🤔 What this week's biggest tech stories aren't telling you

The first number is usually the easiest one to remember.

But it's the second one that tells you whether the first was ever worth believing.

Reading this week's headlines, I kept seeing that distinction come up.

In this week’s issue:

• Mercor's $20 billion AI valuation doesn't quite add up
• Is China's newest AI model really as good as it claims?
• What GoLemon's shutdown says about startup funding in Africa

See you next week!

— Kelechi, Interim Managing Editor

🚀 BIG STORY

💰 Are we measuring AI startups the wrong way?

By Damilare Odedina

If a company says it generated $2 billion, you'd probably assume that's the money it gets to keep. But that's not how Mercor works. The number everyone is quoting isn't quite what it seems, and once you look at what the company actually earns, its reported $20 billion valuation becomes a much more interesting conversation.

⚡️ MORE BIG STORIES

🌍 GoLemon's shutdown says a lot about the state of African startup funding

GoLemon had founders people believed in, more than 40,000 customers, and over ₦2 billion (US$1.5 million) in grocery sales. A few years ago, that probably would've been enough to raise another round. Today, it isn't, and its shutdown says something much bigger about what investors now expect from African startups.