Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of April 17, 2023. ClimateAI Raised $22M Series B

Hi all... I’m excited to be going to Rio de Janeiro for the first time, speaking on Centre Stage at the first Web Summit Rio May 1-4. Any restaurant recommendations?

Here are a few great reads and lists for the week: 

• ⚖️ ⚖️⚖️ Should the government regulate AI?  - If you invent a novel drug, you need the government to vet and approve it (FDA) before you can commercialize it. If you create a new security, you need the government to vet and approve it (SEC) before you can commercialize it. More generally, when you create things with broad societal impact (positive and negative) the government creates a layer of review and approval.  Should the government regulate AI deployment?  I don't think the government should regulate AI but I do think an AppStore-like approval process would make sense before specific models are deployed and made available to the public. Interesting debate started by Chamath.  
• 📱📱📱 Solana Saga Mobile Launched on April 13 - Solana hosted a beautiful Apple-like launch event for its launch of Solana Saga Mobile in San Francisco this week. I am particularly excited about Saga's Seed Vault and Solana dApps store features. Check out my photos and video. 
• 📜📜📜 The SEC may be coming for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) -  The SEC reopened a proposal from last year that would now explicitly target platforms for those crypto transactions as exchanges that need to be regulated. “Calling yourself a DeFi platform is not an excuse to defy the securities laws,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said on April 14.  SEC isn't looking to actually define DeFi in the rule, according to SEC officials, but will evaluate each situation by how that activity is being handled, including whether there's an intermediary and exactly what service that intermediary is providing. Read more
• 📊📊📊 Why Enterprise Data Should be a Top Investment Priority in 2023 - Enterprise IT spending is recession-proof,” with worldwide IT spending expected to reach $4.6 trillion in 2023, up 5.1% since 2022. Data is king – but it’s the ability to turn data insights into action that opens the door to innovation. The impact of data-first modernization will differ from vertical to vertical but can have an immense impact on business and society as a whole. Companies are not going to stop investing in tech any time soon – in fact, downturns are those times when so many have broken away with new innovations. Read more
• ⌛⌛⌛ When by Daniel Pink - I really enjoy listening to this book by Daniel Pink =)  Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don’t know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of “when” decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork. Check it out

This week a total of 8 startups raised $81.7M in funding, 0 M&As:

• $11.7M goes to 2 Enterprise startups
• $6M goes to 1 FinTech startup
• $8M goes to 1 Web3/Crypto startup
• $10M goes to 1 Marketplace startup
• $13M goes to 1 Construction startup
• $33M goes to 2 Climate Change startups