Chamath Palihapitiya’s VC Firm Fires Two Partners & Stripe IPO

👋 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!

• Social Capital, led by Chamath Palihapitiya, fired two partners over undisclosed issues related to their involvement with AI startup Groq Inc.

• Kite, an e-commerce roll-up cofounded by Blackstone that raised $200 million.

• Stripe's underscores its remarkable growth, crossing $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023 with $65 billion valuation suggests potential IPO readiness.

• OpenAI strikes deals with Le Monde and Prisa Media to integrate French and Spanish news content into ChatGPT.

• The UK government announces its participation in the EU's "Chips Joint Undertaking," allocating £35 million for semiconductor.

• Featured Article : Most VC Hate Cold Emails From Entrepreneurs...

• Daily Digest Board: Claude was launched by Anthropic as an AI-powered chatbot to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. What do you prefer?

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STARTUP FUNDING UPDATES

Eyris, a McLean, VA-based digital infrastructure platform created to provide cybersecurity, secure communications, and data protection, raised $3m in pre seed funding. Red Cell Partners lead the pre-seed funding round. More Here

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan's venture arm invests $80 million in Perfios, an Indian fintech, valuing it at over $1 billion. More Here

Orbio Earth utilizes satellite data to detect methane leaks, crucially aiding in combating the potent greenhouse gas emitted by oil and gas infrastructure. It has raised a $4 million seed round from the European Space Agency, Initialized Capital and Y Combinator. More Here

Cellexcel, a Norwich, Norfolk, UK-based biomaterial technology startup, raised over £250K in funding. Backers included College Green Ventures, New Anglia Capital, Low Carbon Innovation Fund, and Turquoise, alongside angel investors from Anglia Capital Group. More Here

Fermat, a San Francisco, CA-based startup that allows retailers to create a shopping experience for each customer journey, raised $17M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $30M, was led by Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) with participation from existing investors Greylock, QED Investors and Courtside Ventures. More Here

IO River, offers a multi-CDN platform simplifying switching between providers and optimizing performance, uptime, and cost. It has raised $5.4 million seed funding round led by S Capital. More Here

Furno, a Mountain View, CA-based startup dedicated to decarbonizing the cement production industry, raised $6.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Energy Capital Ventures and joined by O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Cantos, and Neotribe. Breakthrough Energy participated in earlier, non-dilutive funding. More Here

Big Sur AI, a Mountain View, CA-based provider of an AI platform for e-commerce, raised a $6.9M in seed funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Capital F and angel investors. More Here

Telo, a San Carlos, CA-based electric mobility company advancing EV mini-trucks, raised $5.4M in funding. The round was led by Ali Partovi with participation from Spero Ventures and angel investors. More Here

Luminary Cloud’s simulator taps GPUs to help speed up product design. It has raised $15 million in equity and $100 million in debt from Sutter Hill. More Here

Joyride, a Toronto, Canada-based provider of a shared mobility platform, $5.2M in Series A funding. The round was led by Yamaha Motors. More Here

Autonomo, a London, UK-based startup providing checkout-free software that enables retailers to convert existing stores into a cashierless shopping experience, raised £2M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $3.8M, was led by Potter Ventures and River Capital through their EIS growth fund ‘fund:AI’. More Here

Zephyr AI, Inc., a MCLean. VA-based healthcare technology company committed to developing explainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for precision medicine, closed a $111m Series A funding. Backers included Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly & Company, Jeff Skoll, and EPIQ Capital Group, among others. More Here

RealSeq Biosciences, Inc., a Santa Cruz, CA-based biotechnology company focused on RNA-based diagnostics, extended its Seed funding. The round was led by new investors Charleston Angel Partners, Santa Clara Ventures, and Santa Cruz Ventures. More Here

Murphy’s Naturals, a Raleigh, NC-based outdoor lifestyle company focused on creating natural products to enjoy life outside, raised $8M in Series B funding. The round was led by Point King Capital with participation from Emil Capital Partners, John Replogle, and others. More Here

RapidCanvas, an Austin, TX-based AI platform built for business, raised $7.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Accel with participation from Valley Capital Partners. More Here

Wagely, a Jakarta, Indonesia- and Dhaka, Bangladesh-based provider of a financial wellness platform, raised US$ 23M in funding The round was led by Capria Ventures, with the addition of some debt sources. More Here

Eye Security, a The Hague, Netherlands-based cybersecurity company, raised €36M in Series B funding. The round was led by J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and TIN Capital. More Here

Packfleet, a London, UK-based tech-enabled carbon-neutral courier, raised £8M ($10M) in Series A funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and Voyager Ventures, with participation from Creandum, Entree Capital and Founder Collective. More Here

ProteinDistillery, an Ostfildern, Germany-based plant-based food company, raised €15M in Seed funding. Backers included Green Generation Fund, the Startup Family Office, and Wendelin Wiedeking. More Here

Sugar.fit, a Bangalore, India-based health-tech startup focused on addressing Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, raised additional $5M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $16M, was led by B Capital with previous participation from MassMutual Ventures and existing investors including Tanglin Venture Partners, Endiya Partners, and Cure.Fit. More Here

BotGuard, a Tallinn, Estonia-based cybersecurity software company, raised €12M in Series A funding. The round was led by MMC Ventures. Existing investors Tera Ventures and Expeditions Fund also participated in the round, alongside prominent angel investors including Stefan Lindeberg. More Here

Siolta Therapeutics, a San Carlos, CA-based clinical-stage biotech company, raised $12M in Series C funding. The round was led by SymBiosis and Khosla Ventures, with participation of existing investors. More Here

Ai Palette, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence and machine learning company for consumer packaged goods (CPG) development, raised US$5.8M in Series A1 funding. Backers included Tin Men Capital, Exfinity Ventures and Pi Ventures. More Here

Voi, a Stockholm, Sweden-based micromobility operator, raised $25M in funding. Backers included VNV Global, Raine Group, Nineyards Equity, Balderton, Creandum, Project A, Stena, Black Ice Capital and others, including founders and employees. More Here

Nest Health, a New Orleans, LA-based value-based whole-family healthcare provider, raised over $4M in an extended Seed funding. The round was led by SpringTide with participation from additional sources including Alumni Ventures, Ochsner Ventures, and others. More Here

Frontnow, a Berlin, Germany-based tech startup which develops AI solutions for online retailers, raised €3.8M in extended Seed funding. The round was led by Peak, with participation from PROfounders Capital and Identity Ventures. More Here

Steadybit, a Solingen, Germany-based company which specializes in chaos engineering, raised $6M in Series A funding. The round was led by Paladin Capital Group, with participation from previous investors, Boldstart Ventures, Angular Ventures and NewForge. More Here

VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Social Capital, led by Chamath Palihapitiya, fired two partners over undisclosed issues related to their involvement with AI startup Groq Inc. Allegations involve breaches of company policy, with one partner claiming unfair dismissal. The firm is working on an orderly transition, appointing an interim CFO amidst its SPAC-related challenges. More Here

Ada Ventures, a London, and Bristol, UK-based venture capital firm backing breakthrough ideas, closed a second fund, at GBP63M to back a diverse cohort of early-stage founders. Institutional investors backing Fund II included the British Business Bank, The University Of Edinburgh, Big Society Capital, Legal & General Capital, Atomico, the The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO)and Molten Ventures. More Here

FEATURED ARTICLE

Most VC Hate Cold Emails From Entrepreneurs...

As they are often poorly prepared, Also skeptical VC will say to themselves “why couldn’t you find a warm relationship to fund this” or “why am I seeing this and not someone else;”

Even some VC insist that you actually go out and find a connection to intro you to them directly; Remember VC are self-important pricks that want to feel like they’re top of mind for referrals for the best deals. (It's true)

But some VC love cold emails, Your job as a founder is to make sure your email is well-written. Here's a format you can use… Read More Here

STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

ACQUISITION & EXITS

Daasity, a San Diego, CA-based provider of a data and analytics platform built for omnichannel consumer brands, acquired Red Fox Analytics, a leader in data analytics for retail-focused consumer packaged goods brands. More Here

Levenue, a Breda, The Netherlands-based revenue based financing company, acquired MidFunder, a Zurich, Switzerland-based FinTech that provides financing for companies with recurring revenue. More Here

Employee-focused mental health company Journey is acquiring Felt, a startup formerly known as Mine’d that specializes in matching individuals with therapists using artificial intelligence. More Here

Kite, an e-commerce roll-up cofounded by Blackstone that raised $200 million, shut down earlier this year. More Here

STARTUPS & PEOPLE

Sei Labs, a startup co-founded by a former Robinhood engineer and a former VC from Coatue, has launched a new open sourced project that offers a novel and exciting approach to make Ethereum faster and less expensive for developers. It has raised $30 million, at a valuation of $800 million. More Here

Stripe's annual letter underscores its remarkable growth, crossing $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023, alongside a 25% increase. With robust cash flow and diversification into revenue automation, Stripe's $65 billion valuation suggests potential IPO readiness, while record startup formations highlight its impact on global entrepreneurial ecosystems. More Here

LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

OpenAI strikes deals with Le Monde and Prisa Media to integrate French and Spanish news content into ChatGPT, expanding its training data. Despite undisclosed payments, estimated between $4 to $20 million annually for news licensing, concerns arise about potential barriers to AI innovation and access to training data. Discussions highlight the need for fair compensation for publishers while ensuring access to data for challengers and researchers. More Here

The UK government announces its participation in the EU's "Chips Joint Undertaking," allocating £35 million for semiconductor research and development. This move underscores post-Brexit collaboration efforts in technology and aims to strengthen the UK's position in semiconductor innovation through partnerships and funding initiatives.

VENTURE DAILY DIGEST PICKS

• ​Why Databases Won't Charge for Storage in the Future By Tomasz Tunguz. Read Here

• Most-Active US Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, GV And Alumni Have Big February. Read Here

• How Can You Use Airbnb's & Stripe's Strategy To Build Your MVP? Read Here

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow!
Happy Thursday! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew