OpenAI's $175M CVC Under Governance Risk & OpenAI's Video Model May Threaten AI Startup

👋 Hey, Sahil here! Welcome to today’s Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. Every day I share quick updates on startup funding, new VC funds and tech to read in just 5 minutes! Today we have major updates on -

• OpenAI’s $175 Million Fund Under Potential Governance Risk due to its unusual ownership structure.

• Crypto is Not Dead: Crypto founders show optimism as VC investment increased by 2.5% in Q4 2023.

• Elon Musk has officially moved SpaceX's incorporation from Delaware to Texas.

• OpenAI launch video-generating model, Sora.

• Featured Article : TAM - that's Totally A Made Up Number.

• Announcement: Founders & Investors Verified Community…..

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

LeoLabs, a Menlo Park, CA-based space safety, security, and sustainability company, raised $29M in funding. Backers included GP Bullhound, 1941, Dolby Family Ventures, and existing investors including Insight Partners, Velvet Sea Ventures, Space Capital, MDSV Capital, and the AngelList Syndicate led by Dylan Taylor. More Here

Bending Spoons, a Milan, MI-based software developer, raised $155M in funding, at a $2.55 Billion post-money valuation. The round saw participation form Durable Capital Partners LP and existing investors Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, NB Renaissance, NUO Capital, and StarTIP. More Here

Knock, a notification infrastructure startup founded by Sam Seely and Chris Bell, has secured $12 million in a funding round led by Craft Ventures. More Here

ScaleIP (formerly LicenseLead), a Telluride, CO-based company helping enterprises, universities, labs, and hospitals identify high-intent target companies to monetize underutilized their patents, raised $1.5M in funding. The round was led by Greater Colorado Venture Fund, with participation from Tunitas Venture, Comeback Capital, Community Access Fund, and Seed Round Capital. More Here

Exverse, a Dubai, UAE-based free-to-play game provider bringing AAA first-person-shooters to Web3, raised $3M in funding. The round was led by Cogitent Ventures, Cointelligence, and Moonrock Capital, with participation from industry leaders such as KuCoin Labs, Epic Games, Seedify, and ChainGPT. More Here

Privy, a Denver, CO-based provider of a real estate investment software platform, raised $4M in Growth funding. The round saw participation from Cypress Growth Capital. More Here

Celadyne, a Chicago, IL-based decarbonization and hydrogen solution company, raised $4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Maniv and Dynamo Ventures, with participation from EPS Ventures. More Here

Blueprint Finance, a company building the Concrete Protocol, a native on-chain credit market, raised $7.5M in funding. The round was led by Hashed and Tribe Capital, with participation from SALT, Hypersphere, Lightshift, Awesome People Ventures, Veris Ventures, WWVentures, Avalanche Foundation, Kronos Research, Terra Nova, and Hyperithm. More Here

Alembic, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a holistic marketing attribution platform for enterprises, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by WndrCo. Existing investors MXV Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures also participated. Justin Wexler, who led the investment for WndrCo, joined Alembic’s board of directors. More Here

Sage Geosystems, a Houston, TX-based provider of Geopressured Geothermal System (GGS) technologies, raised $17M in Series A funding. The round was led by Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: CHK), with participation from Arch Meredith, Helium-3 Ventures and existing investors Virya, LLC, Nabors Industries Ltd., and Ignis Energy Inc. More Here

Scribe, a San Francisco, CA-based platform for documenting and sharing business processes, raised $25M in Series B funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures with support from New York Life Ventures, Amplify Partners, Tiger Global, and XYZ Ventures. More Here

Higharc, a Durham, NC-based provider of a cloud platform for homebuilding operations, raised $53M in Series B funding. The round was led by Spark Capital and Pillar VC. More Here

Upwards, a Los Angeles, CA-based national childcare network and care benefits company, raised $21M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $43.3M, was led by Alpha Edison, with participation from existing investors M13 and Fika Ventures. More Here

Vatom, a Venice, CA-based provider of a customer engagement platform, raised $10M in Series B funding, at $125M valuation. The round was led by GSV AirCO, with participation from Heart Media, Galaxy Digital, Raine Group, and Bat VC. More Here

Duetti, a NYC-based music financing platform, raised $90M in funding. The funding included $15M of new equity, alongside a new $75M credit facility. The equity financing was led by Nyca Partners, alongside Viola Ventures, Duetti’s lead seed equity investor, and Cohen Circle. More Here

Arch, a San Francisco, CA-based data intelligence platform for HVAC contractors, raised $6.2M in Seed funding. The round saw participation from Gigascale Capital, Coatue, Floodgate, ReGen Ventures, and MCJ Collective. More Here

Lambda, a San Jose, CA-based GPU cloud company, raised $320M in Series C, at over $1.5 Billion valuation. The round was led by Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology. More Here

Clarity, a Tel Aviv, Israel- and NYC-based AI cybersecurity startup, raised $16M in Seed funding. The round was led by Walden Catalyst Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Secret Chord Ventures, Ascend Ventures, Fusion VC, and Flying Fish Partners. More Here

Permit, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based authorization-as-a-service provider, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners, along with NFX, Verissimo Ventures, Roosh Ventures, Firestreak, 92712, and other existing investors. More Here

FreezeM, a Nahshonim, Israel-based agri-tech biotechnology company, raised $14.2M in Series A funding. The round was led by a group of industrial investors and European Innovation Council Fund, along with existing investors and partners. More Here

Merit Medicine, an Austin, TX-based health tech startup, raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by LiveOak Ventures. More Here

Point2 Technology, a San Jose, CA-based provider of ultra-low-power, low-latency mixed-signal SoC solutions for multi-terabit interconnect, raised additional $22.6M in Series B funding. Backers included Bosch Ventures, Molex, and other investors. More Here

Freenome, a San Francisco, CA-based biotechnology company developing blood tests for early cancer detection, raised $254M in funding. The round was led by Roche with participation from a16z Life Sciences Growth Fund and the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Ventures. More Here

Lilac Solutions, an Oakland, CA-based company which specializes in lithium extraction technology, raised $145M in Series C funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $315M, was led by Mercuria, Lowercarbon Capital. More Here

Monumental, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based robotics startup, raised $25M in funding. The round was led by Plural and Hummingbird. Northzone, Foundamental and NP-Hard Ventures, as well as angel investors, also participated. More Here

Fever, a Stockholm, a Sweden-based company building an API-centric platform for virtual power plants, raised €10M in Seed funding. The round, which brought the total amount to €11.6M, was led General Catalyst, with participation from previous investors, including La Famiglia and Norrsken VC. More Here

Evergrowth, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based provider of an AI-powered B2B account-based sales platform, raised $2.2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Impellent Ventures and Practica Capital. More Here

Life Inside, a Stockholm, Sweden-based SaaS video marketing startup, raised £300K in funding. The round saw participation form Stefan Magnusson, Jonas Brogårdh, and Houman Ashrafzadeh. More Here

Amazec Photonics, an Oudkarspel, The Netherlands-based photonics based medtech company, raised €1.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by PhotonDelta. More Here

NextPoint Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of precision oncology therapeutics targeting the novel HHLA2 pathway, raised $42.5M in Series B extension funding. The round, which brought the total amount of Series B to $122.5M, was led by Catalio Capital Management. More Here

Indianapolis, IN-based transactional marketplace designed for independent insurance agents, raised $1.3M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Markd. Additional investors included 2ndF, Iridium Bloom LLC, 101 Weston Labs, IIANC, and other industry-specific strategic partners. More Here

Vessi Medical, a Misgav, Israel-based urology medical device company, raised $16.5M in Series A funding. Backers included ALIVE- Israel HealthTech Fund, and Agriline, which joined The Trendlines Group. More Here

SocialCrowd, Performance management startup has raised a $1.6 million pre-seed round led by Bread and Butter Ventures. More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Point 406 Ventures, a Boston, MA-based early-stage venture capital firm, closed its fifth core fund, at $265m. Point 406 Ventures V, L.P., received support from new and existing limited partners, including university endowments, foundations, pension plans, and strategic investors. More Here

RW3 Ventures, a crypto-focused VC firm, closes a $60 million fund with backing from Raptor Group and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala. The firm prioritizes real-world blockchain applications in sectors such as healthcare and music. RW3, led by Pete Najarian, aims to bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3, with investments in companies like Rymedi and CAT Labs. More Here

Sequoia Capital plans to fund up to three open source developers annually through the Sequoia Open Source Fellowship, providing stipends covering expenses for up to a year. This initiative addresses the underfunding issue in open source, supporting crucial projects for Sequoia's portfolio. The venture capital firm, known for backing successful open source startups, aims to make grants available on a rolling basis. More Here

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, owns the OpenAI Startup Fund, a corporate venture fund launched in 2021 with $175 million in commitments. The fund, not owned by OpenAI or its nonprofit foundation, raises questions about governance and potential risks due to its unusual ownership structure. OpenAI acknowledges the need to re-examine its governance structure and prioritize establishing a new board. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE

TAM - that's Totally A Made Up Number.

Every Founder - “This is a trillion dollar total addressable market.,”
“If only we can capture 1% of trillion dollar market, We’re going TO BE RICH!”

While it may sound enticing, this mindset is known as the "1% market fallacy," and it's a common mistake many startups make. If you find yourself thinking that focusing on 1% of a trillion dollars will make you rich, you're falling into this trap.… Read More Here

💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Acquisition & Exits

ResultsCX, a Fort Lauderdale, FL-based provider of transformational CXM (Customer Experience Management) services to global brands, acquired Huntswood, a Berkshire, UK-based consulting and customer solutions company. More Here

Layoffs & Shutdown

Variston, a secretive Barcelona-based spyware and exploit developer, is reportedly shutting down after Google's Threat Analysis Group linked its malware to hacking tools used against iPhone owners in Indonesia. More Here

Nike is laying off approximately 2% of its workforce It's likely that most of the layoffs will be at the company's Beaverton headquarters. More Here

RV manufacturer Forest River has announced a new round of layoffs. Will layoff 83 employees in this round. More Here

Startups & People

GV, Alphabet's early-stage venture firm, just promoted Anthony Philippakis to general partner. Philippakis has been a venture partner with GV since 2012 and played a "critical role in incubating and co-founding GV portfolio company Verve Therapeutics. More Here

Elon Musk has officially moved SpaceX's incorporation from Delaware to Texas, severing ties with the state amid his campaign against it. Musk recommends companies still incorporated in Delaware to relocate, following a Delaware judge's ruling against a $56 billion Tesla compensation package. Musk also plans to have Tesla shareholders vote on moving the company's incorporation from Delaware to Texas. More Here

🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

OpenAI launch video-generating model, Sora, not only creates impressive videos but can simulate digital worlds, rendering environments like Minecraft while controlling a player. Described as a "data-driven physics engine," Sora's capabilities open possibilities for realistic simulations and procedurally generated games. The model is currently limited in access, with potential implications for deepfake concerns. More Here

The crypto startup market is experiencing a scarcity of exits, with limited M&A and IPO activities, as per PitchBook's Q4 2023 Crypto Report. Despite a decline in total venture investment into web3 companies, crypto founders show optimism as VC investment increased by 2.5% in Q4 2023. However, the report indicates a notable lack of exits, with only 12 recorded during the quarter, the lowest since Q4 2020, raising questions about the future prospects for crypto startups. More Here

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

• Being first in the market is often seen as competitive advantage, but how real is this? Read Here

• Learning from Yahoo’s mistakes. Read Here

• VCs sacrifice future gains for cash amid IPO dry spell. Read Here

• Marketing basics that most founders don’t know. Read Here

• What LPs look for in a VC fund. Read Here

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Monday!
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✍️Written By Sahil R - Venture Crew Team