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Aug 12, 2026
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Happy Wednesday! Google's Gemini app hits 1 billion monthly users. OpenAI's Brad Lightcap, who most recently led the special projects division, is leaving the company. Manus says it will soon become an independent company as the Meta deal unwinds.
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Google’s Gemini reached 1 billion monthly users, making it the fastest-growing product in the company’s history, CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday on X. The announcement indicates Google is continuing to grow its share of the market for consumer chatbots that’s been dominated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The search giant reached the milestone less than a month after reporting 950 million monthly active users in its latest earnings report. The company said Tuesday that 63% of users interact with Gemini directly. Some 100 million users of Apple, with whom Google supplies the underlying model for Apple Intelligence and Siri, are active users of Gemini, Google said. Google is vying for consumer attention with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which reached 1 billion active users and more than 2 million businesses on July 31, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said.
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Brad Lightcap, who most recently led OpenAI’s special projects division and formerly was its chief operating officer, told staff on Tuesday that he is leaving the company, according to a copy of the memo viewed by The Information and a post from Lightcap on X. “Over the last few months, I’ve been focused on the next horizon and what would stand in the way of mission success,” Lightcap wrote in the memo. “I believe there are a few important new things the world will need to get right as we enter this next period. I’ll have more to share soon, but I believe in OpenAI more than ever and am excited to help you all advance the mission from a different vantage point.” Lightcap wrote in the memo that he “will be around for the next few weeks.” Lightcap’s role has changed several times in the last year. In January, the company said that Lightcap would step back from his role of leading product and engineering for OpenAI’s business of selling to other enterprises but would continue to run its commercial functions. Then in April, the company announced that he was leaving that position to a “new role focused on special projects,” including OpenAI’s efforts to create a joint venture with private equity firms to sell its technology to their portfolio companies. OpenAI has seen other departures in recent months. In July, its CEO of AGI deployment, Fidji Simo, officially announced that she would be stepping down to a part-time advisor role after taking medical leave. That same month, OpenAI’s head of safety systems, Johannes Heidecke, told staff he was leaving as well. In recent months, Lightcap’s role had shifted away from the day-to-day of running organizations, so his departure isn’t expected to impact teams at OpenAI, said a person with knowledge of the departure.
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AI startup Manus said on Tuesday that it will “soon return to operating as an independent company,” implying it is close to finalizing the reversal of its acquisition by Meta Platforms. The Chinese government in April ordered the deal be unwound. In a blog post, Manus said some users need to back up their data generated on and after Dec 29 by Aug 23, as part of regulatory compliance. “Data generated by some users on/after Meta’s acquisition of Manus needs to be deleted to comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions,” the post said. As part of the overhaul, Manus said users will lose access for two days on Aug 23 and 24. The Information reported previously that Manus’ Chinese investors before the Meta acquisition were planning to buy back their shares at Manus as part of the deal’s reversal. Manus’ annualized revenue rate quadrupled to nearly $500 million in June since before the Meta acquisition was completed.
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Anton Levy, the former co-president and chair of the global technology group at General Atlantic, has raised more than $1.1 billion for his inaugural fund, a sign that he has been able to compete with some of the biggest names in venture and growth equity during a challenging environment for first-time fund managers. The fundraise was Layer Global’s first close, indicating the size of the fund will likely increase with subsequent closes, according to an August investor letter obtained by The Information. Layer Global’s fundraising push will continue through at least the end of the year, according to a person familiar with the fund. Layer Global is seeking investments in companies generating at least $50 million to $100 million in annual revenue with growth rates of 100% or more, according to the person. “We believe this is a uniquely compelling moment to pursue that mission, as AI reshapes the technology landscape faster than prior platform shifts,” Levy wrote in the letter. “With our first close complete, we are now beginning to put that mission into practice.” Levy raised the fund in what PitchBook data describes as the slowest period for first-time fund raises since 2016. Layer Global invests in similar companies as the industry’s best known investors backing venture, or midstage companies, as well as mature startups. Together, just three firms—Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Founders Fund—raised almost half of what the entire venture industry raised in the first half of this year, according to PitchBook.
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Former Alibaba star researcher Junyang Lin announced that he had started a new AI company, confirming The Information’s earlier reports. Lin, who left Alibaba in March, said in a post on X that his Shanghai-based startup, Pragmatik Labs, is focusing on “next-generation agents across digital and physical worlds.” Lin also said Chinese venture capital firms Gaorong Ventu | | | |
