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FTC Probes Giant Firms Investment In OpenAI & Chamath Palihapitiya's $1 Billion VC Fund
Venture Daily Digest - 29/01/2024
Venture Daily Digest
January 29, 2024
👋 Hey, Sahil here! Welcome to today’s Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. Every day I share updates on startup funding, new VC funds launched, tech, and more to read in 5 mins! Today we have major updates on -
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya is no longer raising a $1 billion fund.
FTC Investigating Amazon, Google’s and Microsoft Investment In OpenAI and Anthropic.'
Apple Facing Lawsuit For Alternative Payment and App Store Competition.
Featured Article : Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand.
What Do You Think: VC Backed Companies M&A Activity?
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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES
ObjectiveHealth, a Nashville, TN-based integrated specialty research network and technology company, received an undisclosed strategic growth investment from Vitruvian Partners. More Here
Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has raised $50M from Matrix Partner India and grab indias first AI unicorn startup status. More Here
Thentia, an Oklahoma City, OK-based company which specializes in regulatory technology, raised $38M in Series B extension. The round was led by First Ascent Ventures, Spring Mountain Capital, BDC Capital, and Espresso Capital. More Here
Proof Technology, Inc., a Denver, CO-based service of process and e-filing technology platform company, closed a $30.4m Series B funding. The round was led by Long Ridge Equity Partners with participation from existing investors including Blue Heron Capital and The LegalTech Fund. More Here
MY DR NOW, Arizona based startup provider of primary and specialty care with multiple locations raised funding from Kain Capital total the funding amount to $60M. More Here
Cnergreen, a Calgary, AB, Canada-based startup manufacturing stable foams for CO2 injection in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Rhapsody Venture Partners. More Here
OnPoint Healthcare Partners, a Flower Mound, TX-based AI-enabled technology services provider that offers a suite of solutions to hospitals and medical groups, received a undisclosed growth funding from Peloton Equity with participation from Fort Maitland Capital. More Here
RagaAI, San Francisco, CA-based technology company which specializes in AI testing, raised $4.7M in funding. The round was led by pi Ventures with participation from Anorak Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Arka Ventures, Mana Ventures, and Exfinity Venture Partners. More Here
Legalyze AI, Dallas, TX-based AI startup for lawyers, raised $100K in funding led by payment ventures. More Here
GreenSpark, a NYC-based provider of a software platform for the metal recycling industry, raised $9.4M in funding. The round, which brought thew total amount to ~$19M, was led by Zero Infinity Partners and Third Prime with participation from Bienville Capital and select strategic individuals. More Here
WealthKernel, a London, UK-based provider of digital investment solutions, raised £6M in Series A extension funding. The round was led by ETFS Capital with participation from XTX Ventures. More Here
Orbiter Finance, a remote provider of a decentralized cross-Layer 2 (L2) protocol, received an undisclosed investment from OKX Ventures. More Here
B² Network, a remote provider of an EVM-compatible rollup based on zero-knowledge (ZK) proof verification commitment on Bitcoin and the first data availability (DA) layer for Bitcoin rollups, received a Seed funding from OKX Ventures. More Here
Infinite Roots, a Hamburg, Germany-based biotech company using fermentation and fungi to create the next generation of sustainable alternative proteins, raised $58m in Series B funding. The round was led by the Dr. Hans Riegel Holding GmbH (HRH), with the support from the EIC Fund, REWE Group, and Betagro Ventures. More Here
Axiom, a New York startup that uses advanced cryptographic proofs to give smart contract developers access to more data on-chain, raised $20m in Series A funding. The round was led by Standard Crypto and Paradigm with participation from Robot Ventures and Ethereal Ventures. More Here
PRISM BioLab, a Tokyo, Japan-based discovery and development biotechnology company designing small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets, raised 1.5 Billion Yen ($10.3M) in Series C funding. The round saw participation from Eli Lilly and Company and Santec Holdings Corporation. More Here
TextQL, a San Francisco, CA-based startup building an AI data analyst that connects clients to business intelligence (BI) tools, semantic layers, and existing documentation, raised $4.1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Neo and DCM. More Here
C16 Biosciences, a NYC-based maker of Palmless™, a platform for sustainable palm oil alternatives, raised $3.5M in Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as a $1m investment from Elemental Excelerator. More Here
💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES
Kost Capital, Danish venture capital fund, along with its food development studio Kost Studio, has raised an undisclosed amount for fund, with backers including Danish sovereign fund EIFO. Kost Capital focuses on pre-seed and seed investments in B2B inputs for the future of food, already backing Estonian Äio, French Numi, and Danish Nutrumami. More Here
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya is no longer raising a $1 billion fund, according to Axios, which says that Palihapitiya responded to its questions about the story with a poop emoji. More Here
Lightspeed Venture Partners is trying to sell stakes in ten of its portfolio companies via a PE-style $1 billion continuation fund. More Here
𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE
Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand.
Sam Altman shared an interesting perspective on going after hard ideas than easy one.
Both startups takes a lot of hard work but hard ideas are easy to build than easy ideas. Why? … Read More Here
Sam Altman (Google Images)
💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ
Acquisition & Exits
TraceGains, a Westminster, CO-based company which specializes in compliance and networked product development software, acquired NutriCalc, a provider of nutritional calculation software. More Here
Luko, a French startup that offered offer "digital-first" home insurance services, has been acquired by Allianz Direct for a mere $4.65 million. More Here
Layoffs & Shutdown
Flexport, a logistics company with $2.7 billion in venture and debt funding, is reportedly planning to eliminate around 20% of its roles in the next few weeks. More Here
Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, TIME and Sports Illustrated are among the publications that have downsized their editorial operations as they restructure and reorient their business models to suit the changing media landscape. More Here
Salesforce Inc. is cutting about 700 workers, adding to a brutal string of tech layoffs. The new cuts show how the tech industry remains focused on trimming costs. More Here
Startups & People
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek condemns Apple's compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act, labeling new fees as "extortion." Ek asserts that Apple's solution maintains the App Store's dominance, increasing customer acquisition costs for Spotify. The Coalition for App Fairness and Mozilla voice similar concerns, while Apple contends that most developers will pay the same or less. More Here
Apple is facing challenges from regulators and lawmakers, leading to changes in policies like alternative payment methods and app store competition. The company's resistance and complaints, portrayed as petulance, may jeopardize its public image and hinder cooperation with regulatory efforts. More Here
Snyk, which sells security tools for developers and was valued at $7.4 billion last year, has been drafting its IPO investor prospectus and could file it confidentially with regulators in the next few months. More Here
🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH
Security researchers have discovered that Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X are secretly mining information from users through iPhone app notifications. More Here
The FTC has confirmed that it is investigating Microsoft, Amazon, and Google for their investments in OpenAI and Anthropic and whether the deals might be anti-competitive. More Here
📰 TODAY’S MUST READ ON: STARTUP, TECH & VC
🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Despite the high hopes of VCs, 2023 was the worst year for M&A in a decade, according to the latest NCVA Venture Monitor. Only $26.7 billion in M&A deal value was generated. How many VC-backed companies were acquired this year? |
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Transacted: Get the latest trends and transactions with the Street’s most informative M&A update.
That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow!
Happy Monday! 🥂
✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team
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