Chinese VC Firm Launched $10 Billion Web3 Fund & OpenAI's Rival Reaching $1 Billion Revenue

🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES

• Superpedestrian, shared electric scooter company collapsed after raising over $200M

• India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has declared nine global crypto exchanges, including Binance and Kraken, as operating "illegally".

• GBA Capital Fund, has announced the launch of a $10 billion investment fund dedicated to the Web3 ecosystem.

• Featured Tweet : What Does It Take To “Do Things That Don’t Scale” For Your Startup?

• What do you think: Which sector attracted the most global VC funding in 2023?

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

Play Caller, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of a social micro-fantasy sports focused technology platform, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. The round saw participation from Liquid 2 Ventures and SCCG Venture Fund. More Here

Fasal, a Bangalore, India-based provider of a full-stack precision farming solution, raised a Series-A funding round $12M. Backers included British International Investment, TDK Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Navam Capital and Aureolis Ventures, and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Omnivore, Wavemaker Partners, Genting Ventures, and The Yield Labs Asia Pacific. More Here

Element3, a Fort Worth, TX-based material extraction company specializing in oil and gas wastewater, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. The round saw participation from EIC Rose Rock. More Here

Proto Hologram, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of a patented hologram device, received an investment from Cartan Capital. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Proto has previously received backing from Tim Draper (Tesla, CoinDesk, Skype, Twitch), Mike Walsh (Uber), True Capital Management and Christie’s Ventures. Athlete investors in Proto include Brittany Griner, Marshawn Lynch, Robert Griffin III, and Albert Pujols. More Here

Giga ML, a US based startup building a platform that lets companies deploy LLMs on-premise — ostensibly cutting costs and preserving privacy in the process. Giga ML, which has raised ~$3.74 million in VC funding to date from Nexus Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, 8vdx and several others. More Here

Helin, a Netherlands-based provider of an industrial edge intelligence platform, has raised €3 million in a Seed funding round led by FORWARD.one. More Here

IntelliBoard, a provider of learning analytics solutions headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, has announced a successful undisclosed funding round. The investment was led by Advantage Capital, a new investor, along with continued support from existing investor Connecticut Innovations (CI). More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

GBA Capital Fund, one of China’s leading venture capital companies, has announced the launch of a $10 billion investment fund dedicated to the Web3 ecosystem. The $10 billion investment fund will be used to support companies, including startups focused on virtual reality, the metaverse non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and real-world assets (RWA). The Chinese investment firm was launched by China Europe International Financial Group in Hong Kong. More Here

Safar Partners, Cambridge-based VC Firm aims to raise $300 million for its third fund, according to a federal filing. Specializing in technology investments, the venture capital firm focuses on startups associated with MIT, Harvard University, and the University of Rochester, with interests spanning artificial intelligence, robotics, life sciences, cleantech, and advanced materials. Safar Partners has notable investments in companies like Seaspire Skincare and Gradiant Corp., and previously invested $100 million in Commonwealth Fusion Systems in 2021. More Here

The Australian VC firm that sponsored California’s diversity bill: F5 Collective, an Australian VC, sponsors California's SB 54, mandating VCs to report founder diversity. Their strategy includes investing in 1,000 female founders by 2030, promoting policy changes, corporate partnerships, launching an angel investing network, and a philanthropic initiative. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE

What Does It Take To “Do Things That Don’t Scale” For Your Startup?

The only thing that matter at the “Do things that don’t scale, pre-product market fit” stage - ”founders ability to embrace the less glamorous work, low-status work and focus on getting shit done.” But most of the founders failed to do this.

Also does successful startups follows “Do Things That Don’t Scale” strategy at early stage?… Read More Here

💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Acquisition

Pavlov Media, a Champaign, IL-based provider of managed Wi-Fi to the multi-family industry, acquired Inspire Wi-Fi, a wireless provider for leasing offices, clubhouses and amenity areas. the amount of the deal was not disclosed. More Here

Pavlov Media, a Champaign, IL-based nationwide telecommunications company, acquired Ohio-based broadband service provider iZone Broadband. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Through this acquisition, Pavlov Media is now able to expand its residential and business service area to include Central Ohio. More Here

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) acquired POINT Biopharma Global Inc. (NASDAQ: PNT), a radiopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of clinical and preclinical-stage radioligand therapies in development for the treatment of cancer. Lilly’s tender offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock. More Here

Miami-based homebuilding giant Lennar Corp. acquired Veev, the Hayward-based technology startup that stunned onlookers when news of its imminent closure broke at the end of November. More Here

Bankruptcy

Superpedestrian, shared electric scooter company collapsed after a planned merger and funding failed, shedding light on industry-wide challenges such as unfavorable regulations, high costs, and excessive hiring from VC funding. Despite advanced technology and a $125 million Series C in 2022, Superpedestrian struggled with leadership missteps, insufficient marketing, and a failure to attract riders, resulting in financial woes and closure. More Here

IPO

FirstCry, India's leading e-commerce platform for mother and baby products, aims to raise $218 million in its IPO, significantly lower than its initial $700 million target. The startup, backed by investors like SoftBank, NewQuest, and TPG, seeks a valuation of $4 billion, down from its previous $6 billion target. FirstCry plans to use the funds for store expansion, marketing, technology, and inorganic growth, reporting a doubling of total income to $688.4 million in the fiscal year ending March 2023. More Here

🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has declared nine global crypto exchanges, including Binance and Kraken, as operating "illegally" for not complying with local anti-money laundering regulations. FIU has issued show cause notices and asked the IT Ministry to block their websites. Many Indian traders have shifted to global platforms to avoid taxes, and the government's move aims to ensure compliance with India's anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism framework for cryptocurrencies introduced in March 2023. More Here

Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup founded by OpenAI veterans, is projected to surpass $850 million in revenues in the coming year, with potential to reach $1 billion by 2024, according to sources. The company, previously backed by Amazon and Google, is reportedly in talks to raise $750 million with Menlo Ventures. The generative AI industry is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032, with major tech players like Google and Microsoft dominating AI investments in 2023. More Here

The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement for using its content to train AI models like ChatGPT and Copilot without consent. The Times seeks damages and the destruction of offending models, highlighting the escalating legal disputes between generative AI vendors and content creators over web-scraping practices. More Here

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

• Marc Andreessen: Understand "Onion Theory Of Risk" To Raise Funding For Your Startup Read Here (Startups)

• Michael Seibel On How To Pick The Right Problem To Solve! Read Here (Startups)

• How Did The Great Startups Like Airbnb or Instagram Make Pivot Decisions? Read Here (Startups)

• Venture Capital Jobs & Tips To Break Into VC! Read Here (Venture Capital)

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Previous Poll: 40% readers think that Lightspeed venture partners lead most of the startup deals in 2023 but this is not true. Actually Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) lead most startup deals in 2023.

That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Monday!
Happy New Year Guys! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team