Apple Shutdown EV Project & Microsoft Invested $16 Million In OpenAI's Rival

👋 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 highlights include...

• Apple has decided to shut down it’s electric vehicle project after Spending $162 Billion.

• Mistral AI, OpenAI’s Rival Partnered With Microsoft and Raised $16M.

• With loss of $32 Million in Q4 2023, Bumble planning to layoff 30% employees.

• Verdane, Norway-based investment firm, closed Verdane Edda III, at €1.1 Billion.

• Featured Article : The Myth of Hyper-Growth: Successful Startups Follow Quadratic Hypergrowth, Not Exponential.

• Daily Digest Board: Highest DPI by a globally recognized VC fund & Updates.

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Startups Funding Updates

Mistral AI, a Paris-based AI startup working on foundational models, announced a new large language model that could rival OpenAI’s GPT-4, a chat assistant and a distribution partnership with Microsoft. As part of the partnership, Microsoft is investing €15 million. More Here

Shadowfax, one of the largest logistics service providers to hyper-local and on-demand delivery businesses in India, has raised $100 million in a new funding. PG NewQuest led Shadowfax’s Series E financing round. More Here

Crystal Fun, a Singapore-based decentralized gaming mega-ecosystem and studio, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round saw participation from Kucoin Ventures, Actoz Soft, Waterdrip Capital, Comma3 Ventures, Stratified Capital, Cypher9 Ventures, Aelf Ventures, W Labs, and Masvers. More Here

Embat, a Spanish fintech “real-time treasury management,” platform has closed a financing round of $16 million Series A led by Creandum. More Here

FamilyWell, a Boston, MA-based tech-enabled health company, raised $4.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by .406 Ventures, with participation from GreyMatter Capital and Mother Ventures. More Here

Campfire, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of accounting software for startups and midsize companies, raised $3.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Foundation Capital and joined by Y Combinator and Twenty Two Ventures. More Here

Rhombus, a Sacramento, CA-based cloud-managed physical security company, raised $26M+ in funding. The round included an investment co-led by Tru Arrow and Cota Capital, and $17M in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, with existing investors Caden Capital and Uncorrelated Capital also participating. More Here

Codified, a Seattle, WA-based generative AI-powered data governance startup, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Madrona Ventures and Vine Ventures with participation from Soma Capital and angel investors. More Here

Collov AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI design tool for furniture, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by GoldenHome Living Co Ltd. More Here

Elevated Signals, a Vancouver, Canada-based manufacturing software company, raised $7.9M in Series A funding. The round was led by Yaletown Partners, with participation from Third Kind Venture Capital, WGD Capital, Colin Harris, Raiven Capital, and Pareto Holdings. More Here

Initia a blockchain development platform raises $7.5M seed round Led by Delphi Ventures and HackVC. More Here

World View, a Tucson, AZ-based company which specializes in stratospheric exploration and flight, raised an undisclosed amount in Series D funding. The round was led by SNC. More Here

SimpleClosure, a Santa Monica, CA-based provider of a platform to automate the bureaucratic and manual work to shut down a company, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Infinity Ventures, with participation from Anthemis Group, Foxe Capital and existing investors. More Here

Parspec, a San Mateo, CA-based provider of a AI-powered software platform that streamlines the selection and sale of construction products, raised $11.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Innovation Endeavors with participation from Building Ventures, Heartland Ventures, and Hometeam Ventures. More Here

Photoroom, a Paris, France-based AI photo editor, raised $43M in Series B funding. The round, which brought total funding to $64m, was led by Balderton Capital and new investor, Aglaé, with participation from YCombinator. More Here

Exodigo, a Tel Aviv, Israel- and Palo Alto, Ca-based artificial intelligence (AI) underground mapping solutions provider, raised $105M in Series A funding. The round was led by Greenfield Partners and existing investor Zeev Ventures with participation from existing investors SquarePeg, 10D VC, JIBE and National Grid Partners. More Here

Glean, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of an AI-powered work assistant, raised over $200M in Series D funding, at $2.2 Billion valuation. The round was led by existing investors Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital. More Here

Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a Los Angeles, Ca-based clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, raised $16.75M in Series A funding. The round was led by GV with participation from Main Street Advisors, Visionary Ventures and YK BioVentures. More Here

Reo Dev, a Delaware- and Bangalore, India-based tech startup that offers a product accelerating sales for tech companies, raised $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by India Quotient. Angel investors Adam Frankl, Savin Goyal and Shraddha Gupta also participated. More Here

Hedia, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based digital therapeutics company within diabetes, raised €3M in Seed extension funding. More Here

Intenseye, a NYC-based AI-powered workplace safety solutions company, raised $64M in Series B funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Insight Partners, Point Nine, and Air Street Capital. More Here

Lapse, a London, UK-based provider of a friends-focused photo-sharing app, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Greylock, DST Global Partners, with participation from existing investors GV (Google Ventures), Octopus Ventures and Speedinvest. More Here

Enkrypt AI, a Boston, MA-based company enabling adoption of Generative AI within enterprises, $2.35M in funding. The round was led by Boldcap with participation from Berkeley SkyDeck, Kubera VC, Arka VC, Veredas Partners, Builders Fund and angel investors in the AI, healthcare and enterprise space. More Here

Graide, a Birmingham, UK-based AI and machine learning platform for teachers, raised £1.6M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to £2.5M, saw participation from XTX Ventures alongside existing investors Mercia Ventures. More Here

Vegetarian Express, a Watford, UK-based supplier of vegetarian and vegan ingredients, received an investment of £15M from NVM Private Equity. The company, previously owned by Bridges Fund Management. More Here

Halo, an Austin, TX and Dublin, Ireland-based provider of a subscription-based bodycam and cloud-based digital asset management platform, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by Volition Capital. More Here

Chiral, a Zurich, Switzerland-based nanotechnology company, raised $3.8M in funding. The round was led by co-led by Founderful (formerly Wingman Ventures) and HCVC and included grants from ETH Zurich and Venture Kick. More Here

Curve Therapeutics, a Southampton, UK-based private biotechnology company, raised $40.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Pfizer Ventures with participation from Columbus Venture Partners and British Patient Capital. More Here

Reveleer, a Glendale, CA-based AI-powered healthcare technology data and analytics company, raised $65M in funding. The round was led by Hercules Capital. More Here

Alamar Biosciences, a Fremont, CA-based precision proteomics company, raised $100M in Series C funding led by Sands Capital. More Here

ESProfiler, a Manchester, UK-based cybersecurity startup, raised £2.8M in Seed funding, The round was led by Nauta Capital. More Here

Sway, San Leandro, CA-based startup creating seaweed-based, home compostable replacements for plastic packaging, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Third Nature Investments. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

Verdane, an Oslo, Norway-based growth investment firm, closed Verdane Edda III, at €1.1 Billion. Edda III included commitments from private and public pension funds, global university endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and family offices. More Here

Zacua Ventures has launched its inaugural $56 million fund targeting early-stage construction technology startups, backed by 19 of the construction sector’s biggest corporations. The limited partner group includes Procore, a provider of construction management software; Volvo, a manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment; and sustainable construction materials company Cemex. More Here

COTU Ventures, A Dubai-based early-stage venture capital firm is announcing that it has raised $54 million for its inaugural fund to support startups in the Middle East from pre-seed to seed stages especially in B2B software and fintech startups. More Here

Featured Article

The Myth of Hyper-Growth: Successful Startups Follow Quadratic Hypergrowth, Not Exponential.

“Fast-growing startups are frequently described as “exponential,” especially when the product is “viral.” But “exponential” is an incorrect characterization, even for hyper-growth, “viral” companies like Facebook and Slack.

If your model is incorrect, you don’t understand growth, which means you can’t control it, nor predict it.” Jason Cohen

This model is useful for founders not only for predicting growth but also understanding the foundational drivers of growth which allows them to take smarter actions to create growth in their companies. Even Facebook and Slack weren’t exponential.... Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Veradigm Inc, a Chicago, IL-based provider of healthcare data and technology products and solutions, is to acquire ScienceIO, a language model company for healthcare. More Here

Layoffs & Shutdown

Bumble, a once-powerful force in online dating, is facing a reckoning. The company posted weak Q4 2023 results today showing a $32 million net loss and $273.6 million in revenue. With this financial Bumble announce to let go 30% of it’s workforce, or about 350 employees. More Here

Supermassive Games, the video game studio behind the Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures anthologies, is considering cutting 25%-30% of its staff. More Here

Startups & People

Chinese fast-fashion startup Shein is looking into going public on the London Stock Exchange given its fears that the SEC might reject its IPO. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Apple has decided to shut down it’s electric vehicle project after a decade. From 2014, apple invested around $162 Billion Dollars under the project Titan to build EV Car. More Here

Venture Daily Digest Picks

• Hidden Trap Of Convertible Note and Liquidation Preference Multiples. Read Here

• Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand.' Read Here

• The Secrets to Building Vibrant Communities in Web3 Open-Source by Tomasz Tunguz. Read Here

• The First $100m ARR AI Security Company. Read Here

Daily Digest Board

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47.83% readers vote for option (A) and it’s correct. For more read here..

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Happy Wednesday! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew