Startup News: Elon Musk's The Boring Company has reported $7 billion value

For a man who has founded companies that are on the cutting edge of electric vehicle manufacturing and commercial space travel, a venture that simply constructs high-tech tunnels and other infrastructure projects may seem fairly ordinary by comparison.

But while companies like Tesla and SpaceX are capturing the world’s imagination, one shouldn’t ignore another of Elon Musk’s ventures, The Boring Company.

According to the tech-news site, The Information, The Boring Company has sold shares owned by employees and investors at a price that gives the tunnel construction company an implied value of over $7 billion “and suggests investors have felt that the company’s prospects have improved, despite setbacks in key projects.”

This new valuation represents at least a 23% jump over the $5.68 billion the company was valued at in April 2022 following a Series C funding round led by Vy Capital and Sequoia Capital. The stock sale priced shares at around $24 each, two sources told The Information, compared with the $19 a share price at the time of the Series C round.

Founded by Musk in 2016, The Boring Company has so far completed several ambitious projects including the Las Vegas Convention Center and the adjoining LVCC Loop, which is a three-trainstation transportation system made up of almost two miles of tunnels.

The company is headquartered in Bastrop, Texas, a suburb of Austin.

More details emerge about OpenAI’s plan to triple valuation

In late September, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI, a generative AI startup, was in talks about a sale of existing shares at a price that would effectively value the company at $80 billion to $90 billion, roughly triple its level set earlier this year.

But fresh reporting last week from the The New York Times revealed that OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, would sell existing shares in a so-called tender offer led by the venture firm Thrive Capital that would make OpenAI the most valuable startup in the San Francisco area at $80 billion or more. Such a valuation would also make the company among a handful of the most valuable startups in the world.

The Times reports that San Francisco-based OpenAI is not issuing new shares, adding that the deal would allow the company’s employees to sell their existing shares.

Databricks acquires Arcion to enhance its product offering

Databricks, the data analytics provider that was recently valued at $43 billion, is making an acquisition designed to enhance its services to corporate clients.

In an interview with CNBC last week, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said that his company has agreed to acquire Arcion, an enterprise data company, for $100 million. While Databricks’ chief product is a data analytics tool, Ghodsi told CNBC that there is no data for the platform to analyze when a client signs up. Once Databricks integrates Arcion’s technology, it should be much easier for clients to add their data from software systems such as Salesforce, Workday, and Oracle, Ghodsi said. In February 2022, Databricks invested in Arcion’s $13 million Series A round.

Databricks, which is based in San Francisco, received its $43 billion valuation in September 2023 following a $500 million funding.