Sam Altman Raising Trillions For New AI Chip Venture & A Foldable iPhone

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

• Apple is considering rolling out a foldable clamshell phone.

• Five U.S. venture capital firms are accused of funneling over $1.9 billion to blacklisted Chinese AI companies.

• Arrival, the once-prominent electric vehicle startup previously valued at over $13 billion filed bankruptcy of UK division.

• Featured Article : How Many Investors Should You Talk to in a VC Fund Raise? And How Do You Prioritize?

• What Do You Think?: research direction in Generative AI has the most potential impact in the next 5-10 years?

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

Volta Insite, a Charlotte, NC-based electrical data collection company, raised $7M in Seed funding. The backers were not disclosed. More Here

Unlearn, a San Francisco, CA-based AI company creating digital twins of clinical trial participants that enable research, raised $50M in Series C funding. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, joined by returning investors Radical Ventures, Wittington Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Epic Ventures, and Necessary Venture Capital. More Here

Aizon, a San Francisco, CA-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) SaaS AI-enhanced pharmaceutical manufacturing company, raised $20M in Series C funding. The round was led by NewVale Capital with participation from existing investors Atlantic Bridge, Crosslink Capital, and Uncork Capital. More Here

Daedalus, A fledgling startup founded by one of OpenAI’s first engineering hires is looking to “redefine manufacturing,” with AI-powered factories for creating bespoke precision parts has raised $21 million in a Series A round of funding led by Nokia-funded NGP Capital, with participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures. More Here

Flood, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a protocol for order routing, management, and settlement, raised $5.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Crypto with participation from Archetype and Robot Ventures. More Here

Ezra, a NYC-based healthcare Artificial Intelligence (AI) company, raised $21M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $41M, was led by Healthier Capital and FirstMark Capital. More Here

Handle, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a construction payments software platform, received an undisclosed investment amount from Suffolk Technology. More Here

DeepLook Medical, a New Haven, Connecticut-based technology firm focused on visual enhancement technology to advance medical imaging, raised $1.7m in funding. Connecticut Innovations, Tidal River, Angel Investor Forum (AIF), OKG Capital and Werth Ventures joined this round. More Here

Essence, a Paris, France-based startup that elevates the performance of female employees by optimizing their schedule according to the hormonal cycle, raised $600K in funding. The round was led by a majority of female investors, including the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, Davidovs VC, Growing Well Partners, and angels Eugenia Dunaeva, Ksenia Kapoor, Jana Gashkova, Elena Enache, Elena Zhigalina, and Konstantin Siniushin. More Here

Vocode, a San Francisco, Calif. – based open source developer platform for conversational AI, raised $3.25m in seed funding. Backers included Gradient, Accel, Liquid2, and angels including AngelList CEO Avlok Kohli, Replit founder Amjad Masad, and Siqi Chen. More Here

River, a Bengaluru, India-based startup building multi-utility electric scooters, raised $40M in Series B funding. The round was led by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. The round also saw participation from existing investors Al-Futtaim Group, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures and Maniv Mobility. More Here

Headlight, a San Diego, CA-based provider of a mental health practice, raised $18M in funding. The round was led by Matrix and EPIC Ventures. More Here

Truflation, a San Francisco, CA-based economic data field company, raised $6M in funding. The round was led by Laser Digital, Red Beard Ventures, Modular Capital, Abra, G20, and Four Seasons Ventures. More Here

Closinglock, an Austin, TX-based fintech and fraud prevention technology provider, raised $12M in Series A funding. The round was led by Headline with participation from LiveOak Ventures, RWT Horizons and GTMfund. More Here

Perigon, an Austin, TX-based company providing contextual intelligence for the web data, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by LiveOak Ventures. More Here

Lilli, a Woking, UK-based SaaS proactive lifestyle monitoring technology company, raised £8.2M in Series A funding. The round was led by West Hill Capital. More Here

Thea Energy, a Princeton, NJ-based fusion energy company, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Prelude Ventures with participation from other investors including 11.2 Capital, Anglo American, Hitachi Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Mercator Partners, Orion Industrial Ventures, and Starlight Ventures. More Here

TalkLife, a Bristol, UK-based provider of an online peer support community for people to talk about their mental health, raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Telus Ventures. More Here

LimaCharlie, a Covina, CA-based provider of a security operations (SecOps) cloud platform, raised $10.2M in Series A funding. The round was led by Sands Capital with follow-on from new and previous investors, including CoFound Partners, Long Journey Ventures, Lytical Ventures, Myriad Venture Partners, StoneMill Ventures, and Strategic Cyber Ventures. More Here

Mantle, a Stockholm, Sweden-based skincare startup, raised £2.4M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $6.9M, was led by Venrex. More Here

PulmoBioMed, a Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK-based breath sampling technology company, raised £1.4M in funding. The round was led by North East Venture Fund. More Here

Zetta Genomics, a Cambridge, UK-based genomic data company, raised additional £1.8M in second Seed funding. The round saw participation from We Venture Capital, Nina Capital, Apex Ventures, and Cambridge Enterprise. More Here

Code, a Canadian provider of a payments platform that makes it simple for web developers to accept small payments from users globally, raised $6.5m in seed funding The round was co-led by M13 and Union Square Ventures with participation from Balaji Srinivasan, Roham Gharegozlou, Anatoly Yakovenko, Raj Gokal, Mert Mumtaz, and others. More Here

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💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

Five U.S. venture capital firms, including GGV Capital and Sequoia Capital China, are accused of funneling over $1.9 billion to blacklisted Chinese AI companies supporting surveillance and oppression, per a House committee report. The report recommends robust sector-based restrictions on outbound investment in China, citing national security concerns and urges legislation to prohibit investment in Chinese firms facing sanctions. More Here

Episode 1, a London, UK-based early stage venture capital firm, closed its third fund, at £76m. The raise included a £20m cornerstone commitment from British Patient Capital and the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, as well as Molten. More Here

Rally Cap VC launches a $5 million climate tech fund, Rally Cap Climate, focusing on software-based adaptation solutions in Africa and globally. With a first close at $2.5 million and support from Salesforce Ventures, the fund aims to back experienced founders addressing climate change while providing cross-border support and co-investment opportunities. More Here

Scion Life Sciences, a new NYC-based VC firm led by biotech veterans, launches with a $310 million oversubscribed fund to create companies focusing on transformative therapies for life-threatening diseases. The firm's strategy spans small to large investments, supporting portfolio companies from pre-seed through maturity, with an emphasis on mature modalities and well-understood disease targets. Scion aims to prioritize creating meaningful medicines and changing patients' lives. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED ARTICLE

How Many Investors Should You Talk to in a VC Fund Raise? And How Do You Prioritize?

Many founders fall into the fundraising trap of approaching numerous VCs in a cycle that typically goes like this -“Reaching out to a VC → hearing ‘no’ → moving on to the next VC → next VC” -

This cycle continues until the founder realizes they are caught in a loop, wasting precious hours that could be better spent on their startup. So Before you set out in fundraising mode, understand that -

"Fundraising is a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate "sales" with something that is beneath them."

As a founder, you need to understand that - “An investors job is..…. Read More Here

💡 SARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Acquisition & Exits

Hiline, a Syracuse, NY-based financial services firm, acquired Calculate, a New York-based outsourced accounting and finance firm dedicated to supporting the financial processes at emerging companies. More Here

F&I Sentinel, a Tallahassee, FL-based isk-management solutions provider for finance and insurance products (F&I), acquired Express Recoveries from Cox Automotive Inc. More Here

Deazy, a Bristol, UK-based technology startup, acquired Geektastic, a London, UK-based provider of customisable, peer-reviewed technical assessments. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. More Here

Savvas Learning Company, a Paramus, NJ-based K-12 learning solutions company, acquired Outlier org, an edtech startup that has created a portfolio of online college-level courses. More Here

Layoffs & Shutdown

Bell Media, Canada's largest media and telecom company, is cutting multiple TV newscasts, including CTV and BNN Bloomberg, following its parent company BCE Inc.'s announcement of 4,800 job cuts and the sale of 45 radio stations. More Here

Arrival, the once-prominent electric vehicle startup, faces further troubles as its U.K. division enters administration. The company, previously valued at over $13 billion, is now valued at about $9 million and seeks to sell U.K. assets to repay lenders. Despite its initial vision to revolutionize EV manufacturing, Arrival's financial struggles, executive turnover, and project diversification have led to its downfall. More Here

Startups & People

OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman is trying to raise up to $7 trillion(!) for a new AI chip venture. More Here

SoftBank's fortunes are improving with its chip design house, Arm, reporting a blockbuster quarter, surpassing revenue and earnings expectations. Arm's stock surged, adding $38 billion to its market cap, benefiting SoftBank. The AI boom, with companies like Microsoft and Amazon using Arm's chips for AI models, is a key factor driving Arm's success and contributing to SoftBank's Vision Fund posting its first quarterly profit in nearly three years. More Here

Going Public

Genetic medicines firm Metagenomi Technologies, backed by Moderna and Bayer Healthcare, aims for a $563 million valuation in its U.S. IPO, at the lower end of the initial target range. Planning to raise $93.8 million by selling 6.25 million shares at $15 each, the company focuses on developing therapies for genetic diseases like hemophilia A, with revenue solely from collaboration agreements and no product sales, still operating at a loss. More Here

🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

According to The Information, Apple is considering rolling out a foldable clamshell phone.

The UK government responds to AI regulation consultation, opting for existing laws and targeted measures, including £100 million+ funding. £10 million will upskill regulators, while £90 million goes to nine research hubs for homegrown AI innovation, maintaining a 90:10 split in focus. The government refrains from new legislation for now, emphasizing an agile, context-based approach to foster innovation while considering legislative action in the future. More Here

Google advises caution with its GenAI chatbot apps, Gemini, as human annotators read and process conversations for up to three years to enhance the service. Users can control data retention, but Google emphasizes refraining from entering incriminating or confidential information for privacy concerns. More Here

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

• ​Pre-seed and seed startups hold out as VC valuations continue to decline. Read Here

• A Short History of OpenAI by Chamath Palihapitiya . Read Here

• Paul Graham's Advice On How To Come Up With Startup Ideas. Read Here

• LP clawbacks move from theoretical risk to reality for GPs. Read Here

• Unbundling AI by Benedict Evans. Read Here

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

📬 Newsletter That You Might Be Interested

• Transacted: Get the latest trends and transactions with the Street’s most informative M&A update.

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

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team