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Fortune Tech: Opendoor’s big bet, Boring Company’s halt, Figure’s IPO pop

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Good morning. Allie here, filling in for the inimitable Andrew Nusca.

I’m back home in Los Angeles, still processing last week’s awesomeness that was Brainstorm Tech 2025. I interviewed Wyclef Jean and Jaeson Ma about the music business (huge for this Miami girl), talked with defense tech experts from companies like Anduril and Vannevar Labs, asked Oura CEO Tom Hale about data privacy, and grilled about ten different VCs on AI.

Of course, these days, what conversation isn’t an AI conversation? One question I’ve had recently: Will we see a trillion-dollar AI startup soon? The answer I got, both on the record and in casual conversations, was a resounding yes. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure. But one thing is clear: The AI boom is in full throttle, may get even faster, and for the foreseeable future, AI will still be conversation topic number one at tech conferences. (It will definitely be the case at our own Brainstorm AI in San Francisco, where I’ll be Dec. 8-9. Come hang out!)

And with that, today’s news.

Allie Garfinkle

Want to send thoughts or suggestions to Fortune Tech? Drop a line here.

OpenAI’s deal with Microsoft could pave the way for an IPO

OpenAI’s path to a potential IPO may have just got a little clearer.

The AI company said last week that it has reached a preliminary agreement with major investor Microsoft that could allow the startup to restructure and, eventually, go public. Both companies signed a non-binding memorandum outlining “the next phase” of their relationship, with a definitive agreement expected in the coming months.

The announcement was light on details; financial small print was not disclosed, and the companies said they are still finalizing contractual terms. But the deal appears to address the structural and competitive friction that has complicated the relationship between OpenAI and its largest investor, paving the way for the $500 billion startup to convert its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC).

OpenAI’s corporate structure is unusual. Originally founded as a nonprofit, it established a capped-profit arm in 2019, which allowed for large investments such as Microsoft’s. The company has been trying to restructure its profit-focused entity into a more conventional corporate model to allow it to raise additional capital, while leaving the nonprofit parent in control of the startup’s operations. A conversion to a more traditional structure, such as a Public Benefit Corporation, could allow the company to combine its public mission objectives with profit generation and possibly go public in the future.

Altman is well aware that speculators want to see OpenAI float on the stock exchange. He told CNBC last month he had “very conflicted” feelings on a potential IPO, explaining: “Whenever we do go public, if we ever go public, I think there will be tremendous upside left in front of the company, but I get why people would love for us to be public or sooner. And I’m sure people also get the reality of like we’re still in a crazy position and it would be very hard for us to be public given just all of the realities of that.” –Beatrice Nolan

Hyundai CEO says ICE raid on Georgia plant set back its opening by months

A raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a Georgia battery plant earlier this month pushed its opening date back by months, said Hyundai CEO Jose Muñoz.

Tinder tries to win back Gen Z with ‘modes’ for double dating and college students

Gen Z and dating experts have proclaimed traditional dating apps are doomed. But Tinder is courting the next generation by introducing new “modes” focused on double dating and connecting college students. 

Last week, Tinder introduced three new modes for users: a For You Mode, a Double Date Mode, and a College Mode. These each allow users to toggle between different match types based on what they’re looking for on any given day. The For You Mode lets users see all available matches based on a user’s preferences, while Double Date Mode allows users to pair up with a friend to find other match pairs. College Mode narrows down matches to other surrounding users who are also in college. 

Modes was built to accommodate changing needs and desires, based on feedback from Gen Z users, and changes in the dating industry at large, Cleo Long, Tinder’s senior director of global product marketing, told Fortune

Tinder had previously launched the double-dating feature and TinderU (dedicated to college students), but Modes allows users to have a more dedicated space to browse matches. 

A recent Forbes survey found more than 75% of Gen Z respondents felt burnt out using dating apps like Hinge, Tinder, and Bumble because they didn’t feel as if they could find a genuine connection with someone despite how much time they spent on the apps. 

Match Group and other dating-app companies had been struggling for a while following a boom in the early 2020s. –Sydney Lake

More Tech

Citymapper app owner Via falls 4.3% after $492.9 million IPO. The transit technology company’s stock opened at $44, below the $46 offer price.

Ray Dalio calls for wealth ‘redistribution policy’ when AI and humanoid robots start to benefit the 1% to 10% more than everyone else. Dalio described a future where humanoid robots and AI systems could render many current professions obsolete. 

A California bill that would regulate AI companion chatbots is close to becoming law. The bill has passed both the California State Assembly and Senate.

Apple Watch hypertension alerts cleared by FDA for new and old watches. The next Apple Watches will feature FDA-approved blood pressure monitoring.

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.



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Billionaire Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale calls elite college undergrads a ‘loser generation’ as data reveals rise in students seeking support for disabilities

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That reality is showing up on a campus. A growing share of college students are seeking medical evaluations for ADHD, anxiety, and depression—and requesting academic accommodations such as extended time on exams and papers. At some of the country’s selective universities, the numbers are striking: more than 20% of undergraduates at Brown and Harvard are registered as disabled. At UMass Amherst, it’s 34%; Stanford, 38%, according to data analyzed by The Atlantic.

While it’s clear that many students requesting accommodations do so for legitimate medical reasons and that increased diagnoses may reflect greater mental-health awareness, some experts have raised concerns about overdiagnosis and whether universities are making it too easy for students to qualify. And the debate has set off a wildfire on social media this week, catching the attention of high-profile business leaders, including Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire venture capitalist and Palantir cofounder.

Lonsdale’s response offered no sympathy. “Loser generation,” he wrote in reaction to a graph showing the rising number of undergraduate students reporting disabilities.

“At Stanford it’s a hack for housing though and at some point I get it, even if it’s not my personal ethics. Terrible leadership from the university.”

He argued that families have been slowly using disability accommodations to give their children an academic advantage—when they might not actually need it.

“Claiming your child has a disability to give them a leg up became an obvious dominant game theoretic strategy for parents without honor in the 2010’s,” Lonsdale wrote earlier this month on X. “Great signal to avoid a family / not do business with parents who act this way.”

And while it’s unclear how many students, if any, are trying to game the system, Lonsdale has made his broader view clear: he doesn’t think universities are preparing young people—or evaluating them—in ways that matter.

“No great companies are interested in the BS games played by universities,” he added.

Fortune reached out to Lonsdale for further comment.

Lonsdale’s complicated history with higher education

Though a Stanford alum himself, Lonsdale has a complicated history with the institution and higher education more broadly.

In the early 2010s, while serving as a mentor in a Stanford tech entrepreneurship course, Lonsdale was accused of sexual assault by a student—and banned from mentoring undergraduates for 10 years and from campus entirely. The assault charges were later dropped, but Lonsdale acknowledged violating a rule prohibiting consensual relationships between mentors and students.

Less than a decade later, in 2021, Lonsdale cofounded his own school—the University of Austin—with Niall Ferguson, Bari Weiss, and others. The institution prides itself on freedom of speech and overcoming the “mediocrity” of traditional higher education. It welcomed its first group of undergraduates last fall and remains unaccredited.

The school has drawn support from Lonsdale’s fellow Palantir cofounder and Stanford alum Alex Karp, who has also criticized the college system.

“Everything you learned at your school and college about how the world works is intellectually incorrect,” Karp, Palantir’s CEO, told CNBC earlier this year.

Instead, the 58-year-old said Palantir is building a new credential “separate from class or background,” that is the “best credential in tech.”

“If you did not go to school, or you went to a school that’s not that great, or you went to Harvard or Princeton or Yale, once you come to Palantir, you’re a Palantirian,” Karp said during an earnings call earlier this year. “No one cares about the other stuff.”



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Exclusive: Crypto startup LI.FI raises $29 million for cross-blockchain price discovery tool

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When businesses decide to engage with crypto, they quickly discover the landscape is fragmented across numerous blockchains. If they want to move assets between different chains, they must often rely on a technology called bridging that can prove insecure and expensive. Philipp Zentner, cofounder and CEO of LI.FI, created his company to address these issues. The startup provides businesses with price comparisons of exchange rates and bridging fees. It also aims to find businesses the most efficient and cost-effective pathway for each transaction. 

On Thursday, LI.FI announced that it raised $29 million in funding led by Multicoin and CoinFund, bringing the total capital to about $52 million. Zentner did not disclose the company’s valuation. 

“You can think of us like a combination of Google Flights and Google Maps,” he said in an interview with Fortune. “[We’re] a competitive price comparison and transaction pathfinding for businesses in crypto finance.”

The businesses that LI.FI partners with are fintechs, brokerage apps, trading desks, wallets, and neobanks. The startup has more than 800 partners, including Robinhood, Binance, and Kraken. The company says that its value proposition is that its service allows companies to go to market faster and saves them time on research, integration, and maintenance. 

Zentner says that LI.FI is profitable and generates revenue through transaction fees, though he declined to disclose specific revenue numbers. It has $8 billion in monthly transaction volume as of October, which is about seven times more than its monthly volume from a year prior. The company has more than 100 employees. 

“As crypto trading becomes a core feature inside mainstream fintech apps, the hardest problem is…making fragmented blockchains, liquidity, and execution work seamlessly together,” said Spencer Applebaum, investment partner at Multicoin Capital, in a statement. “LI.FI Protocol gives fintechs and web3 wallets a single API to offer both trading and cross-chain asset movement, handling on-chain routing and execution behind the scenes.”

With the new funding, LI.FI plans to expand into different transaction domains, including perpetual futures, yield opportunities, prediction markets, and lending markets. Zentner says with the new capital he also aims to hire more employees.

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A San Francisco woman just gave birth in a Waymo robotaxi — and Waymo says it’s not the first time

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 Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news after a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

The mother was on her way to the University of California, San Francisco medical center Monday when she delivered inside the robotaxi, said a Waymo spokesperson in a statement Wednesday. The company said its rider support team detected “unusual activity” inside the vehicle and called to check on the rider as well as alert 911.

Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, declined to elaborate on how the vehicle knew something was amiss.

The company has said it has cameras and microphones inside as well as outside the cars.

The taxi and its passengers arrived safely at the hospital ahead of emergency services. Jess Berthold, a UCSF spokesperson, confirmed the mother and child were brought to the hospital. She said the mother was not available for interviews.

Waymo said the vehicle was taken out of service for cleaning after the ride. While still rare, this was not the first baby delivered in one of its taxis, the company said.

“We’re proud to be a trusted ride for moments big and small, serving riders from just seconds old to many years young,” the company said.

The driverless taxis have surged in popularity even as they court higher scrutiny. Riders can take them on freeways and interstates around San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

In September, a Waymo pulled a U-turn in front of a sign telling drivers not to do that, and social media users dumped on the San Bruno Police because state law prohibited officers from ticketing the car. In October, a popular tabby cat named Kit Kat known to pad around its Mission District neighborhood was crushed to death by a Waymo.



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