Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of July 3, 2023. Inflection AI Raised $1.3B

Happy 4th!

Congrats to Databricks (a Race Capital company) for acquiring MosaicML for $1.3 billion!  Databricks did 3 acquisitions in the past 60 days including Okera (AI data governance), Rubicon (AI storage) and MosaicML (LLM). They are definitely on a roll!

Here are a few great reads for the week:

• 🦄 X 3000 = 🍎 - It took Apple less than two years to reach a $3 trillion market cap this after topping $2 trillion for the first time in August 2021. And now there are officially six trillion dollar companies in the world:
  • Apple - $3T
  • Microsoft - $2.5T
  • Aramco - $2T 
  • Alphabet - $1.5T
  • Amazon  - $1.3T
  • Nvidia - $1T
• 💰 $1.3 Billion is the Magic Number  - After Databricks acquired MosaicML for $1.3 billion then Inflection AI raised $1.3B from Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Reid Hoffman. When it comes to AI, billion is the lowest common denominator.
• 👭 How to Find a Co-Founder - Watch my talk at Collision on the topic of co-founder relationships. Here is what I look for:
  • Why do they come together as co-founders
  • What is their history working together
  • Who is doing what
  • Do they have a shared consistent value, mission & vision
  • Do they have complementary skill sets, network & temperament?
• 🚫 No Chip for You / China  - The US Commerce Department is considering new export restrictions to make shipping Nvidia chips to China even harder. The regulations would require Chinese customers to obtain a license before any shipment is authorized. But Chinese buyers still want their chips — and they are sourcing them via a flourishing underground market. Surprised to see find A100 chip advertising on Douyin 抖音 (TikTok’s Chinese version) or Xiaohongshu 小红书 (Instagram of China).

This week a total of 19 startups raised $2.1B in funding, 3 M&As: 

• $1.8B goes to 10 Enterprise startups
• $5M goes to 1 FinTech startup
• $25M goes to 1 InsurTech startup
• $109.1M goes to 3 HealthTech startups
• $7.5M goes to 1 BioTech startup
• $9M goes to 1 Environment startup
• $20M goes to 1 Logistics startup
• $26M goes to 1 SpaceTech  startup