Axios BFD: New York 2024 Roundup

NEW YORK – College and women's sports, the private dealmaking space, and AI's evolution were top of mind for leading industry voices at Axios' BFD Oct. 22 event in New York.

The details: Axios hosted its third installment this year of the BFD summit featuring leaders who are the driving forces behind the latest trends in their industries.

• The event was sponsored by Latham & Watkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Consensys.

NCAA president Charlie Baker said colleges need to protect student-athletes from "vile and disgusting" threats made on social media, which he says are driven in part by sports betting.

• He added that the NCAA hired a firm to monitor social media threats around major championships.
• "We're talking thousands and thousands and thousands of incredibly grim, vile and disgusting things…which is just the public handle. I have no idea what showed up in the direct messages. I'm sure it was worse, but a lot of it is driven by betting."

Women's professional soccer in particular has been growing dramatically over the past few years, which Washington Spirits owner Michele Kang said the U.S. has "led the way."

• Yes, but: Kang said women's soccer "has been under resourced," and that the U.S. is leading the charge to change it.
• Dude Perfect's ​​newly named CEO Andrew Yaffe said in a separate interview at BFD that they will invest more in toys, gaming, and new content around women's sports and live events.

The dealmaking space has had a fickle past few years with the pandemic and the looming election, but that's not stopping AI from making an impact in deals.

• Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith says generative AI is playing a role in all of the firm's 85 portfolio companies.
• One way, Smith describes, is using AI to analyze contracts signed by the firm's portfolio companies.
• "Massive implications. We just finished our first beta test a month ago and I'm really excited about it," Smith said. "Does that change the number of jobs? Not today."

Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman pointed to regulation as one of the reasons for a slowing deal environment and innovation.

• This comes as the FTC and DOJ have ramped up oversight over a growing number of larger transactions.
• "If you're not careful, the antitrust process can have a huge chilling effect on the entire innovation ecosystem," said Friedman.

Health company Ro CEO Zach Reitano says his company isn't rushing to IPO, citing that the benefits that exist in the private market are growing.

• Yes, but: Reitano said "never say never," when asked if Ro would go public in the future.

Separately, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) addressed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's potential bid for New York City's mayoral seat, saying New Yorkers deserve "people with integrity" to lead.

• This comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has been engulfed in scandal after being indicted last month. When asked about the mayor's future, Hochul responded by saying, "I'm not here to pass judgment on people right now."

Content from sponsored segment below:

In a View From the Top conversation, Latham & Watkins New York office managing partner Marc Jaffe shared his views of the current market, saying there's "a little bit of a reset."

• "Having lived through 2021, the rush to market for some amazing companies who got fabulous valuations, feels like there's a little bit of a reset…There's a lot of money on the sideline that wants to be deployed. There are a lot of great technologies, disruptive consumer companies, who are ready to access the capital markets and I think it'll come."

In a separate View From the Top conversation, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Guru Chahal discussed AI's state of play in early stage investing, saying AI is in "phase two."

• Chahal says phase one has been the exploration of generative AI's ability and implementation. "This phase 2 is about this coming realization that, 'Wow, this is real. The numbers are beginning to show up.' We're talking about billions of dollars of value being created in these markets. Not just an enterprise value, but actual business that is happening, and so that's been really exciting to see in this sort of second phase of AI."

In another View From the Top conversation, Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO & founder Joseph Lubin said the intersection between Web3 and AI is "necessary and complimentary."

• When it comes to specific benefits of AI in the crypto industry, Lubin said "Crypto is very complicated, even reading terms and conditions on the internet is very complicated," adding that AI could be used to translate and summarize it.