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Larry Fink, the CEO and chairman of Blackrock, and co-chair of the World Economic ForumFabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty ImagesLarry Fink critiqued capitalism during his opening remarks at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.Capitalism has focused wealth in the hands of a narrow minority since the end of the Cold War, said the BlackRock CEO.The concentration of wealth could repeat in the AI era, he added.Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, kicked off the World Economic Forum on Tuesday with a critique of capitalism.More wealth has been created since the fall of the Berlin Wall than at any other time in human history, but it has not translated into shared prosperity, said Fink, who was appointed as interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum in August 2025, replacing founder Klaus Schwab."In advanced economies, that wealth has accrued to a far narrower share of people than any healthy society can ultimately sustain," he said.Fink warned that the pattern of unequal wealth distribution could repeat in the era of AI."Early gains are flowing to the owners of models, owners of data, and owners of infrastructure," said Fink."The open question, what happens to everyone else? If AI does to white collar workers what globalisation did to blue collar workers, we need to confront that today, directly."He urged those gathered at the annual meeting in Davos to rethink how prosperity is defined and to create a "credible plan" for broad participation in the gains AI can deliver."This is going to be the test. Capitalism can evolve to turn more people into owners of growth instead of spectators watching it happen," said Fink.The world's wealthiest 10% own roughly 75% of global wealth, while the poorest half hold only about 2%, according to the World Inequality Report 2026, released in December 2025 and based on data compiled by 200 researchers.Fink acknowledged in his speech that the World Economic Forum has lost trust and "feels out of step with the moment.""Davos is an elite gathering trying to shape a world that belongs to everyone," Fink said, adding that the forum should be more transparent and precise about what economic success means, especially with those who don't feel represented at gatherings like Davos."Prosperity just isn't the growth in the aggregate. It's not just GDP. It can't be measured by GDP or the market caps of companies. It has to be judged by many people who see it, who can touch it, can feel it, and can build their own future on it," said Fink.Fink has previously spoken about how the pandemic fueled a rethink of the US economy.In his 2022 annual letter to shareholders, Fink said the growth of stakeholder capitalism — the idea that companies should prioritize interests beyond shareholders — was a natural evolution of how capitalism can best work to build a strong economy."It is through effective stakeholder capitalism that capital is efficiently allocated, companies achieve durable profitability, and value is created and sustained over the long-term," he said.BlackRock, which manages some $14 trillion in assets, has been one of the loudest voices in support of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing, with Fink often highlighting climate change and sustainability in his annual letters.Read the original article on Business Insider

Emergent cofounders Mukund Jha (left) and Madhav Jha.EmergentEmergent is an AI software creation platform that helps anyone build web and mobile applications.The startup just raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures and SoftBank.Emergent's ARR grew from $100K to $50 million in seven months, driven by more than 5 million users.It was not long ago that building a sophisticated app required a team of experienced programmers hovering over their keyboards. Now, AI has made it possible for a novice with no coding knowledge to whip up high-quality apps from scratch.Emergent, founded out of Y Combinator's startup class of 2024 by twin brothers Mukund Jha and Madhav Jha, is one of the fastest-growing so-called "vibe coding" platforms, already boasting 5 million users and seeing annual recurring revenue soar from $50 million to $5 million in a little over a year.The company recently raised $70 million in Series B funding from Khosla Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Prosus, Lightspeed, Together, and Y Combinator. The valuation was not disclosed."Emergent is growing at a pace we rarely see because it is tapping into a segment that has never been served," Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, said in a statement. "When barriers to software creation fall this quickly, behavior changes across industries, not just within the technology sector. Emergent is early in shaping how software gets created and monetized over the next decade, not just the next product cycle, and its users are quick to share their success."In a sign of how quickly the hottest AI companies are raising funding in this bull market, it was only three months ago that Emergent raised $23 million in Series A funding."There's this huge gap in the market where people are looking for an alternative that can build fast, cheap, and high-quality software, Mukund Jha, Emergent's CEO, said in an interview. "Because the product is really resonating with users, we are seeing this explosive growth."A standard individual subscription is $17 a month, while a Pro account goes for $167 a month.Jha says 80% of users have never seen a line of code before. Most are small business owners, such as a factory owner in Mexico who built a system to manage his plant."They were able to create this whole setup on their own and have 500 factory workers using it on a daily basis," Jha said. "We also had a microbiologist build a whole new audiobook experience where she can import voices from ElevenLabs and create a completely new listening experience to the audiobooks."Vibe coding is a crowded space for startups, and Emergent faces competition from Lovable, a Swedish vibe coding app that raised $330 million in Series B funding at a $6.6 billion valuation in December. There is also Replit, which is reportedly raising funding at a $9 billion valuation.Asked about his competitors, Jha said: "A lot of the other platforms, they're great for prototyping, they're great for demos, but when it comes to really managing the entire lifecycle of software development, they fall short. That's a gap we are trying to fill in the market right now."Read the original article on Business Insider