Humanoid Robotics Startup Raised $700 Millions & Reddit's Revised Share Price

👋 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!

• Figure AI, a humanoid robotics startup, raises $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation with backing from Microsoft, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, Ark Invest, Intel Capital, and OpenAI.

• Reddit plans an IPO with a valuation of $5.4 billion, aiming for $31 to $34 per share.

• Elon Musk's AI startup xAI plans to open source its chatbot Grok, rivaling ChatGPT.

• Controversial eyeball-scanning startup Worldcoin couldn't secure an injunction against Spain's data protection authority's temporary suspension.

• Featured Article : Pitch deck has one purpose, to drive enough interest to schedule a meeting.

• Daily Digest Board: What’s your views on Reddit’s IPO?

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STARTUP FUNDING UPDATES

Figure AI, a humanoid robotics startup, has raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation, drawing support from tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Ark Invest, Intel Capital, and OpenAI. The interest in humanoid robots stems from their potential to revolutionize both the labor market and household settings. More Here

SuperAGI, aims to build a full-stack artificial general intelligence (AGI) platform based on large agentic models (LAMs) has raised $10 million funding led by Newlands VC, the super-secretive investment firm bankrolled by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum. More Here

Kaedim, a San Francisco, CA-based startup dedicated to streamlining the 3D creative process for game developers and interactive entertainment creators, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by A16Z GAMES with participation from Pioneer Fund. More Here

Liquid Death, a Los Angeles, Ca-based beverage company, raised $67M in funding. Backers included new investor SuRo Capital alongside follow-on investors Live Nation, Science, Inc., and Creek Capital Partners. More Here

AbilityPharma, a Barcelona, Spain-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative oral autophagy-inducing anticancer compounds, raised €7M in funding. The round saw participation from CTI Life Sciences Fund, Inveready, the EIC Fund, Fitalent and CDTI Innvierte. More Here

Stell, a tool for requirements management that allows teams to track, verify and validate requirements on complex projects. The company closed a $4 million seed round led by Long Journey Ventures and Cyan & Scott Banister, with participation from Third Prime, Wischoff Ventures, Urban Innovation Fund, Forward Deployed VC and Fulcrum Venture Group, as well as a select group of angel investors. More Here

Neuron7 AI, a San Jose, CA-based company which specializes in AI for service, received an undisclosed strategic investment from ServiceNow Ventures. More Here

Key, a Palo Alto, CA-based community and networking platform provider, raised $4.3m in funding. The round was led by Felicis with participation from Liquid 2 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Archangels Ventures & Cerigo Investments. More Here

Bluwhale, a San Francisco, CA-based AI Web3 startup, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by SBI with participation from Cardano, Momentum6, Primal Capital, NxGen, Ghaf Capital Partners, Spyre Capital, Baselayer Capital & Haseeb Qureshi. More Here

Serenity Kids, an Austin, TX-based shelf-stable pouched baby food brand, closed a $52M in minority investment from Stride Consumer Partners. More Here

Vouch, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of business insurance for high-growth companies, raised $25M in Series C-1 funding. The round was led by Ribbit Capital. More Here

Blockus, a San Francisco, CA-based Web3 gaming ecosystem, raised $4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Maple VC and included Altos Ventures as well as angel investors such as Zhuoxun Yin from Magic Eden, Michael Ma from CreatorDAO, and Bryan Pelligrino from LayerZero. More Here

Flagstone, a London, UK-based cash deposit platform, received £108m ($138m) equity investment from Estancia Capital Partners. More Here

DeBox, a remote provider of a decentralized social networking platform for Web3 communities and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), received an undisclosed investment from OKX Ventures. More Here

Suiso, a Rotherham, UK-based company developing an innovative hydrogen generator that could boost uptake of green energy, raised £3M in funding. The round was led by NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, and Mercia’s EIS funds. More Here

Reach Security, Sunnyvale, CA-based company providing AI solutions for security operations, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by Ballistic Ventures, with participation from Artisanal Ventures, Mark McLaughlin, Denise Persson. Existing backers Webb Investment Network, Ridge Ventures, and TechOperators also joined the round. More Here

MAXE AI, a NYC-based provider of an AI investing assistant app, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. 4Di Capital made the investment. More Here

Recap, a UK-based provider of a crypto tax calculation service, received a £300K Innovate UK Grant. More Here

BRKZ, a Saudi Arabia-based construction tech startup, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $13.55M, was led by 9900 and BECO Capital, with participation from Wa’ed Ventures, Knollwood Investment Advisory, RZM Investment, and MISY Ventures. More Here

Legitify, a Dublin, Ireland-based legaltech startup, raised €1.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Verb Ventures, with contributions from Enterprise Ireland, Actium Partners, Redbay Ventures and other investors. More Here

PeopleForce, a Kyiv Ukraine-based provider of an HR platform, raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Pracuj Ventures. More Here

GlycanAge, a London, UK-based biotech startup in the field of glycan biomarkers glycan biomarkers, raised $4.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by LAUNCHub Ventures and Kadmos Capital. More Here

Ontraccr Technologies, a Vancouver, Canada-based construction management software provider, closed a $1.2m seed funding round. Backers included LAB Ventures and Buildtech Ventures. More Here

Finboot, a Cardiff, Wales, UK-based supply chain technology provider, closed the first close of its latest funding round. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. This round was led by a strategic investor together with Wealth Club. More Here

HawkCell, a Lyon, France-based veterinary care and preclinical research company, raised €5M in Series A funding. The round was led by MIG, with participation from a French investment bank. More Here

Guardrails AI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI assurance company, raised $7.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Zetta Venture Partners. Bloomberg Beta, Pear VC, Factory and GitHub Fund as well as AI angels like Ian Goodfellow from DeepMind, Logan Kilpatrick from OpenAI and Lip-bu Tan also participated. More Here

Griffin, a London, UK-based full-stack Banking as a Service (BaaS) platform, raised $24m (£19m) in funding. The round was led by MassMutual Ventures, NordicNinja and Breega, with participation from existing investors Notion Capital and EQT Ventures. More Here

AbbeyCross, a NYC-based wholesale FX platform focused on improving the payment market infrastructure for Emerging Market currencies, raised US$6.5M in seed funding. The round, which followed a pre-seed funding led by Third Prime last year of US$2.47M, led by Valar Ventures with participation from BNY Mellon, Third Prime and Gaingels. More Here

Velou, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered product data enrichment and search automation platform, raised $4M in seed funding. The round, announced in January 2024, was led by Animo Ventures, with participation from Ascend, Sentiero, Revelry, Startup Haven, SK Ventures, and angel investors in SaaS and retail. More Here

Cherub, a US provider of a platform to connect founders, investors and advisors, raised $1m in funding. Backers included angel investors Alli Webb and Morgan DeBaun, among others. More Here

VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Muditā Venture Partners, detroit-based VC fund focusing on early stage software companies, completed the oversubscribed raise of $40 million. The Fund has invested in EdTech, FinTech, PropTech, and AI-based emerging companies. More Here

A year ago, Silicon Valley Bank faced a crisis leading to a run of withdrawals from prominent banks, triggering concerns of a broader financial meltdown. Despite attempts by other banks to claim SVB's tech-friendly mantle, none have replicated its high-risk appetite for underwriting loans to pre-revenue or loss-making startups. The aftermath has left the venture capital ecosystem with more competitive day-to-day banking options but lacks a dominant successor to SVB's role in supporting Silicon Valley startups. More Here

FEATURED ARTICLE

Pitch deck has one purpose, to drive enough interest to schedule a meeting. That’s it. It should not (and will not) convince someone to invest in the company.

You should be able to accomplish the goal in 6-12 slides, max. If your pitch deck is 14+ pages, you are likely providing too much information. Too much information can be risky because it gives investors more opportunities to find red flags.

So omit unnecessary details so that investors can focus on the following details that matter most: The problem you're solving, product/service… Read More Here

STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

ACQUISITION & EXITS

PAR Technology Corporation, a NYC-based foodservice technology company and provider of unified commerce for enterprise restaurant brands, has entered into an agreement to acquire Task and completed the purchase of Stuzo. More Here

STARTUPS & PEOPLE

Reddit plans an IPO with a valuation of $5.4 billion, aiming for $31 to $34 per share. The company's $804 million 2023 revenue and strategic focus on AI through $203 million data licensing contracts contribute to its appeal, despite being unprofitable. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's significant stake adds an intriguing dimension to Reddit's AI ventures. More Here

Telegram founder Pavel Durov anticipates the company turning profitable next year, leveraging its 900 million users and generating "hundreds of millions of dollars" through ads and subscriptions. Durov expressed interest in taking Telegram public in the future, emphasizing the goal to democratize access to the platform's value. More Here

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, could reap between $51.4 million and $56.4 million from Reddit's upcoming IPO. Estimated to own around 1.66 million shares, Altman's ties to Reddit include serving on its board, an eight-day stint as CEO, and investments through various funds, with entities affiliated with him holding an 8.7% stake in the company. More Here

LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI plans to open source its chatbot Grok, rivaling ChatGPT, shortly after suing OpenAI for deviating from open source principles. Musk alleges that OpenAI has become a closed-source subsidiary of Microsoft, contrary to its initial goal of ensuring AGI benefits humanity. The move follows a trend of tech companies, including Meta and Mistral, sharing their chatbot codes with the public. More Here

Controversial eyeball-scanning startup Worldcoin failed to secure an injunction against the temporary suspension imposed by Spain's data protection authority, AEPD, citing risks to individuals' rights and freedoms. The Madrid-based High Court upheld the AEPD's order under the GDPR's emergency powers, suspending Worldcoin's services for up to three months. More Here

VENTURE DAILY DIGEST PICKS

• Successful Startups Follow Quadratic Hypergrowth, Not Exponential. Read Here

• Paypal's 'Going Sharp' Strategy To Find Product Market Fit. Read Here

• Fundraising Is A Sales & Marketing Process In Which The Buyer Is a VC and the Product Is Equity, Why? Read Here

• How Many Investors Should You Talk to in a VC Fund Raise? And How Do You Prioritize? Read Here

DAILY DIGEST BOARD

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

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• Get Your MVP In 15 Days: Have an Idea? Turn your idea into Reality. Move fast before your competitor with help of our experienced product managers and developers at minimal cost. Build Your MVP

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow!
Happy Tuesday! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew