Ex-Military Joining VC Firms Like a16z & Reliance Considers Jio IPO

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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

More ex-military officials are becoming VCs as defense tech investment reached $35B: Silicon Valley VCs invested nearly $35 billion in defense tech startups in 2023, with an additional $9 billion in 2024 so far. Firms are increasingly hiring ex-military personnel, such as Matt Shortal at Andreessen Horowitz and Tony Thomas at Lux Capital, to gain insider knowledge and network advantages.

Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, is considering spinning off its telecom arm Jio for a public listing as early as 2025 at $125 Billion Valuation.

Other Major News

• Kearny Jackson, an early-stage VC firm, has raised $65 million for its third fund from Sequoia & Marc Andreessen. (Scroll To VC News)

• Elon Musk announced Neuralink aims to implant its brain-computer interface in a second human patient by next week. (Scroll To Tech News)

• Apple’s Vision Pro Won’t Cross 500,000 Sales This Year, IDC Says (Scroll To Tech News)

• Double Diamond Framework (Scroll To Featured Article)

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Startup Funding Updates

Beeble AI, a South Korea-based VFX startup, develops AI-powered virtual lighting and production solutions for filmmakers and visual effects artists. The company has secured $4.75 million in seed funding at a $25 million valuation. The funding round was led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Fika Ventures, Mashup Ventures, and Kakao Ventures. More Here

Vequity, a Denver, CO-based technology innovator in the business brokerage sector, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. The round was led by Common Forge Ventures. More Here

Medicus IT, an Alpharetta, GA-based healthcare-focused IT managed services provider, received an investment from FFL Partners. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. More Here

Hayden AI Technologies, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in vision AI solutions for smart cities, raised $90M in Series C funding. The round was led by The Rise Fund, with participation from Drawdown Fund and Autotech Ventures, among others. More Here

Mantle, a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in metal 3D printing technology for precision tooling, raised $20M in Series C funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $61.5M, was led by Schooner Capital, with participation from Fine Structure Ventures, Foundation Capital, Corazon Capital, 11.2 Capital, and Build Collective. More Here

Roga, a Los Angeles, CA-based neurotech and mental healthcare startup, raised $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Exceptional Ventures, ODX by On Deck, Minded Ventures, the AngelList Fund, The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), the Ontario Brain Institute and angel investors including senior directors from Samsung and Google. More Here

Lekko, a San Francisco, CA-based company helping developers to build software through dynamic configuration, raised $4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Addition and LUX Capital with participation from BoxGroup, SV Angel, Abstraction Capital and angel investors included Thomas Chen, Julianna Lamb, Peter Edge and others. More Here

Lucid Green, a NYC-based provider of a smart product identifier (SPI) platform for the cannabis supply chain, raised $1.4M in funding. Backers were not disclosed. More Here

HepaRegeniX, a Tuebingen, Germany-based clinical stage company developing a novel regenerative therapy for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases, raised €15M in Series C funding. The round was led by Vesalius Biocapital IV with participation of existing investors Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). More Here

Octagos Health, a Houston, TX-based provider of AI-driven cardiac device monitoring solutions, raised over $43M in Series B funding. The round was led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from Mucker Capital and other strategic investors. More Here

Nagish, a NYC-based startup using AI to make communication accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, raised $16M in funding. The round was led by Canaan Partners, with participation from existing investors K5 Global, Tokyo Black, Cardumen Capital, Vertex Ventures Israel, Contour Venture Partners, and Precursor Ventures, as well as the founders of Datadog and Looker. More Here

Adona Medical, a Los Gatos, CA-based Shifamed portfolio company that aims to deliver solutions for heart failure, raised $33.5M in Series C funding. The round was led by Cormorant Asset Management and TCP Health Ventures, with participation from Excelestar Ventures, the PA MedTech VC Fund II, Unorthodox Ventures, AMED Ventures, and other new and existing investors. More Here

QX Global Group, a London, UK-based provider of business process management (“BPM”) services, received a £100M growth investment from Long Ridge Equity Partners. More Here

Tierra Encantada, a Minneapolis, MN-based company which specializes in Spanish immersion early education, received $38M in investment from Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE). More Here

X-Bow, an Albuquerque, NM-based non-traditional producer of advanced manufactured solid rocket motors (SRMs) and hypersonics technologies, raised more than $70M in Series B funding. The round was led by Razor’s Edge, with additional participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Boeing Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Balerion Space Ventures. More Here

Volumez, a Santa Clara, CA-based cloud-aware data infrastructure company, raised $40M in Series A funding. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) with new investors including Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and J-Ventures, and participation from existing investors Pitango First and Viola Ventures. More Here

Shalion, a Madrid, Spain-based company developing a big data platform that provides brands and CPGs with real-time eCommerce Intelligence and analytics, raised €5M in funding. The round was led by Seaya Ventures. More Here

Granta Autonomy, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based startup specializing in fully autonomous UAVs for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, raised $1M in Seed funding. The round was led by ScaleWolf VC, with participation from Brolis Defence and HFL holdings. More Here

Cytactic, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of a platform pioneering cyber crisis readiness and management, raised $16M in Seed funding. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners. More Here

Skild AI, a Pittsburgh, PA-based AI robotics company, raised $300M in Series A funding, at $1.5 Billion valuation. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), with participation from Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and Carnegie Mellon University. More Here

AIRS Medical, a Seoul, South Korea-based company which specialises in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics for healthcare applications, raised $20M in Series C funding. The round was led by BSK Investment and Shinyoung Securities. More Here

ThirdFi, a Singapore-based provider of a web3 infrastructure protocol that empowers web3 users with identity and developers with api and sdk, has raised $2M in token financing. Backers included Techstars, Chainlink, Outlier Ventures, Alphabit Capital and others. More Here

Regal, a Knoxville, TN-based theatre circuits company, raised $250M in funding. Backers were not disclosed. More Here

Nasuni, a Boston, MA-based provider of an enterprise data platform for modern hybrid cloud environments, received a majority investment from Vista Equity Partners. Vista will be joined by TCV and KKR in the new investment, which valued Nasuni at approximately $1.2 Billion. More Here

epilot, a Cologne, Germany-based provider of a platform empowering the green energy transition through digital transformation, raised €10M in funding. The round was led by Expedition Growth Capital. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

Kearny Jackson, an early-stage VC firm, has raised $65 million for its third fund, significantly larger than its $14 million second fund from 2023. The firm, co-founded by Sriram Krishnan and Sunil Chhaya, focuses on B2B SaaS, infrastructure, and fintech infrastructure, typically investing $1.5 million for 6-10% ownership in pre-seed and seed-stage startups. Notable LPs include Sequoia (with a 5x commitment from Fund II), Bain Capital Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and individual investors like Marc Andreessen, with the fund aiming to invest in 30-35 companies over the next 3.5 years. More Here

Norwest Capital Advisors closed Norwest Equity Partners XI, LP and Norwest Mezzanine Partners V, with approximately $1.0 Billion and $400M of committed capital, respectively. More Here

Featured Article

Double Diamond Framework

Founders know their product strategy will change early and often as they learn more about their users.

The Double Diamond framework provides the required adaptability — particularly for software products and services:

• Understand → When you’re triggered by a new idea, learning from users, macro change in the market, or new technology you return to this phase. Understanding the why behind these changes is essential. Consider how they’ll impact customer behaviour going forward.

• Define → Once you understand a shift, define the promising opportunities and create an initial strategy. Don’t skip this stage, as your solution should be rooted in this vision. It’s what sets you apart.

• Explore → This phase is all about finding a solution that will work in your market, and for your users. Many founders make the mistake of setting a vision and jumping right into creating. Don’t be that founder. You don’t want to build any more than you need to in the early days. Building too much too soon is expensive and limits flexibility.

• Create → Only after you’ve explored pathways with your users, move on to creating a full solution. But even as you progress through this phase, build in as small increments as possible, and then return to the Explore phase frequently to get new feedback. It may change your assumptions in unexpected ways.

Every Tuesday and Thursday we shared such framework in our Venture Curator newsletter….

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

AMD is acquiring Finnish AI company Silo AI for $665 million to bolster its AI capabilities and offer customized solutions for businesses. Silo AI, Europe's largest private AI lab, specializes in developing tailored AI models and solutions for various industries.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Cientra, a NJ-based silicon design and engineering services company, offering custom silicon solutions for global clients. More Here

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Startups & People

Elon Musk and X Corp. won a lawsuit over severance pay for thousands of fired Twitter employees. The suit claimed $500 million was owed under ERISA, but the judge ruled ERISA didn't apply as the company had specified only cash payouts for layoffs after Musk's takeover. Other similar cases by former Twitter employees are still ongoing.

Latest In Emerging Tech

Apple’s Vision Pro Won’t Cross 500,000 Sales This Year, IDC Says: Apple Inc.’s biggest new product in years is not expected to shake off its slow sales start until the release of a cheaper model next year. The $3,500 Vision Pro mixed-reality headset has yet to sell 100,000 units in a quarter since its launch in the US in February, and it faces a 75% drop in domestic sales in the current quarter, according to market tracker IDC.

Elon Musk announced Neuralink aims to implant its brain-computer interface in a second human patient soon, with plans for more implants this year. The company is addressing hardware issues encountered with its first patient, whose implant has limited functionality but still enables various activities. Neuralink is working on improvements to mitigate thread retraction and enhance implant stability for future procedures.

Anthropic introduced new features in Console to help developers with prompt engineering for Claude 3.5 Sonnet. The tools can generate, test, and evaluate prompts, potentially streamlining the process of creating effective AI applications.

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