Sourcery → Drama

OpenAI, Meta's Orion Glasses, Chamath 🍿 EGYM, Whatfix, Supabase, UJET, Torq, Quantum Systems, Crisp, Pyka, Reflect Orbital, Twelve, Dandelion Energy, finally, AtoB, Jump

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Musings

Macro

• September consumer confidence falls the most in three years [CNBC]

AI

• Google Quantum AI demonstrates a quantum memory system that greatly reduces error rates [Phys]

• Three Mile Island nuclear plant will reopen to power Microsoft data centers [NPR]

• A bottle of water per email: the hidden environmental costs of using AI chatbots [WP]

OpenAI Drama

• Exclusive: OpenAI to remove non-profit control and give Sam Altman equity [Reuters]

• OpenAI sees roughly $5 billion loss this year on $3.7 billion in revenue [CNBC]

• OpenAI's technology chief Mira Murati, two other research executives to leave [Reuters]

More

• Chamath Palihapitiya [JRE]

• Meta’s New Headsets Show Apple Has Lost Its Way With the Vision Pro [Bloomberg]

• NYC Mayor Indicted, Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics, Meta Orion AR, SpaceX Sued & PIRATE IDOL [Pirate Wires]

Top Interviews

• Molly Alter, Partner at Northzone, $4B AUM | EU vs USA, Software for Hardware, Vertical AI, VC Biases

• Zamp's Series A: $14M in 15 Months | Fastest Growing FinTech + Multi-Billion-Dollar Opportunity

• Mark Suster, Upfront Ventures: Investing in Space, Defense, & Exit Opportunities | VC Exit Lockup, Are IPOs Over?

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Last Week (9/23-9/27):

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: 

EGYM, Whatfix, Supabase, UJET, Torq, Quantum Systems, Crisp, Pyka, Reflect Orbital, Twelve, Dandelion Energy, finally, AtoB, Jump, Zing Health, Mendaera

Acquisitions & PE

Oyo/Motel 6, Smartsheet, L Catterton/[solidcore], 9count/Lex, DirecTV/Dish Network

Funds

Boldstart Ventures, Era Ventures

Final Numbers

Final numbers on worldwide M&A and EchoStar Stock Growth

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VC Deals 

Fintech:

- finally, a Miami, Fla.-based AI-powered finance and HR platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding from PeakSpan Capital.

- AtoB, a San Francisco, Calif.-based payment solutions provider for the transportation industry, raised $30 million in Series C funding. General Catalyst and Bloomberg Beta led the round and were joined by Mastercard and others.

- Apron, a London-based payments platform for small businesses, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Zinal Growth led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Tony Fadell, and existing investor Index Ventures.

- LiveFlow, a New York City-based accounting automation platform, raised $13.5 million in Series A funding from Valar Ventures.

- Jump, a French freelancer benefits startup, raised €11m in Series A funding. Breega led, and was joined by Index Ventures and Raise Ventures

- Icon, a Portland, Ore.-based retirement technology company, raised $9.2 million in funding. Tom Blaisdell and Mark Johnson led the round and were joined by Zeal Capital, ReThink Impact, and BBGV.

- Mesa, an Austin, Texas-based homeowner membership platform, raised $7.2 million in seed funding. Streamlined Ventures led the round and was joined by Starting Line, Assurant Ventures, Vera Equity, and others.

- Daylight, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based transaction recommendation engine, raised $6 million in seed funding. Union Square Ventures and 1kx led the round and were joined by existing investors Framework Ventures and Chapter One and angel investors.

- Tetrix, a New York City-based AI-powered alternative investing insights platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Innovation Endeavors led the round and was joined by angel investors.

Care:

- Zing Health, a Chicago, Ill.-based health insurance company, raised an incremental $140 million in funding. Health 2047 Capital Partners, CRG, and First Trust Capital Partners led the round and were joined by existing investors Newlight Partners, Town Hall Ventures, Health 2047, and Leavitt Equity Partners.

- Mendaera, a San Mateo, Calif.-based medical robotics developer, raised $73 million in Series B funding. Threshold Ventures led the round and was joined by Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll.

- Qure.ai, a New York City-based AI healthcare platform, raised $65 million in Series D funding. Lightspeed and 360 ONE Asset led the round and were joined by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Kae Capital, and existing investors Novo Holdings, HealthQuad, and TeamFund.

- Centivo, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based affordable healthcare company, raised $25 million in Series C funding from Cone Health Ventures, MemorialCare Innovation Fund, and existing investors B Capital, Cox Enterprises, F-Prime Capital Partners, and others.

- Scribenote, a Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada-based AI-powered medical scribe for veterinarians, raised $8.2 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by Inovia Capital, the Velocity Fund, and angel investors.

- Arya Health, a New York City-based maker of AI software for managing healthcare staff, raised $4 million in seed funding. Twelve Below led the round and was joined by Nebular VC and existing investors Oceans and Ridge Ventures.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- EGYM, a Denver-based fitness technology and corporate wellness company, raised $200 million in funding from L Catterton and Meritech Capital.

- Whatfix, a San Jose, Calif.-based digital adoption platform, raised $125 million in Series E funding. Warburg Pincus led the round and was joined by existing investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

- Supabase, a remote open source platform and Postgres database service, raised $80 million in Series C funding. Craft Ventures and Peak XV led the round and were joined by existing investors Coatue, Felicis, and Y Combinator.

- UJET, a San Francisco, Calif.-based AI-powered cloud contact center solutions provider, raised $76 million in Series D funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by KeyCorp, IonPacific, and existing investors GV, Kleiner Perkins, Citi Ventures, and others.

- Torq, a New York City-based cybersecurity automation platform, raised $70 million in Series C funding. Evolution Equity Partners led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Notable Capital, Greenfield Partners, and Strait Capital.

- 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.

- Qodo (fka CodiumAI), an Israeli AI code generation and testing tool, raised $40m in Series A funding co-led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg

- Motion, a Toronto, Canada-based advertising analytics company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Inovia led the round and was joined by Threshold Ventures and existing investors Headline, Abstract Ventures, and Sugar Capital.

- Raycast, a London, England-based productivity tools platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding. ​​Atomico led the round and was joined by Accel, Coatue, Y Combinator, and others.

- Prepared, a New York City-based emergency communications AI platform, raised $27 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by NewView Capital and existing investors First Round Capital and M13.

- Observe, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company whose software provides customers a view into the performance of their SaaS products, raised $20 million in a Series B extension from Madrona Ventures and Evolution Equity Partners.

- Arcade, a San Francisco, Calif.-based generative AI marketplace, raised $17 million in funding. Reid Hoffman and Brit Morin led a $5 million round and were joined by Heretic Ventures. Arcade raised an additional $5 million in funding from Ashton Kutcher. Other investors participated in the funding.

- Apono, a New York provider of cloud access solutions, raised $15.5m in Series A funding. New Era Capital Partners led, and was joined by Mindset Ventures, Redseed Ventures, and Silvertech Ventures

- Wispr, an SF-based voice dictation startup, raised $12m. Matt Kraning (Palo Alto Networks) led, and was joined by NEA and 8VC

- Convergence, a London-based developer of personal AI agents, raised $12 million in pre-seed funding. Balderton Capital led the round and was joined by Salesforce Ventures and Shopify Ventures.

- Tamnoon, a Seattle, Wash.-based cloud security company, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Bright Pixel Capital led the round and was joined by Blu Ventures, Mindset Ventures, and existing investors Merlin Ventures, Secret Chord Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and Elron Ventures.

- Letta, a San Francisco, Calif.-based AI memory systems developer, raised $10 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Sunflower Capital, Essence VC, and angel investors.

- Zenlytic, a New York City-based business intelligence platform, raised $9 million in Series A funding. M13 led the round and was joined by Bain Capital Ventures, Primary Ventures, Company Ventures, angel investors, and others.

- Oak Essentials, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based beauty brand, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Silas Capital led the round and was joined by Unilever Ventures.

- DefectDojo, an Austin, Texas-based application security management platform, raised $7 million in funding from Iolar Ventures, Aspenwood Ventures, and others.

- Darkbright Studios, a Wilmington, Del.-based game developer, raised $6 million in seed funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by Play Ventures, Anthos Capital, King River Capital, and others.

- Bluebricks, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cloud management platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Flint Capital and Glilot Capital Partners led the round and were joined by Yochay Ettun, Raz Shaked, angel investors, and others.

- Ensemble, a San Francisco-based machine learning development company, raised $3.3 million in seed funding. Salesforce Ventures led the round and was joined by M13, Motivate, and Amplo.

- Mako, a San Francisco-based AI investment associate developer, raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

HardTech:

- Quantum Systems, a Munich, Germany-based drone technology developer, raised €100 million ($111.7 million) in Series B funding from Notion Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, and existing investors.

- Distribution, a German B2B ground transportation marketplace, raised $80m in Series C funding. TQ Ventures led, and was joined by insider Lightrock

- Crisp, a Bentonville, Ark., supply chain data startup, raised $72m in Series B funding from Wellington Management, Toshiba, DNX, Cox, and Prologis

- Pyka, an Alameda, Calif.-based electric aviation technology company, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Obvious Ventures led the round and was joined by Piva Capital, Prelude Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings, Y Combinator, and others.

- HyperLight Corporation, a Cambridge, Mass.-based photonic integrated circuits and photonics solutions provider, raised $37 million in Series B funding. Summit Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Xora Innovation and Foothill Ventures.

- David Energy, a Brooklyn-based energy retailer, raised $23m in Series A-1 funding. Cathay Innovation led, and was joined by USV, Keyframe Capital, Equal Ventures, and BoxGroup

- Bot Auto, a Houston-based autonomous truck developer, raised $20 million in pre-Series A funding from Brightway Future Venture, Cherubic Venture, EnvisionX Venture, and others.

- Ephos, a Milan, Italy-based glass-based photonic chips developer, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Starlight Ventures led the round and was joined by Collaborative Fund, Exor Ventures, 2100 Ventures, Unruly Capital, angel investors, and others.

- Reflect Orbital, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based reflective satellite developer for solar energy capture, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Shaun Maguire led the round and was joined by Starship Ventures, Baiju Bhatt, Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, and Keenan Wyrobek.

- GenLogs, a Washington D.C.-based freight tracking technology developer, raised $6 million in seed funding. Autotech Ventures and Steel Atlas led the round and were joined by Venture53, TitletownTech, Plug and Play Ventures, and others.

- Reframe, a New York City-based desktop computing platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Primary Venture Partners and Eniac Ventures led the round and were joined by Founder Collective and Operator Partners.

- Platformatic, a San Francisco, Calif.-based cloud-native Node.js application platform, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Rialto Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Decibel and Panache Ventures.

- Karman Industries, a Long Beach, Calif.-based electric industrial thermal energy technology developer, raised $4 million in pre-seed funding. Riot Ventures led the round and was joined by Space VC.

- Desia, a London, England-based intelligence and AI productivity system for investment professionals, raised $3.3 million in pre-seed funding. Dig Ventures led the round and was joined by 2100 Ventures, Exor Ventures, Octopus Ventures, angel investors, and others.

- mbue, an Austin, Texas-based automated architectural review app, raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding from Techstars, Geek Ventures, 2045 Ventures, and others.

Sustainability:

- Twelve, a Berkeley, Calif.-based carbon transformation company, raised $200 million in Series C funding. TPG Rise Climate led the round and was joined by Capricorn Investment Group, Pulse Fund, Fifth Wall, existing investors DCVC, Munich Re Ventures, Emerson Collective, and others. Twelve also raised $400 million in funding from TPG Rise Climate.

- Dandelion Energy, an Arlington Va.-based home geothermal company, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Google Ventures led the round and was joined by Collaborative Fund, LenX, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and NGP.

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Acquisitions & PE:

- Oyo agreed to acquire Motel 6, a Carrollton, Texas-based hotel chain, from Blackstone for $525 million in cash.

- Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire Smartsheet, a Bellevue, Wash.-based work management platform, for approximately $8.4 billion in cash.

- L Catterton agreed to acquire a majority stake in [solidcore], a Rosslyn, Va.-based strength-training fitness studios network, from VMG Partners, Kohlberg & Company, and Peterson Partners.

- Ridgeview Partners agreed to buy PayRange, a Portland, Ore., mobile payments company that raised around $95m from firms like Matrix Partners, Nyca Partners, Eastward Capital Partners, and Max Levchin.

- 9count, a VC-backed mobile app conglomerate, acquired Lex, an LGBTQ+ dating app that had raised around $11m from backers like Peter Boyce, Best Nights VC, Graph Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Gaingels, Female Founders Fund, Alpaca VC, Slauson & Co., Great Oaks VC

- TPG is in advanced talks to buy a $2b minority stake in Kansas-based wealth manager Creative Planning, at a valuation north of $15b

- Commvault (Nasdaq: CLVT) acquired Clumio, a Santa Clara, Calif., cloud data backup and recovery company that had raised over $270m from firms like Sutter Hill Ventures, Index Ventures, Altimeter Capital, and NewView Capital also participating

- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) acquired Zoomin, an Israeli technical documentation development platform that had raised over $70m from Salesforce Ventures, General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Viola Growth.

- Wiz, a New York cloud security firm, is in talks to launch up to a $700m tender at a $20b valuation, per Bloomberg. The company was in talks over the summer to be acquired by Google for around $23b, and raised $1b in Series E funding earlier this year at a $12b post-money valuation.

- The family office of General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford acquired a 24% stake in English soccer club York City FC

- DirecTV agrees to acquire rival Dish Network for $1 [Axios]

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Funds:

- Boldstart Ventures of Miami raised $250m for its seventh fund

- Era Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm, raised $88 million for its first fund focused on the real estate industry.

- Pangaea Ventures, a Vancouver, Canada-based venture capital firm, raised $85 million for its fifth fund focused on materials science, chemistry, and biology hard tech companies.

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Final Numbers:

Source: LSEG. Data as of Sept. 19, 2024.

Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals