|
No, the SEC has not yet approved a spot Bitcoin ETF. It turns out the agency's X account was hacked.
The EU is considering whether it should launch a probe into whether Microsoft's OpenAI investment might stifle competition in the burgeoning field of generative AI.
|
|
|
|
|
Is the investment landscape trending up? Find out when Affinity speaks to 3 top VCs about their 2024 predictions! The conversation with Foxe Capital, SaaS Ventures, and Intel Ignite will cover what their survey of 700+ investors reveals about sentiment for 2024, where firms are implementing AI to speed decision-making, and lots more! Register for the webinar now.
|
|
|
|
| Why Keith Rabois Just Left Founders Fund for Khosla Ventures |
|
|
|
|
Earlier today, Forbes reported that venture capitalist, operator and entrepreneur Keith Rabois is returning to Khosla Ventures (“KV”), the Silicon Valley outfit where he cut his teeth as a full-time VC before joining Founders Fund (“FF”) in 2019, teaming up with former Stanford classmate Peter Thiel in the process.
The move came as a surprise to industry watchers – including this one. I spoke with Rabois in October about working for Founders Fund in Miami, where he moved during the pandemic and also oversees a startup called OpenStore
that he co-founded in 2021.
When we’d talked last, Rabois sounded content where he was. Today, he said the decision to switch teams was very recent, stemming from a discussion with his former Khosla Ventures’ colleague Samir Kaul about the possible merits and pitfalls of starting his own fund; Rabois says that chat quickly turned into dinner with firm founder Vinod Khosla, who separately announced today that he is “thrilled” about Rabois’ return.
To learn more, I hopped on a Zoom with Rabois this afternoon; more from that back-and-forth follows, edited lightly for length and clarity.
Congrats on the move, though It was never crystal clear why you left Khosla Ventures in the first place after spending six years there.
The real reason is really simple. I hated coming down from SF to Sand Hill Road, and KV at the time — this obviously was pre COVID — had a very strong in-person, one-office culture and it was pretty demanding from the top down that people should be in the office at least three or four days. And I just felt that the future of venture was more distributed.
I remember talking to Sam Altman about the pros and cons of leaving KV for Founders Fund, which was in San Francisco; I was like, ‘Am I crazy to factor in this geographic commute stuff?’ And he was like, ‘Look, every single study on human happiness suggests the single best predictor is inverse correlation to commute time, and you’re human, and you shouldn’t be shy about that.’
I’m tempted to believe you, but I also just heard ‘demanding from the top down.’ Vinod Khosla is a big personality. I wonder if that played a role in why you left originally.
More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Moonwalk Biosciences, a two-year-old South San Francisco startup that is developing drugs that treat diseases by activating or suppressing genes, raised $57 million in seed and Series A funds led by Alpha Wave Ventures and joined by Arch Venture Partners, Future Ventures, GV, Khosla Ventures, and YK Bioventures. The WSJ has more here.
PerformYard, a 10-year-old company based in Arlington, Va., that provides a collection of software-based retention, staff management and upskilling tools, raised a $95 million round from Updata Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
PhotoRoom, a five-year-old Paris startup that operates a popular AI-powered photo editing platform, is raising between $50 million and $60 million on a pre-money valuation of between $500 million and $600 million, according to TechCrunch, which has more here.
Radionetics Oncology, a two-year-old San Diego startup that is developing small molecule radiopharmaceuticals to treat a broad range of cancers, raised a $52.5 million Series A round co-led by Frazier Life Sciences, 5AM Ventures, and DCVC Bio, with additional funds provided by Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and GordonMD Global Investments. More here.
Second Dinner, the five-year-old gaming studio based in Irvine, Ca., behind Marvel Snap, a digital card game, raised a $100 million Series B round led by Griffin Gaming Partners. VentureBeat has more here.
Quora, a 15-year-old company based in Mountain View, Ca., that operates a popular question and answer website, has raised a $75 million round from Andreessen Horowitz to build out Poe, an AI chat platform it has developed. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
|
|
|
|
Anecdotes, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup that aims to streamline governance, risk management, and compliance processes for businesses, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from Vertex, DTCP, Red Dot Capital Partners, Vintage Investment Partners, and Shasta Ventures. The company has raised a total of $55 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Conta Simples, a five-year-old São Paulo startup whose software helps its clients manage their expenses and corporate cards, raised a $41.5 million Series B round led by Base10 Partners and including previous investors Valor Capital, Jam Fund, Y Combinator, Big Bets, Broadhaven, and DOMO. TechCrunch has more here.
DigitalOwl, a six-year-old Israeli startup that uses AI to analyze medical records to help with underwriting, claims settlement, and fraud prevention, raised a $12 million from Reinsurance Group of America. The company has raised a total of $38 million. CTech has more here.
Heranova Lifesciences, a one-year-old Boston startup that offers diagnostic tests and therapeutics to detect and treat endometriosis, female fertility, and bacterial vaginosis, raised a $13.5 million seed round. Previous investors Emerging Technology Partners, Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, Sinovation Ventures, and Triwise Capital participated in the round. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Luma, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that is building a generative 3D model that can create detailed 3D objects quickly, raised a $43 million Series B round at a $200 to $300 million valuation, according to TechCrunch. Andreessen Horowitz was reportedly one of the investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Vortexa, a seven-year-old London startup that provides traders, analysts, and freight professionals with data and analytics about the crude oil, refined products, LPG, and LNG industries, raised a $34 million Series C round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with Notion Capital, Monashees, Metaplanet, FJ Labs, and Communitas Capital also anteing up. More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Credo, a two-year-old Denver startup that uses AI to analyze digital medical records for healthcare organizations, raised a $5.25 million seed round led by FCA Venture Partners, with previous investors Hannah Grey VC, FirstMile Ventures, and SpringTime Ventures also contributing. More here.
Hi.health, a six-year-old Vienna startup that aims to simplify the reimbursement process for insured individuals, raised a $6.6 million pre-Series A round. Investors included Haymaker Ventures, Fin VC, and Nina Capital as well as previous investors SpeedInvest and Calm/Storm. FinTech Global has more here.
Maalexi, a two-year-old UAE startup that has built a cross-border trade platform for small agribusinesses, raised a $3 million pre-Series A round led by Global Ventures, with Rockstart and Ankurit Capital also taking part. PYMNTS has more here.
Mush Foods, a six-year-old Chicago startup that is creating "alt meat" out of mushroom root blends, raised a $6.2 million seed round led by Viola Ventures, with additional participation from TKH, Siddhi Capital, and Arc Impact. AgFunder News has more here.
WTHN, a five-year-old New York startup that is building a modern holistic wellness brand rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, raised a $5 million Series A round led by L Catterton, with Halogen Ventures also chipping in. Beauty Matter has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Treble offers a unique value prop for VC firms: we elevate your venture fund and its GPs — and we can also provide direct PR support across your portfolio companies. Specializing in earned media relations across the intersection of tech and venture capital, we empower your portfolio with global visibility and credibility via reporter engagement and content creation. Our 30-day Funding Accelerator Program to publicly launch funding rounds and new funds has opened up availability in Cohort 4. Learn more here.
|
|
|
|
|
The bankrupt parent company of Silicon Valley Bank plans to turn over its remaining venture capital business to a new, creditor-backed company while it continues to fight U.S. regulators' seizure of nearly $2 billion in cash, according to court documents filed on Tuesday and flagged by Reuters. The outlet reports that SVB Financial Group reached a restructuring agreement with key creditors and has the support of a coalition of banks and investment funds that collectively hold more than $2.3 billion in SVB Financial debt and preferred stock investments. More here.
Good Chemistry, a Vancouver startup that is combining quantum computing with chemistry, has been purchased by Sandbox AQ, a Google spinout focused on the intersection of quantum computing and AI. No terms were disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Happy news for deal-starved bankers: Shares in companies that raised at least $100 million in their IPOs since the start of 2023 have outperformed the S&P 500 equity index by an average of 18 percentage points, according to a Financial Times analysis of Dealogic data.
|
|
|
|
|
Mischa Vaughn, who joined the venture firm Felicis 16 months ago, has been promoted to partner. More here.
Bain Capital Ventures has also some promotions to announce: Rak Garg, a former product lead at Atlassian has been promoted to partner, while Abby Meyers has been promoted to principal. More here.
Dating app behemoth Match Group has named Faye Iosotaluno as the new Tinder CEO, two years after previous CEO Renate Nyborg left the company to launch her own startup.
|
|
|
|
|
Humane laid off 4% of its staff and sidelined its CTO. The much-hyped startup, which has raised over $200 million from investors such as OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, will soon release a smart pin whose generative AI underpinnings allow it to perform many of the functions of a smartphone. The Verge has more here.
Bloomberg is reporting that Twitch might lay off 500 employees or 35% of its staff as soon as tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
How Google has reshaped the worldwide web.
Assuming the SEC does go ahead and approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, the cofounder and CIO of fund manager Valkyrie expects $10 billion or more in inflows by the end of the year. TechCrunch has more here.
Fake ads featuring Taylor Swift promoting Le Creuset cookware are all over the internet, showing yet again just how easy it has become to use AI to post phony celebrity endorsements.
Software engineers say the job market is getting tough thanks to AI and increased competition.
|
|
|
|
|
Ever wonder how top investors like NEA, Floodgate, Craft, and Accel never miss out on the next big startup? They are all Harmonic customers. Harmonic enriches
data for over 20 million companies and 160 million talent profiles every week. We identify startups 6-12 months ahead of any other data provider and send alerts when they hit criteria you care about: headcount growth, recent funding, web traffic growth, talent movement, and more. See for yourself, sign up here.
|
|
|
|
|
