VC Daily Digest - 10/11/2023

📮Today’s Major News

• IPO-Related Expenses Hit Tech Companies: Instacart Reported $2 Billion Loss

• Venture Capital Funds Betting on Biotech & Genomic Industry

• Humane, a San Francisco-based startup, unveiled its first product, the AI Pin

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💰 Massive Fundings Updates

Ghost Autonomy, a company building autonomous driving software for automaker partners, also in plans to explore the applications of multimodal large language models (LLMs) — AI models that can understand text as well as images — in self-driving, has raised $5M from open AI through their startup fund. More Here

EduFi, a Singapore based fintech startup that enables financially strapped students to secure loans for their education, has raised $6.1 million in a pre-seed round led by Zayn VC with participation from Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, Q Business and angel investors. More Here

Dotwork, a startup that provides companies with a platform for creating strategy documents, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Dotwork CEO Steve Elliott as well as angels Jim Crane and Hunter Nelson. More Here

Ritual, a startup that says it is building a decentralized network to provide open access to AI tools, raised a $25 million round led by Archetype, with Accomplice and Robot Ventures also participating. More Here

Wonder, a five-year-old New York startup founded by Jet.com founder Marc Lore that operates a network of cloud kitchens that license dishes from popular restaurants and celebrity chefs, raised a $100 million round from Nestlé. The company was valued at approximately $3.5 billion when it raised a $350 million round this past June. More Here

Lunar dev, a tool designed from the ground up to help developers monitor, manage and begin to exercise control over their API bills. It has raised a $6 million seed investment, led by Uncork Capital with participation from Angular Ventures. More Here

Chptr, an app for sharing and holding onto memories of lost loved ones, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The seed round was led by Grit Capital Partners and included participation from Singularity Capital, Lolita Taub’s Ganas Ventures, Tubbs Ventures, Gaingels, Lucas Venture Group and Accel Starter. More Here

Snaptrude — a startup aiming to compete against traditional platforms in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) design sector, including Autodesk, Trimble and Nemetschek — with its modern approach and cloud-based offering, has raised $14 million in a Series A round from fundamental and accel. More Here

Heali, a new startup launching out of stealth with a personalized platform to eliminate the guesswork for people who want to treat and manage their health conditions using evidence-based nutrition protocols. The company has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Astanor Ventures. More Here

Mogul club, Washington, D.C.-based that wants to help more people achieve their dreams of becoming a landlord. to It has raised total of $4.2 million in funding, $3.6 million of which was recently raised in a seed round of funding, AY Ventures led mogul club’s seed round, which also included participation from Tim Draper & Associates, Draper B1, InterVest, Draper Dragon and Blizzard Fund. More Here

Upciti is a French startup that has been working on a hardware sensor for city centers that is easy to install and maintain. the company secured $7.5 million (€7 million) in new funding this summer. Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures are leading the round, with existing investors Demeter and Innovacom also participating. More Here

Tabnine, AI powered platform to generate the code it raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Telstra Ventures with participation from Atlassian Ventures, Elaia, Headline, Hetz Ventures, Khosla Ventures and TPY Capital. More Here

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🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Blockchain-focused venture capital firm, Faction Ventures, has launched a $285 million fund to invest in early-stage blockchain projects. Co-founders Samuel Harrison and Banafsheh Fathieh highlight the current market conditions as opportune for investment, emphasizing a long-term perspective despite short-term market fluctuations. The fund, initially targeting $250 million, attracted 14% more capital than its goal, with a focus on flexibility and the ability to lead seed and early Series A rounds. More Here

Founder Collective, a 14-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based seed-stage venture firm, says it has garnered $95 million in capital commitments for its fifth and largest fund. More Here

Oraseya Capital, A VC fund based in Dubai launched a new $136 million fund that is targeting investments in Dubai fintechs from pre-seed to Series B. More Here

Venture Capital Giants In The Billion-Dollar Quest For Longevity Breakthroughs: Global venture capital funds are investing heavily in innovative solutions for longevity, spanning biotechnology, AI, genomics, and more. However, the pursuit faces financial challenges due to lengthy R&D timelines and regulatory hurdles. Ethical concerns about overpopulation and resource allocation add complexity, requiring a delicate balance for successful development and implementation of longevity technologies. More Here

Climate tech is set to boom: Despite a 40% decline in VC and private equity investment in 2023, climate tech is faring relatively better, down 50.2% YoY compared to other tech segments. SET Ventures' €200mn fourth fund reflects optimism in the sector, focusing on digital technologies advancing a carbon-free energy system, with the belief that the energy transition presents a generational opportunity with potential returns comparable to past successes in the tech industry. The climate tech market's shift from a niche to mainstream is driving competition among investors for quality opportunities, emphasizing the importance of impactful solutions addressing global emissions. More Here

💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

IPO-Related Expenses Hit Tech Companies: Arm reported a Q2 revenue of $806 million, up 28%, but incurred a $156 million operating loss due to $916 million in operating expenses, including $490 million in share-based compensation and $27 million related to its IPO. Klaviyo's Q3 results disappointed as its Q4 revenue forecast fell below expectations, with operating expenses spiking to $419.2 million, driven by a one-time share-based compensation charge of nearly $300 million. Instacart reported a $2 billion loss despite beating sales expectations, attributing it to a $2.6 billion share-based compensation charge from its recent IPO, emphasizing the importance of considering adjusted metrics. More Here

The Match-Google antitrust settlement netted the dating app maker over $300M: Match settled with Google in the app store antitrust case, adopting User Choice billing with a 4% discount. Financial benefits to Match, totaling over $300 million, include avoiding potential service fees of $162 million and gaining a broader partnership offering distribution, marketing, and cloud services. Google may have settled to focus on the Epic Games antitrust battle and prevent Match from sharing its story in court. More Here

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🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI

Humane, a San Francisco-based startup, unveiled its first product, the AI Pin, a matchbook-sized device with a Snapdragon processor, camera, touch panel, and laser projection system. The lapel-worn device aims to "productize AI," offering voice-first interaction and unique features like projecting text messages on the user's palm. Priced at $699, it comes with a subscription for services, and the company has received over 110,000 sign-ups for its waiting list. More Here

OpenAI launches Data Partnerships, a program aiming to address flaws in AI training data by collaborating with external organizations to create more diverse and less biased datasets for model training. The initiative seeks both public and private datasets, with a focus on understanding various languages, cultures, and industries. While OpenAI emphasizes the goal of making AI safe and beneficial, concerns about transparency and potential commercial motivations are noted. More Here

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

• Top 10 Trends for Data in 2024 Read More (Technology)

• Even the Smartest VCs Sometimes Get it Wrong — Bill Gurley and Regulated Markets Read More (startups & venture capital)

• Building A Startup the Old-Fashioned Way Read More (Startups)

✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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