TikTok Building Photo-Sharing App & Musk Predicts AI Will Overtake Human Intelligence Next Year

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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!

• TikTok is developing a new photo-sharing app called "TikTok Notes," - to compete With Instagram.

• Avendus, India's leading investment bank for venture deals raising around $300 million for PE Unit.

• The U.S. Department of Commerce has proposed investing up to $6.6 billion to fund a third TSMC fab.

• Blackstone, one of the world's largest real-estate investors, has agreed to acquire Apartment Income REIT (AIR Communities) for approximately $10 billion.

• Featured Article : How Do You Tell A Compelling Story About Your Company To Investors?

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Startup Funding Updates

Zulu Networks, a George Town, Cayman Islands based provider of a Two-Tiered Bitcoin Layer 2 offering EVM and UTXO support, raised$3M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Cryptogram Venture, D11 Labs, Web3.com Ventures, Satoshi Labs, Splinter Node Capital, Polk Street Capital, BlueRun Ventures China, Ledger Capital, Link Capital, Jingle Mining,Waterdrip Capital, K24 Ventures, and CatcherVC, among others. More Here

Grow Therapy, a NYC-based mental health technology company, raised $88M in Series C funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Goldman Sachs Alternatives and PLUS Capital alongside artists and athletes from their collective including Anna Kendrick, Lily Collins, Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow, Jrue Holiday, and Lauren Holiday. Existing investors Transformation Capital, SignalFire and TCV also participated. More Here

Leash Biosciences, a Salt Lake City, UT-based artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-native biotechnology company, raised $9.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Springtide Ventures with participation from MetaPlanet, Top Harvest Capital, Mitsui Global Investment, MFV Partners, Recursion co-founders Chris Gibson, and Blake Borgeson. More Here

Zinclusive, a Cheyenne, WY-based financially inclusive company, raised $10M in funding. More Here

Summer, a NYC-based provider of an end-to-end workplace student loan solution, raised $9M in funding. The round was led by Rebalance Capital and SemperVirens, with participation from General Catalyst, QED, Flourish Ventures, Partnership Fund for NYC, Fenway Summer, and Gaingels. More Here

Prem Labs, a US-based applied research lab focused on enhancing and advancing open-source AI technologies, raised $14M in Seed funding. Backers included a co-founder of Sequoia Capital China, David Maisel, founder and former chairman of Marvel Studios, and Alan Lipschitz, the founder of Incubeta, and others. More Here

iKala, a Taipei, Taiwan-based AI-driven cloud services and marketing technology company, raised over $20M in Series B+ funding. The round was led by Chunghwa Telecom. More Here

Kryptos Biotechnologies, a Hayward, CA-based Biotech company that uses light to generate heat and control temperature, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Osang Healthcare. More Here

Windfall Bio, a Menlo Park, CA-based company which specializes in methane-to-value solutions, raised $28M Series A funding. The round led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Global Brain (through its Norinchukin Innovation Fund L.P.), Incite Ventures, Positive Ventures and existing investors including B37 Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield, and UNTITLED (a fund backed by the Tetra Laval family). More Here

The Mobile-First Co., a Paris, France based developer of B2B apps, raised €3.5m in pre-seed funding. The round was co-led by Lightspeed and Emblem. More Here

watttron, a Freital, Germany based developer of sustainable packaging tech solutions, raised €12m in Series B funding. The round was led by Circular Innovation Fund, with participation from Demeter, Cycle Capital and the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund. More Here

Log my Care, a London, UK-based company providing a software platform that enables care homes and social care organisations to “go digital”, raised further £3M in funding. Mercia Ventures made the investment. More Here

Pierrepont Therapeutics, a Pittsburgh, PA-based company focusing on treatments for primary mitochondrial and rare diseases, raised $500K in funding. The Mito Fund made the investment. More Here

Integrum ESG, a London, UK-based provider of an alternative ESG data and ratings platform, received a £100K investment from Industrial Thought. More Here

Ubit, a Singapore-based Web3 smart market maker exchange company, raised $20M in funding. More Here

HD, a Thai based developer of chatbots for health care, raised $5.6m in Series A funding. The round was led by SBI Ven Capital with participation from M Venture Partners, FEBE Ventures, Partech Partners, Ratio Ventures, Orvel Ventures, and TA Ventures. More Here

Flip, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of a shopping social network, raised $144M in Series C funding, bringing the company’s pre-money valuation to $1.05 billion. The round was led by Streamlined Ventures with participation from previous investors Mubadala Capital and WestCap, and AppLovin Corporation. More Here

Reduced, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based company that uses fermentation technology to transform food and agriculture industry side streams into natural food ingredients, raised €6M in funding. Backers included Novo Holdings and the Nordic flavour house Einar Willumsen, as well as existing investors EIFO and Rockstart Agrifood. More Here

Exoes, a Gradignan, France-based company providing advanced engineering services to the car manufacturing industry and fluid manufacturers, raised €35M in funding. Backers included Meridiam Green Impact Growth Fund (GIGF) and Bpifrance Fonds Avenir Automobile 2. More Here

LightLink, a remote Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain focused on gasless transactions, raised $6.2m in extended seed funding Backers included MH Ventures and NxGen, along with individual investors ANBESSA, Eric Cryptoman, Lady of Crypto, Satoshi Stacker, That Martini Guy, Zoran Kole, B3V, Blue7, and T&B Media Global. More Here

D3 Bio, a JiangSu and Shanghai, China-based biotechnology company, received $40M in Investment from Medicxi. More Here

Protiv, a NYC-based provider of a performance pay platform designed for construction, landscaping, and service companies, raised $2.4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Lightbank and Las Olas Venture Capital, with participation from Parameter Ventures and Early Light Ventures. More Here

Alterome Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA-based biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer, raised $132M in Series B funding. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from Canaan Partners, Invus, Driehaus Capital Management, Digitalis Ventures, Blue Owl Capital, and existing investors Orbimed, Nextech Invest, Vida Ventures, Boxer Capital, and Colt Ventures. More Here

Luminance, a London, UK-based developer of a proprietary legal large language model (LLM), raised $40M in funding. The round was led by March Capital, with participation from National Grid Partners and other existing investors, including Slaughter and May. More Here

Coadjute, a London, UK-based homebuying data-sharing platform, raised £10m in funding. Backers included Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Natwest, and Rightmove. More Here

U-topia, a Dubai, UAE-based Web3 entertainment company, received a $850K investment from GDA Capital. More Here

Lexverify, a Birmingham, UK-based provider of an AI-powered risk management assistant, raised £900K in Seed funding. The round was led by Midven, part of the Future Planet Capital Group, and included £550K from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF 1) through the MEIF West Midlands Equity Fund, alongside £350K from Raspberry Ventures, The LegalTech Fund, and angel investors. More Here

Stanhope AI, a London, UK-based company applying neuroscience research to teach machines how to make human-like decisions in the real world, raised £2.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by UCL Technology Fund, with participation from Creator Fund, MMC Ventures, Moonfire Ventures and Rockmount Capital and angel investors. More Here

Venture Capital Updates

Avendus, India's leading investment bank for venture deals backed by KKR is looking to raise around $300 million for its private equity unit. 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

How Do You Tell A Compelling Story About Your Company To Investors?

Every founder thinks they have an awesome team and technology; the question is, what will investors think?

In fundraising, most founders are tempted to jump straight into PowerPoint to get started.

Don’t do it! Here’s the secret to a great pitch: "It’s not about the slides; it’s about the story."

So how do you tell a compelling story? - First, figure out which type of story you should be telling and make that narrative into a sandwich, emphasizing the key point at the beginning and again at the end.

Next, use your problem and solution statements to emotionally and intellectually engage your audience, and be sure to adequately address all the expected areas in the deck.

With all that in mind, you’ll be ready to follow three simple steps to craft your winning deck. Choose The Right Story To Tell.…Read More Here

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Exits

Multiverse, the U.K. unicorn that builds apprenticeship programs for people to learn technology skills while on the job, has made an acquisition Searchlight, a startup and recruitment platform that uses artificial intelligence-based technology to source talent. More Here

Blackstone, one of the world's largest real-estate investors, has agreed to acquire Apartment Income REIT (AIR Communities) for approximately $10 billion. AIR Communities owns 76 rental housing communities, primarily located in coastal markets like Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston. Blackstone plans to invest an additional $400 million to improve these properties. More Here

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is to acquire Climb, a Japanese technology services provider specializing in system integration, IT infrastructure management and operations, primarily in the Gunma Prefecture. More Here

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Axis Corporate, a Barcelona, Spain-based management and technology business consulting firm specialized in financial services. More Here

Layoffs & Banktuptcy

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

Startups & People

Paddy Cosgrave returns as Web Summit CEO after resigning due to controversial remarks on social media about the Israel/Gaza conflict. He emphasizes a shift towards smaller, more intimate events amidst past controversies and aims to refocus on community engagement. More Here

In recent interview, Musk shared that -New artificial intelligence models will surpass human intelligence by the end of next year, so long as the supply of electricity and hardware can satisfy the demands of the increasingly powerful technology. More Here

TikTok is developing a new photo-sharing app called "TikTok Notes," - Instagram Rival as per company's confirmation. The upcoming app will allow TikTok users to share photos and text in a dedicated space, as TikTok aims to expand its offerings beyond its core video-sharing platform. More Here

Elon Musk is threatening to shut down X's offices in Brazil over a judge's ruling that X should be fined $20,000 per day for refusing to block certain unnamed accounts. More Here

Latest In Emerging Tech

India's leading audio and wearables brand boAt is investigating a potential data breach after hackers advertised a cache of alleged customer data online, which includes personal information of over 7.5 million customers. boAt has launched a comprehensive investigation into the matter, stating that safeguarding customer data is their top priority. More Here

The U.S. Department of Commerce has proposed investing up to $6.6 billion to fund a third TSMC fab in Arizona. This is part of a broader effort to bring more semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. The proposed fab would focus on 2nm or newer chip architectures for various applications. The investment aims to create over 20,000 jobs during construction and around 6,000 manufacturing roles once operational. This move is seen as a response to vulnerabilities exposed in the global supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as concerns over China's potential control of Taiwan's manufacturing capabilities. More Here

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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