SpaceX's plan to make Starlink 1 Gbps & Nvidia's New AI Model Outperform OpenAI’s GPT.

☕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!

In today’s newsletter:

• Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures-Backed CapWay Shuts Down After Raising $800k.

• Nvidia just Dropped a New AI Model That Crushes OpenAI’s GPT.

• SpaceX's plan to make Starlink 10x faster.

• After Google, Amazon Invests $500 Million To Build nuclear reactors.

• In-Depth Insights: AI - The Future of SaaS, The One Thing Climate Tech Founders Get Wrong & More.

• Venture Daily Digest’s Picks on Startups, VC & AI.

• VC & Startups Job Opportunities

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

DeNexus, a Boston, MA-based company which specializes in end-to-end cyber risk management for operational technology (OT), raised $17.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Punja Global Ventures with participation from AXA XL, Prosegur/SegTech and HCS Capital.

MDisrupt, an Austin, TX-based marketplace for the health tech and life sciences industries, raised $1M in funding. The round was led by American Heart Association Ventures.

Sunbird Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company developing proprietary blood-based technologies, raised additional $14M in funding. The round was led by Eli Lilly and Company and EDBI, as well as continued participation from existing investors ClavystBio, Polaris Partners and S32.

Herald, a NYC-based digital infrastructure provider for commercial insurance, raised $12M in funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures with participation from Afore Capital and Underscore Venture Capital.

Vue Protocol, a NYC-based provider of a Layer 2 solution for Web3 Social, raised $6M in Pre-Seed and Seed funding. Backers included Eureka Capital, PAKA, Genesis Ventures, and AU21 Capital.

X-Energy Reactor Company, a Rockville, MD-based company which specializes in advanced nuclear reactor and fuel technology, raised approx. $500M in Series C-1 funding. The round was led by Amazon.com. Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin, affiliates of Ares Management Corporation, NGP, and the University of Michigan joined Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund in the financing round.

Everstage, a NYC-based provider of sales performance management software for enterprises worldwide, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $45M, was led by Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from existing investors, Elevation Capital and 3one4 Capital.

BackOps.ai, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-driven platform for automating supply chain logistics, raised $2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Gradient, with participation from 10VC.

Oshi Health, a NYC-based company which specializes in digestive healthcare, raised $60M in Seris C Funding. The round was led by Oak HC/FT with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Flare Capital Partners, Frist Cressey Ventures, CVS Health Ventures, and Takeda Digital Ventures.

FullyRamped, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI role play platform for sales teams, raised $2.3m in funding. The round was led by BoxGroup, MaC Venture Capital, and NOMO Ventures.

Capacity, a St. Louis, MO-based provider of an AI-powered support automation platform, raised over $26M in Series D funding. The round included investments from TVC Capital and Toloka.vc., among others.

Lightmatter, a Mountain View, CA-based company which speciaizes in photonic supercomputing, raised $400M in Series D funding, at $4.4B valuation. The round, which brought the total amount to $850M, was led by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. with participation from existing investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and GV (Google Ventures).

Treehouse, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a software-enabled installation platform for electrification projects, raised $16.6M in Series A funding. Backers included Flourish Ventures, Eaton, Veriten, MassMutual Ventures, and inVest Ventures, as well as continued participation from CarMax, Montage Ventures, Acrew Capital, Holman, Virta Ventures.

Nuclera, a Cambridge, UK-based biotechnology company accelerating protein expression and purification workflows through its benchtop protein system, raised $75M in funding. The round was led by Elevage Medical Technologies, backed by Patient Square Capital, and joined by British Patient Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Jonathan Milner, GK Goh, M&G Catalyst, E Ink Holdings, Michael D. McCreary, Uni Power Group, and Verve Ventures.

Fin, a London, UK-based sustainable logistics company, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by MaC Venture Capital with participation from Side Door Ventures, Pearls Capital and Simplex Ventures.

Inshur, a NYC-based provider of embedded insurance product to the on-demand economy, raised $19M in funding. The round was led by Viola Growth, with participation from MS&AD Ventures and existing investors.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

Buckley Ventures, a San Francisco, CA and NYC-based investment firm that invests in technology companies, is raising $250m for its fourth fund.

Node.vc, a new Swedish VC firm led by Tobii co-founder John Elvesjö, has raised €71 million to invest in Nordic and Baltic startups, joining other European VCs promoting an "entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs" approach, with backing from 70 founder LPs and institutions like Saminvest and Nordea. The fund plans to invest €1.3-10 million per company across entertainment, work, and platform technologies

🤖 Latest In Tech

Nvidia unveiled a new AI model, Llama-3.1-Nemotron-70B-Instruct, which outperforms offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic. It achieved top scores on benchmarks like Arena Hard and AlpacaEval 2 LC. Nvidia refined Meta’s Llama 3.1 using advanced training techniques like RLHF. The model offers businesses a flexible, high-performance alternative to existing solutions.

SpaceX has applied to the FCC to increase Starlink speeds from 100Mbps to 1Gbps through orbital and operational updates. The company plans to lower satellite elevation angles from 25 to 20 degrees, allowing more connections with ground stations for longer durations. Additionally, SpaceX is upgrading Gen2 satellites with higher gain, advanced beamforming, and digital processing technologies for improved coverage.

Amazon is investing $500 million in nuclear power, partnering with X-Energy and Energy Northwest to deploy SMRs providing 960 MW of energy by 2040 for AI-driven demands. AWS plans to collaborate with Dominion Energy on another SMR in Virginia, adding 300 MW to support Data Center Alley's energy needs. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are turning to nuclear energy for stable, carbon-free power for data centers due to rising AI technology demands.

Mistral has launched its first generative AI models, "Les Ministraux," designed for edge devices like laptops and phones. The two models, Ministral 3B and Ministral 8B, have a 128,000-token context window. Ministral 8B is available for research, while both can be accessed via Mistral’s cloud platform. Mistral claims its models outperform competitors like Llama and Gemma in AI benchmarks.

🪄 Other News

CapWay, a Y Combinator-backed fintech founded by Sheena Allen in 2016, aimed to serve communities in banking deserts shut down. The company raised $800,000 from investors including Backstage Capital, Fearless Fund, and Khosla Ventures for its mission to help those dependent on high-fee financial services. Industry challenges, banking partner requirements, and fundraising difficulties as a Black-founded startup forced CapWay to shut down, though Allen remains committed to economic equality efforts.

🧐 In-Depth Insights

• AI: The Future of SaaS 
  Cledara's report on how AI is transforming the SaaS industry and what startups need to know to stay competitive in an AI-driven future.

• Why a Lack of VC Funding Might Be a Startup's Secret Weapon This article explores how not having VC funding can sometimes work to a startup's advantage, allowing founders to retain control and innovate more freely.

• The One Thing Climate Tech Founders Get Wrong: It’s Not the Product! This deep dive into startup strategy reminds founders that the end goal is not just a product, but a thriving company that can scale.

• Big Funds, Small Funds, and the Changing Venture Capital Landscape An exploration of the shift in the venture capital landscape, as both big and small funds adapt to the changing dynamics of the startup ecosystem.

• Reduce HR Debt How startups can tackle HR debt and optimize their team management processes as they grow, avoiding costly pitfalls.

📬 Venture Daily Digest Picks

• The Rules of a Good Startup Pitch - A Must Follow Framework For Founders. (Read)

• The best time to invest in a company is when it’s most in violation of a popular narrative... (Read)

• The Best Way To Visualize Product Market Fit (PMF). (Read)

• 20 Minutes: From AI-Prompted Tool to Live Landing Page (Read)

• How much should I budget for ads & marketing to seed my app with its initial users? (Read)

• The best way to get hired for VC associate role. (Read)

🧑‍🔧 How Can I Help You?

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💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

• Business Development Intern - Plug and play tech center | italy - Apply Here

• Associate, Investments - Diagram | Canada - Apply Here

• UK Executive Director - Pillar VC | UK - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst - Five Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Associate, Impact and ESG - Energize Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Fund Operations Analyst - Capital Factor | USA - Apply Here

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

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