Chaos

$1T in Ads, X, Billionaires in Office, DealBook, Bitcoin, Stock Market Losers; Public, Cleerly, Sollis Health, Upwind, Lawhive, Tractian, AMP, Acceleron Fusion

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DealBook

The 2024 DealBook Summit was a banger this year. Bringing together the most influential leaders to discuss the future of business, technology, and society. While it wasn’t as dramatic as Elon’s big GFY last year, there were consistent themes with optimism around the future of America despite our chaos, a lot of talk on Trump’s strategy, inflation, the downfall of media, our obesity problem, and of course, Elon Musk. (quick recap here all links below go to their interviews)

PS if someone asks when AGI is coming.. one more time.. I’m going to exit the chat (and I’m sure Sam will too). This is such a consistent lob of an interview question and I don’t think anyone really cares to get the answer? Obviously, we’ll know when it’s here. Next question.

Anywho, Jeff Bezos explored innovation and space exploration, while Sam Altman and Sundar Pichai focused on the transformative impact and regulation of AI. Jerome Powell and Ken Griffin tackled economic challenges & inflation, and David Ricks (CEO Eli Lilly) highlighted breakthroughs in healthcare with GLP-1 medications. Prince Harry championed mental health, Serena Williams reflected on her sports legacy, business strategy, & VC fund, and Alex Cooper shared her journey building a media empire. Bill Clinton discussed the future of democracy, with additional sessions addressing trust (U.S. Bank, WebMD, Multiverse), resilience, and innovation (Vanguard, IBM).

Musings

An Expensive Gov’t

• The White House’s AI & Crypto Czar, David Sacks

• Trump's billionaires set to take government by storm [Axios]

  • Billionaire who performed the first private spacewalk is Trump’s pick to lead NASA [AP]

Bitcoin at $100K

• Deep Dive: A Primer on Cryptocurrencies [Chamath]

Macro

• The $1 Trillion Ad Opportunity [Motley Fool Money Podcast] [Adweek] [FT]

• Fidelity marks up the value of its stake in Elon Musk's X by 32.37% in Oct [Axios]

  • Still 72% less than the $44B purchase price

• a16z dropped their big ideas in tech for 2025 [a16z]

• Amazon’s big AI push [Contrary Research]

• Anduril Partners with OpenAI to Advance U.S. Artificial Intelligence Leadership and Protect U.S. and Allied Forces [Anduril]

• Interview with Marc Benioff [20VC]

• 10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing (Part I) [Rex Woodbury]

  • From Prediction Markets to VC Distributions, Gen Z Finances to Space Launches

• Legendary investor Brian Singerman steps back at Founders Fund [Yahoo Finance!]

Top Interviews

• Joshua Browder, DoNotPay | Saving Consumers $100M+ & Investing in Thiel Fellows

  • $200M AI Champion to Beat Bureaucracy

• America's New Consumer: CPG, Sports, Four-Wall | Jason Fiedler, Left Lane Capital $2B+ AUM in 5 Years

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Last Week (12/2-12/6):

Relevant deals include the 40+ deals across stages below. I've categorized the deals below into seven categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise / Consumer, HardTech, Sustainability, Acquisition/PE, and Fund Announcements, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds.

Highlighted VC Deals include:

Public, Cleerly, Sollis Health, Upwind, Lawhive, Tractian, AMP, Acceleron Fusion

Acquisitions & PE

Deel/Atlantic Money, HubSpot/Frame AI, Salesforce/Zoomin

Final Numbers

Biggest stock market losers of 2024

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VC Deals

Fintech:

- Public, a New York City-based multi-asset investing platform, raised $105 million in Series D-2 funding. Existing investor Accel led the round and was joined by others.

- 9fin, a London-based AI-powered debt capital markets analytics platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Highland Europe led the round and was joined by existing investors Spark Capital, Redalpine, Seedcamp, and others.

- Tembo, a London-based digital savings and mortgage platform, raised £14 million ($17.8 million) in Series B funding. Goodwater Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Aviva, Ascension Ventures, Love Ventures, and McPike Family Office.

- Maybern, a New York City-based calculation automation software developer for private fund managers, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Primary Ventures led the round and was joined by Friends and Family Capital and existing investors Camber Creek, Human Capital, Grafton Street Partners, and MetaProp.

- MakersHub, an Austin-based accounts payable platform, raised $7 million in seed funding. QED Investors and TTV Capital led the round and were joined by TRB Advisors, existing investor Dash Fund, and angel investors.

- StretchDollar, a small business insurer, raised $6m. Fika Ventures and Oscar Health co-led, and were joined by Precursor Ventures and Springbank

- Sightglass, a Portland, Ore.-based AI-powered private markets investor relations platform, raised $3 million in seed funding from Base10 Partners.

- MaxHome, a San Francisco-based AI real estate platform, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. BBG Ventures led the round and was joined by Power of N and Fortitude Ventures.

- Sandbox Wealth, a New York-based banking solution for non-bank financial institutions, raised $1.25m in pre-seed funding led by NextGen Venture Partners

Care:

- Cleerly, a Denver-based cardiovascular imaging company, raised $106 million in a Series C extension. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Battery Ventures and existing investors.

- Soda Health, a Bentonville, Ark.-based health equity platform developer, raised $50 million in Series B funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Bruce Broussard and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Define Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners USA, and SVB Capital.

- Sage Solutions, a provider of software for senior living communities, raised $35m in Series B funding. IVP led, and was joined by Friends & Family Capital, Plus Capital and insiders Animo Ventures, Distributed Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, and Maveron

- Sollis Health, a N.Y.-based concierge care provider, raised $33m in Series B funding. Foresite Capital led, and was joined by Torch Capital, Montage Ventures, Friedom Partners, Read Capital, and One Eight Capital.

- GROWL, an Austin-based at-home fitness platform, raised $4.8 million in seed funding. Skip Capital led the round and was joined by Kima Ventures, Teampact Ventures, Ciryl Gane, and others.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Upwind, a San Francisco-based cloud security platform, raised $100 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led the round and was joined by TCV, Alta Park Capital, existing investors Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, and others.

- Lawhive, a London-based AI-powered legal services provider, raised $40 million in Series A funding. Existing investor GV and TQ Ventures led the round and were joined by Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Episode 1, and others.

- Tuskira, a San Francisco-based AI-powered cybersecurity company, raised $28.5 million in funding. Intel Capital and SYN Ventures led the round and were joined by Sorenson Capital, Rain Capital, Wipro Ventures, and others.

- Enterpret, a San Francisco-based AI-powered customer feedback intelligence platform, raised $20.8 million in Series A funding. Canaan Partners led the round and was joined by Kleiner Perkins, Peak XV Partners, Wing Ventures, Recall Capital, and angel investors.

- Pathway, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based live AI systems developer, raised $10 million in seed funding. TQ Ventures led the round and was joined by Kadmos, Inovo, Market One Capital, Id4, existing investor Lukasz Kaiser, angel investors, and others.

- Cake, a New York-based AI infrastructure platform, raised $10m in seed funding led by Gradient Ventures

- Lucra, a New York City-based social gamification technology provider for consumer platforms, raised $10 million in funding. 7GC, SeventySix Capital, and Steve Kuhn led the round and were joined by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ark Invest, Simplex Equity, and others.

- Inflection.io, a Seattle-based B2B marketing automation platform, raised $7.6 million in funding. MHS Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Version One, Cercano Management, and Ascend Capital.

- System Two Security, a Palo Alto-based AI-powered cyber threat detection platform, raised $7 million in funding. Costanoa Ventures led the round and was joined by Runtime Ventures, The Hive, and Webb Investment Network.

- Nectir, a Los Angeles-based personalized AI learning partner developer for students, raised $6.3 million in seed funding. Long Journey Ventures led the round and was joined by Entrada Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and Behind Genius Ventures.

- Across AI, developer of a "dynamic memory system," raised $5.75m in seed funding co-led by Cota Capital and Village Global.

- CAT Labs, a Miami-based startup that helps government agencies fight AI and crypto-enabled crime, raised $5.4m in seed funding. M13 led, and was joined by Castle Island Ventures, CMT Digital, and Hash3.

- Freckle, a Cambridge, Mass.-based data enrichment platform for non-technical users, raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding. Asymmetric Capital Partners led the round and was joined by Brenteca Investments, Mintaka VC, CoVentures, Polaris Ventures, and angel investors.

- On Me, an SF-based digital gifting platform, raised $1.7m in pre-seed funding co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Focal.VC

- Wexler AI, a London-based AI-powered legal fact intelligence platform, raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding. Myriad Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Entrepreneur First and angel investors.

HardTech:

- Tractian, an Atlanta-based industrial monitoring platform, raised $120 million in Series C funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by General Catalyst, Next47, and NGP Capital.

- AMP, a Louisville, Colo.-based AI-powered waste sortation provider, raised $91 million in Series D funding. Congruent Ventures led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital, XN, Blue Earth Capital, and others.

- Vooma, an SF-based AI platform for freight brokers and carriers, raised $13m in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures

- First Resonance, a Los Angeles-based digital manufacturing solutions provider, raised $12.3 million in funding. Third Prime led the round and was joined by Craft Ventures, Blue Bear Capital, and E12.

- Fabri, a Boston-based metal casting technology company, raised $5 million in seed funding. Lavrock Ventures, led the round and was joined by RTX Ventures, Tenon Ventures, and SBXi.

- RL Core Technologies, an Edmonton, Canada-based waste and wastewater process control optimization software provider, raised $5 million in seed funding. TQ Ventures led the round and was joined by Flying Fish Ventures.

Sustainability:

- Acceleron Fusion, a Cambridge, Mass.-based muon-catalyzed fusion technology developer, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Collaborative Fund and Lowercarbon Capital led the round and were joined by Sergey Gorbunov, Waikit Lau, Ravikant Capital, and others.

- Rosy Soil, a New York City-based sustainable soil company, raised $3.6 million in seed funding from Draper Associates, Superorganism, Climate Capital, and others.

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Acquisitions & PE:

- Deel, a payroll and HR platform valued by VCs at over $12b, acquired Atlantic Money, a London-based money transfer service that had raised $7.5m from backers like Ribbit Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Vlad Tenev.