Venture Daily Digest
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X faces controversy over using user data for training its AI & Stripe Acquired It's Competitor Lemon Squeezy

X faces controversy over using user data for training its AI & Stripe Acquired It's Competitor Lemon Squeezy

Venture Daily Digest - 29/07/2024

Venture Daily Digest
July 29, 2024

☕Hey there, Welcome to today's quick rundown in the Venture Daily Digest Newsletter. We've got the scoop on startup fundraising, VC funds, and some cool tech – all in just 5 minutes!

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Startup Funding Updates

Fractile, a London, UK-based developer of a new AI chip for AI models, raised $15M in Seed funding. The round was led by Kindred Capital, NATO Innovation Fund, and Oxford Science Enterprises, with participation from Cocoa and Inovia Capital, together with angel investors including Hermann Hauser (co-founder, Acorn, Amadeus Capital), Stan Boland (ex-Icera, NVIDIA, Element 14 and Five AI), and Amar Shah (co-founder, Wayve). To date, Fractile has raised $17.5m (£14m) in total funding. More Here

Cowbell, a Pleasanton, CA-based provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), raised $60M in Series C funding. The round was led by Zurich Insurance Group. More Here

Confo Therapeutics, a Ghent, Belgium-based clinical-stage company and innovator in the discovery of medicines targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), raised EUR60M in Series B funding. The round was led by Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH) and included participation from additional new investors, Driehaus Capital Management and Quest for Growth (QfG), as well as existing investors, BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), Capricorn Health-tech Fund. More Here

Passionfruit, a London, UK-based provider of a platform that allows businesses to collaborate with independent workers, raised $9M in Series A funding. The round was led by Seaya, with participation from existing investors Firstminute Capital, Playfair Capital, Cornerstone and Portfolio Ventures. More Here

Tech1M, a London, UK-based provider of a recruitment intelligence platform, raised $581M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by SFC Capital and Techstars. More Here

Workstaff, a Montréal, Canada-based provider of workforce management tools for businesses that manage temporary and flexible staff, raised $1.6M CAD in Seed funding. Backers included Impulsion PME, a Gouvernement du Québec program managed by Investissement Québec, and Anges Québec. More Here

Plum, a London, UK-based provider of a smart money app, raised £16M in Series B funding. £13.4M in funding from institutional investors, including a second tranche of investment from strategic partner Eurobank with participation from new investor iGrow Venture Capital and previous investors Venture Friends and Ventura Capital. An additional £2.7m via crowdfunding. More Here

SlicedHealth, a Woodstock, GA-based provider of cloud solutions for hospitals to optimize revenue and manage compliance, raised $5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Arthur Ventures. More Here

Noded AI, a San Francisco, CA-based maker of note-taking and task management software, raised $4m in funding. The round was led by Boldstart Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, 20VC, and First Hand Ventures. More Here

Maurten, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based sports nutrition company, raised €20M in funding. The round was led by Iris Ventures with participation from existing investors, including CEO of Stena Sphere Dan Sten Olsson. More Here

DocketAI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI revenue enablement startup, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Mayfield and Foundation Capital, with participation from additional investors. More Here

Greenely, based in Sweden, has closed an €8 million Series A funding round to expand its energy management platform into neighboring Nordic countries. The Series A funding was led by Belgian investment company Korys, with existing investor Luminar Ventures and other current shareholders also participating. More Here

The Floorr, a luxury fashion startup based in the U.S., launched earlier this year to empower personal shoppers and stylists with digital tools for managing and expanding their businesses. The company recently raised a $1.7 million pre-seed funding round, backed by Net-a-Porter co-founder Carmen Busquets and jewelry designer Nigora Tokhtabayeva. More Here

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Venture Capital Updates

Bregal Sagemount, a NYC-based growth-focused private equity firm, closed its inaugural small-cap fund, Bregal Sagemount Basecamp I, at $500M. The Fund closed at its target and hard cap, inclusive of support from existing Limited Partners, a handful of new institutional investors, and a significant GP commitment. More Here

Featured Article

VC fund decks that raised $500 Million From LPs...

Raising money is tough for both founders and VCs, but it’s even harder for VCs. They must persuade limited partners (LPs) to invest in their venture capital funds.

This post looks at how successful VCs create pitch decks that help them raise huge amounts of money.

Fund managers are salespeople and pitch deck (or memo for some) is the primary sales tool. It’s often the hook to capture enough interest to secure a meeting with LPs. It also serves as support during and after a pitch meeting.

Here are four main takeaways to consider when creating a deck for LPs:

The purpose of your pitch deck is to convince LPs of your ability to make outlier investments. Show how you access, make sound decisions on, and win exceptional deals.
Your pitch deck should tell a clear, concise, and convincing version of your fund's story.
Show, don't tell, using examples, numbers, and visuals to add credibility.
Let others speak to your strengths with quotes from founders, testimonials from references, and committed LPs to establish social credibility.

So how's these VC fund decks looks like that raised $500 Million From LPs?

Here are some template:

Awesome People Ventures Fund 2 Memo

→ GP: Julia Lipton
→ $20M
→ Link to memo.

We have shared 10+ decks in our recent LinkedIn Post. Check out here.

Startup’s Latest Buzz

Acquisition & Going Public

Stripe has acquired four-year-old competitor Lemon Squeezy, a company that calculates and pays global sales tax for digital products and primarily serves SaaS and software businesses. The acquisition will scale Stripe's merchant of record selling capabilities, as noted by Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Chief Product Officer Will Gaybrick.

Riveron, a Dallas, TX-based business advisory firm, acquired Yantra, a Santa Clara, CA-based technology and advisory services provider with a broad range of expertise to address the needs of technology-enabled CFOs. More Here

Clutch, a marketplace for digital marketing services, has been acquired by the online social network Plaiced, co-founder Madison Long told TechCrunch. More Here

Layoffs & Bankruptcy

Startups & People

Nuro has received approval from the California DMV to test its R3 autonomous delivery vehicles in four Bay Area cities. The company is focusing on testing and validating its new AI architecture and hardware, pausing its manufacturing push and large-scale commercial operations. Nuro’s 10-year commercial partnership with Uber Eats will see these advanced vehicles used for deliveries starting this fall.

Latest In Emerging Tech

X, formerly Twitter, quietly defaulted user data into its AI training pool for Grok, its conversational AI developed by Elon Musk-owned X. The move caught the attention of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is surprised and awaiting a response from X. The DPC, overseeing X's compliance with the EU's GDPR, noted that such data processing requires a valid legal basis. Concerns arose as similar plans by Meta were paused in Europe last month due to GDPR scrutiny.

The Justice Department accused TikTok of collecting data on U.S. users' views on sensitive topics like gun control, abortion, and religion, and sharing this information with ByteDance employees in China. U.S. officials expressed concerns that TikTok's Beijing-based parent company could manipulate the app's algorithm to influence public opinion in favor of Chinese interests, posing a national security threat. The government contends that TikTok must sever ties with ByteDance or face a potential ban under a law signed by President Biden, which aims to prevent foreign interference and protect user data.

NASA is unsure when astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can return from space after Boeing's Starliner encountered thruster issues and helium leaks during its June test flight. Officials are considering alternative rescue options if Starliner remains problematic, with a critical review of the test data expected in early August to determine the next steps. The mission, initially intended to last eight days, has now stretched to eight weeks, and NASA has extended the safe duration for the capsule, giving them more time to resolve the issues.