-border digital payments startup, founded by an Indian expat who grew up in Abu Dhabi, has raised $93 million from investors and is now 'trying to build a verticalised (focused on a specific industry) financial experience for the Indian diaspora.' Aspora (formerly Vance) told Khaleej Times it cumulatively raised $93m from Sequoia Capital, Greylock, and other angel investors, including Quantum Light (the venture fund set up by Revolut CEO, Nikolay Storonsky). 'While a lot of financial products are in our future roadmap, we currently focus largely on remittances by keeping convenience at the center,' added the banking/ remittance startup. Aspora was founded in 2022 by Parth Garg, who dropped out of Stanford to build the company. Garg was raised in Abu Dhabi, and his family still resides in the Capital. The startup is building banking solutions for immigrant diasporas, beginning with the global Indian community. 'We currently help 250,000 users remit money to India, and the majority of our users are in the UAE,' Aspora noted, adding: 'We currently process more than $2 billion in volume, up from $400 million when we raised our Series A, six months ago. Our users have saved over $15 million in fees with Aspora over this period.' Aspora assured users they follow exchange rates identical to those on Google, and more importantly, they 'charge zero fees on transfers in the UAE but there is a fee in other regions. 'We are currently present in the UK, the UAE, and the EU region. We are launching in the US in July and in Canada, Australia, and Singapore by the end of 2025,' said Aspora, which is headquartered in London with offices in Dubai and Bengaluru. The company also announced new products 'that will help users bank across multiple countries, invest in multiple asset classes, and avail credit and insurance across borders.' Lead investor and new board member Luciana Lixandru noted: 'Aspora is bringing diaspora banking into the modern age, enabling (expats) participate in the growth stories of their home countries. This isn't just about digital banking, it's about the new opportunities Aspora can create for immigrants all over the world.'
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
OpenAI's former head of research said vibe coding isn't going to make engineering jobs obsolete — for now
AI is not going to replace human software engineers just yet, says OpenAI's former research chief. Bob McGrew, who left OpenAI last year, said product managers can vibe code "really cool prototypes." But engineers still have to build the products in case they need to troubleshoot it, he said. McGrew, who left OpenAI in November, said on the latest episode of Sequoia Capital's "Training Data" podcast that product managers can make "really cool prototypes" with vibe coding. But human engineers will still be brought in to "rewrite it from scratch." "If you are given a code base that you don't understand — this is a classic software engineering question — is that a liability or is it an asset? Right? And the classic answer is that it's a liability," McGrew said of software made with vibe coding. "You have to maintain this thing. You don't know how it works, no one knows how it works. That's terrible," he continued. McGrew said that in the next one or two years, coding will be done by a mix of human engineers working with AI tools like Cursor and AI agents like Devin working in the background. He added that while the liability that comes with using agents to code has gone down, it is "still, net, a liability." Human engineers are needed to design and "understand the code base at a high level," McGrew said. This is so that when something goes wrong or if a project "becomes too complicated for AI to understand," a human engineer can help break the problem down into parts for an AI to solve. McGrew did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The rise of AI has spurred fears of companies replacing their software engineers with AI. In October, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, said on an earnings call that the search giant was using AI to write more than 25% of its new code. Garry Tan, the president and CEO of Y Combinator, said in March that a quarter of the founders in the startup incubator's 2025 winter batch used AI to code their software. "For 25% of the Winter 2025 batch, 95% of lines of code are LLM generated. That's not a typo," Tan wrote in an X post. On Tuesday, Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, said in a memo to employees that AI will " reduce our total corporate workforce" and provide "efficiency gains."
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
OpenAI's former head of research said vibe coding isn't going to make engineering jobs obsolete — for now
Bob McGrew, the former chief research officer at OpenAI, said professional software engineers are not going to lose their jobs to vibe coding just yet. McGrew, who left OpenAI in November, said on the latest episode of Sequoia Capital's "Training Data" podcast that product managers can make "really cool prototypes" with vibe coding. But human engineers will still be brought in to "rewrite it from scratch." "If you are given a code base that you don't understand — this is a classic software engineering question — is that a liability or is it an asset? Right? And the classic answer is that it's a liability," McGrew said of software made with vibe coding. "You have to maintain this thing. You don't know how it works, no one knows how it works. That's terrible," he continued. McGrew said that in the next one or two years, coding will be done by a mix of human engineers working with AI tools like Cursor and AI agents like Devin working in the background. He added that while the liability that comes with using agents to code has gone down, it is "still, net, a liability." Human engineers are needed to design and "understand the code base at a high level," McGrew said. This is so that when something goes wrong or if a project "becomes too complicated for AI to understand," a human engineer can help break the problem down into parts for an AI to solve. McGrew did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The rise of AI has spurred fears of companies replacing their software engineers with AI. In October, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, said on an earnings call that the search giant was using AI to write more than 25% of its new code. Garry Tan, the president and CEO of Y Combinator, said in March that a quarter of the founders in the startup incubator's 2025 winter batch used AI to code their software. "For 25% of the Winter 2025 batch, 95% of lines of code are LLM generated. That's not a typo," Tan wrote in an X post. On Tuesday, Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, said in a memo to employees that AI will " reduce our total corporate workforce" and provide "efficiency gains." "We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy said.
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Mubi's funding backlash reveals a crisis in indie film culture
Indie streamer Mubi raised a staggering $100 million from Sequoia Capital. Then, fans started boycotting. Mubi built a loyal audience of cinephiles through breakout hits like The Substance and Decision to Leave. But after subscribers examined investor Sequoia Capital's portfolio, many took to X to denounce the streamer. They pointed to Sequoia's ties to Israel's military campaign in Gaza, highlighting its investments in the Israeli defense tech startup Kela. Even after Mubi issued a public statement, its social media remains flooded with Palestinian flags and posts about canceled subscriptions. Even after Mubi issued a public statement, its social media remains flooded with Palestinian flags and posts about canceled subscriptions. The crisis raises broader questions about the financial forces shaping the indie film world. Mubi's money crisis Founded in 2007, Mubi coasted for a decade on a loyal base of cinephiles. Then, the distributor's films began breaking out, most notably with The Substance, the $80-million-grossing body horror starring Demi Moore. Between 2016 and 2025, Mubi jumped from 100,000 to 20 million subscribers. That growth enabled the company to invest in more films. At the 2025 Cannes festival, Mubi was a top buyer, acquiring titles like The Sound of Falling and the Jennifer Lawrence-led Die My Love.
Finextra
2 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Ramp aiming for $16 billion valuation on $200 million fund raise
Expense management startup Ramp is in discussions to raise around $200 million in a round of funding that would lift its valuation to about $16 billion. 0 As reported by The Information, Founders Fund, an early and repeat backer, is reportedly aiming to lead the investment. Other existing investors such as Sands Capital and Khosla Ventures are believed to be participating as well. Founded in 2019 as a corporate card, Ramp has evolved into a comprehensive system of operations for finance teams. Last year, it launched procurement, travel and treasury product lines and executed over $55 billion in annualised payment volume for its 30,000+ US business clients. The company claims to have saved customers $2 billion and 20 million hours through its products. In March, the firm hit a $13 billion valuation after investors purchased $150 million in secondaries from employees and early backers. To date, Ramp has secured a total of $1.2 billion in equity financing and $700 million in committed debt funding. Other investors include General Catalyst, Stripe, Citi and Sequoia Capital.
