VC Daily Digest - 24/08/2023

👋 Welcome to Today’s VC Daily Digest!

Your Monday to Saturday Daily Dose of Venture Insights, Funding Updates and Startup Stories Delivered Straight to Your Inbox. Stay Informed, Stay Inspired and Stay Ahead In the World of Venture Capital !

📢 Sponsored By: Poised

Don't settle for mediocre meetings. Get real-time feedback during meetings with Poised so you can communicate in a way that inspires and motivates the team.

🫤 Come across more confident

✅ Drastically improve your clarity

🕒 Reduce unproductive meeting time

Let Poised work its magic in your next call. Our readers can try it for free.

📢 Top Venture Capital News

Qatar fund invests $1B in Ambani’s Reliance Retail at $100B valuation: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is investing $1 billion in India's largest retail chain, Reliance Retail, acquiring a 0.99% stake and valuing the company at $100 billion. This investment comes as Reliance Retail, with its 18,500 stores and digital commerce platforms, is expanding into new categories and considering a public listing. More Here

The late-stage venture market is crumbling: Startups, brace yourselves for a shift in the venture market. New data from CB Insights reveals a sharp decline in valuations across nearly all startup stages globally. This year, founders raising venture rounds can expect lower valuations than in 2021 or 2022. The question on everyone's mind is whether deal volume will also decrease across stages. Understanding how rapidly the later stages of the venture market are contracting is crucial. More Here

Former execs from defunct Pear Therapeutics start VC firm: Former Pear Therapeutics executives Corey McCann and Michael Langer have launched a new VC firm, T.rx Capital, with a $175 million cap for its first fund. The firm aims to invest in therapeutics and digital health products by forming new companies and taking pitches from early-stage startups. They've enlisted the expertise of Bob Langer, a distinguished faculty member at MIT and a prolific figure in the biotech startup world, as a scientific adviser. More Here

Tax-saving venture capital trusts buck start-up investment slump: Venture Capital Trusts which allow savers to make tax-savvy early-stage investments have bucked a funding slowdown this year and boosted the amount of cash they are pushing into start-ups. VCTs, which provide a vehicle for retail investors to access venture capital, ramped up their investment by eight per cent to some £664m into firms in the financial year to April, according to data from the industry group the Venture Capital Trust Association (VCTA). More Here

OMERS Ventures didn’t exit Europe because of the market — but it had good reason to: Despite initial speculation, OMERS Ventures' recent decision to exit Europe was not due to the region's struggling startup ecosystem, but rather logistical challenges of operating as a solo LP, according to a source close to the matter. While the European startup scene is indeed facing a downturn, with a 34.2% decrease in deals in H1 2023 compared to H2 2022, and a 60.8% decline compared to the same period a year earlier, these market conditions were not the driving factor for OMERS' departure. More Here

Michigan Central Launches $1.5M Fund to Help Tech-based Startups: Michigan Central has launched a $1.5M fund to help tech-based startups scale their presence in Michigan, offering up to $200,000 to startups focused on mobility, materials, and energy. The Michigan Central Scale Fund aims to build upon previous pilots or activities that attract follow-on customers in Michigan. The selected companies will also gain membership to Newlab, a startup ecosystem at Michigan Central, and access to its amenities and business-boosting benefits. More Here

📢 Top Startups News

Global interest in high valuation startups dampens: In the wake of the global economic downturn, investors are shifting their focus to tech companies with lower valuations, according to a recent report by Carta. This trend, corroborated by Briter Bridges, has seen nearly 19% of all primary funding going to such startups, marking the third consecutive quarter of this shift. The change in investment climate has forced many startups to take write-downs on their valuations and make significant team cuts. More Here

Crypto Firms Raise $2.3 Bn In VC Funding In Q2, Lowest Since Q4 2020: In the second quarter of this year, amidst a tightening regulatory landscape, crypto startups secured $2.3 billion in venture capital (VC) funding, marking the lowest amount raised since Q4 2020. This deceleration in funding is attributed to regulatory concerns and the inherent volatility of major cryptocurrencies. Crypto expert Edith Reads warns that this decline could impede innovation and intensify competition among startups. However, she also notes that if the global economy improves and regulatory concerns ease, we may see a resurgence in VC funding for crypto companies. More Here

These AI-chip startups hope to challenge Nvidia, but it may take some time: Right now, Nvidia is the biggest provider of graphics unit processors (GPUs) that are used as AI accelerators, and its fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday are expected to prove that. Rival chip makers Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp. are both working on entries to grab a piece of that lucrative pie, but their chips are not available yet, and Nvidia cannot currently keep up with demand. More Here

Hugging Face Hits $4B Valuation After Salesforce Ventures-Led Round: AI startup Hugging Face is reportedly raising a $200 million round led by Salesforce Ventures, catapulting its valuation to a staggering $4 billion. This New York-based firm, which hosts hundreds of thousands of open-source AI models for developers, has seen its valuation double since May 2022. This investment aligns with Salesforce Ventures' recent commitment to generative AI startups, demonstrating the ongoing fervor for AI in the private markets. The likes of Anthropic, AlphaSense, Character.ai, and Adept AI have also raised significant funding this year, indicating that the AI boom is far from over. More Here

Nvidia rides AI, ChatGPT boom as Q2 sales skyrocket: Nvidia's recent quarterly revenue forecast far exceeded expectations, demonstrating the continued boom in generative AI technologies powered by their chips. The company's shares soared after it announced a $25 billion stock buyback, making Nvidia the first ever trillion-dollar chip business. Demand for Nvidia's AI chips is outstripping supply by at least 50%, a trend expected to continue for several quarters. More Here

📢 Top AI News

Nvidia just made $6 billion in pure profit over the AI boom: Roughly three months after joining Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft among the world’s trillion-dollar companies — on the back of the AI boom — Nvidia is now making far more money than it’s ever made before. The company raked in $13.5 billion in revenue since May, it revealed in its Q2 2024 earnings, with the unprecedented demand for its generative AI chips blowing past any difficulty it might have had selling desktop and laptop GPUs into a shrinking PC industry. Data center accounted for a record $10.32 billion of that revenue, more than doubling in just one quarter, and Nvidia made $6.188 billion in profit as a result — up 843 percent year over year. More Here

This is Apptronik’s humanoid robot, Apollo: The rise of humanoid robots has been accelerated by a perfect storm of decades of research, technological advancements, and the global pandemic. Apptronik, an Austin-based firm with a history dating back to 2017, is making strides in this field with their latest creation, Apollo - a humanoid robot designed to perform tasks such as walking, unloading trailers, palletizing, and case picking. Despite the challenges, Apptronik believes in the potential of humanoid robots and is committed to proving their efficacy through rigorous testing and development. Their goal is not just to create a 'general purpose' robot, but one that can perform a handful of tasks well, and eventually, hundreds more. More Here

OpenAI brings fine-tuning to GPT-3.5 Turbo: OpenAI has introduced a new feature allowing customers to bring custom data to the lightweight version of GPT-3.5, GPT-3.5 Turbo, enhancing the AI model's reliability and specificity. This update empowers developers to create unique experiences for their users, with the ability to fine-tune the model to better follow instructions, improve response consistency, and tailor the output's tone to better fit a brand's voice. Not only does this fine-tuning enhance user experience, it also offers practical benefits such as reducing text prompt size by up to 90%, speeding up API calls and cutting costs. OpenAI has also launched two updated GPT-3 base models and plans to introduce fine-tuning support for GPT-4 later this fall. More Here

The Internet’s Next Great Power Suck: As we increasingly rely on the internet and AI technologies, it's crucial to consider the environmental impact. Data centers, the backbone of the internet, consume a staggering amount of electricity, often generated by fossil fuels. The rise of generative AI, with its unique power usage, could make every online interaction more energy-intensive, potentially pushing the web's emissions to a tipping point. More Here

Join 2400+ Readers to receive daily updates on Venture Capital, Startup Fundraising and Major Economic News in Your Inbox! 🗞️

📢 Top Startup’s Fundraising News

Solar AI wants to make solar power more accessible in Southeast Asia raised $1.5M: Solar AI Technologies, a Singapore-based startup, is making solar energy more accessible in Southeast Asia through a rent-to-own model. Despite high energy prices, the adoption of solar systems in the region remains low due to upfront costs and lack of awareness. Solar AI's innovative model, which has already attracted $1.5 million in seed funding, allows customers to start saving on their energy bills immediately, and has already surpassed $3 million SGD in signed rooftop solar contracts. More Here

Jobs platform CakeResume gets $5M in fresh funding: CakeResume, a platform used by tech giants like Google and L’Oréal to scout new talent, has successfully raised $5 million in Series A funding, led by Mynavi, a leading Japanese HR company. With a current user base of 5 million worldwide and over 7,000 clients, the platform plans to use the funding to expand its reach in Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. More Here

Maria Shriver’s, Patrick Schwarzenegger’s MOSH noshes on $3M for retail expansion: MOSH, a brain health brand co-founded by Maria Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger, has secured its first institutional capital of $3 million in Series A financing to boost its retail distribution strategy. The nutrition company, which was launched in 2021, produces protein bars in collaboration with brain health doctors and has already amassed over 100,000 customers, selling approximately $10 million worth of protein bars. With the new capital, MOSH plans to expand into retail, targeting more than 1,800 stores by next year, and launch new product lines. The company's success story is a testament to the growing global brain health supplements market, projected to reach $16 billion by 2030. More Here

SpaceX alums say they’ll bring rocket reliability to EV charging raised $11.5M: Electric Era, a startup founded by former SpaceX engineers, has raised $11.5M in a Series A round to revolutionize the public EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. The team aims to leverage their space tech expertise to develop PowerNode stations, which promise a "rocketry level of reliability" without requiring significant grid upgrades. These stations, backed by their proprietary software, PowerNode OS, will be strategically placed at gas stations, convenience stores, and other locations, and are designed to scale up as needed. The company plans to launch in nine states by the end of the year, with a long-term goal of operating about 10,000 stations across the U.S. by 2030. More Here

Lex raises $2.75M for its AI writing tool that helps writers get past blocks: Lex, an AI-powered writing tool, has raised a $2.75 million seed round led by True Ventures. As a spin-off from Every, Lex aims to revolutionize the writing process by integrating AI to help writers streamline their workflow. CEO Nathan Baschez describes Lex as a "modern writing platform" where AI steps in to assist writers when they slow down or halt. The platform offers a clean writing interface with features like formatting tools, markdown-based shortcuts, and AI-generated suggestions. Lex also promises to respect user privacy, with no current plans to use user content for training AI models. With a strong start of 25,000 users in its first 24 hours, Lex is set to make a significant impact in the writing community. More Here

Aircon Raises $3.3 Million in Seed Funding Led By Underscore to Transform Air Freight: Aircon, a trailblazer in the air cargo industry, has secured $3.3M in seed funding led by Underscore VC. This funding will fuel global expansion, AI tech growth, and deeper industry partnerships. By leveraging AI and machine learning, Aircon is revolutionizing the air freight market, offering forwarders of all sizes access to efficient consolidation options. This is a significant stride towards digital transformation in an industry that has been lagging behind. More Here

Crypto lender Maple Finance raises $5M to enter Asia amid regulatory clarity: Maple Finance, an on-chain, institutional credit marketplace, is setting its sights on Asia, aiming to fill the gap left by the collapse of crypto lending giants like BlockFi and Celsius. Offering more transparency than centralized finance platforms, Maple allows lenders to view loan operations on the blockchain. With $2.2 billion in loans issued and $50 million deposited on the platform, Maple is expanding eastward, fueled by a recent $5 million investment from crypto-focused investors. As regulatory clarity emerges from financial hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore, Maple sees a significant opportunity to increase its presence in these regions. More Here

Wand.app raises $4.2M to scale its AI-powered creative tool for artists: Wand.app, an AI-powered creative tool, has secured $4.2 million in seed funding led by O’Shaughnessy Ventures. The platform, which provides artists with the ability to manually customize and visualize their ideas, aims to bridge the gap between AI and human creativity. Unlike other AI tools, Wand allows artists to teach a personal AI their own style, with the editing process taking place within a freeform art board. The tool is currently in beta testing, with a public launch planned in the coming months. The funding will be used to build out collaborative team features and new creative tooling, with a focus on desktop extension. More Here

🦄 Join Our 1500+ Founders & Investors Community Space.

Join the community of 1500+ investors to get the weekly startup deals, collaborate with other investors & learn from each other.

Read The Venture Crew’s VC Newsletter 🗞️

• 🚀 How Do Investors Protect Themselves from Down rounds Through Weighted Average Anti-Dilution Protection? Read Here

• How VCs Evaluate & Make High-Quality Investment Decisions? Read Here

• 🚀 How to Start A Startup By Paul Graham? Read Here

• 🪧The Secrets Behind Market Sizing! Read Here

• 🗈 Don’t Waste Time Chasing Investors. Do This Instead Read Here

• 🚀 Making a financial model for your early-stage startup?
   Read Here

• 🗈 Why Brand Building Is So Important For Startups? Read Here

• 🪧Hidden Trap Of Convertible Note and Liquidation Preference Multiples Read Here

What did you think of today's newsletter?

• ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Amazing piece

• ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ This was really good

• ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ It was okay

• ⭐️ ⭐️ Not your best

• ⭐️ Waste of time

✍️Written By The Venture Crew Team

🤗Join Community 🗈 Want to Feature 📢 Sponsor Us 👉 Follow Us