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Elon Musk Launches World's Most Powerful AI Training System & Starlink Agrees To Block X in Brazil

Elon Musk Launches World's Most Powerful AI Training System & Starlink Agrees To Block X in Brazil

Venture Daily Digest - 04/09/2024

Venture Daily Digest
September 04, 2024

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☕Hey there, Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. We've got the scoop on startup fundraising, VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes!

Top News

Elon Musk's company, xAI, has brought an AI training cluster named Colossus online, claiming it is the most powerful AI training system in the world. Colossus, built using 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, aims to help Musk catch up to Mark Zuckerberg's Meta in AI technology advancements. Musk revealed that the cluster, established in Memphis, was completed in 122 days and will double in size within a few months as more GPUs are added.

Bluesky, a social networking startup, has gained over 2.4 million new users in four days following X's shutdown in Brazil, causing occasional server issues due to rapid growth. The app became the No. 1 download in Brazil, with its total downloads increasing by 10,584% compared to the previous weekend, and saw significant user engagement growth in likes, follows, and reposts.

Other Major News

The Nvidia AI antitrust investigation is ‘escalating,’ reports Bloomberg (Scroll To Tech Updates)
Former Battery Ventures and Citi Ventures VC Launches $350 Million VC Fund. (Scroll To VC Updates)
Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase. (Scroll To Startups Updates)
How Do VCs Decide to Take a First Meeting? (Scroll To Featured Article)
VC & Startups Job Opportunities (Scroll To Today’s Opportunities)

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Fido, a Ghanaian fintech startup, offers digital lending and financial services to underbanked individuals and microenterprises in Africa. The company recently raised $30 million in a Series B debt-equity funding round. The funding includes a $20 million equity investment from BlueOrchard and FMO (Dutch entrepreneurial development bank). More Here

Oxylus Energy, a New Haven, CT-based developer of novel carbon utilization technology for the production of e-fuels, raised $4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Toyota Ventures and Azolla Ventures with participation from Earth Foundry and Connecticut Innovations. More Here

Segmed, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of real-world imaging data for health innovation, raised $10.4M in Series A funding. The round was led by iGan Partners and Advocate Health, with participation from Castellan Group, Engine Health Capital, Bold Brain Ventures, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and current investors including Y Combinator, Nina Capital, Nova Capital, Blumberg Capital, and Expeditions Fund. More Here

Vesta Healthcare (aka Hometeam Technologies, Inc.), a NYC-based tech-enabled clinical services company, received a $35M venture loan facility from Horizon Technology Finance. More Here

Blitzy, a Cambridge, MA-based GenAI company automating end-to-end custom software development, raised $4.4m in initial funding. Backers included Link Ventures, Bessemer, Flybridge, NFX, Picus, and Asymmetric. More Here

Unlock Technologies, a Tempe, AZ-based fintech company enhancing the homeownership experience, announced a strategic partnership with D2 Asset Management (D2). The agreement included a $30M Series B equity investment in Unlock and a $250M capital commitment from D2. Also participating in the Series B were Saluda Grade, Second Century Ventures and REACH. More Here

Champion, an Indianapolis, IN-based provider of an AI-powered customer advocacy platform, raised $3.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Flyover Capital, with participation from High Alpha, Bread & Butter Ventures and Stage 2 Capital. More Here

Circle Pharma, a San Francisco, CA-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing cell-permeable macrocycles as a new class of therapies, raised $90M in Series D funding. The round was led by The Column Group with participation from new and existing investors, including Nextech Invest and Euclidean Capital. More Here

Placy, a Limassol, Cyprus-based real estate startup, raised €1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Zubr Capital. More Here

Irubis, a Munich, Germany-based startup developing real-time bioprocess monitoring solution, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by BioProcess360 Partners, with participation from previous investors such as High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Verve Ventures, Ventura BioMed Investors, RoBet KG as well as new and existing business angels from the industry such as Dr. Matthias Arnold and Dr. Christoph Bremus. More Here

BillEase, a Manila, Philippines-based provider of a digital consumer finance platform, raised a Series C funding. With the investment, TPG, via The Rise Fund, is leading BillEase’s Series C Equity Round, with existing investor Burda Principal Investment also participating in the round. More Here

IDA, a Hong Kong-based digital asset company, raised USD6M in Seed funding. The round was led by CMCC Global, under its Titan Fund, and Hashed. Other investors included Hack VC, Anagram, GSR, Protagonist, Brinc, Chorus One, Kenetic, SNZ, and Yolo Investments as well as angel investors, such as Raj Gokal. More Here

Werehow, a Worksop, UK-based e-commerce fulfilment company catering to fashion and homeware retailers, raised £2.1M in a Series A funding. The rounds was led by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II through its appointed fund manager Mercia Ventures, with support from existing investor MENA Moonshots. More Here

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📰 Venture Capital Updates

PruVen Capital, founded by former Battery Ventures and Citi Ventures VC Ramneek Gupta, has closed a $378.5 million Fund II for investing in financial services and enterprise-focused startups. The fund expanded beyond its initial corporate structure with Prudential Financial as the lead investor, now including TIAA, Lincoln Financial, Generali, Nippon Life, Mutual of Omaha, and Willis Towers Watson as LPs. More Here

📌 Featured Article

How Do VCs Decide to Take a First Meeting?

As an early-stage Founder, you need to get inside the heads of VCs. Like you, VCs have a job to do, and they have a limited number of meetings they can take. So once they get introduced to you, the first thing they need to do is decide whether to have a meeting with you… or not.

Let me break it down for you: A typical VC might hear about 1,000 companies in a year. Out of those, they'll only meet with about 200. And invest in? Just 4. That means 80% of the time, they're saying "thanks, but no thanks" to even having a chat.

So how do they make that call? Well, every investor is different. Most don't have a strict checklist - they often go with their gut feeling. But there are usually 12 key things they want to know right off the bat to help them decide if you're worth the first meeting.

Your team: What makes your group stand out? Have you had any big wins in the past, like successful startups or major achievements? Think about unique skills or experiences that set you apart. Also, how long have you all been working together? VCs love teams that already click.
Quick pitch: Can you describe what your company does in one exciting sentence? This isn't just about listing features - it's about capturing the essence of your vision. Make it catchy and memorable. If you can make someone's eyes light up with your one-liner, you're on the right track.
The big picture: What's the massive opportunity you're going after? VCs want to know why this problem is worth solving right now. Has something changed in the market or technology that makes your solution possible or necessary? Paint a picture of how big this could be.
Money stuff: How does your business actually make money? Be clear about who's paying for your product or service. What kind of margins are you looking at? Even if you're early stage, share any numbers you have so far. VCs want to see that you've thought through the economics.
Where you work: Where is your team based? Are you all in one office, or do you have a remote setup? Some VCs prefer local investments they can visit easily, while others are fine with distributed teams. Being upfront about this can save time for everyone.
Team size: How many people are currently part of your company? Break it down into full-time and part-time roles if applicable. This gives VCs a sense of your current stage and how much you're spending on salaries. It also hints at how far along you are in building out your team.
Timing: Why is now the perfect moment for your startup to exist? Has there been a recent shift in technology, regulations, or consumer behaviour that makes your idea more viable? VCs love to hear about why the stars are aligning for your business right now, not two years ago or two years from now.
Traction…. We have shared a detailed writeup in our recent Venture Curator newsletter, check out here….

📑 Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Salesforce has agreed to acquire AI startup Tenyx, a California-based startup developing AI-powered voice agents, to enhance its AI-driven solutions.

T2S Solutions, a Belcamp, MD-based provider of product and solutions in support of U.S. defense and intelligence missions, acquired Flexitech Aerospace, an Orlando, FL-based radio-frequency (RF) engineering company.

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Startups & People

Clearview AI, a U.S.-based facial recognition startup, has been fined €30.5 million by the Netherlands' data protection authority for GDPR violations, including building a database of 30 billion images without consent. The company faces an additional penalty of up to €5.1 million for continued non-compliance, potentially bringing the total fine to €35.6 million.

Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite broadband company, has agreed to comply with a Brazilian court order to block access to X (formerly Twitter) in the country, reversing its initial refusal. The decision comes after Brazil's top court froze Starlink's accounts for potential use in paying fines owed by X. Starlink, which has over 200,000 customers in Brazil, is pursuing legal action against the court's order, claiming it violates the Brazilian constitution.

🤖 Latest In Tech

CrowdStrike faces legal challenges after a software update caused widespread disruptions, with Delta suing for $500 million and shareholders filing a class action lawsuit. The company hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan for defense, while contractual damage limits may protect CrowdStrike unless gross negligence is proven.

The Department of Justice is escalating its antitrust investigation into Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware, probing whether the company is hindering competition by making it difficult to switch suppliers, reports Bloomberg. Nvidia's stock dropped over 9%, wiping out $279 billion in market value, though it remains up more than double this year due to the AI boom. The investigation follows recent reports of potential delays in Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell AI chips due to design flaws.

Canva, the design platform, is significantly increasing prices for some Teams subscribers on older pricing plans, with costs rising from $119.99 to $500 per year for a five-person plan in the U.S. The company attributes the price hike to its expanding suite of generative AI tools and the need to update pricing that has remained unchanged for four years.

Apple plans to switch all iPhone models to OLED displays by 2025, moving away from LCDs, per Nikkei. This shift will exclude Japan's Sharp and Japan Display, who have been key LCD suppliers, while China's BOE Technology and South Korea's LG Display will supply the new screens. Sharp and Japan Display, dominant in iPhone displays a decade ago, only recently supplied LCDs for the iPhone SE.

💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

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