Stepstone Launches $3.3 Billion VC Fund & OpenAI Hires Former Nextdoor CEO as CFO

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👋 Hey, Sahil here! Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. I've got the scoop on startup fundraising, VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes ☕! Today’s major updates include -

• StepStone Group Inc., a global private markets investment firm, closed its $3.3 Billion StepStone VC Secondaries Fund VI.

• Reddit & Scooply backer - Collaborative Fund raised $125 million for its sixth flagship fund.

• Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) acquired Belcan for $1.3 Billion in cash and stocks.

• OpenAI named Sarah Friar CFO and Kevin Weil CPO, with experience from Nextdoor, Square, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

• Elon Musk threatens to ban iPhones from his companies due to Apple's integration of OpenAI in iOS 18.

• Apple announced Apple Intelligence for AI integration, Siri enhancements with generative AI, iOS 18 with app locking and AI photo editing, macOS Sequoia with iPhone mirroring, revamped Photos app, visionOS 2 for Vision Pro, Passwords app, Smart Script for iPad, Calculator app for iPad, Messages via Satellite, and Tap to Cash feature.

• Featured Article : Coinbase’s Decision Making Framework.

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Startup Funding Updates

Kelvin, a French startup based in Paris, is using computer vision and machine learning to automate home energy efficiency audits. The startup has raised €4.7 million ($5.1 million) in a funding round led by Racine² and Bpifrance, with participation from Seedcamp, Raise Capital, Kima Ventures, Motier Ventures, and several business angels. More Here

Waves, a Kuwait-based online marketplace for booking sea trips, marine activities and chalets, raised an undisclosed amount in funding. The round was co-led by BNK Capital and Aujan Enterprises. More Here

Stake, a Dubai-based startup, offers a fractional property investment platform that allows individuals to buy shares in real estate properties and earn rental income. The company raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Middle East Venture Partners, with participation from Mubadala Investment Company, Wa'ed Ventures (Aramco's venture capital arm), and Republic. More Here

qeen.ai, a Dubai, UAE-based AI startup providing AI solutions to e-commerce businesses of all sizes, raised $2.2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Wamda Capital, with participation from international and regional investors, including 10x Founders, Aditum and Dara Holdings, along with Jabbar Group, Phaze Ventures and Eureka 460. More Here

Alexi, a Toronto, Canada-based legaltech company and innovator in generative AI for legal research and litigation tasks, raised $11M USD in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $20M, was led by Drive Capital, with participation from existing investors including Draper Associates. In addition to the raise, Chris Olsen, Partner at Drive Capital, will join Alexi’s Board of Directors. More Here

PPC.io, a San Francisco, CA-based pay per click (PPC) marketing startup, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by angel investors in the marketing space. More Here

OnStation, a Cleveland, OH-based provider of digital stationing solutions for the heavy highway industry, raised $8.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by JumpStart Ventures (NEXT II Fund) and included participation from VisionTech Partners, Frontier Angels, Up2 Opportunity Fund, JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund, Next Chapter Ventures, North Coast Ventures, New Dominion Angels and other angel investors. More Here

FirmPilot, a Miami, FL-based AI marketing engine for law firms, raised $7M in Series A funding. The round was led by Blumberg Capital and DoubleVerify, with participation from Valor Ventures, SaaS Ventures, FJ Labs, and Connexa Capital. More Here

Whoosh, a Mill Valley, CA-based provider of a club operations software solution, raised $10.3M in Series A funding. The round was led by AlleyCorp, with participation from 8VC, Alaris Capital, Bienville, Craft Ventures, Eberg Capital, Operator Partners, Raptor Group, Larry Fitzgerald Jr., Alison Lee, Howard Lindzon, Kurt Kitayama, Andy Roddick, and Mike Walrath. More Here

Nexus, a San Francisco, CA-based zero-knowledge cryptography company, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $27.2M, was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Faction Ventures, and Blockchain Builders Fund. More Here

anitya, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) company which specialises in customisable spatial computing applications, raised $2M in funding. Backers included Indicator Capital. More Here

Jump, a Salt Lake City, UT-based provider of AI software for financial advisors, raised $4.6M in funding. The round was led by Sorenson Capital with participation from Pelion Venture Partners and strategic angel investors. More Here

Anterior, a NYC-based AI powered healthcare administration platform, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Blue Lion Global, and Neo. Mohamad Makhzoumi, co-CEO of NEA, will join Anterior’s Board of Directors. More Here

Qstay, a Dubai, UAE-based provider of a hospitality and rental investment property management platform, raised $4.6M in Pre-Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $11.1M, saw participation from undisclosed investors. More Here

Relay, a Raleigh, NC-based provider of a cloud-based communications platform for frontline teams, raised $35M in Series B funding. The round was led by G2 Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors including Wind River Ventures and Sovereign’s Capital. More Here

OnSecurity Technology, a Bristol, UK-based cybersecurity company that specialises in Penetration Testing, raised £5.5M in Seed funding. Gresham House Ventures made the investment. More Here

Visibly, a London, UK-based provider of regulated training solutions for the infrastructure industry, raised €7M in funding. The round was led by Creandum with participation from existing investors Seedcamp, Brighteye Ventures, Triple Point and other business angels. More Here

Continuity, a Paris, France-based provider of an AI-powered risk detection platform for professional and commercial insurers, raised €10M in Series A funding. The round was led by 115K with participation from Elaia and Bpifrance. More Here

Tomato.ai, a Danville, CA-based speech AI company specializing in accent softening software, raised $2.1M+ in extension seed funding. Backers included Cardumen Capital, Recursive Ventures, and Gaingels. More Here

Fibe, a Mumbai, India-based consumer app that enables the mid-income group to fulfil their aspirations, raised USD 90M in Series E funding. The round was led by TR Capital, Trifecta Capital and Amara Partners. Existing investors TPG Rise Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures and Chiratae Ventures also participated in the funding. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

StepStone Group Inc., a global private markets investment firm, closed its StepStone VC Secondaries Fund VI, L.P., which raised $3.3 billion in commitments, making it the largest venture capital secondaries fund to date. The fund will provide liquidity to founders, early investors, and venture capital funds, and assist fund managers with structured solutions. More Here

Collaborative Fund recently raised $125 million for its sixth flagship fund, focusing on sectors like climate, health, and food, as well as consumer-facing companies. The firm saw strong demand from long-term investors, partly due to successful exits like Reddit's IPO and Scopely's $4.9 billion acquisition, allowing it to distribute capital. The fund will invest in seed-stage companies, with a focus on addressing changing consumer spending habits and climate sustainability across various verticals. More Here

Italian Founders Fund (IFF) launches a €50 million venture capital fund aimed at supporting early-stage startups in Italy. It is backed by around 100 successful Italian entrepreneurs and aims to provide both funding and hands-on support to portfolio companies. IFF hopes to help put Italy on the map as one of the best places in Europe to start a company, by addressing challenges faced by early-stage founders in the country. More Here

Harlan Capital Partners, a Palm Beach, FL-based investment advisory firm, raised $130M for its Special Opportunities Fund V (HSOF V). The new fund, which surpassed its predecessor, HSOF IV, raising approximately $115M, focuses on non-traditional companies, borrowers, and asset types across diverse sectors such as media, technology, telecommunications, and specialty finance. More Here

Featured Article

Coinbase’s Decision Making Framework.

Low-risk decisions should be made pretty quickly. For high-risk decisions, a decision-making framework can be helpful.

I’ve seen a lot of decision-making frameworks. But I like this one from Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase because it works both for quick 15-minute live meetings and over multi-week strategic decisions.

This framework can be used to decide:

• Whether to hire a candidate

• What to prioritize next in a product roadmap

• Whether to buy or sell a company

• A new name for a product or team

• And more…

Here’s the template to implement this framework and here’s how to use it.

You might think this template looks overly simplistic, but what I like about it is that it’s just meant to record the context around the decision and provide a clear voting framework.

It forces the actual decision-making process to happen through live conversation. And no matter what you’ll end up with a clear, numerical score for the option that you collectively favour.

Read detailed article in our Venture Curator Newsletter….

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is to acquire Belcan, a Cincinnati, OH-based global supplier of Engineering Research & Development (ER&D) services, at a purchase price of approximately $1.3 billion in cash and stock, subject to customary adjustments. More Here

Greater Sum Ventures (GSV), a Knoxville, TN-based entrepreneurial family office and growth equity firm, acquired Kologik, a Baton Rouge, LA-based provider of software for law enforcement. More Here

JobGet, a Boston, MA-based provider of an app-first hiring platform connecting over 70 million workers with brands, acquired Wirkn, a Montreal, Canada-based frontline recruitment platform provider. More Here

Cvent, a Tyson, VA-based meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, acquired Reposite, a NYC-based AI-powered online vendor and supplier sourcing platform. More Here

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

One97 Communications, owner of the Paytm brand, based In India is laying off an undisclosed number of employees and claimed that it is providing outplacement support for their smooth transition, according to a company statement. More Here

Startups & People

OpenAI appointed Sarah Friar as its first chief financial officer and Kevin Weil as chief product officer. Friar previously served as CEO of Nextdoor and CFO at Square, while Weil has worked at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The appointments follow the departures of co-founder Ilya Sutskever and Andrej Karpathy from key roles at OpenAI. More Here

The Turkish competition authority said on Monday that it imposed a fine of around 482 million lira ($14.85 million) on Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab over its failure to fulfill obligations related to hotel searches. The authority said the fine was imposed over Google's failure to address the competition board's concerns over fair competition with other local search engines. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Here’s everything Apple announced at the WWDC 2024 keynote, including Apple Intelligence, Siri makeover:

• Apple Intelligence, a new AI-powered feature focused on personalization, privacy, and safety, was announced, allowing integration with third-party AI models like Google's Gemini.

• Siri received enhancements with generative AI capabilities, making it more natural and contextual, along with the ability to handle speech stumbles and accept text input.

• iOS 18 introduced app locking, customizable icon and widget layouts, dark mode icon support, and AI-powered photo editing features like creating spatial photos from regular images.

• macOS Sequoia added iPhone mirroring, allowing users to control and mirror their iPhone's screen and audio on their Mac.

• The Photos app received a redesign with a unified view, improved navigation, and better organization based on themes like people, pets, and trips.

• visionOS 2 for the Vision Pro headset brought productivity enhancements, immersive experiences like spatializing photos using AI, and expanded availability in eight new countries.

• Other updates included a dedicated Passwords app, Smart Script for handwriting recognition on iPad, a Calculator app for iPad with Math Notes, Messages via Satellite, and the Tap to Cash feature for peer-to-peer payments.

Elon Musk threatens to ban iPhones from his companies due to Apple's integration of OpenAI in iOS 18. 

He claims it compromises user privacy, despite Apple's assurance of user consent before data sharing. Musk accuses Apple of not understanding OpenAI's AI and being unable to protect user data. He dismisses Apple's privacy claims and calls the integration "creepy. More Here

Meta Platforms plans to start using public social media content from Europe to train its generative AI models. This aligns Meta's approach in Europe with how it treats data from other regions for AI training. The move comes after earlier caution due to stringent EU privacy and transparency regulations. More Here

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