General Catalyst Launches $8 Billion VC Fund & Ex-OpenAI researcher says company destroyed the internet.

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

Scroll down to find out :

• Why Apple's offering hackers a jaw-dropping $1M bounty for its AI cloud,

• General Catalyst's massive $8B fund shock, and

• OpenAI's mysterious Orion model set for December!

• Plus, an ex-OpenAI insider's explosive claim about the internet's destruction, and Microsoft's alarming election warning.

Plus, today's essential startup playbook: Why SaaS giants are betting big on annual prepays, how to pitch deep tech on a napkin, the decade-long secret to vertical software success, and the ultimate bootstrapped vs. VC showdown. Fresh startup and VC opportunities you won't want to miss!

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Finix, a San Francisco, CA-based payment processor enabling businesses to accept and send payments online and in-store, raised $75m in Series C funding. The round was led by Acrew Capital and co-led by Leap Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from new investors Citi Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, and more.

Bluesky, a decentralized social app, raised $15 million in a Series A led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, and others. The platform has grown to 13 million users, driven by its AT Protocol and focus on user transparency. The company plans to develop a subscription model while assuring users it won’t pivot to blockchain or cryptocurrency.

Lumen Orbit, based in Redmond, Washington, is building space-based data centers for AI model training. It raised over $10 million in an oversubscribed seed round, with previous investors including Nebular, Everywhere Ventures, Tiny VC, and Sequoia.

Aether, a San Francisco, CA-based platform for rooftop solar, raised $2.5m in seed funding. The round was led by noa (formerly A/O), with participation from Y Combinator, Collab Fund, Amino Capital, and Climate Capital.

Outrider, a Brighton, CO-based leader in autonomous yard operations for logistics hubs, raised $62m in Series D financing round. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with additional investments from 8VC, ARK Invest, B37 Ventures, FM Capital, Interwoven Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), and Prologis Ventures.

Jade Biosciences, a Vancouver, BC, Canada-based biotechnology company dedicated to developing therapies for patients living with autoimmune diseases, extended its financing, bringing the total raised to $95M. The round added Frazier Life Sciences and Versant Ventures to an investor syndicate that included Fairmount, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Deep Track Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, RTW Investments, and Braidwell LP.

Oncolens, an Atlanta, GA-based oncology health tech startup, raised $16m in Series A funding. The round was co-led by BIP Capital and Cross Border Impact Ventures with participation from Martin Ventures and SeedToB.

Concentric AI, a San Mateo, CA-based vendor of intelligent AI-based solutions for autonomous data security posture management (DSPM), raised $45M in Series B funding. The round wad led by Top Tier Capital Partners and HarbourVest Partners. CyberFuture, Ballistic Ventures, Engineering Capital, Clear Ventures, and Citi Ventures also participated.

Cascade AI, a Seattle, WA-based developing a platform offering an AI assistant built to respond to human resources (HR) inquiries at an individual employee level, raised $3.75M in funding. The round was led by Gradient, with participation from Myriad Venture Partners and Success Venture Partners.

Planetary Technologies, a Halifax, NS, Canada-based company which specializes in ocean-based climate solutions, raised $11.35M in Series A funding. The round was led by Evok Innovations, with participation from BDC Capital, Amplify Capital, DNX Ventures, and Iconiq Capital.

Simbe, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of Store Intelligence solutions, closed a $50m Series C equity financing round. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives with participation from Eclipse and Valo Ventures and other existing investors.

Urbint, a Miami, Florida-based AI platform for identifying and mitigating threats to workers, critical infrastructure, and communities, raised $35m in strategic funding. The investment was made by S2G Ventures.

Oloid, a Sunnyvale, CA-based provider of workplace technology for access and identity management, raised $6m in Series A1 funding. The round was led by Yaletown Partners, Exposition Ventures, George Kaiser Family Foundation, Carya Ventures, with existing investors also participating in the round.

Nooks, a San Francisco, CA-based AI Sales Assistant Platform provider, raised $43m in Series B funding. The round, which brings Nooks’ total funding to $70m, was led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from existing investors Lachy Groom and Tola Capital.

Attention, a NYC-based provider of a platform that transforms customer conversations into actionable insights, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Alven, with participation from Eniac, 645 Ventures, Aglae, Frst, and Liquid2.

Dash Bio, a Newton, MA-based innovator in tech-enabled services for drug development, raised $6.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Freestyle Capital, with participation from Swift Ventures, LifeX Ventures, and other private investors.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

General Catalyst, a global venture capital firm that makes early-stage investments in entrepreneurs who are building innovative technology companies, is announcing that they have raised approximately $8B of new capital. This includes: approx. $4.5B for its core VC funds focused on seed and growth equity (across our Ignition, Endurance, and Health Assurance strategies), approx. $1.5B for Creation strategy, and $2B of separately managed accounts.

360 Capital, a Milan, Italy and Paris, France-based venture capital firm, held the first closing of €30M for its new fund, 360 Digitaly. The allocation was underwritten by CDP Venture Capital.

🤖 Latest In Tech

Apple announced a $1 million bounty for vulnerabilities in its upcoming Private Cloud Compute service, rewarding security researchers who report exploits. The program will also pay up to $250,000 for issues extracting sensitive user data or prompts. Private Cloud Compute extends on-device AI, prioritizing customer privacy.

OpenAI plans to release its next AI model, codenamed Orion, by December, with early access for trusted partners like Microsoft in November. Despite a TechCrunch denial, The Verge reports on gradual rollout plans. OpenAI recently raised $6.6 billion, pushing its valuation to $157 billion.

🪄 Other News

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a formal probe into Alphabet's investments in AI rival Anthropic, including $300 million last year and a reported $2 billion. The investigation explores whether Alphabet's deal harms competition, unlike Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, which was not investigated. A decision on a more in-depth probe is expected by December 19, 2024.

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher, has accused the company of violating U.S. copyright laws, contributing to a broader discussion on the legality of their data usage practices. Balaji argues that AI companies are undermining the commercial viability of creators by using copyrighted material in AI model outputs that do not comply with "fair use" standards. Numerous lawsuits allege that OpenAI and Microsoft used content without permission, with high-profile plaintiffs including authors, celebrities, and major newspapers joining the legal battles.

Microsoft warns that Russia, Iran, and China are engaging in cyber interference ahead of the US elections, with each country focusing on different targets, like the Harris-Walz campaign or congressional candidates. The report outlines how Russia uses AI and deepfake technology to produce false videos about political figures, while China amplifies antisemitism and corruption messages against certain Republicans. Iran is leveraging unrest in the Middle East to influence US elections by organizing boycotts and rallies, aiming to sow division and distrust within American communities.

🧐 In-Depth Insights

• Annual Prepay for SaaS: Discusses the benefits and strategies of annual prepay models for SaaS businesses, highlighting improved cash flow and customer retention [Jason Cohen]

• Deep Tech Hardware Napkin: A unique perspective on how deep tech startups can effectively communicate their innovative ideas even with simple tools like a napkin. [First Momentum]

• Public and private markets have realized that Vertical Software businesses can be great businesses. Although they take a long time to build, vertical software businesses can become very valuable. However, it might be that the lion’s share of value creation happens more than 10 years after starting ⌛ [Louis Coppey, Point Nine]

• Bootstrapped vs. VC-Backed Startup. How do you decide what is the right path for your startup? [Mark Birch]

📬 Venture Daily Digest Picks

• You only compete with one thing: Your costs. (Read)

• Ilya Sutskever's top 30 must-read research papers. (Read)

• Rethinking Startup Equity: Three Critical Lessons for Founders - Advice From Altman. (Read)

• Turning Investor 'No's into 'Yes's: The Onion Theory of Startup Risk. (Read)

• Is Freemium Right Choice For Your Company? (Read)

• The most important growth metric for early startups. (Read)

💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

• Investment Analyst (Software) -January Capital  | Singapore - Apply Here

• Value Creation Manager - CDP VC | Italy - Apply Here

• Investment Manager - R3D3 Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Associate - Entrepreneur first | India - Apply Here

• Investor - Venrock | USA - Apply Here

• Research Intern - Block Chain Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Partner - Erez Capital | USA - Apply Here

• VC Associate - Breega | UK - Apply Here

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