Alphabet Is Reportedly Buying Hubspot & Google May Monetize AI Search Engine

👋 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!

• Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is in talks with its advisors about making a potential offer to acquire HubSpot.

• Apple has laid off over 600 employees in California as part of strategic decisions to end its car and smartwatch display projects.

• Google may charge for premium features on its AI search engine, possibly integrating them into subscription services like Gemini AI.

• Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's fintech startup Navi is in talks to raise $200-400 million at a valuation of $2 billion.

• Featured Article : How Do Investors Protect Themselves From Downround ?

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Startup Funding Updates

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's fintech startup Navi is in talks to raise $200-400 million at a valuation of $2 billion, marking its first major external funding round since 2018. Despite setbacks, including a rejected banking license, Bansal aims to revive plans for an IPO and potentially transition Navi into a bank in the future. More Here

SiMa.ai, a San Jose, CA-based software-centric, embedded edge machine learning system-on-chip company, raised $70M in funding. The round was led by Maverick Capital, with participation from Point72 and Jericho, as well as existing investors Amplify Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, Lip-Bu Tan and others. More Here

Lambda, a San Jose, Calif.-based GPU cloud company powered by NVIDIA GPUs, secured a special purpose GPU financing vehicle of up to $500m. The financing was led by Macquarie Group with participation from Industrial Development Funding. More Here

Coalesce.io, a San Francisco, CA-based data transformation company, raised $50M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $81M, was led by Industry Ventures and Emergence Capital, with participation from 11.2 Capital, Bob Muglia, DNX Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures, Hyperlink Ventures, Next Legacy Partners, Snowflake Ventures, and Telstra Ventures. More Here

Zeepay, an Accra, Ghana-based fintech company, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding. The round was led by Africa50, Oikocredit, Injaro Ghana Venture Capital Fund (IGVCF) and Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, with an investment from Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P). More Here

Völur, an Oslo, Norway-based global software company that develops AI technology to optimize the meat industry and make it more sustainable, raised $2.85M in funding. Backers included Serra Ventures, York IE, Saria, and existing investors Idékapital, Fusion Fund, and Fortress Fund. More Here

Pigment, a London, UK-based company providing a business planning platform, raised $145M in Series D funding. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with participation from Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners as well as other existing investors including IVP, Meritech, Greenoaks and Felix Capital. More Here

Full Glass Wine Co., a Los Angeles, CA-based brand acquisition and management firm focused on direct-to-consumer wine companies, closed a $14m Series A funding round. The round was led by led by Shea Ventures. More Here

Ion Clean Energy, a Boulder, CO-based carbon dioxide capture technologies provider, raised $45M in funding. Backers included Chevron New Energies (CNE) and Carbon Direct Capital. More Here

Ellipsis Labs, a NYC-based company that develops the on-chain Phoenix exchange, raised $20m in Series A funding. The round was led by Paradigm with participation from Electric Capital. More Here

Aerospike, a Mountain View, CA-based provider of real-time vector and graph databases, raised $109M in growth funding. Backers included Sumeru Equity Partners with additional investment from existing investor Alsop Louie Partners. George Kadifa, Sumeru Co-Founder and Managing Director, will also join Aerospike’s board as part of the transaction. More Here

Lirvana Labs, a Menlo Park, CA-based creator of the a learning companion app for preschool to elementary grade children, raised $5.3M in early-stage financing. The round was led by Kapor Capital III, Transcend Capital Partners II, and Chingona Ventures. More Here

Hello Alice, a Houston, TX-based fintech platform connecting small businesses to capital, connections and opportunities, closed a Series C funding round, bringing their valuation to $130m. Backers included QED Investors, Mastercard, Backstage Capital, Guy Fieri, Golden Seeds, Harbert Growth Partners Fund, How Women Invest I, LP, Lovell Limited Partnership, Tyler “Ninja” and Jessica Blevins, and Tamera Mowry and Adam Housley. More Here

Ivo, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a generative AI-powered contract review solution, raised $4.8M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $6.2M, was led by Uncork Capital and Fika Ventures, with participation from previous investors Daniel Gross, GD1, and Phase One Ventures. More Here

Manifold, a Newton, MA-based provider of an AI-powered clinical research platform, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from new investors Calibrate Ventures and SK Ventures, Dr. Sachin H. Jain, and existing investors including TTCER Partners. More Here

Biolinq, a San Diego, CA-based healthcare technology company, raised $58M in funding. The round was led by Alpha Wave Ventures, with participation from Niterra’s corporate venture capital fund jointly operated with Pegasus Tech Ventures and existing investors RiverVest Venture Partners, AXA IM Alts, Global Health Investment Corporation, Aphelion Capital, Senvest Management, Features Capital and Taisho Pharmaceutical. More Here

DOS Labs, a Tortola, British Virgin Islands-based developer and publisher behind the battle royale game MetaDOS, raised $2.45M in funding. The round was led by Kangaroo Capital, AZA Ventures, Brainbox, GD10 Capital, and Avalon Wealth Club. More Here

EnteroBiotix, a Glasgow, Scotland, UK-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised £27M in funding. The financing, which comprises £15.7m of new equity and the conversion of £11.6m of loan notes into equity came from Thairm Bio and Kineticos Life Sciences, as well as the Scottish National Investment Bank. More Here

Diagonal Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company developing new approach to discovering agonist antibodies, raised $128M in funding. The round was co-led by BVF Partners and Atlas Venture, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences, Viking Global Investors, Velosity Capital, and Checkpoint Capital. More Here

Neurosterix, a Geneva, Switzerland-based company focused on developing allosteric modulators for the treatment of underserved neurological disorders, raised $63M in initial funding. The round was led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund II, with participation from Perceptive Life Sciences Fund and Acorn Bioventures. More Here

Eirene, a Toronto, Canada-based online funeral services provider, raised over $4M in Seed funding. The round, which brought Eirene’s total funding to $5m, was led by Relay Ventures with participation from Export Development Canada and Saint Elizabeth Healthcare. More Here

100+ Investors & Founders Joined the Slack Community….

Yesterday, we announced the launch of our Slack community, and over 100 investors and founders have already joined. If you haven't joined yet, please use this link to join our Slack community.

In the coming week, we will be hosting weekly events, daily discussion sessions, monthly demo days, fundraising and product-building sessions led by founders and investors, and more activities.

Venture Capital Updates

JFFVentures announces its second fund, JFFVentures Fund II, targeting $50 million to back startups focusing on HR, education, and workforce solutions for economic mobility. More Here

Maniv, a seed-stage VC firm originally focused on Israeli startups, expands globally with its $140 million fund Maniv III, emphasizing decarbonization and digitization in transportation. With a diverse investor base including Shell and BNP Paribas, it ventures into climate tech with investments in green hydrogen, chip design, e-motorcycle battery-swapping, and recycled plastic initiatives. More Here

SK Capital, a NYC-based private investment firm, closed its Fund VI, at $2.95 Billion. Founded in 2007, the firm has focused exclusively on investments in the specialty materials, ingredients, and life sciences industries. More Here

Featured Article

How Do Investors Protect Themselves From Downround ?

When a startup's valuation goes down, it can be a bit worrying for investors because it usually means they end up owning less of the company and might have to deal with more dilution.

To safeguard against the impact of a down round, investors commonly employ a "Antidilution Protection. "

This helps to protect the value of investors' shares by adjusting the conversion price or issuing additional shares to compensate for the decrease in valuation.

If you're wondering why down rounds happen and why founders opt for lower valuations in subsequent funding rounds - Downround can occur due to changes in market conditions, concerns about the company's performance, cash flow issues, or a combination of these factors.

When faced with financial challenges or the need for immediate funding, founders may opt for a down round to secure necessary capital, even if it means accepting a lower valuation. To Protect Against Investor's Share Value, There are mainly two types of Anti Dilution Protection Investors Used

• Full Ratchet Anti Dilution Protection

• Weighted Average Anti-Dilution Protection..…Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is in talks with its advisors about making a potential offer to acquire HubSpot, an online marketing software company worth $35 billion. This potential acquisition would be Alphabet's largest deal to date and would allow it to utilize its substantial cash reserves. More Here

DataStax, known for Apache Cassandra, shifts focus to GenAI stack, acquiring Logspace for Langflow, enhancing RAG-based app development. Langflow remains a separate entity, empowering developers with integrated tools for scalable generative AI applications. More Here

LightEdge, a Des Moines, IA-based provider of secure cloud and colocation solutions, has entered into an agreement to acquire Connectria, a provider of multi-cloud infrastructure and managed hosting solutions. More Here

CData Software, a Chapel Hill, NC-based provider of data connectivity solutions, acquired Data Virtuality, a Leipzig, Germany-based provider of data integration and management solutions. More Here

X2Engine, a Redwood City, CA-based enterprise software company providing open-source CRM solutions, acquired Identifid, a Miramar, FL-based transaction security company. More Here

Layoffs & Banktuptcy

Apple has laid off over 600 employees in California as part of strategic decisions to end its car and smartwatch display projects. This move comes after struggles with cost overruns and delays in the ambitious Apple Car project and microLED Apple Watch display dreams. More Here

Agility Robotics has layoffs “small number” of employees as part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts for its bipedal robot, Digit.

Startups & People

TikTok has released an economic impact report claiming it generated $14.7 billion for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in 2023, supported 224,000 jobs, and contributed $5.3 billion in tax revenue. The report aims to make a case against a potential TikTok ban in the U.S., as a bill proposing such a ban has gained bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. The timing of the report's release is likely strategic, as TikTok faces a more uncertain path for the bill to pass in the Senate. More Here

Twitter (now rebranded as X) is launching a "significant, proactive initiative" to remove spam and bot accounts from its platform, which may result in some users seeing a reduction in their follower counts. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Google is contemplating charging for premium features on its AI-powered search engine, including incorporating them into subscription services like Gemini AI assistant. This move would be Google's first attempt to put core products behind a paywall, signaling its ambition to compete in the evolving AI landscape. More Here

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company will be increasing compensation for its artificial intelligence engineering team, as they face intense competition from other tech giants like OpenAI who are aggressively recruiting Tesla's talent with lucrative compensation offers. This move comes as Tesla is going through a downcycle, and Musk acknowledges the "craziest talent war" in the AI industry. More Here

Venture Daily Digest Picks

• ​This Message Will Self-Destruct in 33 Seconds By Tomasz Tunguz. Read Here

• Investor Herd Dynamics By Paul Graham. Read Here

• Idea Generation By Sam Altman. Read Here

• Don't Send All 'Your Data To Investors' Too Early In The Process: The Counter-Intuitive Fund-Raising Advice. Read Here

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You On Monday!
Happy Weekend! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew