- Venture Daily Digest
- Posts
- VC Daily Digest - 20/11/2023
VC Daily Digest - 20/11/2023
Sam Altman Is Back At Open AI & Venture Capital’s 2023 bloodbath
Venture Daily Digest
November 20, 2023
📮Today’s Major News
Peter Thiel's Backed Fintech Startup In Urge Of Closure
Lowest Startup's Exits Since 2013
Acton Capital raised €225 million for its sixth fund
Featured Article: Is Your Start-Up Idea A ‘Tarpit Idea?’ Bad Vs Tarpit Idea?
Sam Altman Is Back at Open AI?
Sam Altman: Twitter Post
Within Four Days: From Getting Fired Over Google Meet To Returning Back.. Journey
Nov. 16: Sutskever schedules a call with Altman, hinting at the firing.
Nov. 17: Altman fired, cited for communication issues. Microsoft reassures, Brockman resigns, and more follow suit.
Nov. 18: Lightcap reveals surprise, Altman explores new venture. Nadella pushes for reinstatement, board agrees "in principle."
Nov. 19: Altman at OpenAI's HQ; Microsoft eyes board seat if he returns. Resolution may require board apology…… Read More Here
🤝 In Partnership With: Harmonic.ai
Harmonic - The Sourcing Tool For Data Driven VCs 💡
👉Harmonic AI is the startup discovery tool trusted by VCs and sales teams in search of breakout companies. Accel, YC, Brex and hundreds more use Harmonic to:
Discover new startups in any sector, geography, or stage including stealth.
Track companies’ performance with insights on fundraising, hiring, web traffic, and more.
Monitor their networks for the next generation of founders.
💰 Massive Fundings Updates
Deep Sky, a year-old Montréal startup that is developing commercial facilities for removing billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere, using various carbon capture technologies, and storing the carbon underground, raised a $54.7 million round co-led by Brightspark Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners, with additional participation from Investissement Québec, which contributed $25 million; OMERS Ventures; and Business Development Bank of Canada’s Climate Tech Fund. More Here
Superstate, a San Francisco startup founded this year that say it's developing regulated, compliant investment vehicles using public blockchains that U.S-based investors are able to access, raised a $14 million Series A round co-led by Distributed Global and CoinFund, with Arrington Capital, Breyer Capital, CMT Digital, Department of XYZ, Folius Ventures, Galaxy Digital, HackVC, Modular Capital, Nascent, and Road Capital Management also taking part. More Here
Route 92 Medical, an eight-year-old startup based in San Mateo, Ca., that is developing reperfusion systems to enhance patient outcomes in neurovascular intervention, raised a $31 million Series F round. Participants included previous investors USVP, Norwest Venture Partners, InnovaHealth Partners, and The Vertical Group. More Here
Pineapple, a six-year-old Johannesburg startup that says its model is to offer its users cheap online insurance and return unused premiums to its customers annually, raised a $22 million Series B round led by Futuregrowth, Talent10, and MIC, with E4E Africa as well as previous investors Old Mutual ESD, Lireas Holdings, and ASISA ESD Fund also participating. The company has raised a total of $29.3 million. More Here
On Target Laboratories, a 13-year-old company based in West Lafayette, In., that is developing intraoperative molecular imaging agents to target and illuminate cancer during surgery, raised a $30 million Series C round. Investors included H.I.G. Capital, The Hurvis Group, J&J Innovation, Pension Fund of the Christian Church, 3B Future Health Fund, Elevate Ventures, and Olympus Innovation Ventures. More Here
Dwellsy, a four-year-old startup based in Los Altos, Ca., that operates a marketplace with over 14 million individual rental home and apartment listings, raised an $11.5 million seed round led by Ulu Ventures, with the University of Chicago, Frontiers Capital, Heroic Ventures, and NJP Ventures also contributing. More Here
Crisp, a Belgian startup that delivers groceries next day in the Netherlands and Belgium, raised a $38.1 million Series C round from Keen Ventures, Target Global, Bookmakers Investments, Timeless Investments, and Strikwerda Investments. More Here
Union Labs, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing a cross-chain bridge based on zero-knowledge proofs,raised a $4 million seed round. Galileo, Semantic Ventures, Tioga Capital, Nascent, Lightshift, and Chorus One invested in the deal. More Here
Suger, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps B2B software companies list and sell on cloud marketplaces, announced that it had raised a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Craft Ventures and Intel Capital and a $1 million pre-seed round from investors including Y Combinator. More Here
HockeyStack, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that has built a go-to-market analytics platform for B2B companies, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, and 645 Ventures. More Here
Glencoco, a one-year-old New York startup whose marketplace connects companies with business development consultants, raised a $3 million round co-led by Felicis and Crossbeam, with additional funds provided by Liquid 2 Ventures, Browder Capital, SOMA Capital, and Gold House Ventures. More Here
Every, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that provides backoffice services for SMBs, raised a $9.5 million seed round led by Base10, with Y Combinator, Formus Capital, and Rex Salisbury also pitching in. More Here
Tradespace, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to help organizations manage their intellectual property portfolios, raised a $4.2 million seed round led by Eniac Ventures, with Abstract Ventures, Amplo VC, and Scrum Ventures also anteing up. More Here
OCOchem, a Richland, Wash.-based startup, raised $5 million to scale its technology for turning carbon dioxide into chemicals that can be used to manufacture clean hydrogen, fertilizer, animal feed and other products. TO VC, an early-stage decarbonization-focused venture fund, led OCOchem’s seed round and was joined by Japan’s INPEX Corp; the LCY Lee Family Office; and Taiwan-based MIH Capital Management. More Here
🤝 Partnership With US!
Want to promote your startup to our community of 19,000+ entrepreneurs and investors? Fill Out The Form, We’ll reach out to you!
🚀 Venture Capital Highlights
Acton Capital, a 24-year-old Munich firm that typically invests €5-10 million in growth-stage startups across Europe and Canada, raised €225 million for its sixth fund. More Here
Venture capital’s 2023 bloodbath, by the numbers: In 2023, startups and venture capitalists grappled with challenges as Instacart and Klaviyo's IPOs traded 15-20% below their debut prices. PitchBook's Q3 Venture Monitor revealed the lowest exit total (216) since 2013, with only 752 exits year-to-date (compared to 1,375 in 2022). Funding struggles forced shutdowns, including Convoy and Zume Pizza, while the number of new funds fell 17% in Q3. With $126 billion raised by U.S. startups, significantly below 2022's $195 billion, 2023 appears to be the second-worst year in a decade for exits, raising concerns for 2024. More Here
📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Article
Is Your Start-Up Idea A ‘Tarpit Idea?’ Bad Vs Tarpit Idea?
The only difference between a bad idea and a Tarpish idea is that you would know when to stop pursuing a bad idea. A Tarpit Idea is identified a little bit too late - when money is already spent on developing it. Looks scary, right?
And you know, most of the founders fall under this trap of Tarpit Idea assuming to be a good idea and that’s where they failed to build a potentially good company. Read More Here 👇
Substack - The Venture Crew
💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz
Startup Acquisition
Petal Card, the fintech backed by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, goes up for sale: Fintech startup Petal Card is reportedly seeking a buyer amidst doubts about its survival, with Goldman Sachs advising on the process. Valued at $800 million in January 2022, Petal offers credit cards targeting individuals new to credit. High interest rates have impacted the company, leading to layoffs, and if a buyer isn't found, Petal may face closure, although it has options with remaining funds and potential stakeholder support. More Here
Startup Exits
Thrasio Holdings, an aggregator of third-party sellers on Amazon, is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy due to a post-pandemic decline in online spending. Advised by consulting firm AlixPartners, the company, which raised $1 billion in 2021, has enlisted the help of retail turnaround professional Holly Etlin and is exploring restructuring options with law firm Kirkland & Ellis. More Here
Join 6500+ Avid Readers For Daily Morning Venture Insights, Funding Updates And Startup Stories In Your Inbox. 🚀!
🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI
Sam Altman is back at OpenAI: Sam Altman, ousted CEO of OpenAI, has been spotted at the company's headquarters amid reports of the board reconsidering his dismissal. Negotiations for his return are ongoing, with Altman potentially seeking conditions such as Microsoft gaining a board seat. The outcome may reshape OpenAI, either aligning with Altman's profit-oriented approach or leading him to explore new ventures. More Here
IAC and News Corp call out generative AI companies for scraping their content without compensation: Publishers like News Corp and IAC express frustration in earnings calls over generative AI companies using their content without permission. Efforts to protect content range from revenue share deals to blocking AI web crawlers. The battle, including negotiations and legal action, reflects concerns about the unhindered use of AI and a desire for compensation and protection of intellectual property. More Here
🗞️ Today’s Must Read On: Startup, Technology & VC
🚀 Join 100+ VC Enthusiast Community : VC Crafters
Building, Learning, Networking, & Landing on VC roles is challenging without the right direction. We're a community for learning, sharing insights, and getting help from others who know the VC best.
Become A Member & Get Access To Resources
✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team
👉 Try Harmonic to find the new startup deal & to track the performance of company….
Reply