FTX sues Binance for $1.8 billion & SpaceX practices ISS destruction

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☕ Good Tuesday Morning. Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter.

Scroll down to catch

• OpenAI's bold quest for superintelligence,

• Google's game-changing real-time search, and

• the crypto world's latest drama - FTX slaps Binance with a $1.8B lawsuit!

• Meanwhile, Bitcoin's smashing records and

• SpaceX is literally practicing how to destroy the space station.

Dive into fresh insights on escaping the VC hamster wheel, master the latest AI playbook for vertical SaaS from SignalFire, and crack the code on channel-startup fit. Plus: Q3's juiciest valuation numbers and Jamin Ball's take on how AI is reshaping tech giants. Hot VC and startup roles just dropped!

🤝 The Most Emerging Startup You Can't Miss…

You know how finding reliable overseas talent can be a total nightmare? (Been there, done that, got the horror stories!) Well, A Team Overseas is doing something that made me go "Why didn't anyone think of this before?!"

Here's the tea: Most agencies are charging businesses a whopping $3K/month for virtual assistants but only paying them $700-800. Yikes! These folks looked at that system and said "Nope, we're doing better." They're connecting you with Executive Assistants who've crushed it at big agencies but were tired of getting the short end of the stick.

The best part? They're paying their EAs a fair $1,400/month (literally double!) while charging businesses just $2.5K. Math nerds, you're seeing this right - everyone wins!

But wait - it gets better. These aren't your typical "just tell me what to do" VAs. We're talking about pros who've managed complex projects, know how to think three steps ahead, and actually understand your business goals. The kind who'll message you saying "Hey, I noticed XYZ and here's how we can improve it" before you even spot the issue.

Look, I'm usually skeptical about these things (occupational hazard, sorry!), but this is legit changing the game for both businesses AND talent.

If you're drowning in tasks or tired of micromanaging overseas teams, you need to check this out.

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Talli, a NYC-based provider of a digital payments platform for the legal industry, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Vestigo Ventures.

Equal, India-based provider of a data sharing platform, raised US$10M in Series A funding, at a post-money valuation of US$80M. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, Tomales Bay Capital and its founder, Keshav Reddyith with participation from Blume Ventures, DST Global, Quona VC, Gruhas VC, Binny Bansal, Harsh Jain, Karan Adani, D S Brar, Kunal Shah, Kunal Bahl.

Tako, a São Paulo-based startup, provides an employee life cycle platform that automates onboarding and payroll tasks for Brazilian companies. The company has raised $13.2 million in seed funding, led by Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from ONEVC and the founders of Ramp.

Northflank, a London, UK-based provider of a workload platform for developers, raised $22.3M in funding. The amount consisted of $16M in Series A led by Bain Capital Ventures and a $6.3M seed led by Vertex Ventures US. Additional investors included Kindred Ventures, Tapestry VC, Pebblebed and Uncorrelated Ventures.

SmartBank, a Tokyo-based fintech startup, provides cashless payment solutions through prepaid cards and finance management apps focused on helping individuals and couples manage their finances. The company has raised a total of 5.93B JPY ($38.5M) in equity and 1.1B JPY in debt, backed by Global Brain and a fund formed with SMBC bank.

India IVF, a Gurgaon, India-based company empowering fertility treatments, raised $1.25M in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Tomorrow Capital.

Tozero, a Munich-based startup, specializes in recovering valuable raw materials from recycled lithium-ion batteries using a water-based carbonation recovery process. The company has raised a total of €17 million ($18.1M), including their latest €11 million seed round, with backing from NordicNinja, In-Q-Tel, Honda, JGC Group, and Atlantic Labs, along with a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council.

Oyster, a San Francisco, CA-based employment solution to employ, pay, and care for distributed teams, received a $5M investment from ServiceNow Ventures.

Paloma Health, a London, UK-based AI-enabled healthtech startup reducing wait times for access to critical NHS health services, raised £2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Triple Point Ventures, with participation from Heal Capital and angels, including Pam Garside, and James Allgrove.

ZAP Surgical Systems, a San Carlos, CA-based non-invasive robotic brain surgery company, raised $78M in Series E funding. The round was led by Qingdao Baheal Medical Inc., with participation from other strategic investors.

AllFocal Optics, a Cambridge, UK-based developer of nanophotonic lens technology for always-in-focus images, raised $5.3M in funding. The round included: $3.6m equity raise led by SpeedInvest, with participation from 7PC Ventures, Martlet, Another.VC, Mario Gotze, Maximilian Odendahl, and Prashant Shah, grants by Innovate UK.

Webel, a Madrid, Spain-based provider of a SaaS platform to find providers of at-home services, raised €1.4M in funding. The round was led by Goodwater Capital, Decelera Ventures and ZAKA VC.

SocialCrowd, a US-based workforce performance company, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Bread and Butter Ventures and Augment Ventures, with participation from VC 414, Serac Ventures, and FullCircle.

EpiBone, a NYC-based regenerative medicine company, raised an undisclosed amount in funding. The round was led by Kendall Capital Partners, with participation from LifeSpan Vision Ventures, EMV Capital, and others.

Pharos, a Road Town, British Virgin Islands-based provider of a parallel layer-1 blockchain network, raised $8M in Seed funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with participation from SNZ Capital, Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, Legend Star, MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One Ventures.

Cogna, a London, UK-based precision solutions provider using AI-powered software development to address complex business inefficiencies across critical industries, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Notion Capital with participation from Hoxton Ventures and Chalfen Ventures.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

Intudo, an Indonesia-only venture capital firm based in Jakarta, focuses on investing in Indonesian startups across sectors including consumer products, aquaculture, horticulture, commercial distribution, regulatory tech, and natural resources. The firm has raised $125 million across two new funds - $75 million for Intudo Ventures IV and $50 million for a natural resources fund, with backing from institutions and family offices from the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including Orient Growth Ventures, Black Kite Capital, and over 30 influential Indonesian families.

Hobart Ventures, based in Los Angeles, is a new venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage consumer startups. Founded by TJ Taylor, former tech executive from Raya and Dispo, the firm is currently raising its first $8 million fund, with plans to write checks between $150,000 and $300,000. The firm is currently in fundraising mode and has secured some limited partners, though specific investor names were not disclosed.

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🤖 Latest In Tech

OpenAI and others seek new path to smarter AI: OpenAI, amidst delays in large language model advancements, is developing new methods that mimic human reasoning to overcome the limitations of scaling with data and computing power. Prominent AI figures now emphasize innovative approaches like "test-time compute" for improving models, as seen in OpenAI's o1 model, which enhances performance during the inference phase rather than just pre-training. The shift towards smarter AI techniques could transform the AI hardware market, with increased focus on inference capabilities potentially impacting Nvidia's dominance in AI chips and attracting attention from major investors.

Google is developing a real-time, conversational voice-to-search feature within its Search app that allows users to verbally interact and receive dynamic search results. This function enables continuous dialogue with Google Search, letting users ask multiple questions without needing to restart the voice-to-search process each time. The conversational search feature is not yet available to the public, but as competition from AI firms grows, Google will likely soon introduce similar updates.

Bitcoin reached a new record high of $82,216 as the cryptocurrency rally continued after Donald Trump's presidential election win, driven by optimism for a pro-crypto regulatory environment. The surge in Bitcoin, which peaked at $82,527, comes with expectations that Trump's administration will introduce lenient digital asset regulations, doubling its price from the year's low of $38,505. Crypto enthusiasts hope Trump's support for digital assets will make the USA the "crypto capital," influencing other cryptocurrencies to rise, with Ether hitting $3,204 and meme coins like Dogecoin climbing significantly.

🪄 Other News

The FTX bankruptcy estate has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, seeking to recover $1.8 billion allegedly transferred fraudulently from FTX. The lawsuit claims that a stock repurchase deal in July 2021, involving FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was fraudulent due to FTX's insolvency with payments worth $1.76 billion in cryptocurrencies to Binance. The plaintiffs also accuse Zhao of orchestrating a deliberate campaign to harm FTX, including a significant liquidation of FTX Tokens (FTT) to worsen FTX's financial state and benefit Binance.

SpaceX is testing its Dragon cargo spacecraft's engines while docked at the ISS to prepare for the space station's eventual retirement around 2030 and collect crucial data. This is the first time a SpaceX capsule has fired thrusters for "reboosting" the ISS, historically a job done by Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, as part of a plan to maintain its orbit stability. NASA has partnered with SpaceX to develop a vehicle for safely pushing the International Space Station out of orbit and ensuring its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere concludes safely over the ocean.

🧐 In-Depth Insights

• Getting Off the VC Train. Reflections on the changing dynamics of venture capital and the shift towards sustainable growth over rapid scaling.

• Q3 2024 US VC Valuations Report  An analysis of US venture capital valuations in Q3, highlighting trends and shifts in investor sentiment and valuation metrics.

• Frameworks for AI Vertical SaaS This SignalFire article explores frameworks for AI-driven vertical SaaS models, addressing the challenges and opportunities for AI in specialized software markets. Essential reading for AI-focused SaaS founders.

• Channel-Startup Fit: Finding Your Sales Strategy Exploring the concept of “channel-startup fit,” this insight details how startups can determine the best go-to-market channels for their product, ensuring efficient and scalable customer acquisition.

• Clouded Judgement: The Implications of AI on Tech Giants An analysis by Jamin Ball of how AI developments are influencing the strategies of tech giants like Amazon and Google. This report digs into their AI-driven pivots and what it means for the future of Big Tech.

📬 Venture Daily Digest Picks

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• 13 Successful VC Fund Decks That Raised Over $500M From LPs... (Read)

• How Sam Altman got into the first Y Combinator batch. (Read)

• Sequoia Capital’s Framework: How To Reduce Burn and Extend Runway? (Read)

• All-in-One Guide to Venture Capital Valuation Method. (Read)

• VCs' 5-Question Framework To Create An Elevator Pitch. (Read)

• Sam Altman: Successful Pivots Typically Fall Into Two Category. (Read)

• A simple framework to better understand your market and competition. (Read)

💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities

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• Senior Associate - Motely Fool Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Founder Associate - Allocator One | UK - Apply Here

• Executive Assistant - Transition VC | India - Apply Here

• Senior Investment Associate - Forum Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investor Relations Analyst - B Capital Group | USA - Apply Here

• Ventures Associate, AI Investing - Point 72 Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst Intern - Motion Venture | Singapore - Apply Here

RESOURCES

• Early Stage Startup Financial Model Template For Fundraising (Access Here)

• 2700+ US Angel Investors & VC Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

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