OpenAI Reportedly In talks To Raise $1 Billion & Midjourney ‘getting into hardware’ After Neuralink Engineer Hiring

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Top News

OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise over $1 billion led by Thrive Capital, pushing its valuation past $100 billion. Microsoft is expected to participate in the round. Despite $3.4 billion in annualized revenue, OpenAI faces projected losses of nearly $5 billion this year after burning through $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing.

Midjourney, the AI image-generating platform with over $200 million in revenue and no VC backing, is expanding into hardware with a new team based in San Francisco. The move follows the hiring of Ahmad Abbas, an ex-Neuralink engineer who worked on the Apple Vision Pro. Midjourney CEO David Holz, co-founder of Leap Motion, is leading the effort, which may align with their ongoing AI development in video and 3D generation.

Other Major News

• OpenAI reportedly preparing to launch new ‘Strawberry’ AI model. (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• China invests $6.1 billion in computing data center project. (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• What to Include in a Data Room for Investors? - Don’t make these mistakes. (Scroll To Featured Article)

• VC & Startups Job Opportunities (Scroll To Today’s Opportunities)

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Stork Network, a developer of an open data market for onchain data provisioning, raised $4.7M in seed funding. The round was led by Faction VC, and Lattice, with participation from Wintermute, and CMS Holdings. More Here

Parafin, a San Francisco, CA-based innovator in embedded finance, announced today that it closed a $93M debt facility with Jeffries and Trinity Capital, Inc. More Here

Space and Time, a Newport Beach, CA-based blockchain data warehouse developer, raised $20M in Series A to funding. The round was led by led by Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital. More Here

Pylon, a San Francisco-based startup, expanded its mission from omnichannel B2B customer communication to a unified platform that includes ticketing, chatbots, and more. This pivot attracted new customers and led to a $17 million Series A funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz. More Here

Wethos AI, a Newport Beach, CA-based AI-driven team optim Mization company, raised $7.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Jeff Herbst at GFT Ventures, with participation from Miramar Digital Ventures, UCI Cove Fund and Capellas Partners. More Here

Comun, a New York-based digital bank serving Latino immigrants in the U.S., has raised $21.5 million in a Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures. The startup offers services like instant payments, remittances, and check deposits, growing rapidly since its 2021 launch. Investors include ANIMO Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, and FJ Labs. More Here

PuriFire Energy, a Cambridge, UK-based provider of sustainable green hydrogen and methanol solutions, raised £2.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by HICO Investment Group with participation from Bulnes Capital, R&R Investments and Abhishek Desai. More Here

Aplantex, a Montreal, Canada-based startup specializing in extracting high-value plant molecules from its proprietary biomass, raised CAD$2.8M in funding. The round was led by Frederick Perrault, with participation of the Circular Innovation Fund (CIF) through its Acceleration Program, Cycle Momentum, Investissement Québec, and angel investors. More Here

New School Foods, a Toronto, Canada-based company developing a cold-based technique using directional freezing, combined with a proprietary scaffolding technology, raised $6M in funding. Backers included Inter IKEA Group, Good Startup, NewTree Capital and Hatch. More Here

Mercately, a Quito, Ecuador-based company that builds software for companies to sell directly to customers via WhatsApp, raised $2.6m in seed funding. The round was round led by Inventus Capital Partners and SVQuad, with participation from Techstars. Salkantay Ventures, and BuenTrip Ventures reportedly participated in the round, as well. More Here

Chainbound, a New York based startup that builds optimized infrastructure and networking tools for blockchains, raised $4.6m in seed funding. The round was led by Cyber Fund, with participation from Maven 11, Semantic, Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Anagram, Chorus One, Delphi Ventures, Symbolic Capital Partners, and angels such as Hasu, Kubi Mensah, Mike Neuder, Anthony Sassano, and others. More Here

Cardboard, an Oslo, Norway-based provider of a platform for businesses to organize their SaaS subscriptions, raised $2.1m in funding. The round was led by Skyfall Ventures, with participation from RunwayFBU and Sondo. More Here

Bland AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a platform automating phone calls for the enterprise using hyper-realistic AI agents, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners. Other investors included Y Combinator and angel investors Max Levchin the founder of Paypal, Piotr Dąbkowski the CTO of Eleven Labs CTO, Jeff Lawson the founder of Twilio, and others. More Here

Parry Labs, an Alexandria, VA-based defense technology company that develops next generation open architecture mission solutions, closed an $80m first funding round. The round was led by Capitol Meridian Partners, with participation from True Ventures, as well as 3Wire Partners and Teamworthy Ventures. More Here

Ancilia Biosciences, Inc., a NYC-based biotechnology company using CRISPR to create bacterial therapies and products with immunity against destructive viruses, raised $4.2M in funding. The round was led by Safar Partners, with the participation from Metaplanet, Psymed Ventures, Zubi Capital, Spacecadet Ventures and other investors. More Here

Mestag Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotech company harnessing new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions, received a £1.5M Grant from Innovate UK’s Cancer Therapeutics Program. More Here

PsychoGenics, a Paramus, NJ-based company which specializes in AI-enabled phenotypic drug discovery, received $3M in SBIR Grant by NIMH. More Here

Solayer Labs, a developer of a Solana restaking protocol, raised $12m in seed funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Hack VC, Nomad Capital, Race Capital, ABCDE, and Maelstrom. More Here

Pryzm, Boston-based maker of an AI-powered platform to accelerate government contract capture, raised $2 million in seed funding. XYZ Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Amplify LA, First In, and strategic angel investors in defense and government tech.

Apricus Generation, a Miami, FL-based holding company focused on building a national distributed solar and battery development platform and Independent Power Producer (IPP), raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round was led by Blue Marlin Partners and Current Yield with Participation (CYwP) Fund. More Here

Agency AI, a San Francisco, CA-based creator of the AgentOps.ai platform, raised $2.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by 645 Ventures and Afore Capital. More Here

Comun, a NYC-based a Latino-founded neobank that provides modern banking solutions to immigrants in the U.S., raised $21.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Animo Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, FJ Labs, RTP Global, and South Park Commons. More Here

Pryzm Dynamics, a Boston, MA-based provider of tools, data, and context for companies to proactively navigate government contracting, raised $2M in funding. The round was led by XYZ Venture Capital and Amplify.LA, with participation from First In and other investors. More Here

Pangeam, a San Francisco, CA company provider of a B2B SaaS workplace intelligence platform, raised $4.25M in Seed funding. The round was led by Neotribe, with participation from SNR Ventures, DVC, and Niremia Capital. More Here

nOps, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform for businesses to manage and optimize their cloud usage, spending, and commitments on Amazon Web Services, raised $30m in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $40.5m, was led by Headlight Partners. More Here

Cribl, a San Francisco, CA-based data engine company for IT and security, raised $319M in Series E funding, at $3.5 Billion valuation. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures) with participation from GIC, CapitalG, IVP, and CRV. GV’s General Partner and former GitLab CRO Michael McBride joined Cribl’s Board of Directors. More Here

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📰 Venture Capital Updates

The Securities and Exchange Commission has raised the threshold for "qualifying venture funds" from $10 million to $12 million. This adjustment allows these funds to raise capital from up to 250 accredited investors while remaining exempt from SEC registration as an investment company, a privilege otherwise limited to funds with 100 or fewer investors. The change, part of a routine inflation adjustment reviewed every five years, comes at a crucial time for emerging funds, which have been particularly affected by the VC bear market since 2022. More Here

📌 Featured Article

What to Include in a Data Room for Investors? - Don’t make these mistakes.

As a first-time founder, you might find yourself in a similar situation - excited about a positive response from a potential investor, but suddenly faced with an unfamiliar term: "data room."

A data room is essentially a secure, organized collection of documents that provide detailed information about your company. It's a tool for due diligence, allowing potential investors to dive deep into your business's financials, operations, and potential.

In early-stage venture deals, data rooms play a crucial role at two distinct stages of the investment process.

Stage 1: Pre-Term Sheet

At this point, investors typically have limited information about the company, relying mainly on the pitch deck, website, and publicly available data. They request access to a preliminary data room to perform a quick spot check and gather material for internal discussions with their partners.

This Stage 1 data room helps investors validate their initial interest and prepare for more in-depth conversations about the potential investment.

Here’s a list of the 5 sections and types of content you’ll want to include in your stage 1 data room:

1. Business Summary / Company Overview

2. Traction / Product Market Fit

3. Financials

4. Team & Roles

5. Cap Table

We haves shared in detailed writeup in our Venture Curator newsletter, Check out here…

📑 Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has agreed to acquire consus.health, a Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany-based healthcare management consultancy for undisclosed amount.

Walt Disney Co. and Reliance Industries have received approval for their $8.5 billion merger of Indian media assets, after addressing regulatory concerns about their control over cricket broadcasting rights. The merger, which will create India's largest entertainment entity, includes concessions like capping advertising rates and selling 7-8 non-sports TV channels.

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Startups & People

Fluid Truck's board ousted co-founders James Eberhard and Jenifer Snyder amid allegations of financial mismanagement, led by minority investors Bison Capital and Ingka Investments. Despite reaching profitability in 2023, the startup faces a severe cash crunch, owing millions to vendors and fleet owners. Tensions grew over an aggressive term sheet from investors, leading to the co-founders' removal and the appointment of interim CEO Scott Avila. The company continues to struggle financially under new management.

Polestar, the EV startup spun out of Volvo, has seen CEO Thomas Ingenlath resign just weeks after sharing his vision for the company. Michael Lohscheller, former CEO of Opel, VinFast, and Nikola, will take over as Polestar faces a challenging period with layoffs, slowing sales, and the pursuit of a $1 billion loan to keep its electric vehicle plans on track.

Lea Kissner is LinkedIn's new Chief Information Security Officer, following their role as CISO at Lacework and previously at Twitter. Kissner succeeds Geoff Belknap, who stepped down in June. Belknap praised Kissner, stating LinkedIn is in "great hands."

🤖 Latest In Tech

OpenAI is developing two new AI models that promise significant advancements in problem-solving and language processing. "Strawberry" aims to excel at complex mathematics and programming tasks, while "Orion" is set to surpass GPT-4's capabilities. A chatbot version of Strawberry may launch this fall, possibly integrated into ChatGPT, with demonstrated capabilities like solving the New York Times word puzzle "Connections." Strawberry's enhanced logic allows it to excel in autonomous internet searches and in-depth research, making it a cornerstone for OpenAI’s future models such as Orion, which plans to utilize synthetic data for better accuracy.

CoinSwitch is suing rival WazirX to recover $9.65 million in assets trapped following a $230 million cyberattack on WazirX. The attack, India's largest crypto heist, led WazirX to propose a controversial “socialized loss” strategy. WazirX has filed for a moratorium in Singapore’s High Court to restructure and allocate assets among users. CoinSwitch, backed by a16z and Coinbase, is using its treasury to maintain a 1:1 ratio for user holdings.

China has invested over 43.5 billion yuan ($6.12 billion) in its "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project, building data centers to enhance computing capabilities amid U.S. tech export restrictions. The initiative, launched in 2022, has attracted over 200 billion yuan in total investment and installed 1.95 million server racks, with 63% in use.

Meta Platforms faces a potential $3.62 million fine after losing a lawsuit by Brazilian retailer Havan, which accused Meta of allowing fraudulent ads using its name. A Santa Catarina judge ordered Meta to block the deceptive ads within 48 hours or face escalating fines. Havan hailed the ruling as a landmark for protecting its rights, while Meta declined to comment and may appeal.

Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging the search giant created a monopoly in local search services by favoring its own offerings over competitors. The lawsuit follows a recent federal ruling that found Google to be an illegal monopolist. Yelp seeks to stop Google's alleged anticompetitive behavior and demands damages, with CEO Jeremy Stoppelman citing a shift in antitrust winds as motivation for the legal action.

💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

• Investment Associate - Devonshire Investors | USA - Apply Here

• VC Associate/Sr Associate - W Health Venture | India - Apply Here

• Associate - Struck Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Part-Time Student at Impact VC - Kopa Venture | Germany - Apply Here

• Visiting Analyst at Impact VC kopa venture | UK - Apply Here

Exclusive Resources For Aspiring Venture Capitalists by VC Partners

We have launched our all-in-one VC Interview guide (how to answer) for aspiring venture capitalists. For the first 50 aspiring venture capitalists, we are offering a 50% discount. Check out here…

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