Sourcery → 4 More Years
OpenAI, poolside, Impulse Space, Zepz, Eon, Qodo, Resolve AI, Mstack Chemicals, Pallet, Valdera; MrBeast/Vouch, Settle/Turbine, Toyota/Joby Aviation
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4 Years of Sourcery!
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Musings
VC Data
Venture firm CRV returns $275 million citing overvaluation of mature startups [TechCrunch]
Crunchbase has released a new Predictions & Insights suite to help catch companies raising ahead of schedule
Global Funding Slowed In Q3, Even As AI Continued To Lead [Crunchbase]
More
America’s Young Men Are Falling Even Further Behind [WSJ]
Men in their 20s and early 30s are much more likely than female peers to live with their parents, and many say they feel aimless and isolated
Top Interviews
Impulse Labs, Trojan Horse for Battery-Powered Homes | Backed by Lux Capital w/ $25M Raised to Date
Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer on Portable Nuclear Microreactors & the Future of Clean Energy | From SpaceX to Radiant
Last Week (9/30-10/4):
Relevant deals include the 70+ 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:
OpenAI, poolside, Impulse Space, Zepz, Eon, Qodo, Resolve AI, Mstack Chemicals, Pallet, Valdera
Acquisitions & PE
MrBeast/Vouch, Settle/Turbine, Toyota/Joby Aviation
Funds
Summit Partners, Gallant Capital Partners
Final Numbers
Housing Market Bubble in Miami?
VC Deals
Fintech:
- Zepz (fka WorldRemit), a London-based money transfer service, raised $267m. Accel led, and was joined by IFC, Leapfrog, TCV, and Coller Capital.
- Rogo, a generative AI startup focused on financial services, raised $18.5m in Series A funding, per Fortune. Khosla Ventures led, and was joined by AltCapital, Original Capital, Mantis VC and insiders AlleyCorp, BoxGroup, and ScOp VC
Care:
- Nym, a New York City-based autonomous medical coding company, raised $47 million in funding. PSG led the round and was joined by Google Ventures, Addition, Samsung Next, and Dynamic Loop Capital.
- Rippl, a Seattle.-based virtual dementia care platform, raised $23 million in Series A funding. Tina Hoang-To led the round and was joined by existing investors ARCH Ventures, General Catalyst, GV, and others.
- Empathy Health Technologies, a digital health app focused on addiction recovery, raised $2.8m in seed funding from HealthX Ventures, Nina Capital, Ikigai Growth Partners, 46 Ventures, The Venture Center, High Street Equity Partners, and Suncoast Ventures.
Enterprise/Consumer:
- OpenAI, a San Francisco.-based AI company, raised $6.6 billion in funding at a total valuation of $157 billion. Thrive Capital led the round and was joined by Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, existing investors Nvidia and Microsoft, and others.
- poolside, a San Francisco.-based AI developer for software development, raised $500 million in Series B funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by DST Global, StepStone Group, Schroders Capital, NVIDIA, Citi Ventures, Capital One Ventures, existing investors Felicis Ventures and Redpoint Ventures, and others.
- Eon, a New York City-based cloud backup solution, raised $127 million in funding. Sequoia Capital led the $20 million seed and was joined by Vine Ventures, Meron Capital, and Eight Roads. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the $30 million Series A and was joined by Sheva. Greenoaks led the $77 million Series B and was joined by Quiet Ventures.
- HungryPanda, a food delivery service for Chinese expat communities, raised $55m. Mars Growth Capital led, and was joined by insiders Perwyn, Kinnevik, 83North, and Felix
- 11x AI, a developer of AI sales reps, raised $50m in Series B funding led by a16z at around a $350m valuation
- DataPelago, a Mountain View, Calif.-based universal data processing engine developer, raised $47 million in funding from Eclipse, Taiwania Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, and others.
- VieCure, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based intelligence platforms provider for community oncology care, raised $45 million in funding from Northpond Ventures.
- Qodo, a Tel Aviv-based AI coding platform, raised $40 million in Series A funding. Susa Ventures and Square Peg led the round and were joined by Firestreak Ventures, ICON Continuity Fund, and existing investors TLV Partners and Vine Venture
- Resolve AI, a San Francisco-based AI software operations automation developer, raised $35 million in seed funding. Greylock led the round and was joined by Unusual and angel investors.
- Numa, an Oakland, Calif.-based AI platform for auto dealerships, raised $32 million in Series B funding. Touring Capital and Mitsui led the round and were joined by existing investors Costanoa Ventures, Threshold, and Gradient Ventures.
- xtype, a Covina, Calif.-based multi-instance management provider for the ServiceNow platform, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round and was joined by ServiceNow Ventures and existing investors Columbia Capital, Inner Loop Capital, and others.
- Voyage AI, a Palo Alto-based embedding models for retrieval-augmented generation applications developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding. CRV led the round and was joined by Snowflake, Databricks, Pear VC, existing investors Wing VC and Conviction, and others.
- MarqVision, a Los Angeles.-based online brand protection solution, raised $16 million in funding from Altos Ventures, Y Combinator, and Quantum Light.
- AirOps, a San Francisco-based AI workflow platform for marketers, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. Unusual VC led the round and was joined by Wing VC, Founder Collective, XFund, and others.
- Apono, a New York City-based cloud access management platform, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. New Era Capital Partners led the round and was joined by Mindset Ventures, Redseed Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, existing investors, and others.
- Neeve, a San Francisco, Calif.-based cloud Platform-as-a-Service provider for smart buildings and spaces, raised $15 million in funding from Cantor Fitzgerald and RXR.
- Wispr, a San Francisco-based voice-first productivity tool developer, raised $12 million in funding. Matt Kraning led the round and was joined by existing investors NEA, 8VC, Tim Junio, and Alumni Ventures.
- Lucky Energy, an Austin-based energy drink company, raised $11.8 million in Series A funding. Brand Foundry Ventures led the round and was joined by Imaginary Ventures, Sapphire Sport, Sugar Capital, and others.
- Artisan, a San Francisco-based AI employee developer, raised $11.5 million in seed funding. Oliver Jung led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, Day One Ventures, and others.
- Vieu, a Seattle.-based AI-powered business network for enterprise sales, raised $11 million in seed funding. Trilogy Equity Partners led the round and was joined by Incubate Fund and Vela Partners.
- Lanai AI, an enterprise AI enablement platform, raised $10m in seed funding from Juxtapose, Lux Capital, F7Ventures, and BAG Ventures
- Reducto, a San Francisco-based AI document processing solution provider, raised $8.4 million in seed funding. First Round Capital led the round and was joined by YCombinator, BoxGroup, SVAngel, and others.
- Avarra, a San Mateo, Calif.-based enterprise avatar and AI-simulation company, raised $8 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by GTM Fund, Firsthand Alliance, John W. Thompson, and others.
- Ameba, a London-based AI supply chain platform, raised $7.1 million in seed funding. Hedosphia led the round and was joined by Anamcara Capital and existing investor Visionaries Club.
- Thread AI, a New York City-based composable AI infrastructure platform provider for enterprises, raised $6 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Greycroft and angel investors.
- Clout Kitchen, a Santa Monica-based creator-powered interactive experiences developer, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. a16z SPEEDRUN and Peak XV’s Surge led the round and were joined by AppWorks, Antler, Hustle Fund, and others.
- iAsk, a Chicago-based AI search engine, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. Corazon Capital led the round and was joined by Chingona Ventures, Starting Line VC, Alumni Ventures, angel investors, and others.
- Billables AI, a San Francisco-based AI platform for professional service providers, raised $3.9 million in seed funding. Wing VC led the round and was joined by F7, SignalFire, Darkmode, Alumni Ventures, angel investors, and others.
- Permanent, a San Juan Islands, Washington-based wholesale food marketplace and distributor, raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Better Tomorrow Ventures led the round and was joined by Atman Capital, Autopilot, Gaingels, Progression, Sugar Mountain, and others.
- Enlaye, Boston-based AI-native risk lifecycle management platform developer for the built world, raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding. Glasswing VC and Hannah Grey VC led the round and were joined by Link Ventures.
HardTech:
- Impulse Space, a Redondo Beach, Calif.-based in-space transportation services company, raised $150 million in Series B funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by DCVC, existing investors Lux Capital, Spring Tide, Airbus Ventures, and others.
- Dexory, a London, England-based robotics and data intelligence company, raised $80 million in Series B funding. DTCP led the round and was joined by Latitude Ventures, Wave-X, Bootstrap Europe, existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and angel investors.
- Mstack Chemicals, a Houston-based chemical manufacturing platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Lightspeed and Alpha Wave led the round and were joined by angel investors.
- Pallet, a San Francisco-based transportation and warehouse management system provider, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Activant Capital, and angel investors.
- Valdera, a San Francisco-based AI sourcing platform for chemicals and raw materials, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Susa Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Box Group and others.
- Salient Motion, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based motion control systems developer for the aerospace industry, raised $12 million in pre-seed and seed funding. Cantos Ventures led the round and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, AE Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures, and BoxGroup.
- Airship, a Washington D.C.-based point of sale software provider for HVAC businesses, raised $4 million in pre-seed funding. QED Investors led the round and was joined by Silence, Lorimer Ventures, Four Acres Capital, and Twine Ventures.
- Runware, an SF-based generative media startup, raised $3m from a16z, LakeStar, Lunar Ventures, Begin Capital, and Zero Prime
- Paren, a Sam Francisco-based EV data platform, raised $3 million in funding. Base10 Partners led the round and was joined by Founders Network Fund and Luc Vincent.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) is in talks to invest in Coreweave, a Roseland, N.J.-based cloud computing platform, at a $23b valuation, per Bloomberg. Coreweave was last valued by VCs at $19b
- MrBeast acquired Vouch, a Los Angeles-based creator hiring platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Settle, a New York-based provider of working capital and accounts payable software to CPG brands, acquired Columbus, Ga., inventory management software provider Turbine. Settle has raised around $100m from firms like Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins.
- TPG Capital agreed to acquire the remaining 70% stake in DirecTV, an El Segundo, Calif.-based satellite TV company, from AT&T for $7.6 billion in cash.
- Toyota agreed to invest $500 million in Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based electric air taxis developer for commercial passenger service.
- LVMH (Paris: MC) agreed to sell fashion label Off-White to brand management firm Bluestar Alliance
Funds:
- Summit Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, raised $9.5 billion for its twelfth fund focused on technology, healthcare and life sciences, and growth products and services.
- Gallant Capital Partners of Los Angeles raised $406m for its second fund
Final Numbers:
Following in the footsteps of NFL star Tom Brady, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, and the mayor of Flavortown, David and Victoria Beckham have reportedly purchased a Miami Beach mansion for a posh $60 million.
The couple’s rumored new stateside “Beckingham Palace” features 9 bedrooms, as well as the run-of-the-mill pool, spa, gym, and cinema that come almost as standard among the area’s sprawling waterfront estates. Whether it will hold its value, even with all of those amenities, is another question altogether.
Indeed, the annual UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index for 2024, which analyzes residential property prices in 25 major cities worldwide, revealed that Miami’s soaring housing market had the highest bubble risk with an index score of 1.79 — beating Tokyo and Zurich for the top spot.
The Big 305
The score is calculated as a weighted average of several factors such as price-to-income and price-to-rent ratios, economic distortions like lending and building booms, and prices in the city compared with the rest of the country. As such, it serves as an indicator of how likely it is for a region’s housing market to be in a price “bubble”.
While UBS noted that Miami’s booming housing market has “cooled somewhat” due to higher mortgage rates, prices are still rising. In fact, Miami homes are now almost 50% more expensive than they were at the end of 2019, significantly outpacing income and rental growth over that period.
Per the report, price inflation has been fueled by wealthy households vying for the city’s few upmarket ocean-front properties. They’ve been drawn in by Miami’s new position as a financial hub, relative value compared to NYC and LA properties, warm weather, and — of course — low tax rates, with the 1% (or 0.1%) potentially saving millions on not paying any capital gains, state income, or estate taxes in the state of Florida. It follows, then, that Miami’s millionaire population has grown by 75% over the past decade, with the lavish West Palm Beach area alone seeing an increase of 90%.
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