BlackRock Cuts Startup's Valuation By 95% & Investment Firm Shutdown With 30% Loss on Billion Dollar Fund

🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES

• Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin USDC, has confidentially, aiming to go public.

• Google, Discord Layoffs 1000 of employees

• Coatue Management is shutting down it’s London office after a 30% loss on its $7.6 billion fund.

• Featured Tweet : Don't Fall Into the Trap Of Tarpit Ideas, It's worse than Bad Ideas! Why?

• What Do You Think: Building Your MVP in 10 Days?

BlackRock Cuts Indian Edtech Startups Byju’s Valuation By 95%

BlackRock has devalued its stake in Giant Indian edtech startup Byju's once again, reducing the implied valuation by 95% to around $1 billion from $22 billion in early 2022.

This marks a significant downturn for Byju's, previously valued at $50 billion, as other investors like Prosus also slashed their valuations. Byju's faced challenges including missed revenue targets, leadership changes, and postponed IPO plans amid market uncertainties and growing financial pressures… More Here

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

FINN, a Munich, Germany-based car subscription provider, raised €100m in Series C funding. The round was led by Planet First Partners, with participation from HV Capital, Korelya Capital, UVC Partners, White Star Capital and Picus Capital. More Here

Harbor Health, an Austin, TX-based primary and specialty clinic group, raised $95.5M in New funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $128M, was led by General Catalyst with participation from Alta Partners and 8VC. This funding round also included returning investors Health 2047 Capital Partners, Lemhi Ventures, Martin Ventures and other individuals. More Here

Pier, a fintech startup, aims to simplify and automate credit product launches for businesses by providing a comprehensive solution akin to "Stripe for credit." Recently securing $2.4 million in seed funding from investors including Y Combinator. More Here

KlariVis, a Roanoke, VA-based company which specializes in data analytics solutions for community banks and credit unions, raised $11M in Series B funding. The round was led by Blueprint Equity. More Here

Dispatch, a Miami, FL-based provider of a wealthtech solution enabling client data management for registered investment advisors (RIAs), raised $8M in Seed funding. The round was led by F-Prime Capital, with participation from existing investors Fika Ventures, Great Oaks and Twelve Below and new investors CoFound Partners. More Here

NumberEight, a London, UK-based startup using on-device AI to deliver ‘privacy-first’ identity solutions for the advertising industry, raised $2.7M in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by ACF Investors. More Here

Furbnow, a Birmingham, UK-based climate-tech startup, raised £950K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by SFC Capital with participation from Norrsken Accelerator, Daniel Luhde-Thompson, InnovateUK and the Nesta/Founders Factory Mission Studio. More Here

Cactos, a Helsinki, Finland-based developer of smart energy storage systems, raised over €26M in funding. The round was led by OP Finland Infrastructure and the Finnish Climate Fund. More Here

Hyperexponential, a London, UK-based leader in pricing decision intelligence (PDI) software, closed its $73m Series B funding round. The round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from a16z, and existing investor Highland Europe. More Here

Rivero, a Zurich, Switzerland-based payment technology provider, raised $7M in Series A funding. The round was led by 6 Degrees Capital and Inference Partners, with participation from Kraken Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, PostFinance and angel investor and former COO of Adyen, Robert Kraal, together with a list of payment executives. More Here

Incentiv, a NYC-based platform form growth equity and private equity firms to attract, motivate and retain executive talent across their global portfolios, closed a $3M seed funding. The round was led by Bowery Capital. More Here

N-ink, a Stockholm, Sweden-based deep technology company secures a €1M investment as a convertible note from Voima Ventures. More Here

Pontem, a Singapore-based product development studio building Move and EVM-compatible products to enable a safer, more performant and developer-friendly Web3, closed a $6M round of financing. The round was co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Pantera Capital, Aptos Foundation, Wintermute, Altonomy, Shima Capital, Kraken Ventures, and other investors. More Here

Korr, a NYC-based insurtech startup, closed a $3.2m seed funding round. The round was led by Motive Ventures along with Tokio Marine Future Fund. Early investors included Plug and Play Ventures. More Here

Kasu, an Adelaide, Australia-based Real World Asset (RWA) business lending protocol that leverages proprietary tech to deliver the most risk-optimised RWA yields in DeFi, raised USD$3m in seed funding. The round was led by Woodstock, Morningstar Ventures, and Faculty Group, with contributions from Cypher Capital, Matterblock, Andromeda Capital, NxGen, Rarestone Ventures, Asteroid Capital, and Optic Capital. More Here

Downpayments, a Miami, FL-based provider of interest-free down payments for property investors, announced the general availability of its services in Florida, in addition to $32.8M in initial debt funding from Partners for Growth, and equity from Second Century Ventures backed by the National Association of Realtors. More Here

Axle, a NYC-based SaaS startup focused on modernizing corporate access on Wall Street, raised $1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Jackson Gates, founder and Managing Partner of Manresa Ventures in San Francisco, with participation from numerous Wall Street executives and Axle’s initial customers. More Here

GolfForever, an Aspen, CO-based provider of an at-home training system for golfers, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Clerisy, with participation from Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim. More Here

WaveBL, a Wilmington, DE-based digital trade document company, raised $11M in Additional funding. The round, which brought the total amount of Series B to $37M, saw participation from new unnamed investors. More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Vintage Investment Partners, an Israeli based global capital platform, closed a new $200 million growth fund which it will operate in parallel to its other funds. The fund, its fourth focused on growth and 16th overall, aims to invest in 15 to 20 top Israeli, European and U.S. growth stage technology. More Here

Morgan Stanley Launching a VC Fund with $50 million in capital commitments, which it plans to invest in early-stage technology and technology-enabled companies, with an emphasis on those having underrepresented members in their founding teams. More Here

Coatue Management, the New York based investment firm is closing its London office, two years after opening, as part of a strategy shift amid a downturn in the technology market. The move follows a decline in tech valuations, and Coatue's $7.7 billion growth equity fund experienced a roughly 30% paper loss in November 2023. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED TWEET

Don't Fall Into the Trap Of Tarpit Ideas, It's worse than Bad Ideas! Why?

A "Tarpit Idea" is an idea that is much more difficult to pull off than it appears and it's very difficult to pull out once in.

The thing about Tarpit Ideas is that they need to be identified before moving towards the solution space and the actual development of the products.….Read More Here

💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Acquisition

Tier, Berlin, Germany-based and Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based Dott announced a preliminary agreement to bring the two companies together to form a joint micro-mobility operator. More Here

Bloomerang, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based provider of a donor and volunteer relationship management platform, acquired Qgiv, a Lakeland, FL-based provider of fundraising technology solutions. More Here

Trace3, an Irvine, CA-based technology services firm, acquired a strategic portfolio enhancement, Tail Wind Informatics, a Minnetonka, MN-based firm in the data and analytics consulting space. More Here

MedRisk, a King of Prussia, PA-based company which specializes in managed physical rehabilitation in workers’ compensation, acquired Medata, an Irvine, CA-based provider of cost management and clinical solutions in the United States. More Here

Layoffs & Exits

Google is undergoing layoffs, affecting over 1,000 employees in various divisions, including Google Assistant and Devices and Services PA team. The company cites organizational changes and efficiency improvements as reasons for the job cuts. The Alphabet Worker Union criticizes the layoffs as "needless" while the company is making significant profits. More Here

Discord is cutting 17% of its staff, around 170 employees, citing over-hiring and a need to enhance efficiency. Despite significant pandemic-induced growth, the platform remains unprofitable; this move aligns with recent tech industry layoffs by companies such as Unity, Twitch, and Amazon. More Here

Dextrous Robotics, Memphis-based , specializing in warehouse automation, has closure due to insolvency resulting from an unsupported aggressive trajectory in the investment market. The startup gained attention for its innovative truck unloading system using a "chopstick" method, demonstrating versatile box handling. More Here

IPO

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin USDC, has confidentially, aiming to go public. With a market capitalization of approximately $25.25 billion, Circle seeks to capitalize on the growing interest in the cryptocurrency market, following the JOBS Act provision for private filings before public disclosure. More Here

📰 TODAY’S MUST READ ON: STARTUP, TECH & VC

• Don't track LTV/CAC; Instead track LTV/CACD, Why? Read Here (Startups)

• Sequoia Capital “Ten Slide” Format For Founders Read More (Startups)

• Venture Capital Jobs & Tips To Break Into VC - 07 Read More (Venture Capital)

• Generative AI in the pharmaceutical industry: Moving from hype to reality Read More (Startups & Industry)

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Previous Poll: 66.67% readers vote for the Renewable energy and sustainability sector, me too….

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

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team