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The SEC has filed suit against Elon Musk to force him to testify about his 2022 acquisition of Twitter. In response, Musk tweeted, "A comprehensive overhaul of these agencies is sorely needed, along with a commission to take punitive action against those individuals who have abused their regulatory power for personal and political gain. Can’t wait for this to happen.”
FTX co-founder and CTO Gary Wang testified today at Sam Bankman-Fried's trial that the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research had a $65 billion(!) line of credit with FTX. By contrast, he testified, "Normal large businesses have single to double digits [of credit] in the millions.” He also said FTX afforded Alameda unlimited withdrawals and the right to maintain negative balances.
And speaking of FTX, a lawyer for its creditors told The Block that Sam Bankman-Fried's 2022 investment in Anthropic could “make it possible” for FTX to post a “100% recovery rate” in assets.
According to a report from Reuters, OpenAI is considering making its own AI chips and has even evaluated a potential acquisition target.
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Focus on adding value beyond fund performance and returns. Even though VC fundraising activity has fallen dramatically and the market is seeking its elusive “new normal,” venture capitalists are still going about their business. We recently spoke with Jake Fingert, managing partner at Camber Creek, and Abubakr “Mali” Malida, investor relations and operations manager at Alpha Partners, to discuss how firms can succeed at fundraising in this uncertain environment, along with what LPs are looking for and how best to serve them. Read the takeaways here.
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Glydways, a seven-year-old startup makes small, battery-powered autonomous vehicles that seat four passengers and operate on 5.5-foot-wide paved lanes with no crossings -- the idea is to limit the risk of slowdowns and collisions -- raised a $56 million Series B round, including about half of it from convertible debt that the notes holders are converting to equity. New Science Ventures led the round, joined by ACS Group, Gates Frontier, and Khosla Ventures. Glydways has now raised a total of $70 million; The Information has more here.
HyperSpace, a three-year-old Dubai startup that is developing digital theme parks in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, raised a $55 million Series A round made up of debt and equity.The lead was Galaxy Interactive, with additional funds provided by Riyadh Season, SEGA Ventures, and Apis Venture Partners. Blooloop has more here.
Iambic Therapeutics, a four-year-old San Diego startup that uses AI to predict protein-ligand structures, generate molecular designs, and thereby discover new drugs, raised a $100 million Series B round co-led by Ascenta Capital and Abingworth, with additional participation from NVIDIA and Illumina Ventures. The company has raised a total of $153 million. Fierce Biotech has more here.
Metropolis, a six-year-old Los Angeles startup that uses AI and machine vision to automate the tracking and payment of vehicles in parking lots, raised a Series C round consisting of $1.05 billion in equity and $650 million in loans. As part of the transaction, Metropolis purchased SP Plus, a provider of parking facility management services, for $1.5 billion. The round co-leads were Eldridge Capital and 3L Capital, with BDT & MSD Partners, Vista Credit Partners, Temasek, Slow Ventures, and Assembly Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.
Observe, a six-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that develops software-as-a-service observability tools for storing, managing and analyzing machine-generated data and logs, has raised $50 million in convertible debt (i.e. debt that converts to equity) led by Sutter Hill Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Stoke Space, a four-year-old Seattle startup that is developing reusable rockets, raised a $100 million round led by Industrious Ventures and including the University of Michigan, Sparta Group, and Long Journey as well as previous investors Breakthrough Energy, Y Combinator, Point72 Ventures, NFX, MaC Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and In-Q-Tel. The company has raised a total of $175 million. TechCrunch has more here.
SuperOrdinary, a six-year-old, Shanghai-based consumer brand "accelerator" that works with outfits to help fuel their sales growth on marketplaces like Amazon, says it has raised $58 million in Series B funding at a $800 million valuation. Investors in the round include Manzanita, Alliance Consumer Growth, Demira GateUpper90 and SuperOrdinary founder and CEO Julian Reis. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Castelion, a year-old startup that wants to completely rethink defense hardware development for complex systems, has $14.2 million in initial funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lavrock Ventures, with participation from First In, BlueYard Capital and Champion Hill Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Connections Health Solutions, a Phoenix startup that operates crisis response clinics for patients with mental health issues, raised a $28 million Series B round. Town Hall Ventures was the deal lead, while previous investor Heritage Group also contributed. More here.
Electric Era Technologies, a Seattle startup that is developing hardware and software to quickly charge EVs, raised a $13 million Series A round. HSBC Asset Management was the deal lead, with SQM Lithium Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Proeza Ventures, and Chevron Technology Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $20.5 million. GeekWire has more here.
Machina Labs, a four-year-old, L.A.-based robotic metalworking startup, has raised $32 million Series B funding co-led by Nvidia’s NVentures and earlier backer Innovation Endeavors. The outfit has now raised $45 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
️Vibrant Planet, a three-year-old startup based in Truckee, Ca., that helps communities and builders plan for natural disasters such as fires, raised a $15 million Series A round. The Ecosystem Integrity Fund led the deal, while Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Citi Ventures, Day One Ventures, SIG Climate, Globivest, and Coefficient LP also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.
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Atalan Tech, a one-year-old Boston startup whose AI platform aims to predict and prevent clinician burnout and turnover in healthcare systems, raised a $2.5 million seed round. Excelerate Health Ventures and OCA Ventures were the co-leads. More here.
ClearFeed, a two-year-old startup based in Beaverton, Or., that says it uses AI to streamline customer and employee requests on chat platforms, track inquiries, and escalate requests, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) and including 8VC. The Economic Times has more here.
CoPilot, a four-year-old Pittsburgh startup that matches users with remote fitness coaches, raised a $6.5 million Series A-1 round led by Jackson Square Ventures. The company has raised a total of $16.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Genie, a Barcelona startup that has developed low/no-code tools to help data scientists, researchers, and engineers work with Julia, a programming language for high-performance computing also created by the company, raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Speedinvest, with Expa Ventures, Antler, APX/Heartfelt, and Shine Capital also weighing in. Tech.eu has more here.
Gradient, a startup that allows developers to build and customize AI apps in the cloud using large language models (LLMs), today emerged from stealth with $10 million in funding led by Wing VC. Other backers in the round included Mango Capital, Tokyo Black, The New Normal Fund, Secure Octane and Global Founders Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
️Kinetic Automation, a startup based in Santa Ana, Ca., that is building EV service centers, raised a $10 million Series A round. The deal was co-led by Lux Capital and Construct Capital, with Haystack Ventures, Automotive Ventures, Shakti Ventures, Qasar Younis, Rick Wagoner, and Gokul Rajaram also contributing. Axios has more here.
Peak Energy, a Denver startup founded this year that is focused on scaling the production of sodium-ion batteries, raised a $10 million round led by Eclipse, with TDK Ventures also jumping in. CNBC has more here.
Phaver, a 1.5-year-old startup that says it's building a service that provides a web3 onboarding experience that’s similar to existing social platforms, has raised $7 million in seed funding. Polygon Ventures, Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, dao5, Foresight Ventures, Alphanonce, f.actor and Superhero Capital invested in the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Pow.Bio, a four-year-old startup based in Berkeley, Ca., that aims to build more efficient bioreactor capacity through its AI-infused continuous fermentation technology, raised a $9.5 million Series A round co-led by ReFood and Thia Ventures, with Possible Ventures, XFactor Ventures, iSelect, Climate Capital, Vectors Capital, Better Ventures, Prithvi Ventures, and Cantos also piling on. The company has raised a total of approximately $13 million. TechCrunch has more
here.
Prophetic, a New York startup founded this year that is building what it calls the “world’s first wearable device for stabilizing lucid dreams,” raised a $1.1 million pre-seed round led by BoxGroup and joined by O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz's Scout Fund, Spacecadet, and Tekin Salimi. CNBC has more here.
Purpose Green, a Berlin startup whose platform provides owners, property managers, and asset managers with tools to simplify the decarbonization process, raised a $3.5 million round. Speedinvest and Atlantic Labs co-led the deal. More here.
Responsibly, a two-year-old Copenhagen startup that helps companies monitor the sustainability claims of their supply chain partners, raised a $2.4 million seed round. Hambro Perks and Pi Labs were the deal leads. Tech.eu has more here.
scnd, a Paris startup that is providing a white-labeled booking platform for service providers, raised a $4.2 million seed round. 42Cap and Partech were the co-leads. Tech.eu has more here.
Sensigo, a startup based in San Carlos, Ca., that is using AI to enable vehicle service technicians to diagnose, resolve, and eventually predict repair issues, raised a $5 million seed round from UP.Ventures and Porsche. Reuters has more here.
Vera, a two-year-old New York- and San Francisco-based startup whose software will help companies establish and enforce acceptable use policies for generative AI, raised a $2.7 million pre-seed round. Differential Venture Partners was the deal lead; Betaworks, Greycroft, and Everywhere VC also invested. TechCrunch has more here.
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Meet one of the fastest growing AI-powered fintechs. Cleo is the first AI assistant dedicated to helping you live beyond the next paycheck. She understands your unique financial situation to provide personalized advice and tools that a bank never could. Recently named a Forbes 2023 Next Billion-Dollar startup with 100% YoY growth and $72m ARR, discover why Cleo is the future of finance.
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7wireVentures, a Chicago venture capital firm focused on early stage digital health care deals, closed a $217 million third fund, increasing its total assets under management to more than $500 million.
Max Altman, a startup investor and brother of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Lattice CEO Jack Altman, has told investors he is raising a new fund with former Flexport executive Ben Braverman and entrepreneur and former Block leader Thomson Nguyen, according to The Information. Altman, who has been investing for years alongside his brothers, is reportedly raising a roughly $200 million fund focused on seed stage early-stage startups across all sectors. More here.
Section 32, a six-year-old venture firm founded by ex-Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris, has closed on $525 million in capital commitments across its fifth fund, TechCrunch reported earlier today. The Palo Alto, Ca., firm, which now has $2.3 billion in assets under management, says its notable exits include CrowdStrike, which went public in 2019; Coinbase, which made its public debut in 2021; and Relay Therapeutics, which took to the public markets in 2020. The outfit has now backed about 100 startups
across numerous software-driven industries, including infrastructure, cybersecurity, gaming and brand experiences, enterprise, quantum and precision medicine, and computational biology.
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OpenAI CTO Mira Murati doesn't pull her punches when asked about the dangers of AI. "It’s technology that will probably affect international politics more than anything that we’ve ever built," she tells Fortune. "The closest case is that of nuclear weapons, of course."
Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of crypto investment firm Paradigm, testified today at Sam Bankman-Fried's trial that he and his firm were duped by FTX. “Customer deposits are sort of sacred,” he said.
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Flexport plans to cut up to 30% of its workforce as company founder Ryan Petersen looks to shore up the freight forwarder’s finances following a sharp decline in revenue. The company in January cut about 20% of its global workforce, or more than 600 workers, as it coped with falling freight demand and sought to reposition its operations to add more supply-chain services. The WSJ has more here.
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Chatbot hallucinations are poisoning web search. (Relatedly, how will ChatGPT and Google Bard continue to grow if dense sources of information like StackOverflow are declining in popularity?)
Tesla has again cut prices on its most popular cars in the U.S. again, days after its third-quarter deliveries missed estimates.
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Bad news for lovers of fridge magnets: refrigerator manufacturers like Electrolux consider you "lowbrow."
Ten years after the finale of Breaking Bad, series creator, head writer, and showrunner Vince Gilligan reflects on the show and, more specifically, Aaron Paul's teeth. "They’re too damn perfect!" he told Variety. "For a guy who got beaten up as much as he did and smoked that much meth, his teeth would not look so beautiful."
A conversation with Annie Wu Henry, the digital strategist and “TikTok whisperer” who helped Senator John Fetterman’s clinch his win.
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