Tesla gives Optimus robot a new hand & Google hit with another major anti-competition lawsuit

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

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• Elon Musk files for injunction to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit

• Canadian news companies sue OpenAI

• Panasonic resurrects founder as an AI

• Tesla gives Optimus robot a new hand

• Google hit with another major anti-competition lawsuit

Fresh from the analyst desk: Rick Zullo's breaking down the new founder playbook, Accel's showing how AI's eating European software, and we've got the magic number for hitting unicorn status (spoiler: it's 5 rounds). Fresh EIF survey just dropped with all the Euro VC tea. Hot startup and VC roles waiting for you!

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Venture Daily Digest Picks

• What 7 Years in VC Taught Me: 93 Untold Truths. (Read)

• How I promote my startup if I had 0$ for marketing? (Read)

• The deck Wischoff fund was used to raise our $50M Fund III. (Read)

• The share of exits in which VCs lost money is at 70%, its highest since 2009. (Read)

• An active early-stage fund looking to invest in startups. (Read)

• Paul Graham's Framework to Get Startup Ideas. (Read)

• AI Agents: A New Architecture for Enterprise Automation. (Read)

• Value Monetization in the Age of AI. (Read)

• How the young VC quietly built Thrive Capital into the powerhouse leading a $5 Billion OpenAI round. (Read)

• Raising a seed round 101 By Lenny. (Read)

Startup Funding Updates

KoRo, a Berlin, Germany-based snacking brand, raised €35M in Series C funding. The round was led by Coefficient Capital, with participation from existing investors Five Seasons Ventures, HV Capital, Partech, Haub Legacy Ventures and SevenVentures, among others.

Tembo, a London, UK-based company providing a digital savings and mortgage platform, raised £14M in Series B funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to £20m, was led by Goodwater Capital with participation from existing investors including Aviva, Ascension Ventures, Love Ventures and McPike Family Office.

Akhetonics, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of an all-optical digital processor, raised €6M in funding. The round was led by Matterwave Ventures, with participation from 468 Capital, Bayern Kapital, and existing investors Runa Capital, Rheingau Founders, and others.

Squire, a NYC-based provider of a management and point of sale (POS) system for barbershop owners, raised $35M in Debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.

Allink Biotherapeutics, a Beijing, China-based clinical-stage biotechnology company providing new bispecific antibody and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapeutics, raised $42M in Series A funding. The round was led by Lanchi Ventures, with participation from Yuanbio Venture Capital, Legend Capital, C&D Emerging Industry Equity Investment, alongside existing shareholders Gaorong Ventures and Med-Fine Capital.

Laennec AI, a Cardiff, UK-based medical AI company, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included SFC Capital and OVC Ventures, along with grant funding from the Welsh Government, Innovate UK, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

PocDoc, a Cambridge, UK-based health-tech startup, raised £5M in Pre-A funding. Backers included MMC Ventures, Molten VC and Simplyhealth Ventures, and KHP Ventures.

PervasID, a Cambridge, UK-based company which specializes in RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, raised £3.25M in funding. The round was led by Parkwalk Advisors, with participation from Finance Durham Fund and NPIF II Maven Equity Finance.

Vinter, a London, UK-based provider of an AI-powered recruitment platform, raised £1.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by ALCORA B.V.

SatVu, a London, UK-based climate technology company, raised £20M in strategic funding, comprising a £10M equity funding. The equity was led by Adara Ventures and Molten Ventures, with participation from existing investors NOA, Lockheed Martin, Seraphim, Ridgeline and Stellar Ventures.

Venture Daily Digest Opens 3 Slots to Help Founders Build Pitch Deck

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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

Elon Musk has filed for an injunction against OpenAI, its co-founders, and Microsoft, alleging anticompetitive behavior and seeking to halt the company's transition to a for-profit model. The filing claims OpenAI is discouraging investors from backing rivals and misusing its Microsoft connections. OpenAI has dismissed these allegations as baseless, marking Musk's fourth attempt at similar complaints.

Panasonic has developed an AI clone of its founder Kōnosuke Matsushita, using his writings, speeches, and voice recordings, to preserve and share his management philosophy. The AI aims to assist current employees in understanding Matsushita's principles and may eventually guide management decisions based on his historical methods. The project raises ethical concerns about corporations using AI versions of deceased leaders to influence modern decision-making.

The Tesla Optimus robot can now catch high-speed tennis balls, demonstrated through a video showcasing the robot's hand upgrades for precise and rapid catching abilities. Pre-production prototypes of the Optimus will be deployed in Tesla factories by late next year, with commercial availability to other companies expected by 2026. Equipped with advanced AI and Full Self-Driving technology, the robot performs tasks safely and efficiently, contributing to industrial, domestic, and potentially healthcare settings.

Other News

Canadian media companies including Toronto Star, CBC, and Globe and Mail have sued OpenAI for copyright infringement over using their content to train ChatGPT without permission or payment. They seek damages and usage ban, joining similar lawsuits from other publishers. OpenAI maintains its training data use is legal under fair use principles.

Canada's Competition Bureau has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of anti-competitive practices in the country's digital advertising technology services. The bureau claims that Google controls large shares of the ad tech market, inflating advertising costs and hindering competition by locking market players into its ecosystem. The lawsuit seeks to compel Google to divest specific ad tech tools and impose penalties to ensure compliance with Canada's Competition Act.

In-Depth Insights

• The New World for Entrepreneurs Rick Zullo analyzes how founders are adapting to the shifting startup ecosystem in 2024 and beyond.

• Euroscape: AI Eating Software Explore Accel’s latest insights on the European cloud ecosystem and its accelerating growth trajectory.

• EIF VC Survey 2024 A comprehensive survey on venture capital trends, highlighting key findings from European VC professionals.

• It takes an average of 5 funding rounds to build a unicorn Companies that become unicorns in private rounds need slightly fewer rounds than those that become unicorns upon exit (IPOs or sales).

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Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities

• Senior Director of Marketing and Communications - Aegis Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Visiting Analyst Climate Tech - Speedinvest | UK - Apply Here

• Visiting Analyst Climate Tech - SpeedInvest | France - Apply Here

• Analyst - SE Ventue | USA - Apply Here

• DeepTech & HealthTech Investment Analyst - Blume venture | India - Apply Here

• Strategic Investment Associate- Venture Capital - Wells Fargo | USA - Apply Here

• Biotech Network Partner - 2048 Ventrue | UK - Apply Here

• Associate, Cyber - Flagship - Energy impact partner | USA - Apply Here

• Senior Associate - Ardent Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here

• Associate -McKesson Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investor Relations Associate - Forum Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Portfolio Manager - Antler | India - Apply Here

• Senior Director - Illinois Ventures | USA - Apply Here

• Portfolio Development Manager - Insurtech - Munich Re Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Managing Director/Director - Connecticut Innovation | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Director - Enbw venture | Germany - Apply Here

RESOURCES

• 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)

• Building Cap Table As A Founder: Template to Download (Access Here)

• 2700+ US Angel Investors & VC Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

• 1000+ Euro Tech Angel Investors & VC Firms Database (Access Here)

• 400+ French Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

• 350+ Indian Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link) (Access Here)

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