OpenAI’s Eye-Popping Raise & Hair Today, Hair Forever 4/1/26

Summary

Squawk Pod Episode Summary

Podcast: Squawk Pod (CNBC)
Episode: OpenAI’s Eye-Popping Raise & Hair Today, Hair Forever
Date: April 1, 2026

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Episode Theme & Overview

This episode covers two major stories:

1. OpenAI’s Record Funding Round and Implications for Investors – with an in-depth conversation featuring Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood about OpenAI’s astounding $850+ billion valuation and the democratization of access to private tech investments.
2. The Hair Loss Revolution – an exploration of Veradermyx, the biotech startup aiming to disrupt the $10B+ hair loss market, with insights from CEO Dr. Reed Waldman.

Supporting segments include market updates, SpaceX IPO news, and high-level international coverage on the Strait of Hormuz conflict and its market impacts.

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Opening Market & News Rundown

Recent Market Performance & War Impact ([02:26–06:46])

• Hosts: Becky Quick, Joe Kernan
• Key Points:
  • Major indices had their best day since May, but suffered losses for the month/quarter (S&P 500 down 4.6% for Q1, Nasdaq down >7%).
  • Nasdaq still in correction territory.
  • Market rally driven by hope for de-escalation in the Middle East war.
  • Oil prices down sharply: WTI at $100, Brent Crude at $103.
  • Nike faces sales declines, especially in China, and ongoing controversies and supply chain issues.

Memorable Quote:
Becky Quick: “It all adds up to a lot. They thought they’d be in a better place than they are right now after the change.” (06:18)

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Strait of Hormuz & Middle East Tensions ([06:55–14:05])

• Correspondent: Dan Murphy (Dubai)
• Key Points:
  • President Trump signals possible US withdrawal from Iran in 2–3 weeks; will address the nation tonight.
  • UAE preparing to join coalition to forcefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Gulf states worried about US pullout; debate over region’s stability post-conflict.
  • Recent Iranian missile launches and ongoing attacks; ambiguity about regime change and future threats.
  • Markets rallied on hints of de-escalation but uncertainties remain.

Notable Quotes:
Dan Murphy: “It’s pretty clear now that not all of Washington’s Gulf allies want the war to end just yet.” (10:04)
Joe Kernan: “Iran is a huge country... I just wonder what’s being presented to the President in terms of special forces. He mentioned something called the discombobulator...” (11:26)

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SpaceX IPO Update ([14:14–15:21])

• Hosts: Joe Kernan, Becky Quick
• Key Points:
  • SpaceX IPO could debut as early as June; project codename: Project Apex.
  • Over 20 banks involved, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and more.
  • Elon Musk promises larger retail investor allocations vs. traditional IPOs.

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OpenAI’s Eye-Popping Raise ([15:24–29:27])

Introduction ([15:24–17:15])

• OpenAI closed a $122B round—now valued at $852B.
• Investors: Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank—each investing tens of billions.
• OpenAI shares to be included in several Ark Invest ETFs.
• Growing anticipation for OpenAI IPO.

Cathie Wood Interview ([19:11–29:27])

• Guest: Cathie Wood, CEO/CIO of Ark Invest

• Key Segments & Quotes:

  OpenAI Investment & Democratization ([20:09–22:16])

  • Wood: “We’re continuing to serve as a bridge from the private markets into the public markets... focus exclusively on technologically enabled innovation.” (20:09)
  • ARK Venture Fund was the first to hold OpenAI; it’s now #2 in the portfolio.
  • Now added to ARKK, ARKW, ARKF ETFs – allowing retail investors partial access to private AI giants.

  Why OpenAI? ([21:16–22:16])

  • Wood: “OpenAI wanted to partner with us... to help this democratization movement.” (21:27)
  • Emphasis on allowing non-accredited investors access to high-growth opportunities.

  The AI Tipping Point ([22:16–23:39])

  • Wood: “AI is the biggest catalyst for innovation in industry.” (21:04)
  • Job market: AI as a net job creator, but warns about declining entry-level roles.
  • Advice to youth: “Go start a business with ChatGPT... experiment, just go for it.” (22:34)

  The Rise of AI Agents ([23:39–24:29])

  • Wood: “I see our chief futurist... has four or five agents working for him... it's astonishing… we need $2,000/month worth of tokens so that we can send these agents out.” (23:46)

  Investing & AI in Asset Management ([24:48–26:05])

  • Asset management shifting to passive, benchmark-driven strategies. AI will be very effective at these, but disruptive research still requires human insight for now.

  Ark Performance & Tech Convergence ([26:05–27:24])

  • Wood expects Ark to outperform as tech convergence (AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain, genomics) accelerates.
  • “I think we’re coming out of that drought and this technology revolution, many more people are beginning to understand because they’re using AI...” (26:13)

  Crypto Outlook ([27:24–29:18])

  • Wood: “Bitcoin... has been in a bit of a winter... I think we're in a bottoming out phase now.” (27:38)
  • Institutional adoption seen as reducing volatility. Anticipates less severe drawdowns in future cycles.

  Memorable Closing
  Joe Kernan: “Could be something really risky, like Nike stock at 180, now it’s 40.” (29:18)

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The Hair Loss Revolution: Veradermyx Interview ([31:24–38:43])

Background & Setup

• Hosts: Joe Kernan, Becky Quick
• Guest: Dr. Reed Waldman, CEO, Veradermyx

The Science & Opportunity ([32:52–34:21])

• Pattern hair loss affects 80 million Americans (10x more than psoriasis).
• No FDA-approved hair loss drug in almost 30 years.
• Veradermyx’s drug: same active molecule as Rogaine (minoxidil), but reengineered as a consistent, steady oral treatment to maximize efficacy and minimize side effects.

Dr. Waldman: “We give consistent and durable exposures at the follicle throughout the day... to try and reduce side effects.” (33:24)

Clinical Data & Impact ([33:51–34:21])

• Phase II showed fast, consistent, quantifiable hair growth in most trial participants.
• Three Phase III trials underway—including first oral trial for female pattern hair loss.

Dr. Waldman: “People get visible results as early as two months... consistent, intense... out of proportion to what’s been seen previously.” (33:56)

Safety, Side Effects & Differentiation ([35:09–36:21])

• Major side effect concern with current treatments (Propecia/finasteride) is sexual dysfunction and hormonal effects.
• Veradermyx’s drug not expected to cause hormonal side effects.
• Question addressed: excessive hair growth elsewhere not seen as a major issue so far.

Dr. Waldman: “Here we have a non-hormonal medication. It's not anticipated to cause things like erectile dysfunction...” (35:45)

Competitive Landscape & Future ([36:24–37:25])

• Only oral treatment in US clinical trials.
• Patient preference for oral over topical treatments.
• Propecia (finasteride) effective only in men; new drug could be a breakthrough for women.

Mechanism, Dosing & Safety ([37:38–38:09])

• Old minoxidil: blood pressure drug, short-acting, spikes drive side effects.
• New drug: steady, low dose to avoid cardiovascular or unwanted hair side effects.

Humor & Personal Touch

• Hosts recall Joe’s infamous "toupee challenge" with Becky and the leaf blower proving his hair is real, riffing on TV skepticism and personal experiences with hair loss.
• Light banter about side effects and industry quirks.

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Notable Quotes

• Cathie Wood:

  • “We’re continuing to serve as a bridge from the private markets into the public markets... focus exclusively on technologically enabled innovation.” ([20:09])
  • “AI is the biggest catalyst for innovation in industry.” ([21:04])
  • “Go start a business with ChatGPT... experiment, just go for it.” ([22:34])

• Dr. Reed Waldman:

  • “We give consistent and durable exposures at the follicle throughout the day... to try and reduce side effects.” ([33:24])
  • “We do not anticipate [excessive body hair] to be a meaningful tolerability challenge.” ([36:00])

• Joe Kernan:

  • “Could be something really risky, like Nike stock at 180, now it’s 40.” ([29:18])
  • “I always say: it’s real human—no, it’s my real human hair!” ([34:21])

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Timestamps: Key Segments

• [02:26] – Market update & war impacts
• [06:55] – Nike troubles in China & broader industry context
• [07:23] – Middle East/Strait of Hormuz update with Dan Murphy
• [14:14] – SpaceX mega-IPO details
• [15:24] – OpenAI’s record funding details; Ark Invest’s pivot
• [19:11] – Cathie Wood interview: OpenAI access, ETF inclusion, AI revolution, investing for the future
• [31:24] – Introduction to the toupee challenge & hair loss segment
• [32:52] – Dr. Reed Waldman on Veradermyx science, efficacy, clinical timeline
• [36:46] – Veradermyx’s unique competitive position, oral minoxidil explained
• [38:43] – Humorous closing remarks and segment wrap

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, insightful, sometimes irreverent: the hosts mix data-heavy discussion with banter and inside jokes, especially around personal experiences (hair loss/toupee jokes).
• Accessible but not dumbed-down: guests (Wood, Waldman) provide both high-level perspectives and technical details.
• Forward-looking, tech-centric: strong focus on democratizing finance, AI revolution, and biotech disruption.

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In Summary

This Squawk Pod episode covers seismic shifts in tech and biotech investment:

• OpenAI’s massive funding and increased mainstream investor access via Ark ETFs signals a new era in AI investment and the push to democratize private market opportunities.
• Cathie Wood stakes her case as a radical optimist on AI, tech convergence, and innovation investing.
• The hair loss segment offers both comic relief and genuine insight into a potentially transformative drug (Veradermyx), reflecting the show's blend of business seriousness and playful authenticity.
• Market news, global conflicts, and IPO updates round out a content-rich, engaging episode.

Ideal for: Investors, tech/AI enthusiasts, biotech followers, and anyone who enjoys the intersection of market analysis and real-world innovation.

Transcript

[Schwab Market Update Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and [e-mail] Market Update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

[AT&T Business Wireless Advertiser]

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Sometimes AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Bring in show music please.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on squawk pod Open AI's record breaking funding round brings the artificial intelligence giant to a whopping $852 billion valuation. We talked to a player in this latest round. Ark Invest's Cathie Wood AI is the

[Cathie Wood]

biggest catalyst for innovation in history.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

And a note for individual investors, shares of OpenAI will soon be included in Ark Invest funds.

[Cathie Wood]

We're continuing to serve as a bridge from the private markets into the public markets. Given what we do, which is focus exclusively on technologically enabled innovation, then hair today, hair tomorrow.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

The stunning stock story of hair loss treatment startup varadermix CEO Reed Waldman.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

We haven't had an approval for hair loss 30 years. Nearly 30 years.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Plus the rest of today's news that got us squawking from Nike sales fall to SpaceX's IPO to the complicated and still clogged key oil path, the Strait of Hormuz. Our Dan Murphy reports from Dubai.

[AT&T Business Wireless Tagline Voice]

It's pretty clear now that not all of Washington's Gulf allies want the war to end just yet.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

It's Wednesday, April 1st. No fooling here. Squawk Pod begins right now.

[Joe Kernan]

Stand Becky by in three, two, one.

[Becky Quick]

Good morning everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on cnbc. We're live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan. Andrew is off today. Got a lot going on for the first day of the month, first day of the quarter, all three of the major averages coming off their best day since last May. But the averages still saw losses for the quarter and for the month. In fact, for the Month it was the worst performance in over a year. S&P 500 was down about 4.6% for the quarter. The Nasdaq was down more than 7% in the Dow down by about 3.6% but if you look at all of them the Nasdaq is still in correction territory but barely the Dow and the. The Dow pulled out of that and the S and P is much less off of its all time high too. I think it's only down by about 6.7% from the all time high.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah, from those because that's. What is that since the beginning of the. I guess that's not when the highs were right because it looks like they've all come out of correction.

[Becky Quick]

But yeah Nasdaq is like 10.1% or something.

[Joe Kernan]

Nasdaq was that number yesterday was pretty incredible.

[Becky Quick]

What was it?

[Joe Kernan]

3.7% you don't see the raw number too often. 800 points basically up 800 but it was 3.5% but that was a big

[Becky Quick]

snapback on the expectation that the war could be ending very quickly.

[Joe Kernan]

We'll see from what was all the things that were said yesterday from both the President and from Iran. Yeah seem to be.

[Becky Quick]

I mean the question is what happens to the strait of the four moves

[Joe Kernan]

See the spread reopens See the spread to. From the WTA. We'll look at that in a second because it. I mean it's. It narrowed significantly that had been widening and both came down the ten year

[Becky Quick]

right now is at 428. The two years at 376. If you check out energy prices this morning you will see that WTI and Brent have both come down pretty substantially. WTI is sitting right at $100. Oh yeah. 2023. Yeah. Brent crude is sitting at 10376 73. So yeah it had been. I want to say it was even $10 spread at one point.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah I think it was more than

[Becky Quick]

actually yeah watching this very closely.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah that's what I was doing. I was looking trying to get an exact high on Nike and I complained about Nike for a while. I won't get into it but I don't buy Nike products anymore after the whole Colin copy it just. I don't need it.

[Becky Quick]

It's been years for you I won't

[Joe Kernan]

buy any and I haven't for my. Anyway that happens. People don't think that it happens when cultural things but it was $179 stock so the 60. What is the market cap now what the market cap will be after today it's about 60 billion right now. So it was at least three times that. So at one point it was 200 billion biggest clothing in the world and it's just been, well, there it is. Speaks for itself. Company warning that sales will fall for the rest of the calendar year, led by an expected 20% decline in the key China market in the current quarter. Nike's in the midst of a turnaround effort led by CEO Elliot Hill. It beat top and bottom line estimates in its latest quarter. But the company's CFO said Nike expects sales in the current period to drop 2 to 4% versus a 1.9% gain expected by analysts. He also flagged potential business volatility related to the war in the Middle East. And it's in my mind the, the, the woke you go broke portfolio.

[Becky Quick]

Although they've had a lot of other

[Joe Kernan]

problems along all of them have Disney. You can't blame everything on Disney Target. You can't blame everything. I just do.

[Becky Quick]

Well, Nike had the big problem where they were trying to go direct to consumers. Big changes during COVID But yeah, it all adds up to a lot. They thought they'd be in a better place than they are right now after the change.

[Joe Kernan]

It was the, you know, China's the big problem. Nothing gets pulling. I don't like socks that have cops portrayed as pigs. I don't like kneeling for you know, it was all that stuff. And Nike just said, you know what? We're going to go with what seems to be in vogue right now at the time. And it turned off a lot of people.

[Becky Quick]

It did. But they've also had trouble with China and that's a huge part of the

[Joe Kernan]

problem that they're trying to channels and all that. A million problems at Nike.

[Becky Quick]

There's a lot of US Brands that have struggled in China with over the last several years with the tensions that have built up there too. Also tonight, the White House says that President Trump will address the nation on the war in Iran that is anticipated at 9:00pm Eastern Time tonight. Just in the last several hours, Iran launched several missiles at Qatar. And CNBC's Dan Murphy joins us right now from Dubai. He's got the latest in the region. How are things feeling there? Does it feel like there could be de escalation coming? Dan?

[AT&T Business Wireless Tagline Voice]

Becky, good morning. Well, that's the great hope this hour and this relief rally that we're seeing in the markets also comes after President Trump said the US could be out of Iran within two to three weeks. But in the same breath, the president also pushing back on any responsibility for the closed Strait of Hormuz. And when asked about the strait overnight, President Trump said, we're not going to have anything to do with that, of course. Remember, Trump had threatened allies unwilling to help reopen it, telling them on social media that they would have to start learning how to fight for themselves. And then, of course, this morning, a fresh headline. The United Arab Emirates now preparing to join a military coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force. That's according to the Wall Street Journal, citing Arab officials. It would, of course, make the UAE the first Gulf state to become a combatant in this war. Now, the UAE is maintaining its defensive posture and reserving its right to self defense, it says. But behind the scenes, it's also lobbying for a UN Security Council resolution to authorise any action. And a vote is actually expected on this as soon as Thursday. The Foreign Ministry telling CNBC this morning that the UAE is ready to support international efforts aimed at safeguarding maritime security, but any engagement would need the support of international partners and be in line with international law. What's also interesting is that the ADNOC CEO, Dr. Sultan Al Jabba also went one step further, saying the world must act together and UNSC Resolution 2817 must be upheld to ensure free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. So it's pretty clear now that not all of Washington's Gulf allies want the war to end just yet. Senior officials here have also said they want Trump to continue to press ahead with the bombing concerns, perhaps that an early exit could leave their countries exposed to future Iranian attacks. Becky?

[Becky Quick]

Yeah, Dan, that certainly seems over the last 24 hours to have been the shift here that the US prerogative is no longer to open the Strait of horror moves. I don't know how much of this is posturing, how much of this is frustration with NATO allies who have said that they would not come in and help right now, but potentially help once the war has died down, once tensions have died down.

[Joe Kernan]

A head fake for, for an Easter Raider, potentially.

[Becky Quick]

There's another aircraft carrier that's on its way from California, should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. And the question is, why do you build up forces if you are talking about pulling out at the same time, Unless that's a detente situation. It sounds, though, that there's an awful lot of concern about the. The Gulf states there being left to fend for themselves.

[AT&T Business Wireless Tagline Voice]

Exactly. And that's the key risk at this point as well. Of course, all eyes are going to be on President Trump's address to the nation later this evening. It's going to happen at 5am here in the Gulf and of course this evening in the United States. The question of exactly which direction the president goes is being very closely watched in these capitals. Of course, we still don't know if the president is going to signal an off ramp here of sorts and decide to declare mission accomplished or if he's going to double down and in fact push ahead with these threats that he has been leveling to put boots on the ground inside Iran and take the oil, to use the phrase that he has put out on social media in the last couple of hours. So the Gulf capitals are really on edge. There's really no sense of which direction this is going. And of course, the big question also being asked now that we do have these signals that an off ramp is coming, is is the region necessarily better off, safer and wealthier as a result of this war? And of course the administration would argue yes. But you also get the sense that citizens here, and of course leaders here could easily argue otherwise, given the fact that the president could perhaps be on the cusp of pulling out and leaving the region with not just the Strait of Hormuz problem to deal with, but also a very unknown leadership regime inside Iran and of course the ongoing threat of attacks on this part of the world as well.

[Joe Kernan]

Dan. So I was watching a report yesterday showing, you know, the Iran is a huge, it's what, three times the size of Iraq or something. It's a huge country looking at different vulnerable areas where if you wanted to seize that uranium, where you wouldn't be facing a million man army. It could almost. I just wonder what is being presented to the President in terms of special forces. He mentioned something that called the discombobulator which was used in Venezuela. I'm wondering whether that's on the table at this point still. And I guess we just have to keep it in the back of our mind that we don't know what is in the planning stages and we have no idea of what could be possible. But it's hard to defend the country so big. There are places that are, I guess are the CIA and the Department of War would be considering for some type of operation like that. And I think we may know more about the location of the uranium.

[Becky Quick]

Pounds of.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah, of the Iran, I think, you know, Israel had.

[Becky Quick]

What do you do with it? Put it in a backpack.

[Joe Kernan]

I don't know what, I don't want to carry it around. But you say how do you Find it. Bring a Geiger counter. Yeah, but then what do you guess? Do you hear anything like that, Dan? I mean, there are. It is a huge country. What, it's a third of the size of the, of the United States, I think.

[AT&T Business Wireless Tagline Voice]

Yeah, right. Iran is a population of about 90 million. This is a huge country with quite a, quite a lot of power as well, militarily and of course through its own proxies, despite the fact that we have seen really significant work underway by the Americans and the Israelis to degrade that threat. I think the other question is what will it take for the White House, this administration, this President, to actually be satisfied that Iran has been degraded enough, decapitated enough, if you will, in order to move forward here? And of course, the President has spent a lot of time talking about how we have seen regime change inside Iran. I think the question is regime change to what? Still a lot of uncertainty inside the country and outside the country as well about exactly what the region is going to be dealing with in the future. And of course, the risk of attacks, particularly being leveled towards the Gulf states has not diminished in the slightest. We've also seen a ramp up of attacks in the last 24 hours here. So look, the question of what happens next, still very unknown at this stage. Markets are really taking this in their stride. Oil prices cooling off, risk assets rallying up off the back of this in Europe and in Asia. But of course, all eyes on the President's address to see exactly what he is going to do next.

[Becky Quick]

All right, Dan, obviously a lot happening there and we appreciate your perspective as always, Dan Murphy, thank you.

[Joe Kernan]

SpaceX reportedly now partnering with more than 20 banks on what's expected to be a blockbuster IPO, biggest ever. Reuters says Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, bank of America and Citigroup are serving as lead banks managing the deal, which is codenamed Project Apex. It could see Space X make its public debut in June. As early as June. Among other firms reportedly participating. Allen and Company, Deutsche Bank, Raymond James, UBS and Wells Fargo. Might be easier to figure out who's not participating. But Elon Musk also said something about retail allocations being larger than normal instead of just all the rich.

[Becky Quick]

That wouldn't surprise me.

[Joe Kernan]

I know in the old days if an office, like a Maryland Office got like 100 shares of a hot IPO and then you'd give it to your friends and family, your biggest client. Yeah, and that's why, you know, when they did it a little bit differently. Some of the tech companies like Google. Yeah, they wanted to do a little bit different. The Dutch.

[Becky Quick]

Dutch auction.

[Joe Kernan]

Right.

[Becky Quick]

Right.

[Joe Kernan]

OpenAI now announcing it closed a $122 billion funding round valuing the company at more than $850 billion. Amazon and Video and SoftBank anchored that round. They each agreed to invest tens of billions of dollars. That's one of the biggest fundraisings that we've seen as well. Anticipation now building for an IPO for this company from Sam Altman. OpenAI which has been curbing spending plans and features in recent months as it looks to rein in costs. The company says its shares will soon be included in several ETFs offered by Ark Invest. We're going to be speaking to Cathie Wood, that firm's CEO. You know what else we have coming up? No. You need to. If you're not ready for this, you need to read this because you're going to be. We're going to make you famous again. We're going to bring. We're going to haul out the Toupee Challenge. You know how long I've been dealing with toupee? We're going to speak with the CEO of a company called Vera Dermix. He's a board certified dermatologist. Think of sustained release minoxidil pills that actually work. Think about what that would do for pattern. For pattern baldness and it might replace my propecia and then I could stop taking my testosterone down to zero.

[Becky Quick]

You said that I get to do the challenge again. Are we bringing out.

[Joe Kernan]

No, we're just going to show how long that hair has been a subject on this. This. This stock came public at 17 just a month or two ago and is at 60 or something because of the potential for curing pattern baldness in men and women. Coming on.

[Becky Quick]

Interesting.

[Joe Kernan]

It actually is interesting. He'll be here. He's on set. I beg to have Mark Tease will be next.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Coming up on Squawk Pod, Ark Invest's Cathie Wood. The beloved tech investor has some advice for the community.

[Cathie Wood]

Follow the developers and become one now that you can. This is all about natural language programming.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

That conversation's up next.

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[Joe Kernan]

What made you confident that you could

[Becky Quick]

do something that hadn't been done before? I have no fear of failure.

[Joe Kernan]

Trailblazing women, Changing the game One of

[Cathie Wood]

my favorite pieces of advice Think about what your boss's boss needs.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Leadership can look in many, many different forms. It really does come down to just trusting yourself.

[Cathie Wood]

Life is short and you just gotta think big to accomplish big things.

[Joe Kernan]

Julia Boorstin hosts CNBC Changemakers and Power Players.

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New episodes every Tuesday. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

This is Squawk Pod up and Becky Q.

[Becky Quick]

You are watching Squawk Box right here on cnbc. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan.

[Joe Kernan]

Ark Invest participated in OpenAI's record breaking $122 billion funding round. The company now has a valuation of $850 billion. OpenAI is one of the biggest components in the Ark Venture fund along with SpaceX, Anthropic and other big name private companies. The fund is up 65% in a year. OpenAI will go into several of Cathie Wood's other funds as well. Cathie Wood, Ark Invest CEO and CIO is with us this morning. Kathy, it's good to have you on and I don't know whether to say congrats or what, but this is this this helps allow people that typically would not be able to invest in Open Air the opportunity to do that. So I don't know whether you call it a partial democratization of it, but it's baby steps.

[Cathie Wood]

Yes. Hi Joe. Thank you. Yes, actually ARK vx, which is our venture fund, was the first place we offered OpenAI. It now is up to number two in the portfolio. But the news today is that yes, in our ETFs, ARKK ARC W&ARK F, we've added Open Air. And so yes, we're continuing to serve as a bridge from the private markets into the public markets, given what we do, which is focus exclusively on technologically enabled innovation.

[Joe Kernan]

I mean, they're staying private longer. Some of them don't come private at all. So this is, this is a model that could be used and I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of technological advancements over the next five or ten years where this would definitely be helpful for, for average people.

[Cathie Wood]

Absolutely. I mean, we do believe, and this is not an exaggeration, we do believe we're in a technology revolution and AI is the biggest catalyst for innovation in industry.

[Joe Kernan]

Can you, can you delineate why open AI is the most attractive? I mean, you had choices, I guess, didn't you?

[Cathie Wood]

Well, in terms of the ETFs, it was really open AI who wanted to partner with us and perhaps some others to help this democratization movement. What is the number one question we used to get from our clients? It was why don't we have access to these sorts of opportunities? They used to go to accredited investors only. Really you had to have, I think $1 million in net worth and $250,000 in income per year. And so that seemed a little un American to us. And I think OpenAI agreed. We can hold up to 15% in illiquid stocks in ETFs. Of course, ETFs trade all day long. So we are well under that threshold at roughly 3% in these three funds.

[Joe Kernan]

And when are we at a tipping point yet for AI? You've got some, some futuristic, very bullish prognostications as you usually do for, for technology. What will it mean and will anyone have a job? Kathy?

[Cathie Wood]

Well, first, technology historically has been a net job creator. But you're right, Joe, we're seeing entry level jobs slow down quite significantly in terms of their growth in some, in some countries contracting. And yet I think that might be a blessing in disguise. We're seeing the big problem, obviously entry level in the 16 to 24 year old cohort where the unemployment rate is 9.5% right now. But we think that there's going to be an entrepreneurial explosion. And what I tell young people, go start a business with Chat CBT or any of the other, just experiment, but just go for it. I mean, Chat CBT I think has 2 million developers now and that's up for, that's up fivefold or sixfold in the last few months as they release new products. So, you know, follow the developers and become one now that you can. This is all about natural language programming.

[Joe Kernan]

The, and we've, we've, we're over the hump now in agentic. You think Here they come.

[Cathie Wood]

Well, I see it at ark. I see our chief future at Chief futurist Brett Winton, he probably has four or five agents working for him times doing projects that he just looks in on. And you know, it's astonishing. We started at $20 per month subscription, now he and the heavy users are up hundred dollars per month. But last week we even had a discussion about, hey, maybe, you know, Maybe we need $2,000 per month worth of tokens so that we can send these agents out and you know, do the reasoning to help me get through these projects. It's pretty astonishing what's going on.

[Joe Kernan]

Kathy, don't you think that, that I would be pretty good at managing people's money? Maybe even better than, than humans in not a very long period of time, I would think. I don't know if you want to get this moving too quickly for anyone, it's in the money management business.

[Cathie Wood]

Well, I think what, what has happened in the asset management business is a shift towards benchmark sensitivity. And so I think I can do that. Yes, I think that the shift towards hey, let's mimic this S&P 500 or NASDA and you know, a little bit more here, a little bit less there in terms of benchmark sensitivity. I think I will be very good at doing that. Just like it does a great job at passive. I mean the, the more futuristic you get, meaning you have to do original research, try and figure out how all of these technologies are evolving, the costs are collapsing, how quickly they're going to scale across sectors and industries. That probably will take a little more time. And that's why I founded ark. I feel like that part of our business has, it disappeared, especially when M and A activity disappeared under the last ftc. You know, there was no strategic price discovery. And this idea that investing in the future was exotic is, is something we were trying to capitalize on.

[Becky Quick]

Hey Kathy, historically Ark has underperformed the NASDAQ 100. Do you anticipate that that will change over time?

[Cathie Wood]

Yes, I think what you've seen over the last, well, what you've seen over there certainly the last five years was extreme concentration in, into the benchmarks again the safe way. Tried and true. And I'm not. Pardon? Yeah, actually we're compared more to the mid cap growth indexes and I think even Morningstar has us within the top 10 in the last 10 years. So from that point of view, I think we've done quite well. Double digit returns, 12, 13% since inception, even though there was a drought there for a while. I think we're coming out of that drought and I think this technology revolution, many more people are beginning to understand because they're using AI, they're using chat, cbt and, and we have focused our research around AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology and multi omic sequencing, all of which are converging. And so we've set up our research team very differently from other research teams in the asset management world.

[Joe Kernan]

We had a crypto winner, threw in something. If so is it, you think it's like, like December 15th or like February 31st? What, what do you think? Where are we?

[Cathie Wood]

Yes, well Bitcoin and we follow all kinds of crypto assets. Bitcoin being the leader. It has been in a bit of a winter. I think it all started with risk off and complicated by the flash crash last October. I think that's washed through the system. Now we do have we or I shouldn't say we. Many people are focused on quantum as a risk to bitcoin and I'm not going to say we're dismissing it, but we've done a lot of research on this and we think that quantum resistant wallets are an important part of the answer. And I think, I think we're in a bottoming out phase now. Joe

[Joe Kernan]

and the havings coming up, I guess that always, I don't know, it almost goes in cycles. As a four year cycles it had dropped, Bitcoin pulled back 80%. It's over 50 at some point, isn't it? So is it going to pull back less in these periods at this point or nobody knows?

[Cathie Wood]

Yes, yes. I think what we're seeing now is the institutionalization of this new asset class that has a very low correlation with other asset classes. So believe it or not, in the, in the Bitcoin community, down 50%. If that's as far as it goes, they'll consider that a real victory because you're right, the 85, 95% collapses associated with a very new technology, that's done. This is a proven technology, it's a proven monetary system and it's a new asset class.

[Joe Kernan]

Right. Could be something really risky like Nike stock at 180, now it's 40. All right, Kathy, we appreciate your time, thank you.

[Cathie Wood]

Thank you Joe.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Thank you, Becky. Still to come on squawk pod, go ahead. Joe's hair, it's real.

[Joe Kernan]

The entire time I've had hair. This is hair.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

But many 80ish million Americans rely on hair loss treatments to keep their locks flowing. CEO of Hair Regrowth Biopharma Veradermyx is up next.

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[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

You're listening to Squawk Pod from cnbc. Wait, I think I need to go to Superpower.

[Cathie Wood]

That's not working.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

Hold on. And this sound you hear is a leaf blower in a television studio. We've all been doing this show a long time. Back in 2015, our Joe Kernan voluntarily allowed Becky Quick to use a leaf blower to prove his hair was firmly connected to his scalp. All natural growth. This was an effort to put to bed rumors and speculation to the contrary. But we can't just leave it there.

[Joe Kernan]

The name of this company at Biopharma is called Vera Dermyx. It came public. He's here. Let's talk to him. You can answer all our questions. Up 67% since the company's IPO in early February, thanks to investor appetite for pattern hair loss treatments. Joining us now is Dr. Reed Waldman, CEO of Varadermics. It was priced at what, $17 when we went out. Opened where?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

About 34.

[Joe Kernan]

At 34, now it's at 63. And it's. It's a small market cap still, but it's a mid cap. What, two and a half billion dollars or so? You've got your Main Compound is called VD PHL01 and PHL is Pattern Hair loss, baldness, or in the ladies, it's just. You see it, it's, it's pattern baldness, which is. Is it the biggest cosmetic market in the world to address?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Yes. So this is the single most prevalent chronic dermatologic condition In America. Affects 80 million people. That is 10 times more than psoriasis. Right. Psoriasis has more than a dozen blockbuster drugs. We haven't had an approval for hair loss. 30 years, nearly 30 years.

[Joe Kernan]

And this is like Minoxidil or Rogaine, but when you do that, you rub it on, it's good. Or even if you take it as a pill, what is it good for? Like an hour or it peaks at four hours, then it's gone. And that can't do anything to the follicles or it's not that effective.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Exactly. So same molecule as Rogaine, but a fundamentally different medicine in that we give consistent and durable exposures at the follicle throughout the day to promote hair growth, and we keep those levels steady to try and reduce side effects.

[Joe Kernan]

So phase two and phase three, it's not. You can't get this yet. Right. And it would be a pill. But what kind of those are. Phase two is safety. Right. But can you see efficacy in phase three? What kind of things are you allowed to talk about?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Yes, we have phase two efficacy data. And in phase two, we demonstrated the drug is fast.

[Schwab Trading Announcer]

Right.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

People get visible results as early as two months that it was consistent. Right. The vast majority of people in our trial got clinically meaningful hair growth that it was intense using quantifiable and objective metric. We saw, you know, hair count changes that are out of proportion to what's been seen previously while having good tolerability. We now have three ongoing phase three trials, including the first ever phase three trial for an oral treatment for female pattern hair loss.

[Joe Kernan]

I was kidding. It's been. How long is the show? We did our 30 year anniversary. When did we do the toupee challenge? Because the entire time had to be 12, 14 years maybe the entire time I've had hair. This is hair. This is my hair. I always say it's real human. No, it's my real human hair. Run that video. We have done the toupee challenge where Becky got a leaf blower. And because we had to finally answer the critics. And I still send that to people because I still get the toupee stuff. They get the toupee stuff. So, you know, this gave me an excuse to run it again that you were. You liked doing that and you wish you did. You liked pointing that. Dangerous if you're not.

[Becky Quick]

I still have a mark on my leg from where you shot me. With a paintball gun.

[Joe Kernan]

With a paintball gun.

[Becky Quick]

Close range.

[Joe Kernan]

But. So, doctor, I want to know about competition and other things. And I have, you know, just to shut these people up, I have copped to propecho, which is finasteride, which has some side effects and can doses can be a problem. I guess Rogaine can be a problem too.

[Zepbound Advertiser]

Right?

[Joe Kernan]

Cardiac. And this is the low enough dose.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Exactly. One of the main reasons that people don't treat their hair loss is concern about side effects. In particular with propecia that is associated with erectile dysfunction.

[Joe Kernan]

Oh, my God. You didn't have to say that. Right. So there's other. So if you take propecia like me, you may be taking some other drugs too.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Yeah. And so here we have a non hormonal medication. So it's not anticipated to cause things

[Joe Kernan]

like erectile dysfunction or decrease gynomastis something or other.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

None of that.

[Becky Quick]

What. What are the potential side effects? And the other question is, does it make hair grow everywhere on your body?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Yes. So in phase three, we'll characterize the safety profile, but from a hair everywhere, what we can tell you is we do not anticipate that to be a meaningful tolerability challenge.

[Becky Quick]

Are there other issues that could be potential side effects?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

That's really where in phase three, we've got 1500 people will evaluate in, which gives us the ability to detect anything that would be anticipated to occur in about point 2.

[Joe Kernan]

Are you a one trick pony that you got other things going on at this company?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Right now we're laser focused on growing hair. Right. This is a tremendously large problem. And to be excellent at solving for a tremendously large problem, we want to stay focused.

[Joe Kernan]

Who are your competitors? There's other companies doing very similar things. Or are they all using minoxidil?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

So it's interesting. We are the only oral treatment that is in clinical trials in the United States.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

States.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

And we know that patients prefer an oral treatment because very few people want to put something messy, cumbersome in their scalp twice a day for the rest of their lives.

[Joe Kernan]

In defense of propecia, it's a prostate. It's very effective that. I mean, I think I have like zero whenever I get the like PSA thing or what. But it is a little ironic when I'm watching commercials saying get super T to get Your testosterone high. And I'm bringing mine to zero, basically.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

Well, and of course. And so not only is there.

[Zepbound Advertiser]

Right.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

This impact on testosterone in men, but we don't see efficacy in women for propecia because testosterone doesn't drive their hair loss.

[Joe Kernan]

So they can't, they can't benefit from finasteride. No.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

It was studied in a phase two trial in the 90s and it show benefit. And that's one of the reasons we're running this phase three trial for females, to get that first simple pill approved in the female population. Potentially we will.

[Joe Kernan]

What's up?

[Becky Quick]

Well, just oral minoxidil in general can be used to treat high blood pressure because high blood pressure adds to.

[Joe Kernan]

That's what it was for initially, Right? Exactly.

[Show Producer/Announcer]

So the minoxidil that exists today is fundamentally a blood pressure medication. You take it, it spikes quickly in your plasma. Within two hours, majority is gone. Four hours, almost all of it's gone. Those spikes drive cardiac effects and they're not needed for hair. So we're giving these consistent and durable exposures throughout the day.

[Becky Quick]

But it can lead to weight gain, faster heartbeat because of the spots.

[Joe Kernan]

You think your doses are low enough, though?

[Show Producer/Announcer]

And that's why we give these low doses throughout the day to reduce the risk of those side effects by eliminating those peaks.

[Joe Kernan]

Right. The unwanted hair would be hair on your back, unwanted hair on your palm. I mean, these are certain things that. Right.

[Becky Quick]

Things you worry about.

[Joe Kernan]

Doctor, that was a fun segment, but it's a, it is a serious segment and hopefully I have laid the people on TV get the toupee stuff all the time. It's not a toupee. Thank you, Dr. Waldman. Thank you for having me along. Okay, we'll see what happens.

[CNBC Producer Katie Kramer]

And that is Squawk Pod for today, this Wednesday. Thanks as always for listening. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Tune in weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern to get the smartest taste and analysis from our TV show right into your ears. You know what to do. Follow Squawkpod wherever you like to get your podcasts. We'll meet you right back here tomorrow.

[Joe Kernan]

We are clear. Thanks, guys.

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