Founder of Failed Fintech Synapse Raised $11 Million For Robotics Startup & Tim Draper leads $2.5 M For Crypto Startup

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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

Sankaet Pathak, founder of the bankrupt fintech Synapse, has launched a new robotics startup called Foundation, raising $11 million in pre-seed funding despite unresolved issues at his previous venture. While millions in customer funds remain frozen at Synapse, Pathak is pushing forward with Foundation's ambitious goal to create advanced humanoid robots to address labor shortages.

Apple will allow iPhone users in the EU to delete native apps, including Safari and the App Store, in response to the bloc's Digital Markets Act. A software update later this year will enable users to remove pre-installed apps and set third-party apps as defaults. Apple emphasized that these changes result from ongoing discussions with the European Commission.

Other Major News

• Elon Musk forced to reveal X investors' list. (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• Google has appointed Noam Shazeer, former head of Character.AI and to co-lead its Gemini AI project. (Scroll To People Updates)

• Tim Draper lead $2.5 Million In Crypto Startup - Ark Labs.. (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• The Buyer’s Pyramid Framework. (Scroll To Featured Article)

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Ark Labs, a three-month-old startup focused on speeding up and reducing the cost of bitcoin transactions, has raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Tim Draper. More Here

Grafana Labs, a NYC-based company behind open, and composable operational dashboards, completed a primary and secondary transaction totaling approximately $270M. The round, which was an extension of its Series D financing at a valuation of over $6 Billion, was led by existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from all existing investors, including GIC, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Lead Edge Capital, J.P. Morgan and K5 Global. Additionally, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, joined as a new investor. More Here

Creatopy, a startup developed in Romania with a U.S. TopCo, has created an AI-powered platform that automates ad creation for brands and agencies. The company recently raised $10 million in a Series A funding round co-led by European VCs 3VC (Austria) and Point Nine (Germany). More Here

Thera, a NYC-based payroll and payments platform, raised a $4m Seed funding round. Backers included Y Combinator, 10x Founders, Amino Capital, Zillionize, and Bayhouse Capital, as well as angels Oliver Jung, Chris Bakke, Andrew Yeung, Akash Magoon, and Bobby Matson. More Here

Cache Energy, a startup based in Illinois, has developed an innovative energy storage solution using lime-derived pellets to store renewable energy in chemical bonds. The company's technology aims to replace fossil fuels in industrial and residential heating by providing a "coal without consequences" approach that can generate heat up to 550°C with 95% efficiency. Cache Energy recently raised $8.5 million in seed funding from investors including Climate Capital, Evergreen Climate Innovations, Grantham Foundation, Halliburton Labs, Muus Climate Partners, Unshackled Ventures, and Voyager Ventures. More Here

Nadmed, a Helsinki, Finland-based biotech company developing a testing method to measure all four NADs*, raised €3.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Nordic Science Investments (NSI) with participation from previous investors Voima Ventures and University of Helsinki Funds. More Here

Trace Machina, an early-stage startup, has developed advanced simulation software called NativeLink to test and validate updates for autonomous systems like self-driving cars and warehouse robots. The company, which emerged from stealth on Thursday, has raised a $4.7 million seed round led by Wellington Management, with participation from Samsung Next, Sequoia Capital Scout Fund, Green Bay Ventures, and Verissimo Ventures. More Here

Workpay, a Nairobi, Kenya-based provider of a cloud-based HR, payroll and benefits platform for organisations with employees across Africa, raised $5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Norrsken22, with participation from Visa, Y Combinator, Saviu Ventures, Axian, Plug n Play, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures and Acadian Ventures. More Here

Pitchit, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-powered lead qualification as a service (LQaaS) platform, raised $2.5M in Seed funding in July 2024. The round was led by Silicon Road Ventures, with participation from Gray Ventures, Plug and Play, and Alchemist Accelerator. More Here

Human Longevity, a San Francisco, CA-based longevity focused technology company, completed an upsized $39.8M in Series B funding. The round was led by TVM Capital Healthcare with participation from new and existing investors, including Panacea Venture and Emerging Technology Partners. More Here

The Rounds, a NYC-based provider of an inventory management platform that delivers recurring grocery and household essentials in reusable packaging, raised $24M in Series B funding. The round was led by Moderne Ventures, with participation from FJ Labs and existing investors. More Here

Efficient Capital Labs, a NYC-based revenue-based financing provider, raised $11M in Series A funding. The round was led by QED Investors and 645 Ventures, with participation from Riverside, Generalist, FJ Labs and Eudemian Ventures. More Here

Fanton Fantasy Football, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of a blockchain-based fantasy sports platform, raised $1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures, and Kenetic Capital with participation from Hashkey x TON Accelerator, PAKA Fund, and Sign VC. More Here

VividQ, a Cambridge, UK-based deep technology innovator in computational holography, closed an additional $7.5m Series A funding, bringing the company’s total funding to over $30m. The round was led by Foresight Group and included new investors such as GameTech Ventures, and Florida-based Ruttenberg Gordon Investments (RGI), as well as existing investors. More Here

TMRW, a Miami-based Bitcoin startup, raised $1.3m in pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Maple VC, with participation from prominent Bitcoin angel investors, including Brad Mills. More Here

Miami International Holdings, Inc., a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, received a $100m investment from Warburg Pincus. More Here

Corn, a developer of an Ethereum Layer 2 network, received an investment from HTX Ventures. More Here

Opkey, an AI platform for continuous testing of ERP software, has raised $47 million in a Series B led by PeakSpan Capital, bringing its total funding to $59 million.

Opkey, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an artificial intelligence continuous test automation platform for enterprise systems, raised $47M in Series B funding. The round was led by PeakSpan Capital, with participation from existing investors. More Here

BeMe Health, a Miami, FL-based digital behavioral health startup, raised $12.5M in funding. The round was led by Flare Capital and Polaris Partners with participation from Fiore Ventures, BCBS of Kansas and the California Health Care Foundation. More Here

Siepe, a Dallas, TX-based provider of software and technology-enabled services for private credit and CLO managers, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round was led by WestCap. More Here

Harmonyze (fka Legal Hat), a NYC-based provider of an AI-first platform designed to increase franchisor’s profit margins, raised over $2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Bowery Capital, with participation from Focal.VC, as well as individual investors that included CXOs at franchisors, AI companies, and private equity firms. More Here

Arch Lending, a NYC-based crypto-backed loan provider, raised $75M in funding. The round was led by Morgan Creek Digital and Castle Island Ventures with participation from Galaxy Ventures, BitGo Ventures, and others. More Here

Borealis Biosciences, a Vancouver, BC-based RNA medicines company, raised $150M in Series A funding. The round was led by Versant Ventures and Novartis AG. More Here

Solace, a Redwood City, CA-based provider of a digital health platform, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Inspired Capital with participation from existing backers Craft Ventures and Torch Capital, as well as new investors, including Anne Wojcicki, Susan Wojcicki, RiverPark Ventures and Coalition Operators. More Here

Adelaide, a NYC-based company which specializes in attention-based media quality measurement, raised $1.4M in Seed funding. The round was led by AperiamVentures. with participation from GOAL Ventures, Nishat Mehta, BlueTree and Human Ventures. More Here

Root Global, a Berlin, Germany-based startup that provides a climate operating system for the food & beverage industry, raised €8m in seed funding. The round was led by Point Nine, with participation from Project A, HelloWorld, and Arc Investors. More Here

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📰 Venture Capital Updates

BEVC, a Berkeley-based life sciences investor, is raising a $25 million fund focused on climate-related startups, according to an SEC filing. Founded in 2023, the firm’s co-founders, all with PhDs in life sciences, have previously invested in health-focused startups. BEVC's new fund marks a shift toward investing in planetary health alongside human health. More Here

📌 Featured Article

The Buyer’s Pyramid

“Figuring out” your startup’s TAM is somewhat useless. Most of the time it’s made up, or at least very generous, and everyone knows it. But the real sin about TAM is that it’s just one giant number.

Sure, you have SAM and SOM as well but those aren’t much better. They don’t tell you anything actionable like, for example, how ready to buy your market is.

The Buyer’s Pyramid does, though, and I’ve found it pretty helpful. It’s broken down into five states a potential customer can be in:

1. Buying / ready to buy

2. Open to buying

3. Not thinking about buying

4. Don’t think they’ll buy

5. Know they won’t buy

The numbers below are just arbitrary. What I like about the framework is that you can use different strategies for each distinct user group, track performance with simple tagging when potential customers are in your funnel, and audit whether you’re spending your time and money most effectively with sales and marketing.

We haves shared in detailed writeup in our Venture Curator newsletter, Check out here…

📑 Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Revnest, a Boise, ID-based marketplace for buying and selling vacation homes, acquired Hungry Robots, LLC, a real estate data provider.

Dropbox has acquired AI-powered scheduling tool Reclaim.ai, which serves over 320,000 users worldwide and is backed by investors like Calendly and Index Ventures. The entire Reclaim.ai team will join Dropbox.

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Cisco has announced a second round of layoffs this year, planning to cut 7% of its workforce after letting go around 4,000 employees in February. Affected employees will not be notified until September 16, leading to frustration and a reportedly toxic work environment. Despite lower-than-expected earnings, CEO Chuck Robbins received $31.8 million in total compensation for 2023.

Startups & People

Google has appointed Noam Shazeer, former head of Character.AI and longtime researcher, to co-lead its Gemini AI project alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals. Gemini, developed by DeepMind, will be integrated into products such as Search and Pixel smartphones. Shazeer returned to Google after founding Character.AI, with the company investing heavily to bring him and his team into DeepMind. This appointment aligns with Big Tech's trend of recruiting top AI talent amid increasing regulatory scrutiny.

🤖 Latest In Emerging Tech

Over 200 workers at DeepMind, Google's AI R&D division, expressed concern over Google's defense contracts in a letter circulated in May. They argue that such contracts contradict Google's ethical AI principles and mission. The letter highlights a growing culture clash between DeepMind and its parent company.

A court ordered X Holdings, owned by Elon Musk, to unseal its list of shareholders, revealing notable investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Saudi Prince Alwaleed, Diddy, and Jack Dorsey. The unsealing was prompted by a motion from a journalism nonprofit, arguing public interest in knowing the investors behind the influential social-media platform. The disclosure follows X's legal battles and financial challenges, including a significant drop in advertising revenue since Musk's takeover of the platform.

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