SoftBank Selling It's Opportunity Fund & Google Paying $700M Over Play Store Lawsuit

🗞️ TODAY’S MAJOR UPDATES

• SoftBank has sold its Open Opportunity Fund (OOF) - Fund I & Fund II

• Google Paying $700M Over Play Store Lawsuits

• WazirX, India's top crypto exchange, faced a 97% trading volume decline

• OpenAI's board can overrule CEO Sam Altman and prevent the company from releasing a new AI model

• Featured Tweet: What Marc Andreessen Looks For In Startup Founders?

• What do you think: Your Opinion On Building MOAT For A Startup

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💰 MASSIVE FUNDING UPDATES

Breakr, a platform that connects record labels, artists and brands with social media influencers to run mass campaigns in a programmatic way. It has raised $1.9M at $20M valuation, Slow Ventures led the extension, other investors like Marc Benioff, a16z/TxO, ex-CEO of Tik Tok Kevin Mayer, RGA Ventures, Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Complex founder Rich Antoniello, Lo Toney (Plexo Capital), Anthony Selah (WndrCo) and Quiet Capital participate in this round. More Here

ScaleOps, cloud native optimization platform which aims to Effortlessly reduce cloud costs by up to 80% by automatically optimizing and scaling Kubernetes resources in runtime, has raised $21.5M Series A Funding - led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX and Glilot Capital Partners. More Here

Guac, a platform that uses AI to predict how many items grocers will sell on a per-item basis each day at a given store location. Guac recently raised $2.3 million in a seed round led by 1984 Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Collaborative Fund. More Here

Halcyon, a cybersecurity company building products that stop ransomware from impacting enterprise customers., having raised $44 million in a Series A round last April. The startup’s now closed a smaller Series B tranche — $40 million — that brings its total raised to $84 million. This round led by Bain capital. More Here

SimSpace, a startup that creates digital replicas of organizations’ tech and networking stacks for cybersecurity training, has raised $45 million in a funding round led by L2 Point Management. Bringing the company’s total raised to $70 million. More Here

Employer Direct Healthcare (EDH), a Dallas, TX-based specialty healthcare network solution provider, raised an investment of $92M from Insight Partners; at $1 Billion valuation. EDH’s existing institutional investors, Serent Capital, Redmile Group and Dundon Capital, will maintain their ownership interest in the business. More Here

ImpriMed, a Mountain View, CA-based precision medicine startup focused on leveraging artificial intelligence to improve cancer treatment, raised $23M in Series A funding. The round was led by SBVA. HRZ Han River Partners, SK Telecom, KDB Silicon Valley, Ignite Innovation Fund, Samyang Chemical Group, Murex Partners, and Byucksan also participated. More Here

Sweetch Energy, a Rennes, France-based renewable energy company specialising in osmotic energy, raised €25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire, with participation from others investors and industrial partners. Sweetch Energy’s historical investors Demeter Investment Managers, Go Capital and Positive Future Capital, as well as its industrial partner CNR, participated in the deal. More Here

Salt Labs, a NYC-based loyalty and financial technology company for employers and employees, raised additional $8M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $18M, was led by Third Prime. Third Prime’s Mike Kim will join the Board of Directors, alongside Logan Allin, Managing Partner and founder of Fin Capital, who led the company’s pre-seed financing earlier this year. More Here

Hurr, a London, UK-based fashion rental platform, raised $10M (£7.9M) in funding to date. The latest round included participation from Praetura Ventures (lead), and existing investors including Octopus Ventures, Ascension and D4 Ventures. More Here

Excarta, a San Mateo, CA-based company commercializing AI for business-targeted weather forecasting, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Village Global and joined by Ubiquity Ventures, Converge VC and angel investors. More Here

Turngate, an Elliott City, MD-based provider of a cybersecurity solution offering IT and cybersecurity professionals insights into user activity, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Paladin Capital Group. More Here

TuMeke, a San Mateo, CA-based provider of a computer vision platform that automatically assesses injury risk in manufacturing facilities, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Intel Capital. More Here

Agtonomy, a San Francisco, CA-based software and services company specializing in advanced autonomous and AI solutions for agriculture, raised $22.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Momenta, with strategic partners including Doosan Bobcat North America and Toyota Ventures. More Here

Fiat Republic, a London, UK-based banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform provider, raised $7M in Seed extension funding. Backers included Kraken Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Arca, and Inovo.vc as well as existing investors Speedinvest, Credo Ventures and Seedcamp. More Here

Tamara, a three-year-old Riyadh startup that has built a BNPL platform for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region, raised a $340 million Series C round at a $1 billion valuation. The co-leads were SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments, with additional participation from Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital, Impulse, and previous investor Checkout.com. The company has raised a total of $500 million in equity and $400+ million in debt. More Here

Totus Medicines, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that says it can screen billions of drug candidates against thousands of targets simultaneously via a DNA-encoded covalent library technology, machine learning, and AI, raised a $65 million Series B round led by DCVC, with North Pond Ventures, Camford Capital, and the Regents of the University of Minnesota also participating. More Here

SimSpace, a Boston, MA-based company which specializes in military-grade cybersecurity, raised $45M in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $70M, was led by L2Point Management. More Here

Fade Treasury, a London, UK-based blockchain technology company creating a solution for a secure, non-custodial, “liquid vault” tailored for all cryptocurrency holders, raised $3.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by OP Crypto Ventures, with participation from Arrington Capital, Big Brain Holdings, and Merit Circle, among other funds and angel investors. More Here

Salvador Technologies, a startup that claims its platform enables critical infrastructure operators and industrial organizations to quickly recover from cyberattacks and malfunctions in just 30 seconds, raised a $6 million seed round led by Pico Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Pitango VC and Sarona Partners. More Here

ImpriMed, a California-based precision medicine startup, builds AI-powered dog cancer treatment technology that helps veterinarians identify the most suitable drugs for individual canine and feline blood cancers. It has raised $23 million in its Series A round, which brings its total raised to $35 million since its inception. SoftBank Ventures Asia led the Series A, with participation from strategic investor SK Telecom and other financial investors, including HRZ Han River Partners, KDB Silicon Valley, Ignite Innovation Fund, Samyang Chemical Group and Murex Partners. More Here

Spotta, a five-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that says it uses advanced monitoring technology to detect and alert businesses about harmful activity by insects (e.g. bedbugs) in real-time, raised a $3.8 million round. The Yield Lab, STIHL Ventures, and ACF Investors co-led the deal, with Growthworks as well as previous investors Martlet, Wren Capital, and Remus Capital also piling on. More Here

Vectoflow, an eight-year-old German startup that produces advanced flow measurement systems and air data systems for sectors including wind energy, aviation, and turbomachinery development, raised a $4.4 million round. Investors include Bayern Kapital, WN Invest, Asto One Investment, Argo Vantage, Schwarz Holding, AM Ventures, and KfW. More Here

💰 VENTURE CAPITAL UPDATES

SoftBank has sold its Open Opportunity Fund (OOF) to its chairman, Paul Judge, and newly appointed vice chairman, Marcelo Claure. The acquisition includes the $100 million Fund 1, the $150 million Fund 2 (increasing its target to $200 million), and the entire portfolio. Fund 1, which deployed $100 million in 75 Black and Latino companies, yielded seven exits and 46 follow-on rounds, demonstrating success in supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. Claure emphasizes the move as a milestone towards diverse representation in the venture capital ecosystem. More Here

Partech, a Paris, France-based tech investment firm, launched its €360M venture fund. Partech Venture added a diverse cohort of investors ranging to sovereign funds and leading multinational corporates, including the likes of Allianz France, BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, CDP Venture Capital, Edenred, FDJ Ventures, JCDHolding, and Lombard Odier Investment Managers. More Here

Springdale Ventures, an Austin, Tex.-based venture capital firm, has closed its second fund with $40 million in capital commitments to invest in early-stage consumer brands across the food, beverage, pet, health, and beauty sectors. More Here

Baird Capital, US VC Firm close of its sixth U.S. Venture Capital fund with a total of $218 million in committed capital, its largest venture fund to date. The fund is anchored by Baird and joined by returning and new institutions, foundations, family offices and industry executives. More Here

Southeast Asian venture capital firms anticipate a rebound in fundraising in 2024, following a drop in the Asia-Pacific region to $20.3 billion in Q3 2023. Global macroeconomic challenges have contributed to the lowest private funding deployment in six years. Tech firms seeking investment must demonstrate clear paths to profitability amid a more cautious investment climate, with 2024 expected to be a pivotal year for the industry, according to industry experts. More Here

𝕏 FEATURED: TODAY’S FEATURED TWEET

What Marc Andreessen Looks For In Startup Founders?

"Ability of founder to navigate through the Idea Maze"

Recently Marc Andreessen shared an interesting perspective on - qualities of founder he looks during startup investment. He shared an interesting concept of Idea Maze - which is most of the founder are unaware of this. So what is the Idea Maze & how to apply for your startup? … Read More Here

💡 STARTUP’S LATEST BUZZ

Google announced today that it will pay $700 million as a part of a settlement with the U.S. attorney general for a lawsuit over Google Play Store. Along with that, the company has also agreed to take certain measures related to Google Play billing, sideloading and how sideloaded apps are updated. More Here

Acquisition

Okta, the identity and access management company, is acquiring security firm Spera. The Spera acquisition will build on Okta’s existing identity threat detection and response (ITDR) capabilities. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Calcalist reports that Okta’s paying approximately $100 million to $130 million for Spera, contingent on milestones. More Here

Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) acquired IPVideo, a NYC-based creator of the HALO Smart Sensor that detects real-time health and safety threats. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The acquisition reinforces Motorola Solutions’ commitment to improving safety and security by offering a sensor that is easy to deploy and operate for enterprises of all sizes. More Here

Backer, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech company focused on tax-advantaged 529 Savings Plans, raised $9.5M in funding. The round was led by WndrCo. Baker has also acquired Saving For College, a Miami, FL based provider of a 529-related media property and education savings resource for American families. More Here

Layoffs

Bolt, a San Francisco-based financial technology startup known for its four-day workweek, has laid off 29% of its staff. More Here

Sixty-seven workers at Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center are being laid off, according to the Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN website.

Intel Corporation plans to lay off 235 new employees starting Dec. 31 at its research and development campus in Folsom. The chipmaker, in a notice to the California Employment Development Department, said the job reductions will take place over a two-week period and will be permanent. More Here

People

OpenAI's board says that it can overrule CEO Sam Altman and prevent the company from releasing a new AI model if it deems the model to be unsafe. More Here

🤖 LATEST IN EMERGING TECH

OpenAI is enhancing internal safety measures with a new safety advisory group to oversee and recommend actions on potential catastrophic risks posed by AI models. The updated "Preparedness Framework" outlines risk evaluation criteria, with high-risk models facing deployment restrictions and critical risks halting further development. A cross-functional Safety Advisory Group will review and advise, introducing checks to prevent high-risk decisions without board awareness. More Here

WazirX, India's top crypto exchange, faced a 97% trading volume decline to $1 billion in 2023 due to regulatory pressure and a global crypto downturn. Indian authorities' stringent regulations, including a 30% tax on gains, have led to a significant exodus of traders to foreign platforms, while local venture capital firms have shifted focus away from the embattled crypto sector. More Here

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

• How Can You Use Airbnb's & Stripe's Strategy To Build Your MVP? Read More (Startups)

• How Did The Great Startups Like Airbnb or Instagram Make Pivot Decisions? Read More (Startups & Product)

• ​Data Product Teams : Best Practices for a Modern Data Team! Read More (Technology & AI)

🤔 WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Previous Poll: 66.67% readers unsure about the M&A Opportunity in 2024. I think there will be more strategic M&A activities will happen in 2024 but yeah we can see more regulatory changes as “Adobe-Figma” Deal cancelled after 14 months…..

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

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team