Musk's Hyperloop Shutting Down & VC Market Struggle In First Half Of 2024

🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES

• Hyperloop, Elon Musk’s Pipe Dream, shutting down - Selling all assets & layoffs

• “The first half of 2024 - will be rough for VC Market”

• OpenAI Rival, Anthropic Raised $750 M Funding

• Featured Venture-Daily Digest+ : Limited Partner's Not Taking New Commitment To Invest In VC Funds?

• What do you think: Your Opinion on Venture-Daily Digest+ Writeup?

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, is reportedly in talks to raise $750 million in funding at a valuation of as much as $18.4 billion led by Menlo Ventures. That's three times where it was valued this spring. More Here

Lightmatter, a six-year-old Boston startup that changes how computer chips perform calculations and communication by using light instead of electrical signals to transmit data, raised a $155 million Series C2 round. GV and Viking Global Investors co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $422 million. More Here

Vestwell, a seven-year-old, New York-based savings and investment platform backed earlier by Goldman Sachs, has raised $125 million in new funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. According to Bloomberg, the round values the company at $1 billion. More Here

Atavistik Bio, a two-year-old precision medicine startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is focused on developing small molecule therapeutics targeting allosteric sites, or specific areas on enzymes or other proteins where molecules can bind, raised a $40 million round. Investors included The Column Group, Lux Capital, and Nextech Invest. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. More Here

Knownwell, a one-year-old Boston startup whose obesity practice aims to address the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of weight management in a supportive and non-stigmatizing environment, raised a $20 million Series A round. Andreessen Horowitz was the deal lead, with existing investor Flare Capital Partners also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $24.5 million. More Here

ScaleOps, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that says it has developed a fully-automated platform that optimizes and manages cloud-native resources during runtime, raised a $15 million Series A round. Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, and Gilot Capital Partners were the co-leads. THe company has raised a total of $21.5 million. More Here

Soum, a two-year-old Riyadh startup that operates a marketplace for second-hand goods, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Jahez Group, with additional participation from Isometry Capital as well as previous investors Khwarizmi Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, and Outliers Venture Capital. The company has raised a total of $22 million. More Here

TRES, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that has built a cryptocurrency accounting and taxation reporting platform, raised an $11 million round. Investors included Faction, boldstart, New Form, Cyber Fund, and Ambush Capital. The company has raised a total of $18.6 million. More Here

Crescenta, a one-year-old Madrid startup that offers professional and retail investors access to private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, private debt, and impact investment funds, raised a $2.2 million seed round. KFund and FJ Labs were the co-leads, with All Iron Ventures also taking part. More Here

Farcana, a one-year-old Dubai startup that is developing a third-person multiplayer shooter game for the blockchain, raised a $10 million seed round Animoca Brands, Polygon Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, and Merit Circle, with Rarestone Capital, MMPro Trust, Unpopular Ventures, Kapo Capital, Emchain, Hasu Capital, and Dravus Investment also piling on. More Here

Hakbah, a five-year-old Riyadh startup, raised a $5.1 million Series A round. VentureSouq, M-Capital, and Bunat Ventures as well as previous investors Global Ventures and Aditum Investment Management participated in the investment. More Here

Metrion, an eight-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that is engaged in the discovery and development of new drugs, with a focus on testing how these drugs interact with the body's ion channels to ensure their safety and effectiveness, raised a $4.4 million round led by Maven Capital Partners, with previous investor Gresham House Ventures also contributing. More Here

NETRIS Pharma, a 15-year-old company based in Lyon, France, that specializes in developing anti-cancer therapeutic molecules, particularly monoclonal antibodies targeting resistance to oncology treatments, raised an $8.2 million Series A round led by EIC Fund. The company has raised a total of $26.7 million. More Here

Dandelion Health, a three-year-old New York startup that is assembling a de-identified dataset from millions of patient records to enable developers to test for potential bias in their healthcare algorithms, raised a $15 million seed round led by Primary, with Sharp HealthCare, Moxxie Ventures, Phoenix Venture Partners, and Floating Point also contributing. More Here

EVCS, a five-year-old startup based in Arcadia, Ca., that operates a subscription-based EV charging network of charging stations primarily located across California, Oregon, and Washington, is raising a $20 million round and has so far raised $7.5 million of this amount, according to a TechCrunch review of SEC filings. More Here

Podimo, a four-year-old Copenhagen startup that operates a subscription-based service offering access to a range of podcasts and audiobooks, raised a $48 million round led by The Danish Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), with HighlandX and Augustinus Fabrikker also participating. The company has raised a total of $220+ million. More Here

Addressable, a six-year-old Los Angeles startup that specializes in analyzing blockchain data to identify and categorize cryptocurrency wallet owners for targeted advertising and marketing campaigns, raised a $6 million seed extension led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from Karatage as well as previous investors Viola Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Mensch Capital Partners, and North Island Ventures. The company has raised a total of $13.5 million. More Here 

Backer, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that says its platform is designed to help parents and families easily invest in 529 college savings plans, raised a $9.5 million Series A round from WndrCo. More Here

Cloudline, a six-year-old Cape Town startup that is developing development of carbon emissions-free, autonomous airships designed for cargo transportation in Africa, raised a $6 million seed round from Eric and Wendy Schmidt's Schmidt Futures as well as Raba Partnership, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, and 4Di. More Here

DTE, a 10-year-old Reykjavik company that is developing software to optimize energy usage and reduce costs for commercial and industrial buildings, raised a $6 million Series A2 extension from Eyrir Vöxtur and EIC Fund. More Here

Helin, a six-year-old Dutch startup that uses advanced data analysis to improve operational efficiency in industrial settings, focusing on optimizing production processes and equipment performance through real-time data monitoring and management, raised a $3.3 million seed round from Forward. More Here 

Intrinsic, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing software tools designed to enhance online safety and trust, specifically for use by digital platforms' trust and safety teams, raised a $3.1 million seed round. Investors included Urban Innovation Fund, Y Combinator, 645 Ventures, and Okta. More Here 

Kosmik, a five-year-old Paris startup that has created a digital workspace integrating a visual canvas with a built-in PDF reader and web browser, raised a $3.7 million seed round led by Creandum, with participation from Alven, Kima Ventures, and Betaworks. More Here

Standard Biocarbon, a three-year-old startup based in Portland, Me., that produces biochar, a form of charcoal that captures carbon, raised a $5 million round from Nexus Development Capital. More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

2024 venture landscape, More Worries: In 2023, the venture and tech landscape experienced a drastic downturn, with a 64% drop in funding rounds and an 86% decrease in total investment from the Q4 2021 peak. Forum Ventures' survey of 70 funds revealed a 75% decrease in valuations since 2022, with pre-seed mean valuations at $9 million post. Seed rounds remain steady, but achieving necessary traction has become more challenging. The report predicts a tough first half of 2024, with prolonged fundraising processes and increased competition for capital, emphasizing the importance of resilience and strategic planning for tech founders. More Here

Hyperlink Ventures (“Hyperlink”), a new venture capital firm founded earlier this year managed by three up-and-coming partners, Eli Cole, Sarosh Adi, and Piran Adi, it has close of its oversubscribed first fund at $32 million. The new fund will invest primarily in Series A and Series B stage companies, with a core focus on technology breakthroughs that help the world’s largest corporations and industries increase productivity through software. More Here

Yolo Investments has announced the launch of its new flagship investment fund, targeting a capital raise of €100 million, as it further expands its fast-growing ecosystem of investments across gaming, blockchain, fintech and other technologies such as renewable energies. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: VENTURE-DAILY DIGEST+

“Limited Partner's Not Taking New Commitment To Invest In VC Funds?”

Yesterday we shared our first Venture-Daily Digest+ writeup - all the viewpoint from our conversation with Limited partner who manage limited partner seeking of ~$10 Billion AUM and invest in US, Europe & Israel VC Funds.

In conversations he shared a perspective on how LPs view the venture market after covid period & their strategy to invest in VC Fund… Read More Here

💡 STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Exits

Hyperloop One, the nine-year-old startup that raised $450 million to shoot people from place to place in a metal tube, is going under. More Here

Arielle Charnas, a fashion influencer with more than one million Instagram followers, launched her clothing brand Something Navy in 2020 with about $10 million from investors. Now the company is being sold in a fire sale that underscores the pitfalls of brands centered around online stars. More Here

Lennar, second-largest home construction company in the United States, has assumed control of Veev, an Israeli startup in the home construction space that was valued at $1 billion in March of last year. Veev produced fully cladded walls complete with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, but the company was hit hard by the rise in interest rates and the resulting decline in home construction. More Here

Networking giant and previous investor Cisco has acquired Isovalent, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that specializes in enhancing the security and networking capabilities of cloud-based applications. Terms were not disclosed. Crunchbase reports that Isovalent has raised a a total of $69 million from investors like Microsoft, Google, and Andreessen Horowitz. More Here

People

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is leaving his post on December 29th following Microsoft's acquisition of the company. Under Kotick's leadership, Activision Blizzard faced significant controversy and legal challenges over allegations of a toxic workplace culture, including sexual harassment and discrimination. The company ultimately settled with the California Civil Rights Department and the SEC. More Here

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📰 TODAY’S MUST READ ON: STARTUP, TECH & VC

• The 4 Questions Startups Should Ask Themselves about Building with Generative AI Read More (Technology & AI)

• Airbnb emails to Y-Combinator For Cohort Read More (Startups & Venture Capital)

• How founders should approach TAM when venture capital is scarce? Read More (Startups)

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Previous Poll: 41.18% readers thinks that Market trends and shift in customer behavior generally leads to the decision to pivot a business. I am 100% agree on this option. Understanding the evolving needs and preferences of customers can guide strategic decisions and keep the business aligned with the market.

Also We have shared a writeup on how the great companies like stripe / Airbnb take pivot decision, you can read here.

🤝 NEED YOUR OPINION

Yesterday we published our first Venture-Daily Digest+ writeup (Today’s Featured Writeup)- would like to know your opinion on this. This will help us to improve content and provide right value.

📪 You can simply reply on this email. Looking forward to your replies!

That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Monday!
Happy Weekends & Merry Christmas ! 🎉

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team