Sam Altman Raising $1 Billion For AI Device Startup & Selena Gomez Selling Beauty Brand At $2 Billion

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👋 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!

• Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence startup xAI is in talks to raise $3 billion, which would value the company at $18 billion.

• Jony Ive and Sam Altman are in talks to raise $1 billion for new AI device startup.

• Terraform Labs Pte. and co-founder Do Kwon were found guilty of fraud in a US lawsuit linked to their 2022 collapse, causing a $40 billion loss in investor assets.

• Selena Gomez, the singer and actress selling her Rare Beauty bradn at around $2 billion.

• Featured Article : Y-Combinator Strategy: “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved” To Raise Funding.

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Startup Funding Updates

Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence startup xAI is in talks to raise $3 billion, which would value the company at $18 billion. Prominent Musk backers like Gigafund and Steve Jurvetson are considering investing in the round, as xAI looks to compete with well-funded rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. More Here

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Apple design chief Jony Ive have officially teamed up to design an AI-powered personal device and are seeking funding upto $1 Billion from SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son & Potential investors include Thrive Capital, an OpenAI investor, and Emerson Collective. More Here

Pigment, French software startup & Microsoft Excel rival has become a unicorn, raising $145 million from existing and new investors, including Sheryl Sandberg's fund, to grow its business planning and forecasting software offerings. More Here

EarliTec Diagnostics, an Atlanta-based startup, AI-powered system can diagnose autism in children as young as 16 months through a quick 12-minute assessment, aiming to help clinicians identify autism earlier for better developmental outcomes. It has raised $21.5 million in Series B funding co-led by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures and Venture Investors. More Here

Lockchain.ai, an Athens, GA-based provider of an AI-powered blockchain risk management platform, raised $4.6m in Seed funding. The round was led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from Arrington Capital, Valhalla Ventures, ARCA, RSE/Vayner, Sonic Boom Ventures, Alex Weiss of Clear Sky Capital, and Artico Search. More Here

Varda Space Industries, Inc., an El Segundo, CA-based in-space manufacturing and hypersonic Earth re-entry logistics company, closed a $90m Series B funding. The round was led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and Khosla Ventures. More Here

Lumana, a Los Gatos, CA-based provider of a video security platform, raised $24M in Seed funding. Backers included Norwest and S Capital. More Here

Innoviti, a Bengaluru, India-based provider of a payments-centric retail SaaS platform, raised $8M in first close of Series E funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Patni Family Office and others. More Here

Robovision, Belgian based startup has developed a "no-code" computer vision AI platform to make deep learning tools more accessible to businesses facing labor shortages. The company recently raised a $42 million Series A round co-led by Astanor Ventures and Target Global, and is expanding to the U.S. market to target industrial and agribusiness customers. More Here

CrashBay, a Toronto, Canada-based digital marketplace providing collision repair solutions, raised $1.25M in funding. The round was led by Markd, with participation from other collision and insurance industry investors. More Here

Velox, a Kfar Saba, Israel-based developer, manufacturer and seller of industrial direct-to-shape digital decoration solutions for the rigid packaging containers market, raised $38M in funding. The round was led by Fortissimo Capital with participation from existing investors, JAL Ventures, O.R.T. Technologies, Ilan Holdings, Evonik, Waypoint Investors and Migdal Insurance & Finance. More Here

Splash, a San Diego, CA-based startup aiming to transform the pool service industry, closed a $4.5m pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Asymmetric Capital Partners, with participation from Sam Lessin, Kaz Nejatian, Austen Allred, Andrew Wilkinson, Tiny.com, Rahul Vohra, Oren Zaslansky, David Hauser, Dan Bomze, and Sander Daniels, among others. More Here

Aligned Marketplace, a Park City, UT-based provider of a membership to a national network of value-based advanced primary care for employers, raised $8m in seed funding. The round was led by A Capital and Maverick Ventures, with participation from Box Group, EPIC Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, SV Angel, and other angel operators. More Here

Storiaverse, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of a mobile entertainment platform that enhances the reading experience for digital native adults, raised $2.5m in pre-seed funding. The round was led by 500 Global. More Here

SingleInterface, a Gurgaon, India-based provider of hyperlocal marketing-to-commerce software, raised US$30m in first funding. Asia Partners led the round with participation from PayPal Ventures, the global corporate venture arm of PayPal. More Here

Archetype AI, a Palo Alto, CA-based physical AI company, raised $13m in seed funding. The round was led by Venrock, with participation from Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures and several angel investors. More Here

Fluid Topics, a Lyon, France-based provider of a content delivery platform for product information, raised €15M in Series B funding. The round was led by Kennet Partners, with participation from Ventech, and Credit Mutuel Innovation. More Here

rater8, a Montvale, NJ-based company which specializes in healthcare reputation management and patient feedback solutions, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round was led by Elsewhere Partners. More Here

Scrut Automation, a Bengaluru, India-based provider of a GRC platform, raised $10M in funding. Backers included Lightspeed, MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners. More Here

Neurava, an Indianapolis, IN-based company developing novel and innovative wearable devices, raised $2.26M in Seed funding. The round was led by Life Science Angels and included a second strategic investment from UCB, in addition to support from Purdue Innovates, Elevate Ventures, Rivermount Ventures, and First Leaf Capital. More Here

100+ Investors & Founders Joined the Slack Community….

Last week, we announced the launch of our Slack community, and over 100 investors and founders have already joined. If you haven't joined yet, please use this link to join our Slack community.

In the coming week, we will be hosting weekly events, daily discussion sessions, monthly demo days, fundraising and product-building sessions led by founders and investors, and more activities.

Venture Capital Updates

Bitkraft Ventures, a games-focused VC firm based in Denver, has raised a $275 million third fund to invest in gaming studios and platforms, with a particular focus on real-time strategy games like Frost Giant's upcoming title Stormgate. The firm's previous investments include in-game ad platform Anzu, mobile gaming platform Carry1st, and crypto-based game Gods Unchained. More Here

Michael Novogratz’s crypto-focused investment firm Galaxy Digital is in the early stages of raising a new venture fund, with most of its targeted $100 million expected to come from outside investors. More Here

Centre Court Capital, India based Sports technology-focused fund has launched around $42 million venture capital fund that includes investments from the owners of India's JSW Group and billionaire Azim Premji's wealth fund. More Here

Featured Article

Y-Combinator Strategy: “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved” To Raise Funding

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this …

VC: “How much money are you raising?”
Founder: “$8–10 million”
VC: “What’s your current burn rate?”
Founder: “$250k / month.”
VC: “So at a constant rate of burn rate you’d be raising enough for 2.5–3 years. Why are you raising so much?”
Founder: “Um. Let me check my plan.”

Usually, that’s the point in the meeting where a VC realizes that this meeting isn’t going to go very well. There are many things a VC is looking for in reviewing your business plan but beyond things like the quality of revenue, margins, OPEX and CAPEX -

there’s a simple rule investors generally consider “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved.” .…Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Kimberly-Clark is selling its personal protective equipment (PPE) business to Ansell for $640 million in cash, as the U.S. market shifts back towards foreign-based PPE suppliers after the pandemic-driven demand boost. More Here

Xcelerate, a Mumbai, India-based integrated GRC and ESG operating and investing platform provider, acquired a strategic stake in Stirrup Communication Consultants Private Limited, a Mumbai, India-based strategic communications consultancy company. More Here

Riddell, a Des Plaines, IL-based company which specilaizes in football helmet technology and innovation, acquired Simbex, a product design and development firm. More Here

DataStax, a Santa Clara, CA-based generative AI data company, acquired Brazilian AI startup Logspace, which has created Langflow, an open source visual framework for building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications. More Here

Layoffs & Banktuptcy

Intel has started to implement its restructuring plans, with reported layoffs in the Sales and Marketing division. More Here

Agility Robotics has layoffs “small number” of employees as part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts for its bipedal robot, Digit.

Startups & People

Terraform Labs Pte. and co-founder Do Kwon were found guilty of fraud in a US government lawsuit related to the firm's 2022 collapse, which caused a loss of $40 billion in investor assets. The verdict strengthens the SEC's regulatory efforts in the crypto space and may foreshadow pending criminal cases against Kwon in the US and South Korea, where he faces charges of fraud. More Here

Mahbod Moghadam, co-founder of Genius and Everipedia, passed away at age 41 due to complications from a brain tumor. He was a controversial figure known for his edgy and problematic behavior, but also his brilliance and unique personality. Moghadam was focused on finding ways for creators to get paid more directly for their work, including through platforms like HellaDoge and Communistagram. More Here

Elon Musk vowed to defy a Brazilian court order to remove several X (formerly Twitter) accounts, leading to a tense showdown over free speech in the country. Musk accused the judge behind the order of betraying Brazil's constitution and said the platform would reinstate the blocked accounts, even at the cost of losing revenue in Brazil. More Here

Selena Gomez, the singer and actress, is considering selling her cosmetics company, Rare Beauty, which is valued at around $2 billion. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

Apple has updated its App Store rules to allow emulators for retro console games globally, with developers responsible for ensuring they follow copyright rules. This move, along with updates to support streaming games, mini-games, and AI chatbots, indicates Apple's efforts to adapt its policies in response to regulatory changes and user demands. More Here

Elon Musk announced that Tesla will unveil a new robotaxi on August 8, despite reports that the company is abandoning plans for a lower-cost electric vehicle to focus on the robotaxi instead. This move comes as Tesla faces lagging EV sales and declining profits, with Musk seeking a new product to boost the company's performance. More Here

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

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✍️Written By Sahil R - The Venture Crew