🕶️ Meta’s big brain drain: who’s still left to build the robots?

Sweden’s favorite BNPL unicorn is dusting off its IPO plans, aiming to scoop up to $1.27B at a $14B valuation—a far cry from its $45B peak, but a comeback most fintechs would envy.

The listing could set a fresh benchmark for embattled payment innovators (see: 2022’s massacre), with investors betting that a post-ZIRP era still has room for customer-first, pay-later models. If public markets bite, it might just kick-start a new cycle for late-stage European tech in search of liquidity and relevance.

If the $14B mark holds, the deal will test whether Wall Street’s appetite for recovering fintech giants is back—or if skeptics will demand more proof that profits can outpace default rates.

Institutional investors back startups to unlock outsized returns. Regular investors have to wait. But not anymore. Thanks to regulatory updates, some companies are doing things differently.

Take Revolut. In 2016, 433 regular people invested an average of $2,730. Today? They got a 400X buyout offer from the company, as Revolut’s valuation increased 89,900% in the same timeframe.

No wonder 10K+ everyday people are taking the chance on Pacaso.

Founded by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso’s co-ownership tech reshapes the $1.3T vacation home market. They’ve earned $110M+ in gross profit to date, including 41% YoY growth in 2024 alone. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

The same institutional investors behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay backed Pacaso. And you can join them. But not for long. Pacaso’s investment opportunity ends September 18.

Invest While You Still Can

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}

Meta’s AI brain trust is springing leaks, as top researchers jump ship from its new superintelligence lab, raising eyebrows just weeks after launch.

The talent exodus highlights a bigger headache: building AGI isn’t just about compute or GPUs, but wrangling the elite talent pool that Google and OpenAI have on speed dial. Every resignation stirs fresh doubts about Big Tech’s moonshot labs actually holding a monopoly on genius—or if recruiting the best minds will increasingly look like fantasy football.

Meanwhile, dark money groups bankrolling political influencers are now a subplot, showing how influence games are getting ever murkier. For founders betting on regulation light-years behind tech, the stakes just went up.