VC Daily Digest - 02/11/2023

📮Today’s Major News

• Grantham, market bubble expert, now dives into venture capital.

• LinkedIn Surpass 1 Billion Users

• New Generation Companies Moving Up In San Francisco

• Featured Article: How to Choose the Right Problem to Solve?

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💰 Massive Fundings Updates

FusionAuth, a US based company that provides authentication and user management tools for developers, it raised $65 million in a funding round led by Updata Partners. It’s FusionAuth’s first tranche of outside capital in its five-year history; prior to this, the company — which is profitable — had been completely bootstrapped. More Here

EarlyBird, an app that lets families and friends gift investments to children, has raised $4.5 million in a seed extension round that was partially funded by its user base. The funding round was preempted by IDEO Ventures and included investments from all of EarlyBird’s previous seed round investors, including 776 Ventures, Fiat Ventures and RareBreed Ventures. The round also included investments from ResilienceVC, Sweater Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Wintrust Bank, Lightspeed Scout Program and Parallel. More Here

Oro Labs, a platform designed to orchestrate procurement and supplier management flows across disparate systems and data. It raised $34 million in a Series B round led by Felicis, with participation from Norwest Venture Partners, B Capital and XYZ Venture Capital. Bringing Oro’s total raised to $60 million. More Here

Vespa.ai, the big data serving engine that just a few weeks ago spun out from Yahoo into an independent venture, has raised a new round of funds. Blossom Capital led a $31 million investment in Vespa. More Here

Freeplay, a startup that lets companies build, experiment with and test apps powered by generative AI models, specifically text-generating models, today emerged with $3.25 million in a seed round co-led by Conviction Ventures and Matchstick Ventures. More Here

GreenLite, A Austin-based startup — is emerging with $8 million in seed funding led by Trust Ventures with participation from LiveOak Ventures and Chicago Ventures. The company claims that its platform accelerates permit approval for city planning by 75% — so that businesses can get permits in a matter of weeks, as opposed to months, or in the worst cases, years. More Here

Cedar, A Austin based startup is targeting real estate developers with some software to reduce the cost and time it takes them to source and evaluate new housing projects. It has raised $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Caffeinated Capital and included participation from developer Tishman Speyer, Kojo CEO Maria Davidson, David Rubenstein via Shorewind Capital and Alumni Ventures. More Here

Agentio, the New York-based startup is building a platform for creators to sell ad slots to brands. The startup has raised $4.25 million in seed investment funding co-led by Craft Ventures and AlleyCorp, with participation from additional institutional investors including Antler, Protagonist and Permanent Capital. More Here

🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Jeremy Grantham's investment bubble gains extend to his venture capital phase: Renowned investor Jeremy Grantham, known for capitalizing on market bubbles, has shifted his focus to venture capital investments in companies like QuantumScape and Snap. Grantham's investment strategies, honed since the 1987 stock market crash, have led to substantial gains, notably with QuantumScape's massive valuation increase. However, he anticipates a downturn in the venture capital market, signaling potential challenges ahead. More Here

Bee Partners, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm invests in companies focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and frontier technologies. It closed on $50 million in commitments for its fourth fund. The firm’s LPs include a Boston-based university endowment and U.S.-based family offices. More Here

Southeast Asia's digital economy faced a funding decline this year, falling to $4 billion in the first half from the record $27 billion in 2021, with a drop in deal count to 564 from 2,697. Despite challenges, the region's digital economy revenue reached $100 billion, growing at 27% CAGR since 2021, primarily driven by e-commerce, travel, transport, and media, with digital payments accounting for over half of transactions. Notably, while funding declined, there was a rise in "dry powder," with $15.7 billion committed in private equity and venture capital funds in 2022. More Here

Village Global has raised $250 million for its third fund focused on seed and pre-seed deals, with a typical first check ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million. It now has $500 million under management. The firm also announced that Reid Hoffman will serve as Chairman. More here

📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Article

How to Choose the Right Problem to Solve?

One of the most common reasons for startup failures is founders attempting to solve the wrong problem. 99% of founders make mistakes in choosing the wrong problem to solve.

Successful founders, on the other hand, possess the ability to pinpoint the right problem and focus their efforts effectively. YC partner shared an interesting perspective on how to find the right problem to solve. Read More Here..

💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

San Francisco's commercial real estate sees a surge in subleasing deals as startups like OpenAI and Anthropic secure larger spaces in central areas at competitive rates. With 35% vacancy, the city anticipates tech companies leading a recovery, driven by the appeal of more spacious, central offices amid a shift to in-person work. The trend suggests a potential turning point in the city's real estate landscape. More Here

Ford Acquires Energy Startup AMP: Ford has acquired energy startup AMP to enhance its EV technology, including charging, battery management, and power conversion. The Los Angeles-based AMP will cease to exist, and Ford will integrate its tech, talent, and facility in California. AMP's founder and majority of its employees will join Ford to accelerate EV adoption and improve charging experiences. More Here

Flexport is acquiring Convoy's assets to restore trucking logistics services, focusing on customer needs and tech utilization. Flexport aims to be a one-stop shop for logistics, leveraging Convoy's technology and customer base for improved services and reduced costs. Convoy was valued at $3.8 billion after a $260 million Series E round. More Here

LinkedIn, set to surpass 1 billion users this month, is introducing AI-driven features for Premium users. Utilizing OpenAI's technology, the platform offers personalized content suggestions, enabling users to enhance their feed, craft intelligent comments on articles, and improve job-related interactions. The move aims to enhance engagement and add value to its Premium subscription service, aligning with LinkedIn's ongoing efforts to cater to its expanding user base. More Here

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🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI

AI Experts Urge Openness and Collaboration: A group of over 70 signatories, including prominent figures like Yann LeCun and Andrew Ng, published an open letter calling for greater openness in AI development, emphasizing the importance of transparency and collaboration. The letter argues against the notion that tight proprietary control is the only solution to prevent societal harm from AI, highlighting the benefits of open models in fostering independent research, public scrutiny, and innovation in the field. This discussion arises amid ongoing debates about the balance between open and proprietary approaches to AI technology. More Here

🗞️ Today’s Must Read On: Startup, Technology & VC

• How Do LPs Evaluate VC Fund Performance? Read More (Venture Capital)

• How to raise Money By Paul Graham Read More (Startups & Venture Capital)

• You’re Wasting Your Time Trying to Build an Audience Read More (startups)

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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