VC Daily Digest - 13/10/2023

📮Today’s Major News

• VCs investing in creators and not startups!

• 200+ VC Firms Supporting the Israel

• Atlassian acquiring video messaging service Loom for $975 million

• Lakera aims to protect enterprises from various LLM security

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🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Creators raising venture capital: Unsettling or genius?: Investments in people, as opposed to companies — have started to seem a little less bizarre. Companies like Spotter and Jellysmack underwrite YouTubers’ back catalog in exchange for upfront cash, while Creative Juice will fund a creator in exchange for a cut of revenue over a set term. Mythical, the entertainment studio owned by YouTube stars Rhett and Link, launched a $5 million venture capital fund for creators in 2021. More Here

More than 200 venture capital firms sign public statement in support of Israel public statement issued by the venture capital community in support of Israel has amassed more than 200 signatures as companies rally behind the country after Hamas waged massive terrorist attacks on the Israeli people. More Here

LaPhair Capital Partners, a minority-led, influencer-backed and performance driven venture capital fund, announced the launch of their flagship Alpha Fund I, with a target size of $100 million. Alpha Fund I will invest in companies focused on social responsibility in underserved communities within high growth markets. More Here

From FTX to Coinbase ventures, plenty of VCs have made big crypto bets that could actually pan out: Crypto companies are venturing into the world of venture capital, with FTX, Celsius, and Coinbase Ventures leading the way. Despite recent industry challenges, these firms are investing in startups, aiming for substantial returns. FTX's $500 million bet on Anthropic and Coinbase Ventures' diverse portfolio highlight this trend, potentially reshaping the industry's reputation among VCs. More Here

Silicon Valley tech industry feels effects of Israel-Hamas war, The conflict in the Middle East is hitting Silicon Valley as Israeli tech workers in the Bay Area struggle to focus on their jobs amid concerns for their loved ones back home. Rallies in support of Israel are being held, reflecting the deep emotional impact on the community. Israeli companies seeking investments in the U.S. are facing delays and cancellations of meetings with venture capital firms. The war's immediate disruption is felt in Palo Alto, emphasizing the personal and professional challenges faced by those connected to the conflict. More Here

💰 Massive Fundings Updates

Atlassian acquiring video messaging service Loom for $975 million, the same company that had a $1.53 billion valuation in May 2021 when it announced a $130 million Series C. That was when companies were still thinking about all work being cloud-based and the future looked oh so bright. More Here

Israeli biotech startup Mana.bio which aims to build ai fueled programmable drug therapy raised $19.5M seed investment led by Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health, Base4 Capital, NFX, LionBird and Technion. More Here

Alpaca, a San Mateo-based startup, offers stock and crypto brokerage trading services via API that enables investing fintech companies and others to embed this functionality into their apps. The startup has secured $15 million in the form of a convertible note from Japanese financial firm SBI Group. More Here

Aampe, a marketing automation platform for mobile apps, recently closed a $7.5 million funding round led by Matrix India and Peak XV. Bringing Aampe’s total raised to $9.3 million, the new cash will support product development and growing Aampe’s go-to-market teams. More Here

KIT Plugins, a music software development startup, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by Copycat Holdings. The Nashville-based startup offers digital audio emulations of rare analog gear to help producers and musicians record quality studio sound. More Here

Bedrock energy, a decarbonizing startup aims to transform the heating & cooling of buildings, using geothermal energy to radically reduce costs for people and the environment. It has raised an $8.5 million seed round led by Wireframe Ventures, with participation from Overture Climate VC, Long Journey Ventures, Cantos, Toba Capital, First Star Ventures, Divergent Capital and Climate CapitalU.More Here

Deasie, a startup developing tools to give companies greater control over text-generating AI models, raised $2.9 million in a seed funding round with participation from Y Combinator, General Catalyst, RTP Global, Rebel Fund and J12 Ventures. More Here

Bon Vivant, France-based precision fermentation startup, which is using biotech techniques to reprogram yeast microorganisms to produce animal-free milk proteins raised €15 million (~$15.9 million) seed round. This round is co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Sparkfood, with Captech Santé also participating. Other investors in Bon Vivant include Alliance for Impact, High Flyers Capital, Kima Ventures, Founders Future and Picus Capital. More Here

Didi, a smart electric car development raised up to $149 million in funding from two investors affiliated with the municipal government of Guangzhou, a southern Chinese metropolis: GAC Group’s wholly owned subsidiary GAC Capital and Guangzhou Development District Investment Group. More Here

🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI

Google’s AI-powered search feature, SGE (Search Generative Experience), is gaining some new skills, starting today. The AI feature, which introduces a conversational mode in Search, With the new AI image generation feature, you can enter a prompt specifying what sort of image you want, like a drawing, photo or painting, for example. More Here

Lakera aims to protect enterprises from various LLM security weaknesses such as prompt injections and data leakage. Large language models (LLMs) are the driving force behind the burgeoning generative AI movement, capable of interpreting and creating human-language texts from simple prompts can also be manipulated by bad actors. Lakera aims to solve this problem. More Here

New Senate bill proposes to punish makers of AI-generated deepfakes, Unauthorized artificial intelligence (AI)-powered recreations of people’s voices and images would be banned under a proposed bill by a bipartisan group of United States senators. Companies or individuals that create an unauthorized AI replica of someone — living or dead — would be liable for damages under the act, along with platforms that knowingly host unauthorized AI copycats. Penalties would start at $5,000 per violation. More Here

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💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

FTC sues bankrupt crypto company Voyager’s CEO over false FDIC insurance claims: Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bankrupt crypto company Voyager is permanently banned from handling consumers’ assets. When a bank or financial service is FDIC insured, that means that a customers’ funds will be protected even if the bank fails. While Voyager promised customers this vital protection, these claims weren’t true, as the FDIC doesn’t insure crypto assets at all. More Here

X’s crowdsourced fact-checking system faced multi-day delays to correct misinformation on the platform, the company formerly known as Twitter has announced a series of improvements focused on speeding up the pace as well as other changes designed to alert users when notes were added to posts they liked, replied to or reposted, and more. More Here

How to fundraise when your deep tech startup sounds like sci-fi: Fundraising is hard for every startup, but only deep tech startups face questions like this from VCs. Innovation often does not come without issues, and there are problems regardless of how good your concept is, or how superior your technology is. VCs hear big claims every day and don’t want to be taken for fools. As a result, they usually treat new ideas with skepticism and tend to avoid investing when they don’t understand something. This disadvantages deep tech and those working on something that’s truly cutting-edge. More Here

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

• Artificial Intelligence: Shaping Our Future Read More (AI)

• Startup equity Cheatsheet - who gets what kind of ownership in a startup. Read More (Startups)

• Ask a VC: how much money to raise? Read More (Venture Capital & Startups)

• How To Invest In Startups by Sam Altman Read More (Venture Capital & Startups)

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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