Business
Young soles: Crocs are crushing it with Gen Z

Young soles: Crocs are crushing it with Gen Z

David Crowther

Foam party

‍Crocs are still in growth mode. The company, known for its foam footwear, capitalized on its recent success earlier this year, acquiring shoe brand Hey Dude for some $2.5bn. Under the Crocs corporate umbrella, Hey Dude is now itself looking to open a new 730,000 sq ft distribution center in Las Vegas.

Although not a mainstream brand, Hey Dude has a quiet legion of fans, and crucially, many of those fans are young. In a biannual survey of US teens, Hey Dude ranked among teens' top 10 favorite shoe brands for the second year running — making them the perfect addition to the original Crocs line-up, which remains a Gen Z favorite. Indeed, Crocs has a 60% approval rating amongst Gen Zers, some 13% above the millennial market rate according to Morning Consult.

‍A Gen Z shoe empire

‍As we head into Croctober, when the brand will celebrate its 20th birthday, the sandal sellers are likely planning how to continue to scale Hey Dude — luckily they have a blueprint. Crocs became a veritable fashion statement after collaborations with Bieber, Balenciaga, Bad Bunny and others. Jibbitz gave comfort-seeking clog wearers the ability to customize their Crocs with charms (they also weren't cheap). Crocs, once the butt of many jokes, are quietly building a Gen Z shoe empire.

‍Related reading: Websites, apps, and tasty snacks — report reveals Gen Z’s favorite brands.

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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