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OpenAI allows employees to sell $1.5 billion stock to SoftBank & FTC launches Microsoft antitrust probe

Venture Daily Digest - 29/11/2024

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Venture Daily Digest
November 29, 2024

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

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  • OpenAI allows employees to sell $1.5 billion stock to SoftBank

  • Amazon is working on an AI video model

  • North Korean hackers have stolen billions in crypto by posing as VCs, recruiters and IT workers

  • FTC launches Microsoft antitrust probe

  • Australia bans social media for under-16s in world first

Fresh from the analyst desk: Get the real deal on GenAI's latest moves, dive into enterprise fintech's Q3 shake-up, and peek into Affinity's 2025 crystal ball. Bonus: Hunter Walk's got some truth bombs about how fund managers need to evolve or die. Hot VC and startup roles just landed!

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Venture Daily Digest Picks

  • Where OpenAI is Investing? (Read)

  • Guide To Pitch Deck Storytelling - Free Template & Curated Resources. (Read)

  • Why your startup shouldn’t announce a seed round (Read)

  • Observations on what happening currently in pre-seed and seed rounds (Read)

  • The 4 secret ingredients of the best pitch decks (Read)

  • Why your product idea sounds too complicated and how to simplify it (Read)

  • A hiring hack for startups (Read)

  • All-In-One Guide to Negotiating a Venture Capital Round. (Read)

  • More thoughts on why founder mode is so effective (Read)

  • 6 things startup founders should avoid doing (Read)

  • How to build an AI side project (Read)

  • Mastering TikTok to get millions in ARR (Read)

  • How to promote your startup with $0 (Read)

  • Why Do You Work - By David Spinks? (Read)

  • How Netflix designs products for 250M+ users (growth design framework). (Read)

Startup Funding Updates

/dev/agents, a San Francisco-based company building an operating system for AI agents, raised $56M in Seed funding. The round was led by Index Ventures and co-led by Alphabet's CapitalG, with participation from Conviction Capital, Andrej Karpathy (OpenAI co-founder), Alexander Wang (Scale AI CEO), Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks CEO), and Andy Rubin (Android founder) at a $500M valuation.

Autoimmunity BioSolutions, a Houston, TX-based biotechnology company advancing immuno-corrective therapies, raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Eos BioInnovation, with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, Independent Capital and others.

Cresta, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of an end-to-end generative AI platform for contact centers, raised $125M in Series D funding. The round was led by World Innovation Lab (WiL) and QIA with participation from Accenture, EnvisionX Capital, LG Technology Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and Workday Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, J.P. Morgan, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global.

Bleap, a London, UK-based provider of a self-custodial payments app, raised $2.3M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Ethereal Ventures with participation from Maven11, Alliance DAO, Robot Ventures, and angel investors from Revolut, Phantom, OKX, EigenLayer, and Consensys.

Avant, the company behind DeFi-backed stable-value token avUSD, raised $6.5M in Seed funding. Backers included SuperLayer and Avalaunch, along with a coalition of over 40 individual investors.

Predium, a Munich, Germany-based provider of provider of ESG management solutions for the real estate and finance industry, raised €13M in Series C funding. The round was led by Norrsken VC, with participation from UVC Partners, b2venture and Mutschler Ventures.

Eon, a NYC-based provider of a cloud backup platform, raised $70M in Series C funding, at $1.4 Billion valuation. The round was led by BOND, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Constrafor, a NYC-based software provider for the construction industry, raised $264M in equity and debt financing. The financing included: an equity component of $14M led by NFX, and a $250M credit facility led by Wafra and Crestline Investors.

Movopack, a Milan, Italy-based company providing e-commerce platforms with circular and sustainable packaging, raised £2M in Seed funding. The round was led by 360 Capital, with participation from Greiner Innoventures and Techstars.

Recite Me, a Gateshead, UK-based provider of a website accessibility software business, raised £4.6M in Funding. The round was led by BGF.

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Venture Capital Updates

HongShan, the Chinese investment firm that separated from Sequoia Capital in 2023, is reportedly facing challenges in deploying its $9 billion capital pool, leading to frustration among limited partners who continue paying management fees on uninvested capital. While the firm has increased its stakes in existing Chinese portfolio companies like ByteDance and Xiaohongshu, and invested in Chinese robotics and AI startups, it's now actively expanding into Europe and North Asia, including plans for a Tokyo office. This geographic expansion, marked by the opening of a London office, suggests HongShan is seeking new investment opportunities beyond China's borders, potentially putting it in competition with its former partner Sequoia Capital.

Latest In Tech

OpenAI is offering its employees the opportunity to sell shares worth $1.5 billion to SoftBank Group in a new tender offer, with employees having until December 24 to participate. The deal aligns with OpenAI's recent $6.6 billion funding round in October that valued the company at $157 billion, where SoftBank invested $500 million. This move comes as SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son actively seeks to increase his stake in OpenAI, which has seen remarkable growth with ChatGPT attracting 250 million weekly active users.

Amazon is creating an AI model named Olympus for video analysis, which could assist users in searching for specific scenes within large video archives, according to The Information. This new AI tool by Amazon is similar to Anthropic's existing multimodal model that also processes images and videos, a startup to which Amazon has committed $8 billion in total investments. Olympus's potential launch at the AWS re:Invent conference could signify Amazon’s strategic move to lessen its reliance on Anthropic by offering its own AI solution for video content.

The US Federal Trade Commission has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, focusing on its cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence sectors. The investigation has intensified following numerous cybersecurity incidents, and involves a lengthy information request from Microsoft, signed off by FTC Chair Lina Khan, as a key part of her regulatory tenure. Complaints from companies like Salesforce and Zoom highlight how Microsoft's bundling practices, particularly with its Teams software, are viewed as anticompetitive and challenge rival firms' ability to compete.

Other News

North Korean hackers have been exposed for impersonating remote IT workers, VCs, and recruiters to infiltrate global companies, as revealed at Cyberwarcon. Microsoft researchers found these operatives have penetrated hundreds of organizations using AI-generated identities and U.S.-based facilitators. The hackers have stolen billions in cryptocurrency and sensitive data to fund North Korea's nuclear program, with groups like "Ruby Sleet" and "Sapphire Sleet" leading these operations.

Australia has enacted a novel law restricting social media access for individuals under 16, making it one of the strictest such laws globally. The legislation, driven by concerns for children's mental health, will become effective by the end of next year, blocking platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok for kids 16 and below. The law faced bipartisan support, but critics worry it might isolate young people, potentially harming vulnerable groups by cutting off digital support networks.

In-Depth Insights

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Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities

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  • Manager, Venture Investing - Technical Investing Associate - Capital One | USA - Apply Here

  • Marketing & Content Leader Kalaari Capital - India - Apply Here

  • Investment Manager /Director -Enbw | Germany - Apply Here

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  • Investor Relations Analyst - B Capital Group | USA - Apply Here

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

  • Reporting Analyst - Very early venture | Swiss - Apply Here

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

  • Investment Analyst Intern - Motion Venture | Singapore - Apply Here

  • Principal - Africa Climate Ventures | Kenya - Apply Here

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  • 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. (Access Here)

  • Early Stage Startup Financial Model Template For Fundraising (Access Here)

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