Neuralink竞争对手融资2亿美元，Benable社交应用，AWS芯片战略，Snap飙升 | 2025年11月6日

欢迎各位收看Informations TI TV。

Welcome everyone to the Informations TI TV.

我叫阿卡什·帕什里查。

My name is Akash Pashricha.

今天是11月6日，星期四。

It is Thursday, November 6.

今天我们为大家准备了一场精彩的节目。

We have got a great show lined up for you today.

我们将从Snap的财报开始。

We'll kick it off with Snap earnings.

该公司宣布与Perplexity达成合作后，股价大幅上涨。

Shares are surging after the company announced a partnership with Perplexity.

我们将邀请一位Snap投资者为大家详细解析。

We'll break it all down with a Snap investor.

此外，Neuralink的一家竞争对手公司刚刚为其独特的脑机接口技术筹集了一笔巨额资金。

Also, one of Neuralink's rival companies just raised a big funding round for its unique approach to brain computer interfaces.

我们即将带来与Synchron的独家访谈。

We've got an exclusive interview with Synchron coming up.

我们还将与自动化支付初创公司Metropolis的首席执行官交谈，聊聊他们的新融资，同时我们仍处于TI50模式，邀请我们2025年最具潜力的50家初创公司中的另一位首席执行官。

We'll also talk to the CEO of an automated payment startup, Metropolis, about their new funding, and we are still in TI50 mode, bringing on another CEO from our list of the 50 most promising startups of 2025.

最后但同样重要的是，我们将与亚马逊云服务探讨一切关于AI芯片的话题，他们自身也有着独特的芯片战略。

And last but not least, we are talking all things AI chips with Amazon Web Services, who has an interesting chips strategy themselves.

事情非常多，让我们马上进入正题。

There is a lot going on, and so let's get right on into things.

Snap昨晚发布了财报。

Snap reported earnings last night.

收入增长了10%，较上一季度略有加速，但最大的新闻是该公司与Perplexity的新合作。

Revenue was up 10%, a slight acceleration from the last quarter, but the big news was the company's new partnership with Perplexity.

现在加入我们为大家解析这一切的是Creator Ventures的联合创始人兼管理合伙人萨沙·科莱茨基。

Joining me now to break it all down is Sasha Koletsky, co founder and managing partner at Creator Ventures.

萨沙本人也是Snap的投资人。

Sasha is also a Snap investor himself.

我还要邀请我们的广告记者凯瑟琳·佩罗夫。

I'm also bringing on our advertising reporter, Kathryn Perlov.

凯瑟琳和萨沙，很高兴见到你们。

Kathryn and Sasha, it's great to see you.

欢迎来到节目。

Welcome to the show.

非常感谢。

Thanks very much.

很高兴来到这里。

It's great to be here.

所以，萨钦，我们来谈谈业绩吧。

So, Sachin, let let's talk about the results.

我们实现了10%的收入增长，略高于上个季度。

We got 10% revenue growth, which was a slight acceleration from the last quarter.

除了收入增长之外，还有什么让你印象深刻的地方？

What stood out to you beyond the revenue growth?

是的。

Yeah.

我的意思是，这就是推动收入增长的原因。

I mean, it's it's what made up the revenue growth.

所以实际情况是，正如你所说，收入增长了10%。

So what really happened is, as you said, revenue grew 10%.

其中，Snapchat Plus变成了真正的爆款。

Within that, Snapchat Plus turned into a real monster.

它的年收入规模现已达到7.5亿美元，几乎接近Duolingo的水平，仅靠订阅产品就做到了。

It's now at a $750,000,000 revenue run rate, almost at Duolingo levels, just for the subscription product.

提醒一下，Snapchat Plus是用户可以付费获取额外功能的订阅产品。

As a reminder, Snapchat Plus is the subscription product which users couldn't get additional Snapchat features.

广告收入出现了反弹。

Advertising revenues turned around.

前景不错。

It's looking good.

唯一的例外是我们肯定会谈到的美国企业广告，但其他所有地区，包括中小企业，增长都非常迅速。

The only exception to that, which I'm sure we'll talk about, US enterprise ads, but everything else, rest of the world and everything, and SME is super growing fast.

还有他们的TikTok产品Spotlight，表现也极其出色。

And Spotlight, which is their TikTok product, is also doing fantastically.

比如，有些顶级数据表明，这个产品的年增长率达到了600%。

Like, you know, six in some tops, the product's 600% year on year growth.

所以，许多业务部门的情况都非常好。

So it's really, really going well in many departments.

而且，萨莎，我们在开始录制前私下聊过。

And, Sasha, we were talking offline before we started taping.

所以你在上一次财报电话会后买了股票。

So you bought shares after the last earnings call.

对吗？

Is that right?

是的。

Yeah.

上次我们聊过上一次财报发布时股价下跌了大约15%，我当时说我在那个价位看多。

Well, we spoke last time about the last earnings call when it dropped, you know, 15% or so, and I said that I was said that I was bullish at the price.

所以我买了。

So I so I bought.

我说到做到，真的买了。

I put my money where I was where my mouth was, and I I bought.

我的意思是，从让我兴奋的角度来看，Snap 历史上一直是一只很难持有的股票。

I mean, in terms of what gets me excited, I mean, Snap is a very is is historically been a very tough stock to own.

有很多理由让人不愿意对 Snap 看好。

There's a lot of reasons not to wanna be bullish on Snap.

没错。

Right.

过去几年，它的收入增长率一直是个位数，而其他所有大型科技公司都在以快得多的速度增长。

Single digits has historically been single digits revenue growth when every other big tech company is growing significantly faster.

广告业务也

The ad It's also

非常令人焦虑。

very anxiety inducing.

我们上次聊过这个。

We talked about this last time.

每次公司发布财报，我们都会看到两位数的大幅上涨或下跌。

Every time the company reports, we're talking double digit swings up or down.

每次都是这样。

Every single time.

是的。

Yeah.

毫无疑问，最近连续七次或八次都是这样。

Without exception, the last I think it's the last seven or eight in a row has been that.

但没错，他们的广告产品也未能跟上竞争对手的水平。

But, yeah, the ad product's also not level with competition.

最后，你知道，人们在X平台及其他地方最常批评的是，他们每年几乎将10%的市值用于股票形式的薪酬，作为股东，这感觉并不好。

And finally, you know, what's most often criticized on X and and elsewhere is that they give up almost 10% of the market cap every year to stock based compensation, which doesn't feel great as a share as a shareholder.

但尽管存在所有这些问题，它最终达到了一个价格足够低、变得有吸引力的点，而这些逆风在收入增长和效率方面反而变成了顺风，使他们取得了出色的季度业绩。

But despite all those issues, it it it it it just got to a point it got to a point where the price became low enough that it became attractive, and then some of these headwinds became tailwinds on the revenue growth side and the efficiency side that that they had a great quarter.

我希望这种趋势在未来几个季度也能持续下去。

And I I hope that it will continue for the next couple of quarters as well.

我想聊聊Perplexity的交易，但凯瑟琳，我想先听听你的看法。

I wanna get into the Perplexity deal, but, Katherine, I wanna come to you.

我们来谈谈广告业务的现状，因为它的表现仍然远低于Meta和Pinterest等其他广告科技公司。

Let's talk about the state of the advertising business because it's still much slower than other advertising tech companies like Meta and like Pinterest.

我们昨天刚和你聊过那家公司。

We were talking to you yesterday about that company.

你如何评估这种情况？

How do you size that up?

是的。

Yeah.

我认为Snap的广告业务仍面临一些挑战。

I think there, there's still some challenges with the Snap Ad business.

它仅同比增长了5%。

It only grew 5% year over year.

特别是在北美地区，你知道，萨莎之前提到过一些问题，但这里仅增长了1%。

And in North America, specifically, you know, I think Sasha kind of highlighted some of these issues, but it only grew 1%.

这是个问题，因为这些广告主通常为广告支付最高的费用。

And that that's a problem because those are the advertisers that typically pay the most for ads.

他们还把来自大客户或大广告主的广告业务描述为一种逆风。

And they also kind of described their advertising from large customers or big advertisers as a as a headwind.

他们减少了来自大广告主的资金占比，我认为这是好事。

They've reduced the share of money coming from large advertisers, which I think is good.

我认为，许多不是Meta和谷歌的小型平台过度依赖大广告主。

I think a lot of, smaller platforms that aren't meta and Google over rely on large advertisers.

比如，Pinterest，昨天或者说是前天，他们表示其客户中只有15%是中小广告主。

Like, for example, Pinterest, yesterday or I guess that was two days ago, they said that only 15% of their, customer base was small and medium advertisers.

我认为多元化是好事，因为大广告主虽然控制着大量广告预算，但有时并非你收入的主要来源，而让大量小商家依赖你则是有益的。

And I think it's good to have diversity there because large advertisers, you know, they they control a lot of ad spend, but they're not the majority sometimes of the money you can get, and it's good to get a lot of mom and pops relying on you.

但你知道，Snap 将那些本可以支付最多广告费的最大广告主视为逆风，这并不理想。

But, you know, it's not great that Snap sees the the biggest advertisers who could pay them the most money as as a headwind.

所以我认为这可能是一个挑战。

So I think that that could be a challenge.

那么，Sasha，我们来谈谈 Perplexity 的这笔交易吧。

So, Sasha, let's talk about the Perplexity deal.

每当任何科技公司宣布与一家快速增长的 AI 初创公司达成合作，我们都能预期其股价会上涨。

Every time any tech company announces any kind of a deal with a fast growing AI startup, we can expect the stock to surge.

今天早上发生的情况正是如此。

That is certainly what is happening this morning.

为什么这不仅仅是一时的热潮？

Why is this not just a flash in the pan?

在你看来，这笔交易为何能为公司带来持久的价值？

Why, in your opinion, does this have any kind of enduring value for the company?

这个交易的有趣之处在于，你说它是初创公司。

Well, the funny part of this deal is you say start up.

我的意思是，Perplexity 的估值是 2000 万美元，而 Snap 在交易时的估值是 1.212 万亿美元。

I mean, Perplexity has a valuation of $20,000,000, and Snaps at the time of the deal was $1,212,000,000,000.

所以没错。

So True.

你知道，理论上 Perplexity 几乎大了两倍。

You know, Perplexity is theoretically almost twice as big.

但没错，这个 headline 数字确实惊人。

But, yeah, the, you know, the the headline number's huge.

仅仅一年就高达 4 亿美元，至少表面上是这么呈现的。

$400,000,000 just for one year is is at least how it's presented.

一部分是现金，一部分是股权。

A mix of cash and equity.

这本质上是让 Snapchat 的 AI 默认搜索使用 Perplexity。

And it's effectively for the Snapchat AI default search to be using Perplexity.

他们不会在其中投放广告。

They were they're not gonna put ads in it.

至少 Snapchat 不会在其中投放广告。

At least Snapchat are not gonna sell ads in it.

这笔收入将直接进入 Perplexity 的订阅收入。

It's gonna go straight into Perplexity subscriptions.

这就是这笔交易的原因。

That's the reason for the deal.

而且这是一年的协议。

And it's and it's for one year.

付款将在一年内分期支付。

It's un the the payment is gonna be over one year.

目前还不清楚这笔交易在一年后是否会续签，但看起来这标志着 Snapchat 新战略的开端，即为 AI 代理提供一个构建产品的平台，我认为这最终可能成为一条相当可观的收入来源。

It's unclear if the deal will will will be renewed beyond that, but it seems like it's the start of a new Snapchat strategy to start putting, a window for AI agents to build products on top of, which I think, you know, could end up being a relatively sizable revenue line.

凯瑟琳，你对 Perplexity 的这笔交易怎么看？

Catherine, what did you think of the Perplexity deal?

是的。

Yeah.

我觉得这很有趣。

I think it's interesting.

这是否构成了Snapchat的一个新收入来源？

It's sort of like, is this a new revenue stream for Snapchat?

他们提到，愿意与其他类型的AI公司达成其他合作。

They mentioned that they were open to doing other deals with other types of AI companies.

我稍微想了想，有点像谷歌支付Safari的流量分发费用。

And I kind of, you know, thought about this a little bit, as sort of like, you know, Google paying Safari for distribution.

而且，我觉得他们表示愿意与其他合作方达成协议。

And, you know, I don't it seems like they're saying they have they're open to other deals.

所以，与那种安排不同，这不是独家的。

So unlike that arrangement, it's not exclusive.

如果Snap能够利用其庞大的用户群，将这些用户转化为其他平台的变现资源，我认为这会很有吸引力，尤其是因为Snap有时在变现这些用户方面遇到困难。

So if Snap could sort of leverage the fact that it has a lot of users and kind of make those users monetizable to other platforms, I think that could be attractive, especially because, you know, sometimes Snap has had trouble monetizing those users.

所以，如果他们能找到更好的方式，让其他公司通过Snap作为入口来变现用户，那就非常有趣了。

So if they could find a better way for, you know, other types of companies to monetize them and sort of be a front door, that's really interesting.

但没错。

But yeah.

是的。

Yeah.

我想这可能也是，我其实没怎么听说过其他类似的交易。

I'll be it would it's also I haven't really feel like I've heard other types of these deals.

你知道，比如我们看到过ChatGPT作为超级应用的发布，但那是ChatGPT作为其他应用的入口，而不是应用作为AI搜索引擎的入口。

You know, we we saw, for example, ChatGPT being the super app kind of announcement, but that was ChatGPT being the front door to other apps versus the app being the front door to an AI search engine.

所以我认为这确实给了Snap一些议价能力，而且非常有趣。

So I do think it gives Snap a bit of leverage, and and it's pretty interesting.

好吧，你看。

Well, look.

我认为过去所有关于Snap的讨论都围绕着他们对眼镜业务的追求。

I think any conversation around Snap in the past has revolved around their pursuit of the spectacles business.

现在看到Perplexity进入这个话题，确实很有趣。

And it is interesting to see how Perplexity has now come into that conversation.

我确信这里还有更多新闻有待发掘，让我们拭目以待事态如何发展。

I'm sure there's much more news to uncover here and to watch how the story unfolds.

感谢你们两位的到来。

Thank you to the both of you for coming on.

我们非常感激。

We really appreciate it.

这里是萨莎和凯瑟琳，为您带来TI TV的节目。

That is Sasha and Katherine here on TI TV.

好的。

Okay.

每年都在涌现越来越多的公司，致力于开发类似Neuralink的脑机接口技术。

The arena of companies that are building brain computer interfaces similar to Neuralink is becoming more crowded by the year.

Synchron是一家采取独特方法的公司，它通过颈静脉将芯片植入大脑，无需开颅手术。

Synchron is one company that takes the unique approach of crawling its chip to the brain through the jugular vein so you don't have to open up the skull.

这是一家我曾深入报道过的公司，事实上，我去年还为此写了一篇杂志专题报道，我会在节目笔记中附上链接。

It's a company that I have covered in great detail, and in fact, I wrote a magazine feature on the business last year, which I will link in the show notes.

今天，Synchron宣布已完成一轮由知名投资者（包括Koslow Ventures）参与的2亿美元融资。

Today, Synchron announced it has raised $200,000,000 in a new funding round from big name investors, including Koslow Ventures.

现在加入我们进行独家访谈的是Synchron的联合创始人兼首席执行官汤姆·奥克斯利。

Joining me now for an exclusive interview is Tom Oxley, co founder and CEO of Synchron.

汤姆，很高兴见到你。

Tom, it's great to see you.

欢迎来到TI TV。

Welcome to TI TV.

嘿，卡什。

Hey, Kash.

很高兴见到你。

Good to see you.

今天有个大新闻，获得了2亿美元的新融资。

So big news today, dollars 200,000,000 in new funding.

我记得昨天我们还在看布里斯班雄狮队的总决赛，我想是吧。

I remember it just yesterday we were watching the Brisbane Lions to their champion it was the grand final, I think.

我应该说他们又赢了。

And I should say they won again.

他们现在正冲击三连冠。

They this is they're going for like a three peat now.

冲击三连冠。

Going for a three peat.

没错。

Yep.

他们状态火热。

They're on fire.

意外的胜利，很多年轻球员。

Unexpected win, lots of kids.

太惊人了。

Amazing thing.

太棒了。

Great.

好的。

Okay.

嗯，我们稍后可以再聊聊足球。

Well, we could talk more about football later on.

跟我说说这2亿美元是用来做什么的。

Talk to me about what the $200,000,000 is for.

是的。

Yeah.

非常令人兴奋。

So very exciting.

感谢我们早期投资者的大力支持，这为我们未来三年的发展奠定了基础。

Great support from our early investors, and this sets the sets the scene for the next three years for us.

到目前为止，我们已经完成了两次临床试验，涉及我们可植入脑机接口的永久性植入。

We've we've done two clinical trials to this point with our permanent implant of our implantable BCI.

这项技术旨在帮助无法移动身体的人，恢复一定程度的控制能力。

The technology is intended for people who can't move their body to restore some level of control.

我们一直与苹果合作，研究如何将大脑直接解码的手势用于控制苹果的iOS系统。

We've been working alongside Apple to figure out gestures that come decoded directly from the brain to control Apple's iOS.

过去一年左右，我们专注于制造工艺的成熟，现在正迈向更大规模的后期临床试验，并将第一代系统推向商业化发布。

And we're now we've spent the last year or so getting to mature maturing about manufacturing, and now we're moving towards later stage, a much larger clinical trial and taking that first generation system to commercial launch.

我们融资中约20%将用于下一代系统，对此我们非常兴奋，认为这将为该领域带来真正的代际变革。

And then about about 20% of our financing is going to a next generation system that we're extremely excited about, which we think is going to be a real generational shift in the field.

当你说下一代系统时，那是指什么系统？

When you say next generation system, what is that system?

我不会过多谈论它，但公司核心理念是：我们认为，这项技术实现规模化发展的路径，不是通过在手术室中植入设备，因为这会成为大规模应用的巨大瓶颈。

So it's I'm not gonna talk too much about it, but the the the the core thesis for the company is that we believe the pathway to scale for this technology is through not delivering the technology in the operating room because that's a huge bottleneck for delivery at scale.

所以它仍然是通过导管植入。

So it still is through a catheter.

它的外观不同。

It looks different.

它的植入方式与我们的第一代系统不同。

The delivery looks different to our first generation system.

它不是支架。

It's not a stent.

它确实利用了血管，但进入大脑的方式略有不同。

It does use the blood vessels, but it's got a slightly different approach of getting to the brain.

它可以到达所有脑区，并且我们取得了微电子领域的突破，能够通过多个脑区传输大量通道。

And it can get to all brain regions, And we've got a microelectronics breakthrough that means we can deliver a very large number of channels across multiple brain regions.

这涉及到最近经常提到的‘全脑接口’这一概念。

And it speaks to the you know, there's been a lot of the use of the term whole brain interface recently.

因此，这将是一种微创经导管全脑接口。

So this would be a minimally invasive transcatheter whole brain interface.

但从根本上说，它仍然是通过颈静脉进入，然后到达大脑的不同部位吗？

Fundamentally, though, is it still going in through the jugular and then reaching different parts of the brain?

我知道它不是支架，但是

I know it's not a stent, but

它仍然会通过植入起搏器、支架或置入导管的相同位置进行输送。

It it still it still would be delivered in the place where you would get a pacemaker or a stent or have a catheter.

所以这并不是开颅手术，而是一种将技术输送至大脑的新方法。

So it it would not be it's not open brain surgery, but it is a new way of delivering technology to the brain.

所以这是一个下一代设备。

So that that's a next generation device.

不过，我们来谈谈Stentrode吧。

Let's talk about the Stentrode, though.

一年前我跟你交谈时，你正在推进临床试验并取得进展。

When I had talked to you a year ago, you were marching through the process of undergoing clinical trials and moving ahead.

Stentrode，也就是原始设备，现在处于什么阶段？

Is the Stentrode at, the original device?

我们之前也聊过，你曾经在开发Stentrode的一个新版本。

And we had talked about there was a new version of the stentrode that you were working on at one point as well.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

我们对Stentrode做了一些改进。

So we've made some modifications to the stentrode.

我们让它更易使用、更易植入、更易生产，寿命更长、电池续航更久、无线功能更好、集成度更高，并且兼容苹果设备。

We've made it easier to use, easier to deliver, easier to manufacture, longer life longer battery life, better wireless function, better integration, works with Apple.

我们一直在深入思考，瘫痪和运动障碍患者真正需要哪些应用场景。

And we've been doing a lot of thinking on what are the use cases that people who have paralysis and motor impairment really need.

因此，我们专注于帮助那些丧失独立使用设备能力的人，恢复对设备的控制能力。

So, you know, we're really fixated on the idea that we can help people who have lost the ability to independently use devices restore that level of control.

你们可能已经看到，几个月前我们宣布了首次使用苹果公司所谓的BCI HID——一种新的蓝牙协议。

So you might have seen we announced a few months ago a the first use of Apple's what they're calling BCI HID, which is a new Bluetooth protocol.

现在，当我们的系统连接、植入后启动，系统连接蓝牙时，会立即识别到来自大脑的信号。

So now when our system connects, implant goes in, system connects, you basically connect to the Bluetooth, and the system immediately recognizes that there is a brain signal coming in.

与键盘、鼠标甚至眼动追踪不同，现在大脑活动与屏幕上光标的动作之间实现了双向通信。

And unlike with the keyboard or a mouse or even an eye tracker, there's now two way communication between what the brain's doing and what the cursor on the screen is doing.

苹果公司也为使其良好运行投入了大量精力。

And it's and Apple's put a lot of energy into making it work well.

因此，我们对将在下一次临床试验中推出这一功能感到兴奋。

And so we're excited to roll that up in the next clinical trial.

你们刚刚完成的融资轮估值是多少？

What was the valuation for the funding round that you just raised?

我们不透露具体数字，但报告中显示大约是十亿美元。

Not disclosing that, but you see in the report it's around a billion dollars.

好的。

Okay.

商业化时间表呢？

And commercialization timeline.

我上次和你聊的时候，记得说是三到五年左右。

When I had talked to you, I think it was something around three to five years.

现在你们如何看待将这一技术推向市场的时间表？

What is it looking like in terms of how you are thinking about when you can actually bring this to market?

是的。

Yeah.

我们的时间尺度是几年。

We're we're on the scale of several years.

这次融资，我们希望这笔资金能支持我们完成大规模关键性研究。

This financing, we want we want this financing to take us through the large scale pivotal study.

在完成这项研究和获得FDA最终商业批准之间，通常会有一段空档期。

There tends to be a bit of a gap between the completion of that study and getting the the final commercial approval with the FDA.

通常这可能需要长达一年，甚至更久。

Typically, that can take up to about a year, maybe even longer.

可能会提交给专家评审小组。

There's there's probably gonna go to panel.

所以这需要一段时间。

So it takes a while.

通常，一个III类植入式设备从最初设计到最终获得商业批准，也就是FDA所说的上市前批准（PMA），需要十年到十五年的时间。

Like, typically, a a class three implantable is a ten to fifteen year journey from, you know, original design all the way through to final commercial approval or what the FDA called PMA, pre marketing approval.

所以，这就是我们第一代系统的大致时间表。

So that's that's roughly the timeline we're on for the first gen system.

在让你走之前，我想听听你对另一个稍微不同问题的看法，你是医生，我们在讨论如何恢复ALS患者以及患有这些疾病和障碍的人的功能。

Before I let you go, I do want to get your take on a slightly different issue, which is you're a doctor, and we're talking about restoring function to people with ALS, people who have undergone these diseases and disorders.

自从我们上次交谈以来，关于长寿的讨论引起了极大关注。

In parallel, since we talked last, there's been this discussion about longevity that has gotten so much attention.

我只是想听听你的看法。

I just want to get your take on it.

作为医生，你同时也是一位企业家。

As a doctor, you are also an entrepreneur.

现在有很多资金涌入长寿领域，虽然不一定与你正在做的工作直接相关，但你如何看待这些资金大量投入长寿领域？

There's a lot of money now going into the longevity space, not necessarily related to the work that you're doing, but what do you make of all this investment going into that longevity sphere?

嗯，说实话，我对长寿领域的全部情况并不太了解，但似乎BCI领域正开始与长寿领域产生交集。

Well, I mean, I'm not really up to speed with all of longevity, but there seems to be some breaking of the BCI space into longevity.

我最近一直在想，有一些超人类主义倾向的人在讨论，认为BCI能将人类提升到

I think what I've been thinking about recently is that, you know, that there's some pro transhumanist sort of, you know, people talking about how BCI takes humans up to

某个更高的层次。

some other level.

我觉得是的。

I think Right.

没错。

Right.

在未来几十年的现实中，我认为这一波技术主要是为那些丧失运动能力的人提供运动控制。

The reality for the next several decades is that I I think for this first wave, it's about movement control for people who have lost movement.

我认为整个脑机接口的概念涉及多个认知领域。

The concept of this whole brain interface, I think, gets to multiple cognitive domains.

我的观点是，在我们进入脑机接口带来的某种超人类未来之前，脑机接口仍有潜力保护认知功能。

My view is that before we get to some transhumanist future with BCI, there's still gonna be the potential for BCI to preserve cognition.

因此，存在一系列认知衰退的状况，比如轻度认知障碍。

And so there's a whole range of conditions where there's cognitive decline, there's mild cognitive impairment.

我认为脑机接口能够帮助稳定大脑的功能，防止认知衰退，使你在身体随时间逐渐衰弱时仍能保持原有水平的运作。

I think BCIs are going to give you a stability over what your brain can do and preserve any decline and help you continue to perform at a level where the body might begin to fail over time.

我认为，好吧，在那之后合并，你知道，Merge Labs 是新来的，这个合并的概念是，你知道，大脑和计算机之间的一种共生关系。

I think, well, then after that merge, you know, Merge Labs is is the newcomer the the this concept of the merge is that, you know, there's this symbiosis of brains to computers.

那将会是，我不是说那不会发生，但我们谈论的是一个非常长远的时间框架，嗯。

That that's gonna it I'm not saying that's not gonna happen, but we're talking on a very long time frame for that Mhmm.

一种重大的、颠覆性的文化事件。

Sort of a big cataclysmic cultural event.

我认为在未来三、三十年里，这项技术将专注于保持人类功能，保持真正的自我表达和人类表达。

I think for the next thirty or thirty years, this technology is going to be about preserving human function and preserving really, like self expression, human expression.

对。

Right.

恭喜获得融资，很高兴见到你。

Well, congrats on the funding, It's great to see you.

汤姆，感谢你参加这个节目。

And Tom, thanks for coming on the show.

我们非常感谢。

We appreciate it.

谢谢。

Thank you.

好的。

Okay.

许多人工智能公司旨在让日常生活更轻松，而Metropolis正是这样做的。

Many AI companies are built to make everyday life a little easier, and that's exactly what Metropolis is doing.

该公司利用人工智能和计算机视觉实现停车和支付的自动化。

The company uses AI and computer vision to make parking and payments automatic.

想象一下，驾车离开停车场时无需票据或现金，因为技术会自动识别您的车牌并完成扣费。

Think driving out of a parking lot without tickets or cash because the technology recognizes your license plate and charges you automatically.

该公司刚刚宣布获得了16亿美元的额外融资，这笔资金由股权和大量债务组成。

This company just announced $1,600,000,000 in additional funding that is a combination of equity and a whole lot of debt.

现在邀请我们讨论这一消息的是Metropolis的创始人兼首席执行官亚历克斯·以色列。

Joining me now to discuss that is Alex Israel, founder and CEO of Metropolis.

亚历克斯，欢迎你来到节目。

Alex, it's great to have you on the show.

欢迎。

Welcome.

谢谢，阿卡什。

Thanks, Akash.

很高兴能在这里与你交流。

It's great to be here with you.

恭喜你带来这个好消息。

Well, congrats on the big news.

为我们介绍一下这家公司吧，让我们了解停车和支付业务究竟有多复杂。

Lay out the company for us so that we understand just how complicated the business of parking and payments can be.

乐意之至。

Happy to.

乐意之至。

Happy to.

你说得对。

So you're absolutely right.

今天，我们宣布了具有里程碑意义的融资：16亿美元的新融资，其中5.5亿美元的D轮融资由LionTree领投，另有110亿美元的高级定期贷款由摩根大通主导并安排。

Today, we announced landmark financing, dollars 1,600,000,000.0 of new financing, dollars $550,000,000 of series D led by LionTree, and a 1,100,000,000 senior term loan led and lead arranged by JPMorgan.

这对我们的23,000名员工以及美国4,200个运营地点来说，都是令人振奋的一天。

So very exciting day for our 23,000 employees and across our 4,200 locations in The United States.

回答你的问题，Metropolis成立于2017年，我们的业务完全专注于人工智能在现实世界中的应用，即如何利用计算机视觉和人工智能，在你去的任何地方实现无缝的无接触支付体验？

To answer your question, Metropolis was founded in 2017, and our business is entirely focused on artificial intelligence in the real world and how do we leverage computer vision and artificial intelligence to drive seamless checkout free commerce experiences everywhere you go?

我们最初从停车业务起步，但现在正逐步拓展至快餐零售、加油站、充电站、收费系统，并进一步延伸至所有移动场景。

We started with parking, but we're moving past parking into quick serve retail, gas stations, charging, tolling, and then moving past the mobility environment everywhere you go.

你们也在机场开展业务，对吧？

And you're also doing stuff with airports too, right?

没错。

Correct.

我们的业务在机场领域投入了大量资源。

So we spend a lot of our business.

目前，我们在美国运营着80多个机场，并正在部署这项技术，再次打造无缝的体验。

We operate north of 80 airports across The United States right now, and we're deploying this technology to facilitate once again seamless experiences.

对我们来说，大部分生活都充斥着浪费时间，无论是反复订购同样的咖啡、在机场办理登机手续，还是进入A类办公楼。

So for us, most of our lives are riddled with wasting time, whether it's ordering the same coffee over and over again, checking in an airport, getting into a class A office building.

你们如何利用计算机视觉和人工智能让这些体验变得无缝？

How do you leverage computer vision and AI to make those experiences seamless?

那么，你们是怎么赚钱的？

And so, how do you make money?

我们通过合作伙伴关系赚钱，包括B2B和B2C两种模式。

So, we make money based on our partnerships, both on a B2B basis and a B2C basis.

无论是交易本身，我们通常收取便利费，或者向我们的合作伙伴——全美成千上万的企业——收取SaaS费用。

So, whether it's a transaction, we often charge a convenience fee, or to our partners, which include thousands of businesses across The United States charging them a SaaS fee.

好的。

Okay.

这些合作是怎样的？

And these deals are what?

这些应该是多年期的合作吧？我猜是和机场公司、停车场公司这些大型企业签的。

These are probably multi year deals, I imagine, with these large I don't even know, the airport companies, the parking lot companies.

是的，政府和房地产所有者。

Yeah, governments and real estate owners.

所以这些合同通常是七年以上的长期合同。

So often they are seven plus year long contracts.

没错。

Exactly.

跟我聊聊吧。

So talk to me.

债务显然是房地产市场的一个重要组成部分。

Debt is obviously a huge component of the real estate market.

你们为什么承担了这么多债务？这些债务具体是用来做什么的，而不是用股权？

Why was it that you took on all this debt, and what exactly is the debt being used for as opposed to the equity?

目前我们的业务非常盈利，我们作为一家公司真正希望专注于推动增长。

We have a remarkably profitable business at this point, and what we really want be focused on as an organization is fueling growth.

这既包括将我们的技术实际部署到现实世界中，也包括拓展到新的垂直领域。

So it's both the physical deployment of our technology into the real world, as well as scaling into new verticals.

到目前为止，我们可能是世界上最大的应用人工智能公司，阿卡什。

At this point, we're probably, Akash, the largest applied artificial intelligence company in world.

我们大部分时间都在谈论生成式AI和大语言模型，这些服务主要通过手机或桌面为用户提供体验。

We spend most of our time talking about generative AI and LLMs, really services that serve or facilitate experiences through the palm of our hands or on phones or on desktops.

我们关注的是如何真正影响数百万美国人的日常生活。

What we're focused on is how we actually affect the day to day lives of millions of Americans.

你们在开发自己的模型吗？

Are you developing your own models?

你们在与这些热门且高增长的AI初创公司合作吗？

Are you working with these hot and high flying AI startups?

你们在幕后与谁合作？

Who are you working with under the hood?

我们有很多合作伙伴，但目前我们的核心技术都是自主研发的。

We have a lot of partnerships, but right now our core technology is all proprietary.

好的。

Okay.

目前，我们每两到三秒就将一到两名美国人接入我们的平台，全天候、每周七天不间断。

At this point, we're onboarding somewhere between one to two Americans onto our platform every two to three seconds, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

就在今天晚些时候或明天一早，我们的平台用户数将突破两千万。

Almost actually as of later today or early tomorrow, we'll have crossed 20,000,000 members onto our platform.

那么，目前公司的估值规模有多大？

And how big is the business now in terms of valuation?

你们的营收是多少？

How much are you doing in revenue?

我们刚刚达到了50亿美元的估值。

So we just crossed $5,000,000,000 in valuation.

我们通常不对外公布营收数据，但我们的营收已超过20亿美元。

And we don't really share externally our revenue figures, but they are north of $2,000,000,000

每年20亿美元？

$2,000,000,000 annually?

好的。

Okay.

我想知道，随着你深入研究人工智能，你的成本发生了怎样的变化？

I wonder, as you dive deeper into AI, how have your costs changed?

我们在这个节目中多次谈到，人工智能的成本可能会变得非常高。

We've talked a lot on this show about how expensive AI can get.

你显然在开发自己的模型，这意味着你对成本有一定程度的控制。

You're obviously developing your own models, which means that you have a little bit of control over the cost.

你不必向外寻求。

You don't have to look outside.

但这是否影响了你的利润率结构？

But has it affected your margin structure at all?

这是一个有趣的考量。

It's an interesting consideration.

我们公司成立于2017年，那时人工智能的概念还处于非常早期的阶段。

So we founded the company in 2017, really early days in the construct of how we talk about AI today.

当我们思考降低成本结构时，我们最关注的是实现我所称的收入协同效应。

And when we think about lowering cost structures, what we're hyper focused on is actually driving what I'd qualify as revenue synergies.

那么，我们如何利用人工智能，不仅降低对合作伙伴的成本，还能为他们的场所带来更多收入？

So how can we leverage AI not to reduce simply the costs to our partners, but how can we drive more revenue to their locations?

我们非常专注于为合作伙伴创造无可争议的价值，这本质上就是收入协同效应。

We're really focused on driving irrefutable value to our partners, which is really all about revenue synergy.

当你部署Metropolis的技术时，不仅要让你的场所——无论是洗车店、加油站还是咖啡店——变得更舒适，更重要的是，这如何为你的业务带来额外收入，从而改变你业务的基本价值？

How when you deploy Metropolis' technology, do not just amenitize your locations, whether it's a car wash, a gas station, or a coffee shop, but more importantly, how does that drive incremental revenue to your business, changing the underlying value of your business?

很好。

Great.

这真是一个引人入胜的商业模式。

Well, it's a fascinating business.

亚历克斯，感谢你参加我们的节目。

Alex, I want to thank you for coming on the show.

很高兴认识你。

It's great to meet you.

谢谢你，阿卡什。

Thank you, Akash.

能来这里真是太好了。

It's great to be here.

好的。

Okay.

本周，我们发布了由我们的消息来源不断向我们推荐的50家最具前景的初创公司名单。

This week, we've released our list of the information's 50 most promising startups that our sources cannot stop telling us about.

本周每天，我们都会预览名单上的一家公司。

Every day this week, we are previewing a company on that list.

今天，我们要聊的是Benable。

Today, we are talking about Benable.

这家公司运营着一个以普通人推荐品牌和产品为核心的社交媒体平台。

The company runs a social media platform that is built around everyday people recommending brands and products.

现在加入我们的是Benable的创始人兼首席执行官托尼·斯大林，以及为我们选出这家公司的记者安·吉安。

Joining me now is Tony Stalin, founder and CEO at Benable, and Ann Gian, the reporter who picked the company for our list.

托尼和安，欢迎来到节目。

Tony and Ann, welcome to the show.

很高兴有你们。

It's great to have you.

很高兴来到这里，阿卡什。

Great to be here, Akash.

非常感谢。

Thanks so much.

嘿，阿卡什。

Hey, Akash.

那么，托尼，我们来聊聊你的公司吧。

So, Tony, let's talk about your company.

你正在打造的这个新社交媒体平台是什么？

What what is this new social media platform that you're building?

是的。

Yeah.

我们是Benable，一个口碑平台。

We're Benable, the word-of-mouth platform.

这是一个应用程序，人们在这里发现并分享各种值得信赖的推荐。

So it's an app where people find and share trusted recommendations, all types of recommendations.

是的，就像你提到的产品，还包括本地服务、餐厅、旅行建议和各种资源，无所不包。

So, yes, products like you were talking about, but also local services and restaurants and travel recs and resources, like everything.

我们的标语是：发现并分享你最爱的一切。

And our tagline is find and share your favorite everything.

现在，世界上每两秒就有人向Venable添加一条推荐。

And and now every two seconds, someone in the world adds a recommendation to Venable.

公司成立多久了？

How old is the company?

我们大约四年前成立的。

We started about four years ago.

四年前。

Four years ago.

公司目前还没有任何收入。

The company doesn't have any revenue yet.

你们打算什么时候开始收费？

When do you think you're going to start charging?

你们会向谁收费？

Who will you start charging?

会是订阅制，还是广告平台？

Will it be a subscription, an ad based platform?

谈谈这个吧。

Talk about that.

是的，很好。

Yeah, great.

我们在公开谈论什么方面比较谨慎。

We're careful kind of about what we talk about publicly.

我可以说的是，我们的品牌合作伙伴以及在Venable上被推荐的内容都引起了很大兴趣。

What I'll say is there's a lot of excitement from our brand partners and the things being recommended on Venable.

比如Ulta Beauty，是个很棒的品牌，也是我们的优秀合作伙伴。

You know, Ulta Beauty, great brand, great partner of ours.