Sourcery → Palantir is on a Tear

Crypto, Bitcoin, AI x U.S. Defense

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Musings

AI x Defense: Palantir is on a tear + wonder when xAI will come into play..

• The U.S. defense and homeland security departments have paid $700 million for AI projects since ChatGPT’s launch [Fortune]

• Scale AI’s Defense Llama: The LLM Purpose-Built for American National Security [Scale AI]

  • TBT: In 2022, Scale AI nabbed $250M deal to AI-ready the US Defense Department

• OpenAI Expands Into Defense Sector, Partnering with Controversial Contractor Carahsoft [Al Dia]

• Meta: Open Source AI Can Help America Lead in AI and Strengthen Global Security

  • Partnering with companies including Accenture Federal Services, Amazon Web Services, Anduril, Booz Allen, Databricks, Deloitte, IBM, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Scale AI and Snowflake to bring Llama to government agencies

• Palantir’s ($PLTR) Market Cap Exceeds Lockheed Martin [Jacob Helberg]

  • Anthropic and Palantir Partner to Bring Claude AI Models to AWS for U.S. Government Intelligence and Defense Operations [Palantir]

  • Pentagon awards $480 million deal to Palantir for 'Maven' prototype [Reuters]

  • Palantir Expands Maven Smart System AI/ML Capabilities to Military Services with $100M Contract [Palantir]

  • Palantir and Microsoft Partner to Deliver Enhanced Analytics and AI Services to Classified Networks for Critical National Security Operations [Microsoft]

YC

• YC’s Request for Startups (“RFS”) has gone “has gone fully based and e/acc-pilled” [Beff Jezos]

  • RFS focuses on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and innovation across various U.S. sectors, including government software, public safety, US manufacturing, stablecoins, chip design, fintech, space, engineering tools, & job creation… sounds like American Dynamism to me 🇺🇸

AI

• OpenAI and rivals seek new path to smarter AI as current methods hit limitations [Yahoo! Finance]

• Dario Amodei: Anthropic CEO on Claude, AGI & the Future of AI & Humanity [Lex Fridman]

  • at 5+ hours.. I’m calling peak on long form content

Resources

• Brad Jacobs - Think Big and Move Fast [Invest Like the Best]

  • Brad has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion dollars of debt and equity capital

• Guide to Compensation Adjustments post Fundraise [Homebrew Guides]

  • What to do when employees ask for more money.

• Founders Guide to Layoffs [Homebrew Guides]

  • How to properly reduce your workforce.

Crypto Boom?!

• ​Trump’s Election Victory Could Signal A Flourishing Era For Digital Assets Like Bitcoin, & More [Ark Invest]

• The real story behind Sam Altman's $240,000,000 Orb [S3]

• The Post Election Surge is Unevenly Distributed: SaaS, Crypto [Tomasz Tunguz]

More

• Martha Stewart Documentary

  • Growing up as a neighbor in Westport I can honestly say Martha is a legend and the queen

• Christians in tech drive religious revival in SF [The San Francisco Standard]

  • One of America’s most secular cities is experiencing a religious boom with Silicon Valley overtones

• Modern Meditations: Danny Rimer, The Index Ventures partner on art, investing, and destiny

Cerebral Valley AI Summit is back in San Francisco this November!

CEOs of Scale AI, Together AI, Character.ai, Glean & CoreWeave have been added to the speaker roster, along with Andreessen Horowitz's Martin Casado → Apply here

Top Interviews

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

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

• Fmr Chief Scientist at Salesforce, Richard Socher | You.com, $99M Raised, LLMs, AI Agents, Complex Work

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Last Week (11/4-11/8):

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: 

Physical Intelligence, BETA Tech, Melio, Ellipsis Labs, Fractional, Noma, Dash0

Acquisitions & PE

Apple/GlobalStar, OpenAI/Chat.com, Coreweave

Funds

Shamrock Capital, Tribe Capital

Final Numbers

Bitcoin Crosses $1.6T Market Cap

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VC Deals 

Fintech:

- Melio, a New York City-based accounts payable and receivable platform for small and medium businesses, raised $150 million in Series E funding. Fiserv led the round and was joined by Shopify Ventures and Capital One Ventures.

- Ellipsis Labs, a Solana-based decentralized exchange developer, raised $21m led by Haun Ventures.

- Fractional, a San Francisco-based property co-ownership platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Fifth Wall led the round and was joined by Left Lane and others.

- Marosa, an accounting SaaS for invoicing and compliance, raised €12m from Aquiline

- Vlayer, an ethereum smart contract startup, raised $10m in pre-seed funding from a16z, Credo Ventures, and BlockTower Capital.

- Delos Insurance Solutions, an SF-based wildfire insurance MGA, raised $9m in Series A funding. HSBC Asset Management led, and was joined by IA Capital Group, Blue Bear Capital, and Generation Space

- Troveo, a Los Angeles-based AI monetization platform for content owners, raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Seven Seven Six and angel investors.

- Further, a remote financial planning platform for first-time homebuyers, raised $4.1 million in pre-seed funding from Link Ventures, Vesta Ventures, F4, angel investors, and others.

Care:

- Research Grid, a London-based provider of workflow automation software for clinical trials, raised $6.5m in seed funding. Fuel Ventures led, and was joined by Ada Ventures and Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab

- Ataraxis AI, a New York City-based AI precision medicine developer, raised $4 million in seed funding. Giant Ventures and Obvious Ventures led the round and were joined by angel investors.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Noma, a Tel Aviv-based data and AI lifecycle security platform developer, raised $32 million in funding. Glilot Capital Partners led the $7 million seed round and was joined by Cyber Club London. Ballistic Ventures led the $32 million Series A round and was joined by angel investors.

- Dash0, a New York City-based OpenTelemetry-native observability platform, raised $9.5 million in seed funding. Accel led the round and was joined by Dig Ventures and angel investors.

- Miros, a London-based visual AI search platform for shoppers, raised €6 million ($6.5 million) in pre-Series A funding. EBRD Venture Capital and Tera Ventures led the round and were joined by angel investors.

- Plato, a German ERP automation platform, raised $6.5m in pre-seed funding led by Cherry Ventures.

- Embed Security, a Milpitas, Calif., agentic security platform, raised $6m led by Paladin Capital Group

- MoradaUno, a Mexico City-based real estate rentals platform, raised $5.6 million in Series A funding. Flourish Ventures and Cometa led the round and were joined by Clocktower Ventures, Picus Capital, and Y Combinator.

- Siit, a Paris-based AI service desk solution provider for IT and internal operations teams, raised $5 million in seed funding from StageOne Ventures and Seventure Partners.

- Thesys, a San Francisco-based AI interface visualization and development platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Together Fund led the round and was joined by 8vc.

- Symbiotic Security, a New York City-based software development security platform, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding from Lerer Hippeau, Axeleo Capital, Factorial Capital, and others.

- Workgrounds, a New York City-based hotel group bookings management platform, raised $2.6 million in pre-seed funding from Oceans Ventures, Hannah Grey, Volo Ventures, and deftly.vc.

- SocialCrowd, a Los Angeles-based hourly workforce optimization platform, raised $2.5 million in funding. Bread and Butter Ventures and Augment Ventures led the round and were joined by FullCircle, Serac Ventures, and VC414.

- Corgea, a San Francisco-based AI-driven vulnerability detection and remediation platform, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Shorooq Partners led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Propeller, Decacorn Capital, Unbound Ventures, and angel investors.

- Pibox, a Los Angeles-based audio and video production projects platform, raised $1.2 million in funding from Presto Ventures, Globalive Capital, and Startup Wise Guys.

HardTech:

- Physical Intelligence, an SF-based developer of operating systems for robots, raised $400m in Series A funding at a $2b pre-money valuation. Thrive Capital and Lux Capital co-led, and were joined by Bond, Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, and Redpoint Ventures

- BETA Technologies, a South Burlington, Vt.-based electric aerospace company, raised $318 million in Series C funding. QIA led the round and was joined by United Therapeutics, existing investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, TPG Rise, and others.

- Xavveo, a Berlin-based autonomous vehicle sensor technology developer, raised $8.6 million in seed funding. Vsquared Ventures and imec.xpand led the round and were joined by angel investors.

- Transaera, a Boston-based air conditioning company, raised $8.2 million in seed funding. Clean Energy Ventures led the round and was joined by MassMutual Ventures and existing investor Energy Impact Partners.

- Glint Solar, an Oslo-based solar developer software, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Smedvig Ventures led the round and was joined by Momentum, Futurum Ventures, and Antler.

- Endeavor, an SF-based enterprise AI platform for manufacturing companies, raised $7m in seed funding. Craft Ventures led, and was joined by Heartland Ventures, Contrary Capital, and BoxGroup.

- Afference, a Boulder-based wearable neural interfaces developer, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Hannah Grey VC led the round and was joined by Samsung NEXT, Konvoy, and angel investors.

- Ulysses, an SF-based developer of autonomous underwater drones, raised $2m in pre-seed funding. Lowercarbon Capital led, and was joined by Superorganism and ReGen Ventures.

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Acquisitions & PE:

- Apple agreed to invest $1.1 billion in GlobalStar, a Covington, La.-based satellite services provider. Apple also agreed to acquire a 20% stake in the company for $400 million.

- OpenAI paid around $15 million to purchase the Chat.com domain from HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah. Apparently one of the most expensive domain purchases ever, though a far cry from the $872M that Gannett paid in 2014 for Cars.com (as part of a broader purchase).