On Our M-End "Virtual Route 66" Walkabout: On Our World

On the dawn of the final month of the Quarter, we present the following curated thoughts on a vision of our World for consideration as we look forward to the continued privilege to serve and as we wish all in the United States a restful Labor Day Weekend as Summer officially ends and fall begins: 

Startups to Watch STARTUPS SEMICONDUCTORS Eight Startups Challenging Nvidia in AI Chips Kevin McLaughlin, Anissa Gardizy, Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes

Exclusive STARTUPS FINANCE Digital Trucking Company Convoy Explores Options Including a Sale Maria Heeter

Org Charts CLOUD The People With Power at Oracle as It Focuses on the Cloud Anissa Gardizy

Deals STARTUPS VENTURE CAPITAL Drug Startup Truepill Moves to Cut Share Price 90% as Garry Tan Departs Board Natasha Mascarenhas

Macaroni, salad, or macaroni salad? (Eva Hambach/Getty Images)

Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 35,308 (+0.07%) S&P 500 4,490 (+0.58%) Nasdaq 13,788 (+1.05%) Bitcoin $29,373 (+0.33%)

Hey Snackers, The billionaire-brawl saga may end with a whimper: Mark Zuckerberg said Elon Musk isn’t serious about their much-hyped cage fight and that it’s “time to move on.” Elon replied by calling Zuck “chicken.”  Stocks popped yesterday, with the techy Nasdaq pulled up partly by AI chipmaker Nvidia. Today investors have their eyes on retail-sales numbers.

ROTISSERIE

Grocery stores are expanding prepared-meal offerings to grab restaurant market share Table for two… by the frozen section. With prices rising faster at restaurants than at grocery stores since early spring (7.1% vs. 3.6% YoY in July), consumers are eating out less. Grocers like Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Costco are seizing the opportunity to take a bite out of restaurants’ lunch by ramping up their meal offerings (picture: ready-to-eat salads and wraps). 40% of diners say not wanting to cook is the reason they choose restaurants over grocery stores, and grocers are taking note.  Deli 2.0: Kroger, the US’s largest grocery operator, has expanded its prepared-meal section, offering entrées bundled with sides and drinks. Giant Eagle said it’ll triple its # of prepared meals this fall. Walmart has taken things further with in-store ghost kitchens. Pushing the cart: Prepared-food sales grew 12% last year to over $23B, led by lunch favs like soup and chili, as workers RTO’d in droves. Convenience vs. experience… Faced with competition from grocers, restaurants are launching meals that would be a pain to re-create at home. Taco Bell made its Grilled Cheese Burrito (cheese baked on top) permanent, and KFC introduced hand-breaded nuggets. Chipotle is testing grills that it says will make a sear that can’t be easily done at home. McDonald’s and Burger King have invested in making restaurant interiors more appealing and speeding up orders. Still, it may prove difficult to beat a premade meal placed right by pantry staples. THE TAKEAWAY You can’t trademark convenience…The fast-food industry has succeeded thanks to what it offers: cooked food fast. But there’s nothing to stop grocers from encroaching on the combo meal’s turf. Restos padded their profits for a long time as customers kept splurging on dining, but they could take a hit as convenient alternatives pop up at the checkout aisle.

UNBOUND

8 months into China’s reopening, the big comeback still hasn’t come back Recovery still loading… Many were expecting a huge rebound in China after the world’s second-largest economy unwound its zero-Covid policy this year. Following years of lockdowns, Chinese consumers were expected to come roaring back with open wallets. That hasn’t been the case: China’s reopening started off as meh and has only gotten worse.  Growth = slow. China’s second-quarter GDP growth was disappointing, decelerating from an underwhelming pace in Q1.  Unemployment = high. Youth unemployment in China hit a record high in June, with 21% of 16- to 24-year-olds in cities without work.  Exports = low. Last month, China’s global exports sank at their steepest pace since early 2020 as Western consumers pulled back on Made-in-China goods. The stimulus isn’t stimulating… Remember when the US tried to save the Covid-plunged economy with trillions in stimulus and low interest rates? The effort worked almost too well, supercharging consumer demand along with inflation. China’s also trying to revive spending through stimulus, but strangely, it recently tipped into deflation (falling prices). If consumers start to expect falling prices, it could weigh on demand even further. The deflation is a red flag not just for China but for the global economy. THE TAKEAWAY China’s recovery is bigger than China… US multinationals were hoping that China’s reopening would give them a boost as Americans started pulling back at home. But this year lots of companies have felt the effects of China’s slump: most recently, tractor titan Caterpillar and chemical giants DuPont and Dow reported hits to their China earnings. Yet consumer-focused companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Marriott saw significant growth in the country last quarter.

What else we're Snackin' Grounded: Airlines including Spirit and JetBlue grounded planes and said they may need to cancel flights after aerospace company Pratt & Whitney recalled ~1.2K engines. The disruption could add to an already busy summer travel szn. OnChain: A judge revoked Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail — sending him to jail — and said the FTX cofounder likely tried to interfere with witnesses in his upcoming trial. SBF faces fraud charges following FTX’s collapse.  Ketchup: Kraft Heinz is swapping in a new CEO after the brand’s shares fell 15% this year. Price hikes helped Kraft pad profits, but demand for its brand-name staples has fallen as consumers turn to cheaper alts.  OhWhale: Japan’s refusing to participate in a key Indo-Pacific trade deal because the US added language against whaling. The deal aims to strengthen the US’s economic ties with 13 Asian nations as China relations sour. #ForYou: ByteDance is reportedly working on a way for users to sync content from its Insta clone, Lemon8, to its much more popular app, TikTok. Lemon8 could be a fallback for ByteDance if TikTok is banned in the US.  Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up here.

Selected By Virtual Peter Robot reporters? Here’s how news organisations are using AI in journalism The Associated Press has laid out its approach to using generative AI, joining a handful of major news organisations in doing so. A major international news agency has set out its guidance on using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce journalism. The Associated Press said it will continue to experiment with AI, but won’t use it to create publishable content and images. Email Tweet

Selected By Virtual Peter Scaling Abundance: Why Now Is Best Time In History To Be Alive Despite the barrage of negative headlines, it's crucial to remember that we are living in the most opportune period in human history. This new blog series, based on the upcoming book Scaling Abundance, will challenge the prevailing narrative of doom and gloom. As a sequel to the co-authored work Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, it aims to shed light on the incredible advancements and opportunities that make today an exciting time to be alive. Email Tweet

Selected By Virtual Peter AI model by Aalto University team can predict how to prevent wildfires Researchers at Aalto University have developed an AI model that can predict the best way to prevent wildfires. Named FireCNN after its use of a convolutional neural network (CNN), the model is based on data about climate and historic fires in the peatlands of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Borneo. Email Tweet

Transportation 'Moonwalkers': These AI-powered strap-on shoes can make you walk three times faster The AI-powered, TikTok-famous "Moonwalkers" can be strapped onto your shoes to make you reach a top walking speed of 11 km/h. An American start-up, Shift Robotics, has invented a device designed to be strapped onto your own shoes to boost your walking speed by up to 250 per cent. Tweet

Health A map of every conceivable molecule could be possible with AI A map of all chemicals that places compounds with similar properties next to each other could speed up the process of discovery for everything from drugs to materials A chemical map would put molecules that have similar properties next to each other Shutterstock/fotohunter Tweet

Technology AI-Generated Works Can’t Be Copyrighted - Now What? Last Friday, a U.S. court ruled that a piece of art created by AI isn’t open to copyright protection, upholding earlier guidance issued by the U.S. Copyright Office in March. But just how much human creative input is required remains an open question. It’s also the one that matters for any content company, including studios, and the larger creative community now considering using generative AI to create new material and IP. Tweet

Space A $10k satellite built by students can help clean space junk Space junk is a serious issue that threatens the safety and sustainability of orbital activities. To address this problem, a team of students from Brown University designed and built a low-cost cube satellite that successfully deorbited itself after completing its mission. The satellite, named SBUDNIC, used a simple plastic drag sail to increase its atmospheric drag and hasten its reentry.

We Close out this Month-End With the following: