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- OpenAI Raising Fund At $100 Billion Valuation & 18 EV Startups In Verge of Bankruptcy
OpenAI Raising Fund At $100 Billion Valuation & 18 EV Startups In Verge of Bankruptcy
Venture Daily Digest - 25/12/2023
Venture Daily Digest
December 25, 2023
Merry Christmas 🎄🎅🎁, Dear Readers!
🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES
OpenAI is looking to raise funding round at a $100 billion+ valuation
GREE LP Fund recently closed on $52.75 million to back U.S.-based venture funds
Apple seeking multi-year, $50 million deals with news publishers to train AI model
Featured Article : 8 Signs Your Startup Is a Zombie and 3 Things to Do About It!
What do you think: What type of startup would you most like to see succeed in 2024?
18 Electric-Vehicle Startups Face Cash Crunch: Tesla Wannabes Are Running Out of Road
Elon Winning the EV Race (Source Google Images)
Numerous electric vehicle (EV) and battery startups that went public in recent years, including Nikola and Fisker, face financial peril, with at least 18 EV Startups at risk of running out of cash by the end of 2024, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The struggles result from rising costs, manufacturing issues, and unmet growth projections.
The median stock among these companies is down over 80%, emphasizing the risks of investing in the EV industry, which has not experienced the explosive demand anticipated by many startups and investors. The majority of the struggling firms went public via special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). More Here
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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES
OpenAI is reportedly in early talks to raise at over $100 billion valuation in a funding round, potentially making it the second-most valuable startup in the US. The company, known for ChatGPT, previously raised $13 billion from investors like Microsoft. Additionally, OpenAI is exploring a chip venture with Abu Dhabi-based G42, aiming to produce semiconductors to compete with Nvidia in the AI chip market.
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
Arkon Energy, a two-year-old Sydney startup that builds and manages a network of data centers for clients involved in bitcoin mining and machine learning, raised a $110 million round led by Bluesky Capital Management, with Kestrel 0x1, Nural Capital, and Florence Capital also investing. More Here
Labrys Technologies, a four-year-old London startup that has developed a communication platform that combines messaging, location tracking, and digital payments primarily aimed at enhancing coordination and efficiency in military and humanitarian operations, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Project A Ventures, with MD One Ventures, Marque VC, Offset Ventures, and Expeditions Fund also contributing. More Here
Magic Feedback, a Copenhagen startup founded this year that uses machine learning to unify, categorize, and analyze user feedback, raised a $1.3 million round led by Maki VC. More Here
UltiHash, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing software to increase the efficiency and capacity of existing storage drives, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Inventure, with PreSeedVentures, Tiny VC, and Futuristic VC also anteing up. More Here
Bizay, an eight-year-old Lisbon startup that says it has developed a global operating and supply chain system for product customization, raised a $19.8 million Series C2 round led by Indico Capital Partners, with Iberis and Lince also pitching in. More Here
Link11, an 18-year-old Frankfurt company whose platform offers companies protection against DDoS attacks, raised a $29.2 million round from Pride Capital Partners. More Here
Luna (NASDAQ: LUNA), a Roanoke, VA-based company which specializes in advanced fiber optic-based technology, received a $50M investment from White Hat Capital Partners. Proceeds from this strategic investment were partially used to fund the acquisition of Silixa. More Here
DTE, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based elemental analysis technology company, raised additional $6M in Series A2 funding. The round was led by Eyrir Vöxtur and EIC Fund. This latest operation completed the Series A2 financing round initiated earlier this year, in which the company secured a $10M first close from Novelis, Metaplanet, EIC Fund, as well as previous investors Chrysalix Venture Capital and Brunnur Ventures. More Here
Atavistik Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company discovering precision allosteric therapeutics, raised additional $40M in funding. The round saw participation from The Column Group, Lux Capital, and Nextech Invest. More Here
💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES
GREE LP Fund recently closed on $52.75 million to back U.S.-based venture funds. The majority of LPs coming from the Tokyo based gaming and media company and other Chinese & Japanese family offices. More Here
Baird Capital, a Milwaukee-based venture firm, said this week that it has closed its sixth and largest fund with $218 million in committed capital. More Here
Spark Capital, The bi-coastal venture firm is seeking to raise $2.1 billion for a pair of new funds, according to filings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission first flagged by Axios. More Here
Fabric VC, Woman-led, diversity-focused firm closes first fund in L.A with $2Million from $10M amount. Fabric VC looking to invest in consumer tech startup with the goal of giving founders who are female, people of color and LGBTQ a leg up over systemic barriers in VC. More Here
𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE
8 Signs Your Startup Is a Zombie and 3 Things to Do About It!
In any investor's portfolio, you have three types of startups: the dogs, the stars, and the zombies.
Out of these Investors see zombie startups as no longer attractive, and not worth a follow-up investment--which can be the kiss of death for those companies. Why? … Read More Here
💡 STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ
Layoff
Etsy’s announcement that it would lay off 11% of its workforce. This is not us being callous with employees affected by these layoffs, or making excuses for what led the NASDAQ-listed marketplace to that point and what could perhaps have been prevented. More Here
IPO
Ola Electric, six-year-old Indian electric scooter startup seeks to raise $661.8 million by selling new shares in an initial public offering, startup said in draft papers filed with the country’s market regulator on Friday. The paperwork for the initial public offering follows Ola Electric raising $384 million from Temasek and Indian government-backed lender State Bank of India in a debt-heavy funding round in late October. More Here
🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH
Apple is reportedly exploring a controlled approach to training large language models (LLMs) for potential use in iOS 18. Instead of scraping the internet, Apple is seeking multi-year, $50 million licensing deals with publishers like Condé Nast, IAC, and NBC News to train its AI on news articles. While this method may avoid internet-related pitfalls, concerns arise over a smaller knowledge pool and potential competition with publishers, leading to uncertainty about Apple's AI strategy. More Here
📰 TODAY’S MUST READ ON: STARTUP, TECH & VC
🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What type of startup would you most like to see succeed in 2024? |
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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow!
Merry Christmas ! 🎉
✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team
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