Sourcery → Peanut & Fred

Hereticon, AI Earnings, xAI, Waymo, Pacific Fusion

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

Happy Tuesday

The first Tuesday of November, should be a chill day.

We have a long list of deals this week, a rarity nowadays, but it seems as though VC markets are picking back up on the fundraising front.. & they’re not all AI.

Musings

AI

• Elon Musk’s xAI in Talks to Raise Funding Valuing It at $40 Billion [WSJ]

  • Just 5 months after raising $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation

• Amazon, Google, Microsoft & Meta on AI and CapEx [Jamin Ball @ Altimeter]

• State of Venture, AI Scaling, Elections [BG2 w/ Bill Gurley, Brad Gerstner, & Jamin Ball]

HardTech

• CT scans for factories [Contrary Research]

More

• Scent Teleportation, Semaglutide & AD, First Generalist Policy, Semaglutide...Again, OXMAN, Astro Mechanica [Not Boring]

• The Complete History & Strategy of Meta [Acquired]

Hereticon

• What Went Down at Hereticon II: Apocalypse Ball (Day One) & (Day Two)

  • Top Keynotes: Palmer Luckey, Terraforming, Bryan Johnson (see below), Charles Manson, Tyler Cowen, Peter Thiel, Masha Bucher, Trae Stephens

Long Live Peanut & Fred

The most messed up story of the year. RIP.

• Peanut the squirrel, Instagram star, euthanized by New York state authorities [CBS News]

• Why was Peanut the squirrel euthanized? The controversy explained [Yahoo!]

Top Interviews

• Aramco of The Moon: Starpath | Lunar Ice Mining For Multiplanetary Species

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

• Jeff Morris Jr, Chapter One | Difficult Market for VCs - Is it 'so over'?

---

Last Week (10/28-11/1):

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: 

Waymo, Pacific Fusion, Armis, Sierra, Reflexivity

Acquisitions & PE

Oura/Sparta Science, Siemens/Altair, Sana/Ctrl

Funds

Mac Venture Capital, Crosscut Ventures, BBG Ventures

Final Numbers

How Google makes its money

---

VC Deals 

Fintech:

- Reflexivity, a New York City-based AI solutions provider for the investment industry formerly named Toggle AI, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Greycroft and Interactive Brokers led the round and were joined by Stanley Druckenmiller, Greg Coffey, General Catalyst, and SoftBank LatAm.

- Elevate, a Denver-based consumer-directed benefits administration platform, raised $20 million in funding. Fin Capital led the round and was joined by Anthemis and SaaS Ventures.

- Tilled, a Boulder, Colo., embedded payments startup, raised $12.5m co-led by Canvas Ventures and UPC Capital Ventures

- Tola, a San Francisco-based accounts payable, accounts receivable, and cash flow management platform, raised $10.2 million in seed funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by Cherry Ventures, Creandum, RTP Global, and others.

- Sapien, a San Francisco-based autonomous financial analysts developer, raised $8.7 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Neo and angel investors.

- Auquan, a London-based AI solutions provider for financial services, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Peak XV led the round and was joined by existing investor Neotribe Ventures.

- First, a San Francisco-based online prenup platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Expa led the round and was joined by Springbank, Sarah Kunst, Springbank, Karman Ventures, and angel investors.

- Stay, a São Paulo-based pension plan platform, raised $3 million in seed funding. Better Tomorrow Ventures and MAYA Capital led the round and were joined by 17Sigma, Grão, Ralicap, and angel investors.

- Spotter, a Beverly Hills, Calif., creator platform that provides capital and tools, raised strategic funding from Amazon.

Care:

- OneStep, a New York City-based smartphone-based motion analysis digital healthcare platform, raised $36 million in funding. Team8 and Vintage Investment Partners led the round and were joined by existing investors LionBird, Aleph, and 10D.

- Semble, a London-based integrated healthcare system, raised $15 million in Series B funding. Mercia Ventures led the round and was joined by Octopus Ventures, Smedvig Ventures, and Triple Point.

- Vara, a Berlin-based early breast cancer detection AI platform, raised $8.9 million in funding from Smart Family Office, FJH, and IBB Ventures.

- Dash Bio, a Boston-based drug development tech-enabled services provider, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Freestyle Capital led the round and was joined by Swift Ventures, LifeX Ventures, and others.

- Cornerstone AI, a San Francisco-based healthcare-data cleaning AI software solution, raised $5 million in seed funding. Acrew Capital led the round and was joined by Travis May, Web Sun, Arif Nathoo, and existing investors Initiate Ventures, Healthy Ventures.

- Pharos, a San Francisco-based hospital quality reporting platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by General Catalyst, Moxxie, and Y Combinator.

- Persperity Health, a Los Angeles-based women’s health technology developer, raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. Freeflow Ventures led the round and was joined by Caltech, Wilson Hill Ventures, Heritage Group, and ATMA Capital.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Armis, a San Francisco-based cyber exposure management and security company, raised $200 million in Series D funding. General Catalyst and Alkeon Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors Brookfield Growth and Georgian. 

- Sierra, a builder of custom AI agents for enterprise customer service, raised $175 million led by Greenoaks Capital at a $4.5 billion valuation. Other investors include Iconiq and Thrive Capital, while the company previously raised over $100 million from Benchmark and Sequoia Capital.

- Fingercheck, a New York City-based deskless workforce management platform for small and medium businesses, raised $115 million in funding. Edison Partners led the round and was joined by StepStone Group and Columbus Capital.

- DoorLoop, a Miami-based property management software company, raised $100 million in Series B funding from JMI Equity.

- Read AI, a Seattle-based productivity AI company, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Smash Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Madrona and Goodwater Capital.

- Sana, a Swedish developer of enterprise AI agents, raised $55m at a $500m valuation led by NEA, with Menlo Ventures participating, reaching $130m in total funding. It also acquired workflow automation startup CTRL

- Regal, a New York City-based AI customer contact center agents developer, raised $40 million in funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by Founder Collective and Homebrew.

- Zenity, a Tel Aviv-based enterprise copilots and low-code development security platform, raised $38 million in Series B funding. Third Point Ventures and DTCP led the round and were joined by Intel Capital, Vertex Ventures, and M12.

- Filigran, a Paris-based cyber threat management solutions provider, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Accel and Moonfire.

- Duetti, a New York City-based catalog monetization platform for musicians, raised $34 million in funding. Flexpoint Ford led the round and was joined by existing investors Nyca Partners and Viola Ventures.

- Neara, a Sydney-based AI predictive modeling software developer for infrastructure, raised $31 million in Series C funding. EQT led the round and was joined by Partners Group, Square Peg Capital, and existing investors Skip Capital and Prosus Ventures.

- Spot AI, a San Francisco-based AI camera systems and video AI agents developer, raised $31 million in funding from Qualcomm Ventures, GSBackers, MVP Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, and existing investors Scale Venture Partners, StepStone Group, Redpoint Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners. 

- Tabs, a New York City-based B2B business revenue automation platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Primary Ventures and Lightspeed.

- Browserbase, a San Francisco-based web browser automation company, raised $21 million in Series A funding. CRV and Kleiner Perkins led the round and were joined by Okta Ventures and Reed McGinley-Stempel.

- Decart, a San Francisco-based AI efficiency research lab, raised $21 million in seed funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor Zeev Ventures.

- Wildfire Systems, a San Diego-based loyalty and rewards shopping platform, raised $16 million in Series B funding. Intuit Ventures and Mucker Capital led the round and were joined by Cohen Circle, Samsung Next, Evolution VC, Gaingels, existing investors TTV Capital, QED Investors, B Capital, and others.

- Abstract Security, a Palo Alto-based security data fabric and analytics company, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Munich Re Ventures led the round and was joined by  existing investors Crosslink Capital and Rally Ventures.

- Speakeasy, a San Francisco-based API tools developer, raised $15 million in Series A funding. FPV Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors GV and Quiet Capital and angel investors.

- Brightwave, a New York City-based AI-powered investment research platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Decibel Partners led the round and was joined by OMERS Ventures.

- Cruisebound, a New York City-based cruise booking digital assistant, raised $13 million in funding. Thayer Ventures led the round and was joined by Link Ventures, Jeff Boyd, PAR Capital Ventures, and others.

- DataCrunch, a Helsinki-based AI computing infrastructure provider, raised $13 million in seed funding. byFounders led the round and was joined by J12 Ventures and angel investors.

- Table22, a New York City-based e-commerce tools provider for food and beverage merchants, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Footwork, Forerunner Ventures, Alt Capital, and others.

- Buddy.ai, a Mountain View, Calif.-based conversational AI tutor, raised $11 million in seed funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by Educapital.

- Matia, a Miami-based unified data operations platform, raised $10.5 million in seed funding. Leaders Fund and Secret Chord Ventures led the round and were joined by Cerca Partners and Caffeinated Capital. 

- Checkmate, an ordering solutions provider for enterprise restaurants, raised $10m in Series B funding, led by Tiger Global

- Marqii, a New York City-based hospitality digital operations platform, raised $10 million in funding. Next Coast Ventures led the round and was joined by Rich Products Ventures.

- Casap, a New York City-based disputes automation and fraud prevention platform, raised $8.5 million in funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Primary Venture Partners, Commerce Ventures, Curql, Alloy Labs, and others.

- MealMe, a San Francisco-based food ordering API, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Mercury Fund led the round and was joined by existing investors Palm Drive Capital and Gaingels.

- Verax AI, a Dallas-based AI production control software developer, raised $7.6 million in seed funding. TQ Ventures led the round and was joined by Concept Ventures, Cardumen Capital, Seedcamp, and others.

- Diffblue, an Oxford, England-based autonomous generative AI-for-code software developer, raised $6.3 million in funding from Citi Institutional Strategic Investments, Oxford University, the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund, and existing investors IP Group, Parkwalk Advisors, and AlbionVC.

- RiPSIM Technologies, an Ashburn, Va.-based eSIM-aaS management platform developer, raised $5 million in seed funding. Ten Eleven Ventures led the round and was joined by others.

- GlassFlow, a Berlin-based data infrastructure platform for Python developers, raised $4.8 million in seed funding. Upfront Ventures led the round and was joined by High-Tech Gründerfonds, Robin Capital, and TinyVC.

- Hue, a San Francisco-based AI SaaS user-generated video content platform for e-commerce, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Fika Ventures and Underscore VC led the round and was joined by existing investors Sequoia Scouts, The MBA Fund, Glasswing Ventures, and others.

- Moondream, a Seattle-based open-source vision-language model developer, raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by the M12 GitHub Fund and Ascend.

- Advex AI, a San Francisco-based industrial AI vision models developer, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Construct Capital led the round and was joined by Pear VC, Emerson Collective, and angel investors.

- Avina, a New York City-based AI sales intelligence platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. nvp capital and RRE Ventures led the round and were joined by Y Combinator.

- Boardy, an AI networking startup, raised $3m in pre-seed funding from HF0, 8VC, Precursor, Afore, FJ Labs, and NextView. 

- Final Boss Sour, a Los Angeles-based gaming-themed sour snack brand, raised $3 million in seed funding. Science Inc. led the round and was joined by Aoki Labs, F4 Fund, GFR Fund, Uncommon Denominator, and others.

- Persana AI, a San Francisco-based AI agents and data integration platform for sales teams, raised $2.3 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Race Capital, Stage 2 Capital, and others.

HardTech:

- Waymo, a Mountain View, Calif.-based self-driving vehicle developer and rideshare provider, raised $5.6 billion in Series C funding. Alphabet led the round and was joined by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, and others.

- Pacific Fusion, a Fremont, Calif.-based nuclear fusion startup, raised over $900 million in Series A commitments led by General Catalyst. Other investors include Andrew Forrest, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Elad Gil, Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, Ken Griffin, Lachy Groom, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Lowercarbon Capital, Mustafa Suleyman, Patrick Collison, Reid Hoffman, Richard Merkin, and Trousdale Ventures. General Catalyst's Hemant Taneja, Eric Schmidt, and Patrick Collison joined Pacific Fusion's board.

- Outrider, a Brighton, Colo.-based autonomous yard operations company, raised $62 million in Series D funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies and New Enterprise Associates led the round and were joined by 8VC, ARK Invest, B37 Ventures, and others.

- LuxWall, a Ypsilanti, Mich.-based glass-based transparent insulation solutions developer, raised $51 million in Series B funding. Climate Investment and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital led the round and was joined by Carbon Equity, The Nature Conservancy, and existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, 2150, Khosla Ventures, and Baruch Future Ventures.