Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of October 9, 2023. Stampli Raised $61M Series D led by Blackstone

Happy Monday! =) 

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

• 💰 AI Valuations are Sky High Anthropic is in talks to raise $2B+ from Google and others, at a $20B -$30B valuation, and projects generating $200M in revenue by the end of 2023. This is at stratospheric levels (200X revenue multiple to valuation) and10x more expensive than $NVDA (19.1X.) Is it sustainable? Meanwhile, OpenAI is exploring making its own AI chips.  Watch Deirdre's comment on CNBC.
• 🛍️ Anthropic's Growing Value is a 'Fantastic Turn of Events' For FTX Creditors - Venture funding talks for Anthropic have ignited hope for creditors of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.  FTX and Alameda Research made a $500 million investment in Anthropic. FTX creditors could have a long way to go making themselves whole from an Anthropic sale though. With initial public offerings still in a slowdown and more companies choosing to go private than public, a stock exchange debut could be years down the road for the AI startup. Read more
• 📺  Latest Hong Kong Web3 and Crypto Policies - I hosted the “Envisioning Web3 and Virtual Assets conversation this past week with Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB), Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) this past week and discussed the Web3 and VirtualAsset (VA) development in Hong Kong. Hong Kong will very likely be the world's first city to regular Stablecoin. Watch our discussion
• 🛒 Amazon Used Secret ‘Project Nessie’ Algorithm to Raise Prices - The algorithm helped Amazon improve its profit on items across shopping categories, and because of the power the company has in e-commerce, led competitors to raise their prices and charge customers more. In instances where competitors didn’t raise their prices to Amazon’s level, the algorithm—which is no longer in use—automatically returned the item to its normal price point. Read more
• 😀 Talk Future of Voice AI with Founders of Nuance and Otter.ai - I am hosting Paul Ricci (founder of Nuance) and Sam Liang (founder of Otter.ai) on October 18. Paul and Sam are the best minds in this space. I look forward to learning from them and hear their perspectives on the current state and future potential of the generative AI and voice technology, its impact on industries, and the ethical considerations guiding its development. Apply to join

This week a total of 14 startups raised $272.6M in funding, 1 M&As:

• $66M goes to 3 Enterprise startups
• $87.4M goes to 2 FinTech startup
• $4M goes to 1 EdTech startup
• $42.5M goes to 3 Healthcare startups
• $9.5M goes to 1 BioTech startup
• $5M goes to 1 Automotive startup
• $35M goes to 1 Logistics startup
• $23.2M goes to 2 Robotics startups