Neuralink competitor says its eye implant restored vision & Boeing is exploring sale of space business

In partnership with

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

Scroll down to find out

• Why Boeing might exit space,

• Alphabet's self-driving unit just landed a massive $5.6B deal, and

• How a Neuralink rival is making the blind see!

• Plus, Meta challenges Google's podcast dominance, Gemini 2.0 races to launch, and Alibaba's $433M monopoly settlement rocks tech.

Plus, today's must-read VC intel: Why LTV is your golden metric for 2024, exclusive predictions on the next $100B AI giant, insider's guide to VC career paths, and Accel's bombshell report on AI eating software. Bonus: PitchBook's ultimate AI investor map and fresh opportunities in tech's hottest sectors!

🤝 A Message from Our Partner: AI Tool Report

Learn AI in 5 Minutes a Day

AI Tool Report is one of the fastest-growing and most respected newsletters in the world, with over 550,000 readers from companies like OpenAI, Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, and more.

Our research team spends hundreds of hours a week summarizing the latest news, and finding you the best opportunities to save time and earn more using AI.

Sign up with 1-Click

🧑‍🔧 How Can I Help You?

• Build Your Pitch Deck: We write, design and model your pitch deck into a storyteller book within 4-5 days.

• Get Your MVP In 15 Days: Have an Idea? Turn your idea into Reality. Move fast before your competitors.

• Partnership With Us: Want to get your brand in front of 62,000+ founders, investors, executives, and startup operators? For details on our sponsorships, fill up this quick form or reply to this email as “Advertise” and we’ll get in touch.

🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Arcade AI (San Francisco) – A generative AI marketplace where users design custom jewelry, with artisans bringing the designs to life. The startup raised $17M from investors including Ashton Kutcher (Sound Ventures), Reid Hoffman, and Colin Kaepernick.

Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit, raised $5.6 billion in a funding round led by its parent company to expand its autonomous ride-hailing services. Investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, and Silver Lake also participated in the round.

Pharos, a San Francisco, CA – based hospital quality reporting platform, closed a $5M seed funding round. The round was led by Felicis with participation from General Catalyst, Moxxie and Y Combinator.

Origin, a Riga, Latvia-based defence tech startup, raised €4M in pre-seed funding. The round consisted of €2.4M in venture capital led by Change Ventures and €1.6M in EU and Latvian Ministry of Defence grants.

Osigu, a Miami, FL-based provider of an AI-powered healthcare revenue cycle and claims management platform, raised US$25M in Series B funding. The round was led by IDC Ventures, with Visa participating as a strategic investor.

DailyPay, a NYC-based worktech company and provider of earned wage access solutions, received additional $100M in Credit Commitment from Citi.

Vyntelligence, a London, UK-based provider of mobile video and AI-first solutions for field workflows and customer experiences, raised growth funding from Octopus Ventures.

Agomab Therapeutics, an Antwerp, Belgium-based biotech company developing novel treatments that aim to preserve and restore organ function in fibrotic diseases, raised $89M in Series D funding. Backers included Sanofi and Invus.

Mave, a Toronto, Canada-based AI assistant for real estate, raised CAD$2m in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Relay Ventures and N49P with participation from Alate Partners, Clarim Ventures, and Gambit Partners, along with several angel and strategic investors including a past-president of the Toronto Real Estate Board.

FiberSense, a Sydney, Australia-based AI-powered platform specializing in digital infrastructure and smart sensing technology, raised US$14M in funding. The round was led by Prosus Ventures. Existing investors including Colinton Capital and new investors Investible also participated.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

HRZ Han River, a Menlo Park, CA-based early-stage venture capital firm, launched its $100M venture fund. The fund aims to build bridges between Silicon Valley and the Korea Graph, HRZ’s focus area that targets the talent, technology, and market trends that originate or intersect Korea with potential for global impact.

Javelin Venture Partners, San Francisco, CA-based venture capital firm announced global wealth management and banking advisory leader UBS as a new investor in its $125M primary and associated funds. Fund V is also backed by a diversified mix of institutional LPs and family offices, some of which are joining for the first time, including UBS’ IB Principal Investments team, which made its inaugural investment in a venture fund.

Socium Ventures, a venture and growth investment fund launched by Atlanta, GA-based Cox Enterprises, raised a $300m second fund. The investment brought total assets under management to $600M.

🤖 Latest In Tech

Meta has launched NotebookLlama, an "open" alternative to Google's NotebookLM, using its Llama models to generate podcast-style digests from uploaded text files. While the results mimic NotebookLM's process, the voices sound more robotic, and improvements are needed for more natural-sounding output. Despite efforts to replicate NotebookLM, both it and NotebookLlama still struggle with the common AI issue of hallucinations, leading to some inaccuracies in the generated podcasts.

Neuralink competitor says its eye implant restored vision: Science Corporation has developed an experimental eye implant that has allowed some legally blind individuals to regain enough sight to read, play cards, and complete crossword puzzles. The implant, named the Prima, is a small chip placed under the retina that uses patterns of infrared light to stimulate the brain and create images. Max Hodak, CEO of Science Corporation and former Neuralink president, acquired the technology from Pixium Vision and was impressed by the results showing improved vision in participants.

Google plans to launch Gemini 2.0 in December, a year after the initial Gemini release, aiming for a broad availability similar to previous versions. The new Gemini 2.0 model reportedly faces performance challenges not meeting the original expectations set by Google's team, a trend seen across many top model developers. Google might follow a two-pronged strategy for the Gemini 2.0 release, offering access to developers and general users, while balancing this with ongoing projects like Project Astra.

🪄 Other News

Boeing is reviewing its Starliner space operations, potentially ending its significant history in American space exploration due to cost overruns and delays totaling over $1.8 billion. SpaceX has become the dominant force in the industry, with its Crew Dragon capsule successfully visiting the ISS 43 times since 2019, challenging Boeing's longstanding role in transporting astronauts. Boeing's Chief Executive Officer, Kelly Ortberg, is considering shedding under-performing units like Starliner to focus on the company’s core commercial aircraft and defense divisions amid strained finances and production disruptions.

Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company, with its stock reaching $3.53 trillion, driven by strong demand for AI chips. Nvidia's shares have surged nearly 190% this year, fueled by the AI boom and recent gains after OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding round. Meanwhile, Apple faces weaker smartphone demand, with analysts predicting 5.55% revenue growth compared to Nvidia's projected 82% growth this quarter.

Alibaba agreed to pay $433.5 million to settle a U.S. class-action lawsuit filed by investors alleging monopolistic practices, despite denying any wrongdoing. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, accused Alibaba of violating anti-monopoly laws by forcing merchants to use only one distribution platform. The settlement covers investors from November 2019 to December 2020 and requires approval from a U.S. District Judge.

🧐 In-Depth Insights

• Why LTV Matters More in 2024 Tomasz Tunguz explains why Lifetime Value (LTV) is becoming an even more crucial metric for businesses in 2024, particularly in the context of changing market dynamics and customer acquisition costs.

• The Second $100B AI Company Exploring the potential rise of the next $100B AI company and its implications for the tech and VC landscape.

• Roles at a Venture Fund Halle Tecco outlines the various roles within a venture fund and the career paths for those interested in joining the industry.

• Market Map of VC Investors in Data Infrastructure and AI PitchBook shares an in-depth market map of venture capital investors in the data infrastructure and AI sectors, offering a detailed look at who is driving innovation and investment in these key areas.

• 2024 Accel Euroscape: AI is Eating Software Accel’s Philippe Botteri provides an analysis of the current state of the European tech landscape, highlighting how AI is transforming the software industry and reshaping business models.

📬 Venture Daily Digest Picks

• All-in-one VC Finance Guide For Founders. (Read)

• 8 lead generation pillars and 24 tools For Startup Founders. (Read)

• Sam Altman - ‘Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand.’ (Read)

• Y-Combinator's Framework To Build A Successful MVP. (Read)

• Duolingo on how to win with gamified design. (Read)

• How Successful Startups Solved the Chicken and Egg Problem: A Case Study of Tinder, Uber and Airbnb! (Read)

• How Great Tech Companies Capture Long-Term Value. (Read)

💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities

Get access to our all-in-one VC interview preparation guide—check it out. For a limited time, we are offering a 30% discount. Don’t miss this.

• 250+ Remote Startup Job Opportunities - Apply Here

• Operations Associate, Techstars EnergyTech Accelerator | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Investor (Junior / Mid-level) - HOF Capital | USA - Apply Here

• A DeepTech & HealthTech Investment Analyst - Blume Venture | India - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst (Software) -January Capital  | Singapore - Apply Here

• Venture Partner - Erez Capital | USA - Apply Here

• NEA Undergraduate Fellow (Early Stage) - NEA | USA - Apply Here

• VC Associate - Breega | UK - 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)

• Building Cap Table As A Founder: Template to Download (Access Here)

• 1000+ Euro Tech Angel Investors & VC Firms Database (Access Here)

• 400+ French Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

• 350+ Indian Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

Do you have any news to share about your Startup or VC fund?
Please email us.

We’ll be back in your inbox On Tomorrow.