VC Daily Digest - 07/12/2023

📮Today’s Major News

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• Mega AI Deals Inflating AI Startups Valuations

• Google Launched Gemini To Answer’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT

• Musk’s SpaceX valued $175Billion Surpass Disney

• Featured Tweet: Guy Kawasaki 'Marketing Success = Uniqueness-Value Graph'

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💰 Massive Fundings Updates

SpaceX is reportedly seeking a $175 billion valuation through a share sale, aiming to raise $500 million to $750 million at $95 per share. If successful, this would surpass previous valuations, making SpaceX one of the world's most valuable companies, surpassing Disney and Comcast. Despite setbacks in the Starship test flight, SpaceX achieved a $55 million profit in Q1 2023, and Elon Musk denied recent reports of an IPO for the Starlink division.

Gecko Robotics, a Pittsburgh startup that develops robots and software for inspecting the insides of large industrial assets like boilers and power plants, raised a $100 million Series C extension from US Innovative Technology and Founders Fund at a $633 million post-money valuation. More Here

Odyssey Therapeutics, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that says it is using AI and machine learning to develop small-molecule and protein therapeutics, raised a $101 million Series C round led by Ascenta Capital, with OrbiMed, SR One, General Catalyst, Foresite Capital, Woodline Partners, HBM Healthcare Investments, Colt Ventures, BlackMars Capital, T. Rowe Price, Catalio Capital Management, Walleye Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Racing Beach Ventures, Leerink Partners, Ab Magnitude Ventures, KB Investment, and The Global BioAccess Fund also piling on. The company has raised a total of $487 million. More Here

Vast Data, the New York-based startup, which provides a scale-out, unstructured data storage solution designed to eliminate tiered storage (i.e. setups that move data between high- and low-cost storage hardware), it has raised $118 million in a Series E round led by Fidelity Ventures with participation from New Enterprise Associates, BOND Capital, Drive Capital, Nvidia, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global, Commonfund, Norwest, 83North, Greenfield and Next47. The round values Vast at $9.1 billion post-money, and brings the startup’s total raised to $381 million. More Here

The spinoff, aims to build general-purpose AI systems powered by a relatively new type of AI model called a liquid neural network. It has raised $37.5 million — substantial for a two-stage seed round — from VCs and organizations including OSS Capital, PagsGroup, WordPress parent company Automattic, Samsung Next, Bold Capital Partners and ISAI Cap Venture, as well as angel investors like GitHub co-founder Tom Preston Werner, Shopify co-founder Tobias Lütke and Red Hat co-founder Bob Young. The tranche values Liquid AI at $303 million post-money. More Here

Nth Cycle, a six-year-old startup based in Beverly, Ma., that works with scrap recyclers, miners, and battery recyclers to recover critical metals, raised a $44 million Series B round led by VoLo Earth Ventures, with MassMutual, Caterpillar, and Equinor Ventures also participating. More Here

Dust Identity, a Newton, Ma., startup that authenticates products by marking them with invisible diamond dust, has reportedly raised $40 million in funding to enter new markets including sports memorabilia, luxury goods and art. Castle Island Ventures led the round, joined by Amex Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and 8VC. More Here

Ketryx, a two-year-old startup based in Somerville, Ma., that claims to help medical software developers build faster and easier with automation, organization, and seamless integration, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and including previous investors MIT E14 Fund and Ubiquity Ventures. The company has raised a total of $18 million. More Here

Shadow, a Paris startup that says it can help businesses develop crypto products faster and cheaper by creating “shadow forks,” or private testing grounds that mirror the blockchain, raised a $9 million seed round. Paradigm was the deal lead, with additional investors including Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, and Flashbots. More Here

Leonardo Ai, Sydney, Australia-based the AI art production platform for consumers and enterprise users. It has raised $31 million USD round from investors, including Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital and Samsung Next. More Here

Sona, a web3 streaming protocol that uses DeFi primitives (decentralized finance basic building blocks) to put the financial power back into artists’ hands with its rewards model, auctions and ad-free streaming. It has raised $6.9 million seed funding round from Polychain Capital, Haun Ventures and Rogue Capital. More Here

OurSky, aims to make space observational data more accessible via a software platform and global telescope network. The company announced that it closed $9.5 million in seed funding led by Upfront Ventures alongside Oceans Ventures, Venrex Investment Management, Marlinspike Partners and Embedded Ventures, to further accelerate deployment of scopes and the developer platform. More Here

Rich Data Co., an seven-year-old Sydney startup that helps banks evaluate loan candidates through a type of AI that enables customers to understand the AI's decision process, raised an $18.3 million Series B round co-led by Westpac and nCino, with BMY Group and Octava Fund also investing. More Here

Banxware, a three-year-old Berlin startup that provides embedded finance capabilities to German SMBs, raised a $16.2 million Series A round led by Unicredit and Fabrik, with previous investors 13books Capital, VR Ventures, D4 Ventures, and Force Over Mass also anteing up. More Here

Wakeo, a seven-year-old Paris startup that provides shipping companies with supply chain insights such as a ship's estimated time of arrival, raised a $19.5 million round led by Statkraft Ventures, with previous investors Promus Ventures, 360 Capital, 50 Partners, and Techstars also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $32.5+ million. More Here

Joon, a four-year-old Seattle startup that conduct tele-therapy sessions with patients 13- to 24-years old who need help with issues such as anxiety, depression, disordered eating, sexual and gender identity, and academic problems, raised a $6 million round from previous investors PSL Ventures and Route 66 Ventures. More Here

🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Despite a recent dip in startup exits, Q3 2023 showed a rebound, with deep tech companies contributing to the recovery. Analysis of global deep tech exits from 2013 to 2022 reveals a 550% increase in unicorn exits from 2018 to 2022, driven by sectors like health tech, compute, and mobility, indicating a growing maturity and value in the deep tech space. While SPACs played a role, traditional IPOs and M&As are on the rise, showcasing the evolving landscape of deep tech exits over the past decade. More Here

‘Mega-deals’ could be inflating overall AI funding figures: In 2023, venture capital investments in AI-related startups exceeded $68.7 billion, with generative AI companies like OpenAI, Stability AI, and Anthropic securing significant funding. However, a closer look reveals that "mega-deals" from tech giants inflated the numbers, with concerns arising about the financial sustainability of cutting-edge AI ventures, high legal expenses due to IP disputes, and the expensive nature of operating advanced AI models. Despite challenges, AI exit activity is showing signs of recovery, with notable acquisitions contributing to a positive outlook for late-stage funding in specific domains, according to PitchBook. More Here

America’s Frontier Fund, a fund designed to fund tech breakthroughs that it deems to be in the national interest, has made its first startup investments through a new venture capital firm, reports Bloomberg. Backed by Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt and former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, among others, the organization reportedly bills itself as the first nonprofit investment platform dedicated to boosting U.S. innovation and manufacturing. More Here

The Daily Mail's publisher is launching a venture fund in collaboration with Moore Capital Management. The firm will focus on seed and early stage clean tech startups. Moore will put up $200 million, while The Daily Mail's parent company will provide an undisclosed amount. More Here

📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Tweet

Guy Kawasaki 'Marketing Success = Uniqueness-Value Graph'

Guy Kawasaki shared an interesting perspective on what marketing success looks like. According to him - "Marketing success can be simplified into a straightforward graph - Uniqueness & Value Graph."… Read More Here👇

💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

Layoffs

Navan, formerly Trip Actions, Expense management startup has laid off 5% of its workforce, totaling 145 employees, as part of a restructuring effort to enhance operational efficiency and move faster toward profitability. The Palo Alto-based company, valued at $9.2 billion post-funding, had recently secured $150 million in debt and $154 million in equity. Despite strong growth, Navan, competing with Ramp and Brex, aims to go public in April 2024, citing market readiness as a factor in delaying its initial public offering. More Here

People

Binance's new CEO, Richard Teng, who replaced Changpeng Zhao after Zhao pleaded guilty to violating federal money-laundering rules, is refusing to disclose the location of Binance's global headquarters. More Here

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🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI | Blockchain

Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft said at an investor event today they will use AMD’s newest AI chip, the Instinct MI300X — a sign they want alternatives to the Nvidia chips have been essential for to the AI boom. More Here

Google Bard, the generative AI chatbot, receives a significant upgrade powered by Google's newest AI model, Gemini. The update enhances Bard's capabilities, including advanced reasoning, planning, understanding, and more. Gemini Pro will initially power text-based prompts, with Bard Advanced, featuring Gemini Ultra, set to debut in 2024, offering multimodal support, including text, images, audio, video, and code, with additional safety checks before the launch. More Here

Google has introduced the Gemini large language model (LLM) along with the Cloud TPU v5p, featuring 2x FLOPS improvement and 3x high-bandwidth memory compared to the v4 TPUs. The v5p can train large language models like GPT3-175B 2.8 times faster and more cost-effectively than the TPU v4, with 8,960 chips per pod and up to 459 TFLOPs of 16-bit floating point performance. The new TPU is not yet generally available, and interested developers can contact their Google account manager to join the list. More Here

Bitcoin's recent surge to $44,000 is attributed to a 25% gain in the past week and a 158% rise from the previous year. The anticipation of the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is a key driver, with potential institutional adoption in 2024 adding to the positive momentum. Other factors, such as advancements in layer-2 technologies and renewed appreciation for Bitcoin's security model, contribute to the rally. Analysts predict short-term volatility but anticipate a potential year-end closing in the $48,000 to $53,000 range, with long-term projections suggesting Bitcoin could reach $70,000 or even challenge the $100,000 mark by the end of 2024. More Here

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

• In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion In Software Market Read More (Technology)

• How to convince Investors By Paul Graham? Read More (Startups)

• How to Talk About Valuation Numbers When Investor Ask? Read More (Startup)

• Steve Jobs On Importance Of Product People In A Company Read More (Startup)

• Building AI-first companies in healthcare Read More (Tech & Startups)

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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