Accel Launches $650 Million Fund & OpenAI Announced GPT-4o, A New Flagship AI Model

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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, fresh VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes ☕! Today’s major updates include -

• Kyle Vogt, ex-Cruise CEO, launched the Bot Company, a robotics startup for household chores with $150M funding.

• Google Backed - Anthropic launched AI assistant Claude in Europe with multi-lingual support after raising nearly $8B at $18.4B valuation, now raising more capital.

• Accel has raised a new $650 million fund to back startups from seed to Series A across Europe.

• The OpenAI Startup Fund has raised an additional $5 million through a special purpose vehicle (SPV III), bringing the total capital raised via SPVs to $30 million.

• OpenAI announced GPT-4o, a new flagship AI model that can handle text, speech, and vision, providing "GPT-4-level" intelligence across multiple modalities.

• Uber Technologies Inc. is buying Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan for $950 million.

• Featured Article : Do Startups Need a Financial Model To Raised Initial Funding?

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STARTUP FUNDING UPDATES

Kyle Vogt, former CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has launched a new robotics startup called the Bot Company focused on household chores, raising $150 million from investors including Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Nabeel Hyatt, Patrick Collison, and John Collison. Vogt co-founded the startup with Paril Jain and Luke Holoubek to build robots that can help with daily chores and tasks. More Here

Maad, a B2B e-commerce startup based in Senegal, operates an end-to-end distribution platform enabling informal retailers to source fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) directly from suppliers. It has secured $3.2 million debt-equity funding led by Ventures Platform, Seedstars International Ventures, Reflect Ventures, Oui Capital, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Proparco. More Here

Aplazo, a Mexico City-based omni-channel payment platform that offers flexible payment solutions and commerce enablement tools to help merchants accelerate sales and grow their brands, raised $70m in additional equity financing, including a $45m Series B. QED Investors led the equity financing, which also included participation from new investor Volpe Capital as well as existing investors Oak HC/FT, Kaszek and Picus Capital. More Here

Summit Wash Holdings, a Palm Beach Gardens, FL- and Norwalk, CT-based membership-focused car wash group currently operating 54 sites, received $200M+ in debt financing. More Here

Monitaur, a Boston, MA-based model governance software company, raised $6M in Series A funding. The round was led by Cultivation Capital, with participation from Rockmont Partners and others including Defy VC, Techstars, and Studio VC. More Here

Pepper, a NYC-based technology partner for the food distribution sector, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with continued participation from existing backers Index Ventures, Greylock, Imaginary, and Harmony Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Richa Mehta, Principal at ICONIQ Growth, will be joining Pepper’s board of directors. More Here

ByHeart, a NYC-based infant nutrition company, raised $95M in funding. They raised a total of $395M to date from investors including D1 Capital Partners, Bellco Capital, Polaris Partners, Two River, OCV Partners, AF Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, Gaingels and more. More Here

Mitra Future Technologies, Inc., a Mountain View, CA-based innovator in North American lithium-ion battery materials, received an undisclosed investment from Alpha Wave Ventures as part of a Series B funding round. More Here

Switchboard Health, a Boise, ID-based creator of a high-value specialty care network and software platform, raised $6.5M in seed funding. The round was led by First Trust Capital Partners with participation from founding investor Route 66 Ventures, InnovateHealth Ventures, Capital Eleven, and Ikigai Growth Partners. More Here

Active Surfaces, a Woburn, MA-based flexible solar panel startup spun out from MIT, raised $5.6M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Safar Partners, with participation from QVT, Lendlease, Type One Ventures, Umami Capital, Sabanci Climate Ventures, New Climate Ventures, SeaX Ventures, and others. More Here

Princenton NuEnergy, a Bordentown, NJ-based clean-tech innovator specializing in lithium-ion battery direct recycling, raised additional $10.3M in Series A funding. Backers included SCGC (a subsidiary of SCG Group), Tech Council Ventures, and a subsidiary of LKQ Corporation, bringing the total of Series A funding over the past 6 months to $26.4M. More Here

MetisX, a Seoul, South Korea-based company developing intelligent memory solutions using compute express link (CXL) technology, raised $44M in Series A funding. The round included new investors such as SV Investment, STIC Ventures, LB Investment, and the Industrial Bank of Korea, as well as follow-on investors from the seed round including Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, IMM Investment, SBI Investment, Tony Investment, and Wonik Investment Partners. More Here

May Health, a Paris, France-based clinical-stage medical device company, raised $25M in Series B funding. The round was led by Bpifrance and Trill Impact with participation from founding investor Sofinnova Partners, as well as Avestria Ventures and Kidron Capital Assets LP. More Here

Ajax Therapeutics, a NYC- and Cambridge, MA-based biopharmaceutical company developing JAK inhibitors for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), raised $95M in Series C funding. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives with participation by Eli Lilly and Company, Vivo Capital, RA Capital Management, Point72 and existing investors EcoR1 Capital, Boxer Capital, Schrödinger, Inc. and Inning One Ventures. More Here

CereVasc, a Boston, MA-based clinical-stage, medical device company, raised $70M in Series B funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and existing investor Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV), with additional participation from other existing investors. More Here

MNZL, a Cairo, Egypt-based fintech startup allows users to transform their assets like homes and cars into liquidity for their projects and needs, raised $3.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by P1 Ventures, Localglobe, and Ingressive Capital. Localglobe, with participation from 500 Startups, Flat6labs, First Circle Capital, ENZA Capital, Beenok, and angel investors. More Here

Abyan Capital, a Saudi Arabia-based robo-advisory company, raised $18M in Series A funding. The round was led by STV with participation from Wa’ed Ventures and RZM Investment. More Here

Roam, A NYC-based provider of a platform for assumable mortgages, raised $3M in additional funding. Backers included Founders Fund. More Here

AimHi Earth, a London, UK-based climate and sustainability training provider, secured £1M in funding. Backers included Nicco Perra, Sam Wisnia and The Climate Planet Foundation. More Here

Plenty, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a wealth-building platform that helps couples invest and plan for their future, raised $5M in funding. The round was led by Inovia Capital, with participation from from Garage Capital, Otherwise Fund, and Interplay. More Here

Canopy, a South Jordan, UT-based provider of a firm-wide operating system for accountants, raised $35M in funding. The round was led by Ten Coves Capital and Ankona Capital, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, and NewView Capital. More Here

Nivoda, a London, UK-based diamond and gemstone marketplace, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round was led by Avenir Growth Capital and joined by existing investors Headline and Abstract Ventures, along with the addition of Canaan Ventures. More Here

Jamango!, an Irish provider of a gaming platform that allows anyone to create and play user-generated games instantly, raised $2.5m in funding. The round was co-led by Elkstone and Delta Partners with participation from angels Brian Caulfield, Brendan O’Driscoll, and Conor Sheahan. More Here

Artisan AI, a San Francisco, CA-based startup building AI employees and software for enterprise companies, raised $7.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Oliver Jung. Other investors include Sequoia Scout, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, BOND Capital, Anu Hariharan, Paul Daverda, Fellow’s Fund, and more. More Here

VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Accel has raised a new $650 million fund to back startups from seed to Series A across Europe and Israel. This is Accel's eighth early-stage fund for the region since entering in 2000, having backed over 200 European startups to date including successes like Supercell and Spotify. The new fund matches Accel's recent $650M early-stage fund for the US market, signaling confidence in Europe's startup ecosystem despite recent market cooldown. More Here

The OpenAI Startup Fund has raised an additional $5 million through a special purpose vehicle (SPV III), bringing the total capital raised via SPVs to $30 million. The fund, which invests in early-stage AI companies, had $175 million in commitments last year and held $325 million in gross net asset value earlier in 2024. More Here

Terri Burns, former partner at GV, has launched her own venture firm called Type Capital to focus on early-stage startups, making pre-seed and seed investments. Burns made history as GV's youngest and first-ever Black female partner at the age of 26, and her new firm marks her entry into the select group of Black women running their own venture firms. More Here

FEATURED ARTICLE

Do Startups Need a Financial Model To Raised Initial Funding?

Financial models are controversial when you’re fundraising. I hope most of you came across this tweet.

Jenny was a Managing Director at Techstars for 7 years and has backed unicorns at the earliest stages. For her and many investors outside Silicon Valley, having a financial model indicates a founder is thinking critically about understanding levers to grow their business. But for others, it's a red flag that the founder prioritizes things that don't matter or doesn't realize everything about their plan will change over the company's life. So let me break down both sides:

1. Why Would You Not Want a Financial Model?

• Any initial plan gets changed quickly and many times before learning how your customer responds.

• You could have learned what you now know faster if not spending time on the initial plan.

• Your projections will be wildly wrong.

• The levers you have may not end up being what you think - the entire business may change.

2. Signals Investors Look For

• Investors look to de-risk by assessing if you "get" what being a founder will be like.

• Signals are: how well you know to prioritize time, and whether you realize everything will change from your "plan".

• Presenting detailed financial projections at pre-seed fails both those tests.

3. Why a Financial Model is Useful

• Jenny uses it as a proxy for whether a founder can break down incentives and value levers in a problem space.

• She wants to trust the founder can quickly evaluate new opportunities if the business needs to change.

• It's a way of de-risking and reaching conviction.

4. Perspectives Outside Silicon Valley

• Pre-seed investors often want a multi-year model and data room.

• In SF, more focus is on backing the right team/market and assuming the rest figures out.

• Factors: startup culture penetration, capital availability, and the density of great builders.

5. The Truth

• Each investor is different in what traits they value and how they reach conviction.

• Know your investor - talk to their backed founders, and read their content.

• Think about the type of investor you want as a partner based on their evaluation approach.

(Check out the original writeup here)

STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

ACQUISITION & EXITS

Uber Technologies Inc. is buying Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan for $950 million, shoring up its control of a key Asian market as it seeks to expand in the region. More Here

Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP), a NYC-based provider of a design-driven platform helping entrepreneurs build brands and businesses online, entered into a definitive agreement to go private by Permira, the global private equity firm, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6.9 Billion. More Here

JanOne Inc. (Nasdaq: JAN), a Las Vegas, NV-based company offering solutions to help end the opioid crisis, is to acquire ALT 5 Sigma Inc. a a Delaware corporation, blockchain financial technology provider, and each of its wholly-owned subsidiaries. More Here

LAYOFFS & BANKRUPTCY

STARTUPS & PEOPLE

Games Global has withdrawn its initial public offering registration in the United States, the UK-based maker of online casino-styled games said on Monday, a day before its stock market debut in New York. The company, which publicly filed for the IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, said it had decided to not pursue its listing at this time due to "current market conditions." More Here

LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

OpenAI announced GPT-4o, a new flagship AI model that can handle text, speech, and vision, providing "GPT-4-level" intelligence across multiple modalities. It allows more natural voice interactions with ChatGPT, including interruptions and emotional voice styles.

GPT-4o enhances ChatGPT's vision capabilities for tasks like code analysis and object recognition from images. The model offers improved multilingual performance in around 50 languages and is faster and more cost-effective for API users. OpenAI is rolling out GPT-4o iteratively across its products, starting with the free ChatGPT tier, while limiting some audio capabilities initially. More Here

Anthropic has launched its AI assistant Claude in Europe with multi-language support, as part of a broader push for faster growth after raising nearly $8 billion at an $18.4 billion valuation. The startup is in the process of raising more capital, has seen strong adoption of its paid Claude Pro subscription, and is expanding its European presence with hiring in cities like London and plans for a new Dublin office. More Here

SoftBank Group believes its $183.6 billion portfolio gives it an advantage in leveraging artificial intelligence across its 477 portfolio companies, facilitating synergies not possible for smaller rivals. The Vision Fund's CFO Navneet Govil stated they can bring portfolio firms together to utilize generative AI and large language models. SoftBank has slowed new investments recently due to tech valuation declines, but still invests around $4 billion annually, more than most tech funds. More Here

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!☕

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