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1 | Dropbox announced it will lay off 16% of its workforce, or about 500 employees, due to slowing growth. This marks the company's first layoffs since January 2021, and even with the company being profitable the move comes as a preemptive step to cut and invest in new areas to keep up with the pace of change. |
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2 | Replit, the SF-based startup developing a code-generating, AI-powered tool called Ghostwriter, has raised nearly $100M at a $1.16B valuation. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, and saw venture participation from Khosla Ventures and Coatue, with the new capital being used to further develop core product experiences and expand its cloud service offerings.
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3 | A 22-story tower in San Francisco that was valued at $300M in 2019 is now on sale, and bids are expected to come in at about $60M signaling potential wider economic problems in the city. The city's commercial real estate market has been taking a hit due to remote work, with 30% of office space now sitting empty and $80B in loans backed by office buildings coming due this year. |
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4 | A former San Francisco fire commissioner who was attacked and hospitalized allegedly attacked homeless people with bear spray in the Marina neighborhood. The move comes after a 24-year-old homeless man was charged with assaulting the former commissioner using a metal pipe, with a preliminary hearing set for May. |
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5 | GM's autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise expanded its autonomous robotaxi service in San Francisco to operate 24 hours a day. The service is still limited to certain parts of the city at night and comes at a time when the company is operating or testing around 240 driverless cars across Austin, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
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6 | Clubhouse, the social audio app once valued at $4B, has laid off over 50% of its staff due to changing customer habits and remote work complexities. The company noted the smaller team will be focused on building "Clubhouse 2.0," moving away from live podcasting to more intimate private room experiences and chats. |
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7 | Europe's largest tech company SAP has defied the trend of companies downsizing their offices in San Francisco by opening a larger office in the city's South of Market area. The move could be an indicator of the company partnering with OpenAI or otherwise pursuing SAP's strategic vision prioritizing AI as its growth engine. |
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