Sourcery → buckle up

ServiceTitan S-1, Cerebral Valley, Peter Thiel; Neo, Writer, Radiant, CHAOS

Today’s Sourcery is brought to you by Archer.. 

Learn more about how Archer is set to open a new world of opportunity for passengers by providing safe and efficient access to people, places, and events across the communities they live at archer.com

Welcome to the longest newsletter in history. Buckle up.

FYI this is not a normal length. Just a lot of interesting things I couldn’t get myself to edit out. For starters, this week there were some juicy big funding announcements from Neo Financial's $185M Series C, Writer’s $200M Series C, Firefly Aerospace’s $175M Series D, CHAOS Industries $145M Series A, & Radiant’s $100M Series C. ServiceTitan released their S-1. Carta’s Q3 2024 private market report. +Legacy media continues to decay. 

AI Power Brokers Meet-Up

This Wednesday in San Francisco, AI’s elite leaders are meeting up to convene at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit (the highest value conference we like to attend - say hi). Speakers include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Scale CEO Alexandr Wang, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, Marissa Mayer, Together AI CEO Vipul Ved Prakash, Glean CEO Arvind Jain, CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator, and Andreessen Horowitz partner Martin Casado. 

→ Stay tuned for insights

Musings

Macro

• Choose Good Quests [Trae Stephens and Markie Wagner, Pirate Wires]

  • What did you get done this week?

• Peter Thiel on the Triumph of the Counter-Elites [The Free Press]

• The Defense Reformation [Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar]

• The Unholy Trinity of Venture Capital [Kyle Harrison]

• FBI raids Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home [All-in]

AI

• Perplexity Rolls Out Its AI-Powered Ecommerce Experience in the US [Adweek]

  • Well, I guess that’s one way to differentiate..

• Why AI is Underhyped with Elad Gil [Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist]

  • Where are all the young founders?

• Thrive Capital is in talks to lead a $1b tender offer for Databricks at a $55b valuation [Bloomberg]

Are we almost back..?

• ServiceTitan: Benchmarking the S1 Data [Jamin Ball of Altimeter]

• Misaligned Incentives Between GPs and Founders with Altimeter's Jamin Ball [TWIS]

• M&A and IPOs: What to expect in 2025 [All-In]

  • Distributions are at an ATL, exits are in-demand, are M&A + IPO markets gearing up for a record break of backlogged activity? All-In is bullish, but who knows, anyone’s guess.

• 50 slides of startup data from co-founder equity through seed fundraising [Carta]

• State of Private Markets: Q3 2024 [Carta]

  • Down rounds are lingering, M&A activity is increasing, deal terms are shifting, median time between rounds remain near record highs

Legacy Media is Crashing Hard

• The media landscape is experiencing a shift [Chamath]

• Retreat to our echochambers: X-odus to Bluesky? Media fragmentation post-election [Pirate Wires]

More

• Day One Ventures & Masha Bucher: Big Ideas For Humanity [Forbes]

  • This Silicon Valley GP is fighting for culture in a mundane world of automation, and it’s working

• New Release! Building Optimism: Why Our World Looks the Way it Does, and How to Make it Better [Coby Lefkowitz]

Top Interviews

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

• Alex Kolicich, 8VC | AI & Defense Tech Renaissance: Palantir, Anduril, SpaceX, OpenAI

• Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer | Portable Nuclear Microreactors & the Future of Clean Energy

---

Last Week (11/11-11/15):

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.

Acquisitions & PE

Wonder/Grubhub, Captions/AlpacaML, Red Hat/Neural Magic

Funds

Forerunner Ventures

Final Numbers

LiveNation’s Record High Attendance

---

VC Deals 

Fintech:

- Ualá, a Buenos Aires-based financial solutions provider, raised $300 million in Series E funding. Allianz X led the round and was joined by Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Tencent, Pershing Square Foundation, and others.

- Neo Financial, a Canadian challenger bank, raised $185M in Series D funding from Tobi Lütke (Shopify), Stewart Butterfield (Slack), David Baszucki (Roblox), Mike Wessinger (PointClickCare) and insiders Valar Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, and Thomvest Ventures.

- Lean Technologies, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based fintech infrastructure platform, raised $67.5 million in Series B funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Bain Capital Ventures, Duquesne Family Office, Arbor Ventures, Saudi Venture Capital, and others.

- Vega, an OS for alt asset managers, raised $20m in Series A funding co-led by Apollo and Motive.

- Parker, a New York City-based e-commerce financial platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Valar Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator.

- Tako, a São Paulo-based mid-sized companies’ workforce management platform, raised $13.2 million in seed funding. Ribbit Capital and Andreessen Horowitz led the round and were joined by ONEVC and others.

- Affiniti, a New York City-based financial stack for small businesses, raised $11 million in seed funding from Indicator Ventures, Emigrant Capital Corporation, Day One Ventures, and RiverPark Ventures.

- Pharos, a Road Town, British Virgin Islands-based full-stack parallel blockchain, raised $8 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC led the round and were joined by SNZ Capital, Reforge, Dispersion Capital, and others.

- Pond, a decentralized AI startup, raised a $7.5m seed led by Archetype, with participation from Cyber Fund, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Near Foundation.

- Bluespine, a New York City-based AI-powered claims cost reduction platform for self-insured employers, raised $7.2 million in seed funding. Team8 led the round and was joined by others.

- BetHog, a New York City-based crypto casino and sportsbook, raised $6 million in seed funding. 6MV led the round and was joined by Will Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Karatage, Advancit Capital, and angel investors.

- Tranched, a London-based embedded asset-based financing platform, raised $3.4 million in pre-seed funding. a16z's CSX and SpeedInvest led the round and were joined by Blockwall, Ovni Capital, and Kima.

- Zeplyn, a New York City-based AI assistant for financial advisors, raised $3 million in seed funding. Leo Capital led the round and was joined by Converge and angel investors.

- Craftt, a decentralized workforce benefits platform, raised $2m in seed funding. Superscrypt led, and was joined by DCG

Care:

- Stepful, a Detroit-based healthcare educational training provider, raised $31.5 million in Series B funding. Oak HC/FT led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Reach Capital, AlleyCorp, and others.

- Medeloop, a Menlo Park, Calif. clinical research analysis startup, raised $15m in Series A funding. Inovia Capital led, and was joined by Icon Ventures, General Catalyst and Maven Ventures, Healthier Capital, Up2 Opportunity Fund, and CFO Advisors.

- Impilo, a Philadelphia-based digital healthcare platform, raised $11.5 million in Series A funding. Construct Capital led the round and was joined by GC 1 Capital, One Way Ventures, 2048 Ventures, and angel investors.

- Upheal, a New York City-based documentation and note-taking AI platform for therapists, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Headline led the round and was joined by Credo Ventures and Kaya Ventures.

- OneSkin, a San Francisco-based skin health brand, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Selva Ventures led the round and was joined by PLUS Capital, Unilever Ventures, Able Partners, existing investors SOSV and Meta Planet, and others.

- Conflixis, a Dallas-based healthcare data and risk software platform, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures led the round and were joined by mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and existing investor Crētiv Capital.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Writer, a San Francisco-based full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises, raised $200 million in Series C funding. Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and existing investor ICONIQ Growth led the round and were joined by Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, B Capital, existing investors Accenture, Balderton, Insight Partners, and Vanguard, and others.

- Tessl, a London-based open software development platform, raised $125 million in funding. Index Ventures led the $100 million Series A funding round and was joined by Accel, GV, and boldstart ventures. boldstart ventures and GV led the $25 million seed round.

- Recogni, a San Jose, Calif., developer of generative AI inference systems, raised $102m in Series C funding. Celesta Capital and GreatPoint Ventures co-led, and were joined by Juniper Networks.

- ScaleOps, an Israeli cloud resource management startup, raised $58m in Series B funding led by insider Lightspeed. Others backers include NFX, Glilot Capital Partners, and Picture Capital.

- Zero Gravity Labs, a San Francisco-based decentralized AI operating system software developer, raised $40 million in seed funding from Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, and others.

- SwiftConnect, a Stamford, Conn.-based access network and digital pass provider, raised $37 million in Series B funding. Quadri Ventures led the round and was joined by HID, Egis Capital Partners, Klingenstein Fields Advisors, existing investors Crow Holdings, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital, and others.

- Conduktor, a New York City-based enterprise data management platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding. RTP Global led the round and was joined by M12, Ansa, and existing investor Accel.

- Plantible Foods, a San Diego-based food technology company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital led the round and were joined by Betagro Ventures, Cultivate Next, Nourish Ventures, and existing investor Astanor Ventures.

- Prokeep, a New Orleans-based customer engagement platform for distributors, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Dahlia Equity Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Ironspring Ventures, S3 Ventures, and Benson Capital Partners.

- LocalStack, a Zurich-based local cloud development platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Notable Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors CRV and Heavybit.

- Northflank, a London-based production workload platform for developers, raised $22.3 million in funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the $16 million Series A round and Vertex Ventures US led the $6.3 million seed round. They were joined by Kindred Ventures, Tapestry VC, Pebblebed, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

- UnifyApps, a New York City-based enterprise AI agent developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding. ICONIQ Growth led the round and was joined by existing investor Elevation Capital and others.

- PointFive, a New York City-based cloud cost optimization platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Salesforce Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Index Ventures, Entree Capital, Sheva VC, and others, and angel investors.

- Bounce, a San Francisco-based luggage storage network, raised $19 million in Series B funding. Sapphire Sport led the round and was joined by Thayer Ventures, FJ Labs, 20VC Growth, Shilling, and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.

- Northflank, a London-based workload platform for developers, raised $16m in Series A funding. Bain Capital led, and was joined by Vertex Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Tapestry VC, Pebblebed, and Uncorrelated Ventures

- Cogna, a London-based precision solutions provider, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Notion Capital led the round and was joined by Hoxton Ventures and Chalfen Ventures.

- Neon, a San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer platform for games, raised $14 million in funding from Renegade Partners, Thrive Capital, a16z Speedrun, and others.

- Alison.ai, a Wilmington, Del.-based creative AI advertising platform, raised $13.3 million in seed funding. Almaz Capital led the round and was joined by Foresight Group, Cardumen Capital, Crescendo Venture Partners, and Alumni Ventures.

- Leland, a Lehi, Utah-based coaching platform, raised $12m in Series A funding. Forerunner Ventures led, and was joined by GSV Ventures

- Influur, a Miami-based professional platform for influencers, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Point 72 Ventures and H20 Capital led the round and were joined by Sofia Vergara, Thalía, Luis Balaguer, and others.

- Equal, a Hyderabad, India-based identity verification aggregator, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Prosus Ventures, Tomales Bay Capital, and Keshav Reddy led the round and were joined by Blume Ventures, DST Global, Quona VC, and others.

- Panjaya, a San Francisco-based AI video translation platform developer, raised $9.5 million in funding from Viola Ventures, R-Squared Ventures, and angel investors.

- Fastino, a San Francisco-based foundational AI model provider, raised $7 million in pre-seed funding. Insight Partners and M12 led the round and were joined by NEA, Valor, Thomas Dohmke, and others.

- Starform, a Seattle-based game studio, raised $6 million in funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by Dune Ventures.

- SurePath AI, a Denver-based governing generative AI platform for enterprises, raised $5.2 million in seed funding. Uncork Capital led the round and was joined by Operator Collective.

- PuppyGraph, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based graph query engine company, raised $5 million in seed funding. defy.vc led the round and was joined by Eastlink Capital and SV Tech Ventures.

- Conflixis, a Dallas-based data risk platform, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures led the round and were joined by mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and existing investor Cretiv Capital.

- Lume AI, a data mapping automation startup, raised $4.2m in seed funding. General Catalyst led, and was joined by YC, Khosla Ventures, Floodgate, and Soma Capital

- Workflow, a London-based design, marketing, and product AI software developer, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Venrex led the round and was joined by 8VC, Sequoia, Octopus, Index Ventures, and others.

- Arphie, a San Francisco-based AI agents for RFPs and complex questionnaires developer, raised $2.9 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Definition and Recall Capital.

- Connecty AI, a San Francisco-based enterprise data agents developer, raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. Market One Capital led the round and was joined by Notion Capital and others.

HardTech:

- Firefly Aerospace, a Houston-based rocket maker backed by AE Industrial Partners, raised $175m in Series D funding at a valuation north of $2b led by RPM Ventures.

- CHAOS Industries, a Los Angeles-based defense and critical industry technologies developer, raised $145 million in Series B funding. Accel led the round and was joined by 8VC, Overmatch Ventures, Lerner Enterprises, and others.

- Radiant, an El Segundo, Calif., maker of portable nuclear generators, raised $100m in Series C funding. DCVC led, and was joined by a16z, USV, Felicis, Washington Harbour Partners, Chevron, Founders Fund, Decisive Point, McKinley Alaska, Boost VC, and Also Capital.

- Starfish Space, a Tukwila, Wash.-based Otter satellite servicing vehicle developer, raised $29 million in funding. Shield Capital led the round and was joined by Point72 Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, existing investors Munich Re Ventures, Toyota Ventures, NFX, and Industrious Ventures, and others.

- Vecna Robotics, a Waltham, Mass.-based material handling robotics developer, raised $14.5 million in funding from Tiger Global, Drive Capital, and other existing investors.