Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of August 7, 2023. Nile Raised $175M Series C

Loving the beautiful August weather of Silicon Valley! 

Here are a few great reads, watch, etc for this week:

• 📈  How TPG and Francisco Partners Negotiated the New Relic Deal Down to $6.5 Billion - Two buyout firms saved hundreds of millions of dollars in their $6.5 billion deal to buy New Relic by walking away from negotiations in May and then returning two months later with a lower offer. To aid the deal's financing, New Relic's founder and Executive Chairman Lew Cirne, who owns 10.3% of the company, agreed to roll 40% of his stake into the deal rather than cash out. New Relic, an anagram of Cirne's full name, develops cloud-based software to help websites and application owners track the performance of their services. To make sure it is not missing out on a better deal with another potential acquirer, New Relic negotiated a 45-day 'go-shop' period, during which it will be allowed to engage in deal discussions with other parties. If it finds a better deal, it will have to pay Francisco Partners and TPG a $98 million break-up fee to terminate their contract. Read more
• 📺 Why AI is such a hot-button issue in Hollywood? AntGPT can now anticipate an actor's future actions (e.g. mix eggs) by knowing what commonly happens after his or her action (e.g. crack eggs) and the ultimate goal of the actor (e.g. making egg fried rice). The ability to predict an actor's future behavior from video observations is coming. And this is why AI has surged to the forefront of Hollywood’s labor fights. SAG-AFTRA is taking steps to educate actors on how to protect the digital likeness, voice, and performance simulations of its members. Even SEC chair Gary Gensler pivots agency’s attention to AI.  Can we regulate AI fast enough for Hollywood?
• ✏️ Why VCs don't sign NDAs? VCs invest in about 1% of the investments they see. The sheer volume of pitches means that naturally, any one firm is going to see a lot of competing investment opportunities, and multiple companies working on similar ideas. Signing an NDA with any one company would create an unwelcome liability overhang, for no commensurate benefit. Read more
• 🌱 Microsoft is the Biggest GenAI Competitor for All Startups -  I honestly think the biggest winner so far for the 2023 Generative AI wave is Microsoft. The Azure OpenAI service now has more than 11,000 customers, up from 4,500 in May. Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood explained that the expected revenue boost from AI developments will be seen in the second half of the 2024 fiscal year. Don't forget they also signed partnership with Meta's Llama 2. Read more
• 📱 The Year Blackberry Lost its "CrackBerry" Status was 2008 when the iPhone Came Out - It's hard to imagine that at its peak, Blackberry owned over 50% of the US mobile phone market share and 20% of the global phone market, sold over 50 million devices a year and it was valued over $60B in market cap. I truly enjoy the "BlackBerry" movie. Check it out

This week a total of 12 startups raised $527.3M in funding, 2 M&As:

• $345.3M goes to 8 Enterprise startups
• $8M goes to 1 InsurTech startup
• $60M goes to 1 BioTech startup
• $110M goes to 1 Automobile startup
• $4M goes to 1 Marketplace startup