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- VC Daily Digest - 23/09/2023
VC Daily Digest - 23/09/2023
Battle of VC Funds & Dorseys' Bluesky's Surge In Users
Venture Daily Digest
September 23, 2023
📢 Major News
Battle of the funds: Do VC specialists outperform generalists?
Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky saw record usage after Elon Musk announced plans to charge all X users
Featured Article: The Babe Ruth Effect in Venture Capital
📢 Venture Capital Highlights
Battle of the funds: Do VC specialists outperform generalists?: Fundraising for venture investors has become significantly more challenging in recent times, and firms are increasingly looking for ways to differentiate themselves in order to secure commitments. One strategy has been for firms to focus on specific sectors, with the result that specialist vehicles have accounted for a larger share of overall VC fund count in recent years—26.4% this year compared to 22.2% in 2014. More Here
Black-owned fund bridging gap in venture capital sued for alleged ‘discrimination: A small, Black-owned venture capital fund investing in businesses led by women of color is being sued for allegedly running a “discriminatory program” by the same players that helped overturn affirmative action. The American Alliance for Equal Rights filed in Atlanta federal court on Aug. 2 accusing Fearless Fund, an organization that has invested in Black woman-owned businesses, including Slutty Vegan, of racial discrimination. More Here
Brent Bennett Joins Lane VC as Venture Partner, elevating Mobility Investments: Lane VC, a Utah-based venture capital firm with a strategic focus on mobility, and supporting tech, has announced that market leader Brent Bennet has joined the firm as a Venture Partner. Bennett's extensive business, finance and operational experience will strengthen Lane VC's investment strategy and support current portfolio companies. More Here
📢 Massive Fundings Updates
Beam Benefits raises $40M at increased valuation despite tough VC climate: Beam Benefits has raised $40 million at an increased valuation – contrary to national VC trends – to speed growth and product development for its suite of digitally-powered employee benefits for small and medium businesses. The Series F increases Beam's valuation by 25% – although the total was not disclosed – since an $80 million round two and a half years ago, according to a news release. The Columbus insuretech has raised a cumulative $200 million over 12 years. More Here
Mesh Raises $22 Million in Series A Funding To Redefine the Embedded Financial Ecosystem: Mesh, the modern financial operating system that makes digital asset transfers and account aggregation seamless, announced today the successful completion of a $22 million Series A funding round. Mesh's mission is to build an open, connected, and secure financial ecosystem in which users have full control over their assets. More Here
Curve Raises $163 Million to Improve Financial App: British FinTech Curve says it has raised more than $163 million in a Series C round. The super app provider, whose offering connects all of a user’s debit and credit cards into one single card and app, announced Thursday (Sept. 21) that it had raised an additional $71 million extension in the round. The new funds will be used to upgrade the customer experience and expand Curve’s Flex offerings, the company said in a news release. More Here
Ghana’s Complete Farmer, which connects farmers to global food buyers, raises $10.4M: Ghanaian agritech Complete Farmer seeks to transform farming practices in the region by developing critical technical and physical infrastructure to enhance efficiency in the agricultural value chain. It raised a recently concluded $10.4 million pre-Series A funding round ($7 million equity and $3.4 million debt) to consolidate its efforts. More Here
Corti, an AI ‘co-pilot’ for healthcare clinicians, raises $60M: A Copenhagen startup called Corti has raised $60 million to expand its contribution to the field: an AI assistant designed to support healthcare clinicians with patient assessments in real time. Prosus Ventures and Atomico are leading the Series B investment, with previous backers Eurazeo, EIFO and Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker also participating. More Here
📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Article
The Babe Ruth Effect in Venture Capital
One of the hardest concepts to internalize for those new to VC is what is known as the “Babe Ruth effect”
We recently shared writeup on Babe Ruth Effect in our vc’s newsletter Have A Look 👇
📢 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI
Cisco to Acquire Splunk for $28 Billion, Accelerating AI-Enabled Security and Observability: Cisco announced yesterday its intention to acquire Splunk, a renowned name in data observability and security, in a deal valued at approximately $28 billion. Cisco intends to pay $157 in cash for each share of Splunk. This acquisition, which is Cisco’s biggest deal ever, is aimed at furthering the company’s move to develop the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability solutions that aren’t capable of only threat detection and response but also threat prediction and prevention. More Here
Microsoft’s mobile keyboard app SwiftKey gains new AI-powered features: Along with AI advances in Windows 11 and Bing, Microsoft also this week announced it’s bringing new AI-powered features to its SwiftKey mobile keyboard app for iOS and Android. This third-party app lets users replace the default keyboard on their phone with an intelligent keyboard that learns your writing style so you can type faster. Now, it will also include AI camera lenses, AI stickers, an AI-powered editor and the ability to create AI images from the app. More Here
AI robots surprise San Diego Padres at Petco Park: As the San Diego Padres took the field for batting practice on Friday, the team was startled to see AI robots roaming Petco Park. Dressed up in Padres jerseys, the robots walked around the field, greeting the players and fans. Some bots even holding umbrellas to shield their wires from the light rain. More Here
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📢 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz
Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky saw record usage after Elon Musk announced plans to charge all X users: Social network Bluesky once again benefited from Elon Musk’s missteps with X, the network formerly known as Twitter. According to a new analysis of Bluesky’s web traffic and mobile app usage, the would-be X competitor hit a daily active user record just after Musk announced he would begin charging all X users a small monthly fee to use its services. More Here
Snapchat now has over 5M paying users for Snapchat+: Snapchat announced today its subscription service for power users, Snapchat+, has now topped 5 million subscribers — a figure that’s up from 4 million in late June and 3 million in mid-April. Now over a year old, the $3.99 per month subscription offering provides access to a sizable handful of exclusive features, including custom app themes, unique app icons, the ability to pin your No. 1 BFF, tools to enhance your Stories or see who rewatched them, and more. More Here
Bidding war for SVB Capital, new crypto funds and Citi’s private blockchain: The venture capital industry appears to be gearing up for portfolio rebalancing in 2024, with investors positioning themselves to increase exposure to digital assets in the next bull market. Blockchain Capital, for instance, closed two new funds this week, with $580 million in capital to be deployed in crypto gaming and decentralized finance projects. More Here
🗞️ Today’s Must Read On: Startup, Tech & VC
The future of Silicon Valley Read More (Venture Capital )
Why Do VC Firms Want an Option Pool Before the VC Round? Read More (Startup)
Building Applications with AI - Lessons from LangChain, Hearth, & Context.ai Read More (Technology)
Decoding Term Sheet: Liquidation Preference | Participation & Non-Participation Rights (Venture Capital)
Startups Fail All The Time, But Many Could Fail Better By Thinking Beyond the VCs and Founders Read Here (Startup)
What Do You Think Of Today's Newsletter? 🤓
✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team
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