20VC: Scale's $14.8BN Acquisition: Is Scale a Dead Man Walking / What Did Meta Buy | Chime IPO: Are IPOs Hotter Than Ever | Ramp Hits $16BN Diluting Only 1% | Salesforce, Slack and Dropbox Falling Behind: Are Incumbents Losing Ground

In this episode of the 20VC podcast, Harry Stebbings hosts Jason Lemkin and Rory O'Driscoll, along with guest Garrett from Handshake, to dissect the week's major news in the tech and venture capital world. The discussion kicks off with Meta's acquisition of Scale.ai, raising questions about Meta's strategy and the impact on Scale.ai's competitors. The panel then shifts to IPOs, including Chime's successful debut, and debates whether this signals a broader reopening of the IPO market. They also analyze Ramp's latest funding round and valuation, and discuss OpenAI's $200 million defense contract with the Pentagon. The episode concludes with a quickfire round of predictions on topics ranging from Apple's manufacturing plans to the performance of Chinese AI models.