Apple Withdraws From OpenAI $6.5 B Funding Talks & Binance Founder Zhao Released from US Custody

☕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

Apple has reportedly withdrawn from negotiations to participate in OpenAI's funding round, which aims to raise about $6.5 billion and values the company at over $100 billion. Other tech giants like Microsoft and Nvidia are still in talks to invest, with Microsoft expected to contribute around $1 billion.

Here is what’s illegal under California’s 18 (and counting) new AI laws: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed 18 AI-related bills into law in September, addressing various aspects of AI including risk assessment, privacy, education, healthcare, deepfakes, and election integrity. These laws require AI risk analysis, disclosure of training data, AI literacy in schools, limitations on AI use in healthcare, and regulations on AI-generated content in elections and entertainment. Newsom vetoed the controversial SB 1047, stating it focused too narrowly on large AI systems and could give a false sense of security.

Other Major News

• Fidelity has cut X’s value by 79% since Musk purchase (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• Binance founder Zhao released from US custody. (Scroll To Startup & People Updates)

• Musk faces $1.9 million fine to end X ban in Brazil. (Scroll To People Updates)

• Google's new AI creates its own chips. (Scroll To Tech Updates)

• How Can This Be A Billion-Dollar Company? - Annoying Questions From VC. (Scroll To Featured Article)

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

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🗞️ Startup Funding Updates

Desia, a London, UK-based system of intelligence and AI productivity for investment professionals, raised $3.3M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Dig Ventures with participation from 2100 Ventures and Exor Ventures, among others. The round was joined by a group of angel investors, including Niccolo Maisto, Founder of FaceIT, Mark Ransford, Senior Advisor at CVC, and Massimo della Ragione, former Partner at Goldman Sachs.

AminoChain, a New York based developer of a blockchain platform connecting medical institutions, raised $5m in seed funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $7M, was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Cercano.

Mirai Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based bioplatform innovation company, raised $50M in initial funding. Flagship Pioneering made the founding investment.

Senvo, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of a spend visibility and reconciliation tool that enables large shippers to reduce their shipping cost, raised €2.5M in funding. The round was led by defy.vc and Two Ravens with participation from Fund F.

syte, a Münster, Germany-based AI powered real estate startup, raised approx. €5M in Seed funding. The round was led by the companies of the Schwarz Group, with participation from Vantage Value and vent.io, as well as existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Moritz Luck and Fabian Axthelm.

Monolith Materials, a Lincoln, NE-based company which specializes in clean hydrogen and carbon black, received an additional funding of an undisclosed amount. Backers included Azimuth V Energy Evolution Fund and Azimuth Capital Management’s Development Company Platform, Cornell Capital, Decarbonization Partners, TPG Rise Climate, and Warburg Pincus.

Peach Worlds, a London, UK-based provider of a no-code 3D web platform, raised $1.14M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Reflexive VC, Jenson Funding Partners, and Lightning Capital, with additional backing from angel investors such as Richard Ma and Gmoney.

Quin AI, a London, UK-based provider of a behavioural generative AI platform, raised £1.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Blackfinch Ventures with participation from SFC Capital, Logo Ventures, and Finberg.

Cytix, a Manchester, UK-based cybersecurity company, raised £1.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura Ventures and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

PACT, a Cambridge, UK-based biomaterials company, raised €10.7m in seed funding. The round was led by Hoxton Ventures, with participation from ReGen Ventures, Celsius Industries (formerly UNTITLED) and Polytechnique Ventures.

858 Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology and drug discovery company, raised $50M in Series B funding. The round was led by Avidity Partners with participation from Insight Partners, Mirae Asset Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments, as well as existing investors Versant Ventures, NEA, and Logos Capital.

GEOX, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of an AI-powered platform for analyzing real estate risk from climate-related disasters, raised $19m in Series A funding. The round was led by Flashpoint Venture Capital, with participation from Suretech Partnership, as well as investors Ariel Maislos and Noam Lanir.

📰 Venture Capital Updates

Index Ventures is expanding its New York-based investing team, planning to add 3-4 new members within a year. The firm sees New York's ecosystem as advantageous due to its high density of customers, especially in health and finance sectors, and its role as a gateway for European companies entering the U.S. market. Despite online discourse favoring San Francisco, Index believes New York's startup scene is thriving, citing successful investments like Datadog and Cockroach Labs.

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.

Miura Partners, a Barcelona, and Madrid, Spain-based private equity firm, closed its fourth flagship fund, Miura Fund IV, at €475m. In addition to Fund IV, earlier this year, Miura closed its debut impact fund with commitments of €135M, and Dent&Co, a €200M single asset continuation fund established to support continued growth in portfolio company Proclinic Group.

📌 Featured Article

How Can This Be A Billion-Dollar Company? - Annoying Questions From VC.

After my last write-up, a lot of founders reached out about the frustrating questions VCs often ask — the ones they don’t know how to answer. So, in this piece, I’m going to share some of the most common questions you’ve brought up:

1. Why hasn’t this been done before?

This might sound like a silly question, and some could say a lazy VC just doesn’t want to do their homework. But really, it’s a smart way to see how you think about trends and changes in your market.

If you believe that markets are efficient, then your opportunity shouldn’t exist. Why? Because if it were that obvious, everyone would have already jumped on it.

So, what’s your special insight? What do you know that others don’t? Is it your deep knowledge of the industry? Is the opportunity sitting at the intersection of two areas that most people don’t understand? Or is it a trend you’ve noticed in a specific group of people that others haven’t picked up on?

Every startup needs to have a solid answer to this. Even investment funds face this question—why is no one else doing what you’re doing? It might be annoying to hear, but it’s a valid question.

So, if a VC asks you this, don’t get defensive. Use it as an opportunity to explain what makes your idea unique and why you’re the right person to take advantage of it. If you can’t answer this question, it might be time to rethink your approach.

2. Contact us if you like but we prefer warm introductions.

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

Arm approached Intel about acquiring its product division, but Intel refused to consider selling the unit, according to an informed source. Intel, dealing with significant financial struggles and restructuring efforts, is focusing on revamping its operations to attract investors and potentially enabling a company split in the future. Arm, looking to diversify beyond smartphone chip designs, sees a potential acquisition of Intel's product unit as a strategy to expand into personal computers and server markets.

rEvolution, a Chicago, IL-based company which specializes in sports marketing, acquired WePlay, a London, UK-based performance-driven marketing agency specializing in sports and entertainment.

Omnicom (NYSE: OMC), announced that its precision marketing division, Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG), acquired LeapPoint, a digital advisory firm focused on helping organizations improve the orchestration and performance of their entire marketing lifecycle.

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

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was released from a California correctional facility after serving a four-month sentence for money laundering violations. Prosecutors accused Binance of facilitating over 100,000 suspicious transactions tied to terrorist groups and supporting illegal activities. Binance agreed to a $4.32 billion penalty, while Zhao paid $50 million in fines.

X (formerly Twitter) may resume service in Brazil if it pays an additional 10 million reais ($1.9 million) fine on top of an existing 18.3 million reais ($3.4 million) penalty. The platform was banned for not blocking accounts accused of election misinformation but has since agreed to pay fines and comply with regulations. Brazil’s Supreme Court judge ordered the fines after X allegedly resumed service prematurely through Cloudflare infrastructure.

🤖 Latest In Tech

Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied Apple's request to extend the deadline for producing over 1 million documents related to recent App Store changes, maintaining the September 30 deadline. This is part of the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games over App Store rules and compliance with court-ordered changes. The judge criticized Apple's last-minute extension request, suggesting the company had ample time and resources to meet the original deadline.

Google Deepmind's AlphaChip AI has created three generations of TPUs, which are now widely used in data centers globally. Initially unveiled in 2021, AlphaChip was the first AI method to design chip "floorplans," significantly reducing design time from months to hours. The AI model continues to improve with each TPU generation, achieving better chip layouts and proving more efficient than human designers for various hardware platforms.

Fidelity's Blue Chip Growth Fund has marked down its stake in Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) by 78.7%, valuing the company at approximately $9.4 billion. This represents less than a quarter of the $44 billion purchase price Musk paid for the platform. The fund now values its X holdings at $4.18 million, down from its initial $19.66 million investment.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stranded on the ISS after Boeing's Starliner capsule failed, will return on SpaceX's Crew Dragon in February 2024. The Crew-9 mission, originally for four astronauts, now includes Wilmore and Williams after their capsule's thruster issues and helium leaks made it unsafe to return. The duo's 8-day mission has turned into an 8-month stay aboard the ISS.

💼 Today’s VC Job Opportunities

• Analyst Volta Circle  - USA - Apply Here

• Investment Partner - Hivemind capital partner | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Manager, Techstars London - Apply Here

• Associate - FF venture capital | USA - Apply Here

• Intern - Alpaca VC | USA - Apply Here

• Senior Manager - Coin Venture | India - Apply Here

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