VC Daily Digest - 22/11/2023

📮Today’s Major News

• Linda Yaccarino, CEO Of X (Twitter) Likely To Resign Due to Advertiser Presuure

• US SEC sues Kraken crypto exchange over failure to register

• Sam Altman might return to Open AI

• Tiger Global's Scott Shleifer Transitions to Advisory Role After Wild

• Featured Article: Where Do The Great Startup Ideas Come From - Stripe & Airbnb Startup Story?

Binance Founder & CEO Zhao Plead Guilty To Money Laundering Charges of $4.3B

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has resigned as CEO of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange after agreeing to plead guilty to money laundering violations.

The DOJ's settlement concludes a three-year investigation into Binance that found "willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform. Zhao will pay a $50 million fine, and Binance—which also pled guilty to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violating sanctions against Iran, Cuba, and Syria—will pay a $4.3 billion fine.

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💰 Massive Fundings Updates

VaultSpeed, a four-year-old startup based in Leuven, Belgium, that helps businesses improve the delivery and maintenance of their cloud data warehouse or lakehouse, raised a $15.9 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures, with Fortino Capital, PMV, and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity also contributing. More Here

Edamama, a three-year-old Manila startup that provides resources, products, and community support to parents, raised an undisclosed Series A+ round led by Active Fund, with GS Group and previous investors Kickstart Ventures, Gentree Fund, and Innoven Capital also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $35 million. More Here

Inclusively, a four-year-old startup based in Richmond, Va., whose platform helps to accommodate workers with disabilities at companies such as Apple, Delta, Pfizer, and Barclays as well as offer a more inclusive workplace, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Firework Ventures, with Benson Capital also joining in. More Here

Vendelux’s AI-powered event intelligence platform tells event marketers which important people will be at which event. It has raised $14 million Series A investment, led by FirstMark Capital, that included participation from Cervin Ventures and the founders of some of those event organizers and marketers, including HLTH, ShopTalk, Money20/20, SaaStock, Connectiv Events and FT Live. Vendelux has now raised $16.4 million in total. More Here

Lasso Security, an Israeli startup founded this year whose mission is to provide organizations with a secure way to deploy LLMs in applications, raised a $6 million seed round led by Entrée Capital, with additional participation from Samsung Next. More Here

Maia Oncology, a New York startup founded this year that provides virtual cancer care coordination, raised a $4.25 million seed round. Reed Jobs' Yosemite and Takeda Digital Ventures co-led the deal, while the American Cancer Society's BrightEdge, BBG Ventures, and Coalition Operators also invested. More Here

AI21 Labs, a company developing generative AI products along the lines of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, closed a $53 million extension to its previously announced Series C funding round. The new tranche, which had participation from new investors Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures, brings AI21’s total raised to $336 million. The startup’s valuation remains unchanged at $1.4 billion. More Here

Indy, A french based startups aims become an all-in-one platform for freelancers, from accounting to company creation, tax preparation, invoicing and (soon) business banking. It has recently closed a new funding round of $44 million (€40 million), with BlackFin Capital Partners leading the round. More Here

Panoptic, a one-year-old Boston startup that is building a decentralized exchange platform for perpetual options, raised a $7 million seed round led Greenfield Capital, with HashKey, gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC), L1D, Heartcore Capital, Comma3, and Zee Prime Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $11.5 million. More Here

Ingenious Build, a seven-year-old Nashville startup that specializes in project management software for real estate development and construction, raised a $37 million Series A round co-led by Morpheus Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments, with additional participation from American Family Ventures, JLL Spark Global Ventures, and Crow Holdings. More Here

🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Twelve Below secures $108M across two new funds: Twelve Below, a New York-based venture capital firm, closed on $108 million in capital commitments. Twelve Below aims to lead or co-lead pre-seed and seed financings with the goal of earning a 10% to 15% ownership stake in the core investments from the fund. The firm invests in New York City-based startups in the areas of fintech, healthcare, energy, SMB and consumer sectors. More Here

Kinterra Capital, a Canadian private equity firm, has closed its $565 million debut fund dedicated to securing critical mineral assets for battery development. The influx of private capital comes amid increasing government incentives into the sourcing and production of battery materials in North America. More Here

📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Article

Where Do The Great Startup Ideas Come From - Stripe & Airbnb Startup Stories?

As founders, we're always on this quest – where do those killer startup ideas come from? Is it from solving our problems, fixing someone else's issues, or just scouting for a hot market and then figuring out the problem later? Well, surprise – it's none of the above. Yeah, you heard it right.

Now, check out the cool stories of Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase. They're not just great startups; they share some key vibes that set them apart…. Read More Here 👇

💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

Startup Legal Actions

US SEC sues Kraken crypto exchange over failure to register: Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was sued today by the SEC, which accused it of illegally operating as a securities exchange without registering with the regulator. As Reuters notes, the "lawsuit in San Francisco federal court is the latest step in SEC Chair Gary Gensler's push to bring cryptocurrency under his agency's purview, by contending that digital assets are investment contracts subject to federal securities laws." More Here

People

Linda Yaccarino, CEO Of X (Twitter) To Resign: Linda Yaccarino is resisting growing pressure from advertisers to step down as the CEO of X, as big brands pause their spending on the platform over concerns about its antisemitic content. More Here

Meet OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, He supported, then regretted ousting Sam Altman: A profile of Ilya Suskever, OpenAI's Chief Scientists and the board member accused of leading the charge to oust Sam Altman. More Here

Tiger Global's Scott Shleifer Transitions to Advisory Role After Wild Ride: Tiger Global Management undergoes a significant management change as founder Chase Coleman takes over both public and private equity businesses, while longtime head Scott Shleifer becomes a full-time senior advisor. Shleifer's decision is attributed to his family's preference for residing in Florida, while Tiger Global continues in-person operations from its New York offices. The shift follows a period of bold investment strategies, marked by a $12.7 billion fund closure in March 2022, coinciding with Shleifer's $132 million Palm Beach home purchase. More Here

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🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI

OpenAI’s board may be coming around to Sam Altman returning: OpenAI’s board of directors is reportedly in talks with Sam Altman, ex-Y Combinator president and an OpenAI co-founder, to return to OpenAI as CEO. OpenAI’s management team and backers began vetting candidates to replace the board for Altman’s possible return. Meanwhile, the board conducted its own CEO search, eventually settling on Shear. More Here

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

• Unbounding AI By Benedicts Evan Read More (Technology & Startups)

• Hard Pivot From Crypto Read More (startups & Tech)

• Why Founders Are Afraid to Talk About MOAT? Read More (Startups & venture capital)

• Don't Fall In Trap Of Tarpit Ideas, It's Worst Than Bad Ideas, Why? Read More (startups)

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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