Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of May 22, 2023. Zip Raised $100M Series C

Summer is finally here in San Francisco and I am loving it! ☀️☀️☀️

Here are a few great reads for the week:

• 😋 Join us at AI vs 🔥🍗 Pitch Night - On June 1, watch me devour a plate of chicken wings faster than you can say 'algorithm'. Extra crispy with a side of machine learning! Apply to pitch and attend here.
• 👂 Spotify CEO interview - I love learning about the business of audio. In music, Spotify's agreements with the record labels requires them to pass along 70% of ever dollar earned. Spotify paid out nearly $40 billion to music rights holders since its launch in 2006.  No matter how big they get, they can't outrun that cost structure.  With podcasting, it allows for fixed-cost investments with high gross margin revenue so Spotify can outpace its costs as they scale. Publishing (or licensing) audiobooks may provide a similar opportunity! Listen on the Acquired
• 👃 Artificial nose by Microsoft -  I love this idea.  Can you imagine GenAI for smell?  Smell my mom's soup. Smell stinky tofu. Smell matcha latte. Smell clean laundry all the time! As Microsoft would say "This takes the sniff test to new levels." Read more
• 🧠 AI’s potential to manipulate views - The Biden Administration is calling AI an important priority, and there are growing efforts on Capitol Hill within both parties to draft legislation addressing the technology. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been developing a new AI framework, which would “deliver transparent, responsible AI while not stifling critical and cutting edge innovation. Read more
• 👀  It’s all about transparency - It’s so difficult to earn and build trust with your developers over time.  Bigger platforms like Apple are  doubling down on their efforts by publishing their own transparency report. Read more by clicking here and some fun facts:
  • Over 280M terminated customer accounts
  • 36M developers on iOS
  • 1435 app were removed from the Chinese App Store per government's request

This week a total of 17 startups raised $557.1M in funding, 1 M&As: 

• $135.3M goes to 5 Enterprise startups
• $60M goes to 1 HR startup
• $116M goes to 2 Crypto/Web3 startups
• $77M goes to 1 eCommerce startup
• $30M goes to 1 FoodTech startup
• $5.4M goes to 1 Construction startup
• $12M goes to 1 GovTech startup
• $5.4M goes to 1 Hardware startup
• $12M goes to 2 Environment startups
• $64M goes to 1 Communication startup
• $40M goes to 1 BioTech startup