OpenAI Launching GPT Store & SpaceX's IPO For 2025

🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES

• Open AI launching the GPT Store next week

• Perplexity AI-native conversational search startup Valued at $500m raised from Bezos and NVIDIA

• Robin hood and ramps startup founder launched $75M VC Fund

• SpaceX initiate an Initial Public Offering (IPO) as early as next year

• Featured Article : How to Talk About Valuation Numbers When Investor Ask?

• What do you think: Which VC firm achieved the highest global DPI for its LPs from 2013 to 2023?

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

Perplexity, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native conversational search startup, raised $73.6M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $100M, was led by IVP, with support from NEA, NVIDIA, Databricks, and Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as Jeff Bezos, Nat Friedman, and Toby Ludke. More Here

Nalu Medical, a Carlsbad, CA-based company focused on minimally invasive, and non-opioid solutions for chronic neuropathic pain, raised $65M in equity financing. The round was led by new investor Novo Holdings with participation from existing investors Gilde Healthcare, MVM Partners, Endeavor Vision, Decheng Capital, Longitude Capital, Advent Life Sciences, Pura Vida, and Aperture Venture Partners. More Here

Arbital Health, a San Francisco, CA-based technology startup which works for the healthcare industry, completed its $10M Series A financing. The round was led by Transformation Capital. Other institutional investors in the funding round included Shaper Capital, Healthy Ventures, Flex Capital, and Underdog Labs. More Here

Annabella, a Kfar Saba, Israel-based breast pump provider, raised $8.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Shark Tank’s Yasmin Lukatz (Founder Israel Collaboration Network), Oren Dobronsky, Zohar Gilon (Tamar Technology Ventures) and Menachem Weinfeld (Starry Group). This seed funding also included a crowdfunding raise of over $3M. More Here

Silicon Box, a Singapore-based company which specialises in semiconductor chiplet packaging design and fabrication capabilities, received an investment from TDK Ventures. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. More Here

Bumper, a London, UK-based fintech company enabling flexible payments for car repairs, raised $48M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $64M, was led by Autotech Ventures, with investment from Shell Ventures, JLR’s InMotion Ventures, Porsche Ventures and Revo Capital. More Here

Varlo Sports, a Cherry Hill, NJ-based company at the intersection of design and performance in the sports apparel industry, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. The round saw participation from REI Co-op Path Ahead Ventures, and Todd Leff. More Here

UrbanStems, a NYC-based floral gifting company, raised $5M in Series C funding. The round was led by SWaN & Legend and DF Enterprises with additional funding from existing investors. More Here

Human Immunology Biosciences (HI-Bio), a San Francisco, CA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing targeted therapies for patients with severe immune-mediated diseases (IMDs), raised $95M in Series B funding. The round was led by Alpha Wave Global with participation from Viking Global Investors, Arkin Bio Capital, Jeito Capital and ARCH Venture Partners. More Here

Avistone Biotechnology, a Beijing, China-based biotechnology company focused on precision oncology therapeutics, closed a Series B financing of ~$140 million USD. The round was led by SDIC CS Capital and IDG Capital, with participation from Yanchuang Capital and Cathay Capital. More Here

Vigilant Ops, a Pittsburgh, PA-based SBOM’s automation platform, received $2M in Seed funding from DataTribe. Leo Scott, DataTribe CTO, will join the Vigilant Ops Board. More Here

Nuwa Pen, a Groningen, the Netherlands-based provider of a pen that digitizes the words put to paper, received €1.5M in investment from a US consumer goods company. More Here

UniFAHS, a Bangkok, Thailand-based biotechnology company specialising in phage technology for sustainable agriculture and food safety, raised USD 1.4M in Seed funding. The round was led by A2D Ventures and supported by contributions from Asian Development Bank Ventures (ADB Ventures) and InnoSpace. More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

March Capital, Santa Monica a nearly decade-old investing firm, has raised a $650 million fund, its fourth and largest to date, to target startups developing cloud-based business software, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data-infrastructure systems. More Here

Seven Hills Capital, a Nashville, TN-based operator-centric private equity firm, closed its inaugural fund, Seven Hills Capital Fund I, L.P., at $125M. The fund received capital from a diverse group of institutional limited partners, which include college and university endowments, single and multi-family offices, and outsourced CIOs. More Here

Exponent Founders Capital, an early-stage venture firm founded by alumni of startups such as Plaid, Robinhood and Ramp, has closed on $75 million in capital commitments. The second fund close was oversubscribed, according to Ma, who cites Carnegie Mellon University, Cook Children’s Health Care System, LGT Group and Next Legacy as some of Exponent’s limited partners (LPs). More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE

How to Talk About Valuation Numbers When Investor Ask?

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.”

VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals.

As an entrepreneur, it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay..… Read More Here

💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

People

Logan Paul offers refunds for his failed CryptoZoo NFT game, pledging over $2.3 million to buy back NFTs, but claimants must waive any legal claims against him. The game, promoted as a Pokémon-inspired project, faced accusations of fraud and a class-action lawsuit. Paul, facing legal challenges, aims to settle individually with class members through the buy-back program. More Here

Acquisition

Arbital health acquired Santa Barbara Actuaries, Inc. (SBA), an actuarial and healthcare consulting firm specializing in value-based contracting, predictive modeling, and data analytics. More Here

Bruker, a Billerica, MA-based provider of analytical and diagnostic solutions, acquired Nion, a Kirkland, WA-based company that develops and manufactures innovative high-end scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEM). The amount of the deal was not disclosed. More Here

Cosette Pharmaceutical, a Bridgewater, NJ-based specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on women’s health and cardiovascular medicines, acquired Vyleesi® from Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PTN), which includes 5 Orange Book listed patents with protection up to 2041. More Here

Relex Solutions, a Helsinki, Finland-based provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, acquired Optimity, a global supply chain planning and optimization provider. More Here

Banruptcy

U.S. Startup’s bankruptcy filings increased by 18% in 2023, reaching 445,186, driven by higher interest rates, stricter lending standards, and the phasing out of pandemic-related support. Commercial Chapter 11 filings surged by 72%, while consumer filings rose 18%. Despite the rise, filings are still below pre-COVID-19 levels, and experts anticipate the trend to continue in 2024 due to factors like the end of pandemic stimulus, increased costs, and elevated household debt. More Here

Audacy, Philadelphia-based radio company facing nearly $2 billion in debt and declining ad revenue, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, which owns 230 radio stations in the U.S., struggled financially since its 2017 merger with CBS Radio, accumulating significant debt. Audacy has reached a prepackaged bankruptcy plan with senior lenders, transferring ownership to them upon completion. More Here

Humanigen, a drug developer, has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing difficulties in obtaining regulatory approval for its COVID-19 treatment, lenzilumab. The California-based company, once controlled by Martin Shkreli, reported assets of $521,000 and total debt of $44.1 million. The U.S. FDA had declined emergency use authorization for lenzilumab in 2021, prompting the company to explore restructuring options. More Here

IPO

SpaceX, the private space exploration company led by Elon Musk, is experiencing significant growth and may initiate an Initial Public Offering (IPO) as early as next year or in 2026. More Here

Amer Sports Inc., the maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon ski boots, has filed for a US initial public offering. Amer is targeting an IPO of more than $1 billion and a listing could value the firm at as much as $10 billion. More Here

🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

OpenAI is set to launch the GPT Store next week, allowing developers to list and share custom apps based on its text-generating GPT models, like GPT-4. Developers must comply with updated policies and guidelines, and the store's revenue-sharing details remain undisclosed as of now. The move marks OpenAI's transition from an AI model provider to a platform, democratizing generative AI app creation. More Here

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

• Heat is on for PE exits to rebound in 2024 Read More (PE & VC)

• Paul Graham: Are You Building Fake Product-Market Fit ? Read More (Startups)

• Why Founders Are Afraid to Talk About MOAT? Read More (Startup)

• How Can One Build Conviction Over An Idea? By Sam Altman Read More (Startups)

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Previous Poll: 52.78% readers vote for Sequoia Capital. That’s Right✅.

Here is the resource links - Sequoia Capital Return Highest DPI to Investors..

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team