Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of July 17, 2023.

Happy Monday!

Here are a few great reads for this week:

• 🤼‍♂️ Databricks vs. Snowflake: The Battle to Power Enterprise AI The gloves are off between Databricks and Snowflake, the two reigning giants of enterprise data infrastructure. In this fight for mind and market share, generative AI is at the center. Each is staking its claim as the preeminent platform to propel businesses into the AI-first future. As tech history will attest, rivalries accelerate innovation, and we could be witnessing one that matches the ongoing contest between Google and Microsoft. As enterprises scramble to derive value from their data, the leading face-off of this decade may be Databricks vs. Snowflake. Read more and also watch my comment on Bloomberg on What Databricks' MosaicML Deal Means for the Industry.
• 🏦 Is the Banking Crisis Over? We Are About to Find Out-  Lenders will sort through the damage from this year’s banking crisis when they report their financial results starting Friday. Earnings for the second quarter will show whether the recent failures of three lenders and a slowing economy are eroding what has been a long period of strength for the industry. Shares of all six major U.S. banks have lagged behind the S&P 500, which has rebounded strongly this year. Read more on WSJ
• 🎉 Celebrating Ripple’s Partial Win Over the SEC - The crypto world is celebrating after a federal judge issued a long-a-awaited ruling in the SEC’s case against Ripple Labs, saying some sales of Ripple’s XRP token did not constitute illegal securities sales. Shares for Coinbase soared 25% after the ruling dropped, and XRP tokens are up 78% this week.  The judge also ruled that Ripple had violated securities laws with sales of XRP to big investors. What wasn’t illegal was selling XRP to smaller investors on crypto exchanges. That part of the decision was good news for Coinbase. Read more on The Information
• 🕷️ Sam Altman’s Tangle of Investments - Altman’s dual roles as both the leader of OpenAI and a hyperactive angel investor has prompted some investors to grumble privately about possible conflicts of interest between the two. Some of them have suggested Altman could get better deals and terms from eager founders looking to get early access to OpenAI’s powerful technology. While at Y Combinator, Altman kept up his personal investing, in some cases putting money into startups the firm also backed, including Reddit, Cruise and Helion. Read more on The Information
• 💪 FoundersHK Founders & Investors Summer Social - I'm super excited to co-host FoundersHK Founders & Investors Summer Social 2023 in San Francisco, and partnering with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) on July 27. Come meet with Hong Kong and AAPI founders and Investors for a night of networking over drinks at the HKETO office. Click here to sign up

This week a total of 24 startups raised $525.8M in funding, 2 M&As:

• $62M goes to 8 Enterprise startups
• $104M goes to 4 FinTech startups
• $8.2M goes to 1 HR startup
• $20M goes to 1 Blockchain startup
• $3.5M goes to 1 Real Estate startup
• $12.1M goes to 2 Healthcare startups
• $150M goes to 1 BioTech startup
• $92M goes to 2 FoodTech startups
• $28M goes to 1 Robotics startup
• $29M goes to 2 Environment startups
• $7M goes to 1 Other startup