Google's $20 Million Accelerator Program & FTX's Ex-CEO Sentenced To 25 Year In Prison

👋 Hey, Sahil here! Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. I've got the scoop on startup fundraising, fresh VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes!

• Google introduces a $20 million accelerator program to back Gem-AI Startups.

• Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-CEO of FTX, sentenced to 25 years in prison and $11 billion forfeiture for fraud.

• Apple has filed a lawsuit against former employee Andrew Aude, accusing him of leaking confidential information.

• Former Kleiner Perkins investors establish Matter Venture Partners, raising a $300 million.

• Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's possible bid to buy TikTok.

• Featured Article : Y-Combinator Strategy To Build A Successful Minimal Viable Product (MVP).

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Startup Funding Updates

Zaver, a Swedish BNPL provider, closes a $10 million extension to its Series A, totaling $20 million, with a $30 million total investment. Backed by investors such as FROS Ventures, Hållbar AB, and the founders of King.com, it offers size-agnostic payment solutions up to €200,000, challenging competitors like Klarna and PayPal in Europe's BNPL market. More Here

FLock.io, a London, UK-based decentralised AI training and finetuning platform, raised USD $6m in seed funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction and Tagus Capital with participation from DCG, Volt Capital, OKX Ventures, and Inception Capital, among others. More Here

Kidsy, a Chicago-based e-commerce startup founded by Shraysi Tandon and Sinan Sari, secures an oversubscribed $1 million pre-seed funding to offer discounted baby and kids products from overstock and returns inventory. Backed by investors like Impellent Ventures and Jenny Fleiss, Kidsy aims to reduce waste in the $761 billion U.S. liquidation and returns industry while catering to evolving parental needs. More Here

Coro, a NYC-based cybersecurity platform purpose-built for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), secured $100m in Series D funding. The round, which brought the total funds raised to $255m in the last 24 months, was led by One Peak, with participation from existing investors Energy Impact Partners and Balderton Capital. More Here

Skyflow, a data privacy startup, secures a $30 million Series B extension led by Khosla Ventures, driven by its support for new AI technologies. More Here

Diamfab, France based startup founded by PhD entrepreneurs from Institut Néel, secures €8.7 million to advance diamond-based semiconductors for power electronics, aiming to reduce carbon footprint and support electrification. With backing from Asterion Ventures, Bpifrance, and others, Diamfab targets applications in automotive, space tech, and quantum computing, positioning itself in Grenoble's deep tech hub alongside major players like CEA and STMicroelectronics. More Here

Benjamin Capital Partners, a NYC- and Oulu, Finland-based holding company for the cash-rewards app, raised $5.5M in Seed funding. Backers included Play Ventures, F4 Fund, Anton Gauffin, and Ilkka Teppo. More Here

Lightshift Energy, formerly known as Delorean Power, an Arlington, Va.-based utility-scale energy storage development company, raised $100M from Greenbacker Capital Management. More Here

Blueground, a NYC-based global operator of furnished, flexible rentals for 30+ day stays, raised $45M in Series D funding. The round included investments from new investor Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, along with others including WestCap. More Here

Vizcom, a San Francisco, CA-based company deploying AI for industrial design, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from angel investors, including Kyle Parrish, VP of Sales at Figma, Steve Mallouf, VP of Sales at Datadog, Daniel Sturman, former CTO of Roblox, and Ayush Sood, Director of Engineering at Figma. More Here

SydeLabs, a San Francisco, CA-based security and risk management startup, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by RTP Global with participation from Picus Capital and angel investors. More Here

Zilliant, an Austin, Texas-based leader in pricing lifecycle management, received a $35m investment from Madison Dearborn Partners. More Here

Sprocket Security, a Madison, WI-based provider of an expert-driven offensive security platform, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Blueprint Equity, with participation from Capital Midwest Fund. More Here

Midas, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of a asset tokenization protocol, raised $8M in funding. The round was led by Framework Ventures, BlockTower and HV Capital, with participation from Cathay Ledger, 6th Man Ventures, Hack VC, GSR, Lattice Capital, Phaedrus, Theia Blockchain, Pareto, Axelar Foundation, Peer VC, FJ Labs, and Coinbase Ventures. More Here

Metaview, a London, UK-based provider of an AI assistant that helps teams eradicate admin and toil from their hiring process, raised $7M in funding. The round was led by Plural, with participation from Coelius Capital and existing investors Vertex Ventures US, Seedcamp, Village Global, as well as angels including Kyle Parrish (Figma VP of Sales), and Barney Hussey-Yeo. More Here

Soracom, a Seattle, WA-based provider of advanced connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT), received an undisclosed investment from Suzuki Global Ventures. More Here

Surge, a Paris, France-based company which specializes in high-dimensional immune system analysis combined with artificial intelligence, raised €7.5M in funding. The round was led by Eurazeo with the participation of Kima, Teampact, and MH Innov’, as well as Boutique Venture, HCVC, and 50 Partners Santé. More Here

MyShell, a decentralized AI consumer layer, raised US$11M in Pre-Series A funding. Backers included Dragonfly, Delphi Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Maven11 Capital, Nascent, Nomad Capital, OKX Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Illia Polosukhin, Casey K. Caruso, Santiago R. Santos, and angel investors. More Here

Pelago, a NYC-based digital clinic partner to U.S. businesses and health plans for substance use management, raised $58M in Series C funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $151M, was led by Atomico, with participation from all existing investors Kinnevik AB, Octopus Ventures, and Y Combinator. More Here

Oka, a Park City, UT-based carbon insurance company, raised $10M in funding. The round was led by Aquiline Capital Partners and firstminute capital, and Overview Capital. More Here

TurbineOne, a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in government Machine Learning (ML), raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from previous investors The General Partnership, XYZ Ventures and Pallas Ventures. More Here

Ensis, a San Francisco, CA-based startup developing AI-powered proposal software, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by NextGen Venture Partners and Tau Ventures, with participation from Grep VC, Innovation Global, and Gaingels. More Here

Advolve, a Brazilian company providing AI and Machine Learning solutions for digital marketing, raised USD1.5M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Valor Capital and Lanx Capital, with participation from Verve Capital and Veredas Partners. More Here

Champ Titles, a Cleveland, OH-based provider of digital vehicle title, registration, and lien systems of record in the United States, raised $18M in Series C funding. The round was led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from W.R. Berkley Corporation, Eos Venture Partners, Guidewire Software, and Rev1 Ventures, among others. More Here

Global Screening Services, a London, UK-based RegTech company, raised $47M in Series A2 funding. Backers included AlixPartners, Cynosure Group, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). More Here

Celestial AI, a Santa Clara, CA-based creator of an optical interconnect technology platform, raised $175M in Series C funding. The round was led by Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), with participation from new and existing investors including AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), Temasek, Temasek’s wholly owned subsidiary Xora Innovation, IAG Capital Partners, Samsung Catalyst, Smart Global Holdings (SGH), Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Engine Ventures, M-Ventures and Tyche Partners. More Here

Hume AI, a NYC-based startup and research lab building artificial intelligence optimized for human well-being, raised $50M in Series B funding. The round was led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Nat Friedman & Daniel Gross, Metaplanet, Northwell Holdings, Comcast Ventures, and LG Technology Ventures. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

Former Kleiner Perkins investors Wen Hsieh and Haomiao Huang establish Matter Venture Partners, raising a $300 million inaugural fund focused on hard tech investments. Backed by Kleiner Perkins and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, the fund targets foundational technologies like semiconductors, AI, and manufacturing on-shoring. More Here

Satgana, a climate tech VC firm, has closed its first €8 million fund to back up to 30 early-stage startups in Africa and Europe working on mitigating and building resilience to climate change. The firm focuses on sectors like mobility, food and agriculture, energy, and the circular economy. More Here

New Summit Investments is raising a new $100 million impact fund, its largest to date, to continue investing in fund managers backing startups and companies focused on environmental and social issues. It aims to support underrepresented fund managers and climate tech ventures aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. More Here

Startup studio super{set} secures $90 million as it intensifies focus on building enterprise startups rooted in data and AI, accumulating a total of $176 million in funding. Co-founded by Tom Chavez and Vivek Vaidya, who have notable exits like Krux (sold to Salesforce) and Rapt (acquired by Microsoft), super{set} distinguishes itself by its hands-on approach and emphasis on engineering AI applications rather than foundational AI. With 16 portfolio companies and a strategic shift towards fewer but more impactful ventures, super{set} aims to continue its success in nurturing startup talent from its new San Francisco headquarters. More Here

Featured Article

Y-Combinator Strategy To Build A Successful Minimal Viable Product (MVP)

"The types of founders who think they know exactly what the customer needs even before building a product. We call them fake Steve." Y-Combinator Partner.

"In their minds, Steve Jobs built the iPhone and iPod, such amazing products in one go. The mistake they're making is that’s not true. Many of them remember the 3rd or 4th iteration of these products. The first iPhone had 2G internet, no app store, etc. 📲

You don’t know what the customer needs. The customer alone knows what they need. If you ask them, they will tell you. How you ask them is by showing them your MVP." So follow this Y-Combinator strategy to build your MVP....

What it includes 👇

• Real Meaning of Building Minimal Viable Product (MVP)

• How did Airbnb, Twitch, and Stripe build their MVPs?

• How did these startups use the Y-Combinator MVP building strategy?

• How can you use this strategy to build your startup MVP?…Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Axcel Learning, a NYC-based professional education business company, acquired KMK Optometry, an Omaha, NE-based provider of comprehensive optometry board exam test preparation and coaching services. More Here

Wonderschool, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a child care platform, acquired EarlyDay, a Miami, FL-based early childhood career marketplace. More Here

Landing, a North Birmingham, AL-based provider of a membership for flexible apartment living, acquired Barsala, a Portland, OR-based tech-enabled flexible housing operator, for $30M. More Here

Layoffs & Banktuptcy

ChowNow acquires Cuboh, a POS platform consolidating orders from delivery apps, to enhance its POS integration solution for restaurants has layoff 30 employees. More Here

Startups & People

The Washington Post digs into former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's possible bid to buy TikTok. More Here

Byju's secured favorable court rulings on Thursday, allowing it to proceed with the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Friday, where it seeks to increase authorized share capital for a $200 million rights issue. However, legal battles with estranged investors over governance issues and Byju Raveendran's position as CEO continue. More Here

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for fraud and money laundering charges related to the crypto exchange's collapse. More Here

The U.S. Department of Justice and 16 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging monopolistic practices in the smartphone market. Apple denies the allegations, arguing that its market share and business practices do not constitute a monopoly. The company plans to vigorously defend itself, citing legal precedents and the potential impact on its ability to innovate. More Here

Ibotta, a cash-back startup, filed for an IPO after turning profitable in 2023 driven by strong growth in its enterprise software business. The company reported impressive financial gains, including $320 million in revenue. Ibotta was last valued at $1.08 billion in its previous funding round. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Google introduces a $20 million program, Google Accelerator: Generative AI, backing 21 nonprofits like Quill.org and World Bank to develop AI-driven solutions. With grants, technical training, and Google employee support, the initiative aims to overcome barriers and foster innovation in nonprofits leveraging generative AI for social impact. More Here

Apple has filed a lawsuit against former employee Andrew Aude, accusing him of leaking confidential information, including details about unreleased products and internal strategies, to journalists. The lawsuit seeks damages, the return of bonuses and stock options, and a court order prohibiting Aude from disclosing Apple's confidential information. More Here

Venture Daily Digest Picks

• The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley Problem: How Big Tech is losing the wars of the future. Read Here

• New study of unicorn founders finds most are ‘underdogs,’ and female founders are rising. Read Here

• ​The Apple Jonathan: A Very 1980s Concept Computer That Never Shipped. Read Here

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You On Monday!
Happy Friday! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew