Softbank Makes $7.7 Billion in Profit Last Quarter Alone. IPOs are Starting Up Again. AI Unicorns are Everywhere. Is Everything Back in Tech Now?

So there are a lot of things we’ve made fun of a bit since the 2021 bubble burst, from how weak many unicorns were, to how crazy the strategies of Tiger Global and Softbank were during that boom.

But were they so crazy?

Softbank made $7.7 Billion in profit just last quarter.  So they are putting $1B of it into OpenAI, and a few billion more into other AI and top start-ups.

It’s hard to know for sure what’s going on in tech, SaaS, Cloud and AI today:

• Is a lot of AI spend still experimentation budget?  Yes.
• Does it make sense that Elon Musk’s x.AI is worth $50B in less than 2 years — on just $100m (or less) in revenue?  I’m not so sure.
• YC had a seed investment valued at $250m in its last batch.  Is that … too high?
• Databricks at $55 Billion seems high, but its growth rate at scale is … epic.
• The Nasdaq-BVP Cloud index is of course way off its 2021 highs, but is up +24% the past 6 months!  Are we back?

In some ways, it seems far more frantic than 2021.  And perhaps it should be.  AI may be a bigger deal and more enduring than a short-term pandemic-fueled buying binge.

One thing is clear:  there’s a palpable sense things are accelerating.

ServiceTitan is about to IPO, and Canva, Stripe and many other leaders may not be far behind.

Softbank has even offered to invest in several SaaStr Fund companies recently.  Good Times.