Peter Thiel Has Now Sold $1 Billion of Palantir Stock This Year & Softbank Backed Indian Startup Filed For $1.25 B IPO

☕Hey there, Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. We've got the scoop on startup fundraising, VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes!

Top News

Meta has unveiled its Orion augmented reality glasses, which showcase full holographic capabilities, marking the most advanced AR glasses the company has developed after a decade-long effort. These smart glasses use tiny projectors to display holograms, are lightweight, and feature a contextual AI for improved digital experiences, both indoors and outdoors, without obstructing the user's view of the real world. Orion glasses require a wireless puck for processing and a bracelet for gesture control, with Meta currently allowing only employees and select audiences to test the device as it works towards a consumer release in the future.

OpenAI Chair Bret Taylor stated that while the board has discussed equity compensation for CEO Sam Altman, no decision or specific figures have been determined. This comes amid reports of a potential restructuring of OpenAI into a for-profit benefit corporation and a $6.5 billion funding round at a $150 billion valuation. The company also saw the departure of three senior executives, though Altman denied any connection between these changes and the restructuring plans.

Other Major News

• Swiggy (Softbank Backed Startup) files for $1.25 bln IPO in Indian stock market (Scroll To Startups Updates)

• Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of using unfair cloud licensing (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• Peter Thiel Has Now Sold $1 Billion of Palantir Stock This Year (Scroll To People Updates)

• What if Google/Amazon Builds It? - Annoying Questions From VC & How You Should Think.. (Scroll To Featured Article)

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

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Observe, a San Mateo, CA-based SaaS observability company, raised $145M in Series B funding. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners and Madrona Ventures.

Prepared, a NYC-based provider of an AI platform built for emergency communications, raised $27M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $57M, was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from returning investors First Round Capital and M13 and new investor NewView Capital.

Distribusion, a Berlin, Germany-based B2B ground transportation marketplace, raised $80M in Series C funding. The round was led by TQ Ventures, with participation from existing investor Lightrock.

Gladly, a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in customer service innovation, raised $40M in funding. The round was led by AVP.

DeepOpinion, an Innsbruck, Austria-based startup specializing in enterprise agentic process automation, raised €11M in funding. The round was led by Red River West and AIpha Intelligence Capital, with participation from existing backers Lunar Ventures and Stride VC.

K1x, a Court Morristown, NJ-based SaaS financial technology company and provider of all-digital K-1 data aggregation and reporting for the capital markets, received $20M in funding. The round was led by Edison Partners.

The Curling Group, a Toronto, Canada-based sports business company, raised US$5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Relay Ventures.

Highfive, an Indianapolis, IN-based EdTech company, raised $250K in Seed funding. The round was led by Roosh X, with additional investment from LearnLaunch Accelerator.

Bot Auto, a Houston, TX-based autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company, raised $20M in Pre-A funding. The round was led by Brightway Future Venture, Cherubic Venture, EnvisionX Venture, First Star Venture, Linear Capital, M31 Capital, Taihill Venture, and Uphonest Venture.

Mendaera, a San Mateo, CA-based healthcare technology company developing a handheld robotic interventional platform, raised $73M in Series B funding. The round was led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from investors including Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll (founder of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health).

Mews, a NYC-based hospitality cloud company, raised $100M in funding. The round was led by Vista Credit Partners, the subsidiary of Vista Equity Partners and a strategic credit and financing partner focused on the enterprise software, data and technology markets.

Surgar, a Clermont-Ferrand, France-based company developing augmented reality solutions for minimally invasive surgery, raised €11M in Series A funding. The round was led by Mutuelles Impact, managed by XAnge, along with Elaia Partners in partnership with MH Innov’, the corporate fund of Malakoff Humanis, Bpifrance through its Digital Venture fund.

3D Cloud (fka Marxent), a St. Petersburg, FL-based company which specializes in in 3D digital asset management for 3D product visualization, raised $20M in growth funding. The round was led by Arnie Bellini of Bellini Capital.

Quorum, a Burlington, VT-based provider of a unified data optimization platform for marketers and publishers, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. Backers included Crush Ventures and Dudley Fund.

C2N, a St. Louis, MO-based diagnostics company developing Precivity blood tests, raised $7.025M in funding. The round was led by Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s (ADDF) Diagnostics Accelerator.

AmpUp, a Santa Clara, CA-based provider of an electric vehicle (EV) charging platform, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Touchdown Ventures. New Investors including Autotech Ventures, MUUS Climate Partners, Holman, Goodyear, Foothill Ventures, WEX Venture Capital, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, Powerhouse Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, among others, also participated.

Tetrix, a NYC-based company providing an AI-powered analysis platform for capital allocators, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Innovation Endeavors with participation from prominent angels from Blackrock, CPPIB, SoftBank, Lending Club, and Plaid.

Looma, a Durham, NC-based in-store digital media company, raised $10M in funding. Backers included a group of family offices, YETI Capital, and current investors.

Micropep, a Raleigh, NC-based company which specializes in micropeptide crop protection technologies, raised additional $11M in funding. Backers included Corteva Inc., through its Corteva Catalyst platform, Sparkfood SA, as well as all existing investors, bringing the total Series B round to $40M and total funding to over $60M.

Convergence, a London, UK-based startup creating personal AI agents, raised $12M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Balderton Capital. Salesforce Ventures and Shopify Ventures also participated.

Qure.ai, a Mumbai, India-based healthcare AI innovator, raised $65M in Series D funding. The round was led by Lightspeed and 360 ONE Asset, joined by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Kae Capital. Existing investors Novo Holdings, Health Quad, and TeamFund also participated.

DefectDojo, an Austin, TX-based company which specializes in scalable application security, raised $7M in funding. The round was led by Iolar Ventures and Aspenwood Ventures.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

Peak XV Partners has realized $1.2 billion in exits since separating from Sequoia, selling stakes in public and private companies. This coincides with India's booming stock market and increased IPO activity. Peak XV's dominance in the region continues, with its Surge program and new perpetual fund strengthening its position.

ARCH Venture Partners, a Chicago, IL-based venture capital firm, closed ARCH Venture Fund XIII, at more than $3 billion. The vehicle will support the founding and growth of early-stage biotechnology companies. ARCH founds and invests in early-stage companies that prevent, detect and cure disease.

Boldstart Ventures, a Miami, FL-based venture capital firm, raised $250m for its seventh fund. According to a regulatory form filed with the S.E.C., 68 investors supported the raise efforts for Boldstart Ventures VII L.P.

Asabys Partners, a Barcelona, Spain-based life sciences focused venture capital firm, closed its second fund, Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments II (SAHII II), with total commitments of €180m. LPs included new US and international investors in addition to investors from its previous fund, SAHII I, which closed with €117m in commitments.

📌 Featured Article

What if Google/Amazon Builds It? - Annoying Questions From VC & How You Should Think.

If you are fundraising or looking to fundraise for your startup, you will see such types of annoying questions from VC :). Not only this, you will find some other things like - I don’t think this can be a venture scale business, We’d be interested when we see a bit more traction, Come back when you have a lead etc… and most founders don’t know how to think on this questions and proceed with it.

So in this post, I will try to answer how you can think about above mentioned questions:

1. What if Google Builds It?

You will find a lot of VCs asking this question where Google substitutes with Amazon or Facebook or any other big company.

It’s a valid question - this shows your startup edge and how will you win. Here are a couple of answers that may help:

• Too big to care: These giants are so huge, your "little" idea might not even catch their eye. They're busy chasing bigger fish.

• Slow movers: Big companies are like big ships - they turn slowly. You're a speedboat. You can zip around, change direction fast, and give customers exactly what they want before the big guys even start their engines.

• Proof you're onto something: If a big company notices your idea, it means you've found a real problem to solve. That's exciting!

• People will pay for better: Even if Google makes a free version, many folks will happily pay for a product that actually answers the phone when there's a problem. Just look at companies like Mixpanel or Superhuman - they're doing great against free Google stuff.

• Show off your speed: Can you build things faster than the big company? Can you make your customers super happy? Focus on that. It's your secret weapon.

Remember, being small and quick can be your superpower. Use it to outmanoeuvre the giants!

2. I don’t think this can be a venture-scale business…..

Read more in our recent venture curator newsletter….

[Check out our Venture Curator newsletter - to get insights on startups, AI and venture capital from leading founders & investors]

📑 Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Visa (NYSE: V) announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Featurespace, a Cambridge, UK-based developer of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) payments protection technology.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Zoomin, a NYC-based data management provider for unstructured data.

RevenueCat, a subscription management platform, has acquired Dipsea, an app offering "spicy" audiobooks.

Appfire, a Burlington, MA-based provider of Enterprise collaboration solutions built for your team, ecosystem, and best work, acquired JXL, a Jira issue editor and organizer and one of the fastest-growing apps on the Atlassian Marketplace.

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Drata, a security compliance automation platform, has laid off 9% of its workforce (40 people) despite reporting strong growth metrics earlier. The company, founded in 2020 and valued at $2 billion, cited a move towards "sustainable growth" and operational efficiency as reasons for the layoffs. Drata has raised over $300 million in funding and is aiming for a potential IPO in the future.

Startups & People

Peter Thiel sold over $600M of Palantir stock this week, bringing his total disposals in 2023 to over $1B. He sold more than 16M shares, adding to the 20M sold earlier this year. Palantir, recently added to the S&P 500, has seen its stock more than double in 2023.

Google paid $2.7 billion to license technology from Character.AI and rehire Noam Shazeer, an AI genius who left Google in 2021. Shazeer and colleague Daniel De Freitas founded Character.AI after Google refused to release their chatbot. The deal brings Shazeer back to lead Google's next-gen AI model development. This move highlights the fierce competition for top AI talent in Silicon Valley.

SoftBank-backed Swiggy has filed for a $1.25 billion initial public offering, aiming for a $15 billion valuation in one of India's biggest listings this year. The food delivery firm plans to sell shares worth $448.56 million, with existing shareholders also selling stakes, to fund its quick commerce business expansion and technology infrastructure.

🤖 Latest In Tech

Elon Musk's X has complied with Brazil's Supreme Court orders to stop misinformation spread and requested the lifting of a ban on the platform. The company blocked nine accounts under investigation and appointed a local legal representative as demanded by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. This marks a significant shift in Musk's stance, who had previously resisted what he called "censorship" in one of X's largest markets.

Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of using unfair cloud licensing terms to stifle competition and lock in clients. Google claims Microsoft’s licensing restrictions force businesses to stay on Azure, making it harder to switch to competitors' clouds. Microsoft denies harming competition, citing its recent settlement with European cloud providers.

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• Investment Manager, Techstars London - Apply Here

• Associate ff venture capital  - USA - Apply Here

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• Senior Investment Analyst - Venture Capital ADP Venture - India - Apply Here

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