Bessemer, Index, and a16z alum launches $350M VC Fund & Apple may stop Vision Pro production by end of 2024

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☕ Good Thursday Morning. Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter.

Scroll down to find out -

• A powerhouse trio of VC veterans just launched a $350M fund,

• Apple's surprising Vision Pro production halt, and

• The tragic story shaking up the AI chatbot industry.

• Plus, OpenAI loses a key policy expert while Apple secretly plans a gaming revolution!

Plus, today's essential startup playbook: Master the art of product-market fit with exclusive insights from a16z's 12-point framework and Harvard Innovation Labs' $1M roadmap, crack the AI go-to-market code with HubSpot's strategy guide, and uncover the truth about VC vs. non-VC valuations in crowdfunding. Fresh VC opportunities await!

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Ned, a NYC-based cash flow lending platform provider, closed a $4.2m equity seed financing. The round was led by Impression Ventures, with participation from Capital Eleven.

Infinitus Systems, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform specifically built to automate manual healthcare phone calls, raised an additional $51.5m in Series C financing. Andreessen Horowitz and Memorial Hermann Health System joined existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, and GV (Google Ventures) in investing in the company.

Genie AI, a London, UK-based AI legal editor, raised £13.3M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to £15M, was led by GV (Google Ventures), and joined by Khosla Ventures.

Archy, a San Jose, CA-based provider of cloud automation software for dental practices, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Entrée Capital with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, CRV, Alven, 20VC Growth fund and several angel investors and dental professionals

Shuttle Labs, the NYC-based provider of Genius, a self-custodial digital asset trading exchange platform, raised $6M in Seed funding. Backers included Anthony Scaramucci, CMCC Global, The SALT fund, Flow Traders, and multiple former FTX employees.

Sidero Labs, a San Francisco, CA-based software developer focused on providing solutions to help lower the friction in managing Kubernetes and containerized applications, raised $4.0M in funding. The round was led by Hiro Capital with participation from Sony Innovation Fund.

Checkmate, a NYC-based provider of unified ordering solutions for enterprise restaurants, raised $10M in Series B funding. The round was led by Tiger Global.

Fixify, an Arlington, VA-based AI-powered IT help desk solution provider, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners and Paladin Capital Group with participation from Scale Venture Partners.

Validation Cloud, a Zug, Switzerland-based Web3 data and AI company, raised $10m in funding. True Global Ventures led the round.

Nimble, a San Francisco, CA-based AI robotics and autonomous e-commerce fulfillment technology company, raised $106M in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by FedEx and co-led by existing shareholder Cedar Pine.

March Biosciences, a Houston, TX-based clinical stage biotechnology company, raised $28.4M in Series A funding. The round was led by Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital, with participation from KdT Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Volnay Therapeutics, Modi Ventures, and Mansueto Investments.

Valon, NYC-based provider of a vertically integrated mortgage servicing platform, raised $100M in funding. The round was led by WestCap with participation from new and existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, bringing Valon’s total raised capital to $230M since its founding in 2019.

Dippy AI, a Toronto, Canada-based mobile-first AI app product company, raised $2.1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Drive Capital with participation from Carya VC, Cory Levy, Hustle Fund and Pareto20 (Edward Lando).

Neysa, a Mumbai, India-based AI acceleration cloud system provider, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by NTTVC, Z47 (fka Matrix Partners India) and Nexus Venture Partners.

Tennr, a NYC-based company providing an automation platform for medical documents, raised $37M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $61M, was led by Lightspeed Ventures, with participation from existing investors a16z and Foundation Capital.

Qpoint, a San Francisco, CA-based company providing visibility and control over external service dependencies and traffic flows, raised $4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Mango Capital with participation from Preface Ventures, Scribble Ventures and Bloomberg Beta.

Socket, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a security platform that protects your most critical apps from software supply chain attacks, raised $40M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $65M, was led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and a group of angel investors including Bret Taylor (OpenAI), Phil Venables (Google), Scott Johnston (Docker), Christina Cacioppo (Vanta), Ann Mather (Pixar, Alphabet, Netflix, Airbnb), and Tobias Lütke (Shopify), among others.

Carbon Ridge, a Los Angeles, CA- and Houston, TX-based developer of modular onboard carbon capture and storage solutions for decarbonizing the maritime shipping industry, raised $9.5M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $15.5M, was led by Crosscut Ventures and Western Technology Investment (WTI), with participation from existing investors The Grantham Foundation, Berge Bulk, Rusheen Capital Management, Plug and Play Ventures, Katapult Ocean, Incite, Spitzer Industries and Canopy Generations Fund.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

New VC firm Chemistry raised $350 million for its debut fund, which was 2x oversubscribed. Founded by former partners from Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bessemer, the firm will invest in early-stage startups, primarily Series A, across fintech, infrastructure, and developer tools. Chemistry's partners have backed notable companies like LaunchDarkly, Plaid, and Twitch in their previous roles.

🤖 Latest In Tech

Apple has significantly reduced production of the Vision Pro headset and may cease manufacturing this version entirely by the end of 2024, according to The Information. The demand for Vision Pro is reported to be low due to its high price and lack of content, leading to a surplus inventory of components for 500,000 to 600,000 headsets. The company informed Luxshare, its assembler, about potentially ending production, but production lines could be restarted if sales improve, while Apple focuses on a lower-cost headset in the meantime.

Humane announced a $200 price cut to its Ai Pin, now starting at $499, including the first month of the Humane Plan. Launched at $700 in April, the product struggled with poor reviews and high return rates, with returns reportedly outpacing sales by August. The Bay Area startup, founded by former Apple executives, is exploring a sale following weak performance.

Apple’s generative AI platform, Apple Intelligence, will roll out next week with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The update includes features like integrated writing tools, image cleanup, and Siri enhancements, with more updates arriving in iOS 18.2. Limited to devices with A17 Pro, M1, or later, users must opt in and join a wait list after downloading.

Apple is reportedly developing a dedicated game app store, integrating features like game suggestions, friends lists, and potentially FaceTime or iMessage for in-game communication. The new game marketplace aims to challenge competitors like Microsoft's Xbox app and Epic Games, with the move potentially seen as Apple's response to its ongoing rivalry with Epic. This initiative follows Apple's broader focus on gaming, as it works to expand the number of games available across its iOS, iPad, and Mac ecosystems, despite the relatively smaller selection compared to Windows PCs.

A lawsuit targets Character.AI following the suicide of a 14-year-old boy from Florida, whose mother claims he became obsessed with a chatbot on the platform. Ninth grader Sewell Setzer III from Orlando developed an emotional connection to a specific bot named “Dany,” leading him to distance himself from reality. Character.AI announced plans to introduce safety measures like improved detection and alerts for prolonged chat durations to prevent similar incidents.

🪄 Other News

DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine, is seeking to invest in or acquire privacy-focused startups. The company, which has been profitable since 2014, has invested in six startups over the past three years, including You.com, Removaly, and EverArt. DuckDuckGo is open to early-stage deals, co-investments, and partnerships to promote a more private internet.

Miles Brundage, a longtime policy researcher at OpenAI, announced his departure to pursue nonprofit research, aiming for "more of an ability to publish freely." With his exit, OpenAI’s AGI readiness team is winding down, and its economic research division will now report to chief economist Ronnie Chatterji. Brundage urged OpenAI employees to raise concerns, stressing the importance of avoiding groupthink as the company faces critical decisions.

🧐 In-Depth Insights

• What Makes a Good Product-Market Fit?: A deep dive into what makes a strong product-market fit, exploring strategies for startups to succeed.

• 12 Things About Product-Market Fit by a16z: The article discusses 12 key insights about product-market fit (PMF), emphasizing its critical role in startup success. Key points include the importance of identifying a compelling value hypothesis, the notion that PMF often emerges through iterative processes rather than a single breakthrough, and the necessity of focusing on market needs over product features.
  

• AI GTM Strategy Report: HubSpot's comprehensive guide on go-to-market strategies for AI startups.

• Harvard Innovation Labs: The Path to PMF. Here's the entire 6-hour, 91-slide workshop for Harvard Innovation Labs on the path from $0-$1M and B2B product-market fit

• VC vs. Non-VC Backed Valuations in Equity Crowdfunding: An analysis comparing the valuations of companies backed by venture capital versus those without such backing in the equity crowdfunding space, highlighting key trends and implications for investors.

📬 Venture Daily Digest Picks

• Y-Combinator Guide To Seed Fundraising. (Read)

• How Do VCs Make High-Quality Investment Decisions? (Read)

• How to do great work by Paul Graham? (Read)

• 40 websites to promote your startup and get free backlinks. Used by Y Combinator (YC) startups. (Read)

• OpenAI and Anthropic revenue growth compared to other $100B revenue tech companies. (Read)

• Step by step guide to write hero section that converts. (Read)

• 5 copy rules from a man that made $1 billion in revenue with his words. - Gary Halbert. (Read)

💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

• Venture Capital Managing Director/Director - Connecticut Innovation | USA - Apply Here

• Working Student Vision Lab - Earlybird | Germany - Apply Here

• Investor Relations Intern - Remarkable Venture | USA - Apply Here

• VC Associate - Breega | UK - Apply Here

• Investment Manager - Saudi Aramco Fund | USA - Apply Here

• Partner 32, Assistant Controller - a16z | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Analyst Intern - Krystal Venture | India - Apply Here

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