QIA Launched $1 Billion VC Fund & Vinod Khosla's $37 Million AI Investment

👋 Hey, Sahil here! Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. I've got the scoop on startup fundraising, fresh VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes! Today's highlights include...

• The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund is launching a $1 billion venture capital fund of funds.

• Vinod Khosla’s $37 Million Investment In Storytelling AI Startup.

• A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO…

• Mistral AI launches Mistral Large, rivalling GPT-4 and Claude 2 and partner with Microsoft for development.

• Featured Article : Sam Altman - “Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand.”

• Daily Digest Board: Highest DPI achieved by a globally recognized VC fund?

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Startups Funding Updates

Inkitt, a startup aiming to revolutionize storytelling with AI, secures $37 million Series C led by Vinod Khosla for its content empire vision, valued at around $400 million. More Here

b.well Connected Health, a Baltimore, MD-based company empowering platform-enabled healthcare ecosystems, raised $40M in Series A funding. The round was led by Leavitt Equity Partners. More Here

Fervo Energy, Geothermal Houston-based company aims to use directional drilling techniques pioneered by the oil and gas industry to extend its wells far beyond their surface footprints has raised $221 million. More Here

Ad-Shield, a NYC-based provider of adblock recovery solutions, raised $2M in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Shorooq Partners, with participation from existing investors, Bass Investment and Hashed. More Here

Myko AI, a Miami, FL-based developer of conversational AI for sales and revenue team data, raised $2.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Zero Knowledge Ventures, DayDream Ventures, the AngelList Early-Stage Quant Fund, and others. More Here

Ingrediome, Israeli startup pioneers in hybrid lab-grown proteins, blending traditional animal proteins with plant-based ingredients for better taste and texture. It has raised $2.46 million in funding lead by SOSV, Siddhi Capital, Meach Cove Capital, Beyond Impact and Alumni Ventures and Genesis Consortium. More Here

FlowGPT, a Berkeley, CA-based platform fostering an open ecosystem for AI application creators and the community, raised $10M in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Goodwater Capital with participation from DCM. More Here

NLX, a NYC-based provider of an end-to-end enterprise AI platform to power customer experiences for large and enterprise brands, raised $12M in Series A funding. The round was led by Cercano and joined by Thayer Ventures and HL Ventures. Initial investors IAG Capital Partners, JetBlue Ventures and Tech Square Ventures’ Engage also participated. More Here

Sonus Microsystems, a Vancouver, Canada-based ultrasound technology platform delivering remote diagnostic imaging without the need to go to a clinic or hospital, raised $2.1M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by LDV Capital. More Here

mTab, a Yorba Linda, CA-based market insights platform provider, closed a $15m growth credit financing. Kayne Anderson Growth Capital provided the financial resources. More Here

FAMS, a Wilmington, DE-based parenting copilot that helps parents build emotional connections with kids, raised $400K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by SMOK Ventures, Andrey Avsievich, and Ilya Lesun. More Here

Interview Kickstart, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an education platform that enables working professionals to learn the scaled thinking and advanced technical and problem-solving skills required to achieve careers at tech companies, raised $10M in funding. The round was led by Blume Ventures. More Here

Prowler, a Portland, ME-based open cloud security company, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Decibel VC. More Here

Mobly, a Lehi, UT-based mobile software company, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Peterson Ventures, with participation from VITALIZE Venture Capital, Peak Ventures, Tenzing Capital, Upstream Ventures, Service Provider Capital, and angel investors. More Here

CellVoyant, a Bristol, UK-based AI-first biotechnology spin-out from the University of Bristol accelerating the development of new stem cell therapies, raised £7.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Horizons Ventures, Verve Ventures, and Air Street Capital. More Here

Pimberly, a Manchester, UK-based company whose product information management (PIM) and digital asset management (DAM) software helps businesses to boost e-commerce sales, raised £4M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to £14M, saw participation from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance and Northern Venture Capital Trusts. More Here

Rototip, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands- and Ankara, Turkey-based digital manufacturing startup, raised €1M in funding. The round was led by ACT Venture Partners, with participation from Heartfelt Capital and APY Ventures. More Here

Altilium, a London, UK-based clean technology group focused on supporting the energy transition to net zero, raised $9.43M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $12M, saw participation from SQM Lithium Ventures. More Here

RobCo, a Munich, Germany-based company which specializes in connected robotics automation solutions for SMEs, raised $42.5M in Series B funding. The round saw participation from Lightspeed and additional investors. Former Apple and Nvidia investor Sequoia Capital also participated. More Here

Mokobara, India based Direct-to-consumer (D2C) luggage brand has raised $12 million in a Series B funding round led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India). More Here

Power, a San Francisco, CA-based clinical trial marketplace, raised $12m in Series A funding. The round was led by Kin Ventures and Contrary, with participation from Footwork, AirAngels, Artis Ventures, 20Growth, 14W, Moment, and Otherwise Fund. More Here

Darwin AI, a Latin based startups aims to give small LatAm companies AI-powered sales assistanthas raised $2.5 million total, including pre-seed and a seed round. Canary led the most recent round of $2.1 million and was joined by H20 Capital Innovation, Dalus Capital, FJ Labs, and Latitude Capital. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund is launching a $1 billion venture capital fund of funds for international and regional venture capital funds. More Here

Featured Article

Don't Run Toward Ideas Where There Is Oversupply of Founder Relative To Market Demand. - Sam Altman

If You Want To Build A Really Big Company, Start A Hard Company.

"It's easier to build a hard company than an easy one. If you're building a photo-sharing app, nobody bothers.

But if you're building flying cars, supersonic airplanes or nuclear power startups people proactively want to help you for free because they want to be a part of this interesting thing... Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Djinn Technologies, a Coventry, Warwickshire, UK-based Akuma Engineering owned company developing advanced volumetric and spatial camera sensor and scanning technologies, acquired EF EVE, a UK- and Lithuania-based provider of consumer-friendly volumetric and spatial capture software. More Here

Jasper, an Austin, TX-based generative AI app company, acquired Clipdrop, a Paris, France-based provider of an AI image creation and editing platform. More Here

Layoffs & Shutdown

Boateng Logistics, based in Carlsbad, CA, has filed for bankruptcy with assets up to $50,000 and liabilities ranging from $1 million to $10 million. The company owes millions to creditors, including the U.S. Small Business Administration, factoring companies, and various carriers and logistics firms. More Here

Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO Julie Greenwald announced layoffs of about two dozen people Monday primarily in the radio and video departments.

Cisco announced layoffs around 500 workers of Bay Area workers.

Online travel platform Expedia (EXPE.O), opens new tab said it was cutting about 1,500 jobs globally, or about 9% of its total workforce, as part of its "organizational and technological transformation".

Startups & People

The examination of Reddit's S-1 filing raises doubts among users and experts regarding the platform's financial health, given its history of losses and uncertain revenue streams. Concerns also revolve around CEO Steve Huffman's leadership decisions and the potential implications of the IPO on Reddit's future. Users express skepticism and even frustration, questioning the platform's direction and viability moving forward. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Paris-based Mistral AI launches Mistral Large, rivalling GPT-4 and Claude 2 in reasoning capabilities. Alongside, introduces Le Chat as ChatGPT alternative, and partners with Microsoft for Azure integration, expanding its reach. More Here

Google's multimodal generative AI tool, Gemini, is set to resume generating images of people after being suspended due to producing historically inaccurate depictions. DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis explains the issue arose from a feature aiming for diversity being applied too broadly, but hints at a narrower approach for historical prompts in the future. More Here

Google Cloud criticized Microsoft for allegedly seeking monopolistic control in cloud computing, claiming it could stifle emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Microsoft denied the accusations, stating competition among cloud providers remains healthy. Google urged regulators to intervene, emphasizing the importance of maintaining an open cloud environment. More Here

Venture Daily Digest Picks

• Paypal's 'Going Sharp' Stategy To Find Product Market Fit. Read Here

• Remaking the app store by Benedict Evans. Read Here

• Don't track LTV/CAC; Instead track LTV/CACD, Why? Read Here

• The Best Way to Drive Demand in Marketplaces is Hiding in Plain Sight. Read Here

• When and How to Build Second Products. Read Here

Daily Digest Board

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That’s It For Today! Will Meet You Tomorrow!
Happy Tuesday! 🥂

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew