Venture Capital
It’s been 50 years since Venrock established itself to expose investors to venture capital opportunities. Today, the global venture capital industry tracks just south of $200 billion and continues to grow as new entrepreneurs, engineers, financiers, and thought leaders create the economy of tomorrow. The DailyAlts VC channel tracks the trends, opportunities, key thought leaders, and next-generation industries that will generate billions in returns.
Top Story
Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI start-up specializing in generative AI, is close to securing $300 million in funding, according to sources. The deal could value the company at $5 billion, said the New York Times.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital: Troubled Indian On-Line Education Startup Byju’s Wants To Restructure $1.2B Loan
Byju’s, the storied Indian educational startup that last scored a valuation of $22 billion, is seeking to renegotiate the terms of its $1.2 billion dollar loan amidst a surge in interest rates and steep losses in its business.
Venture Capital: Defense Startup Anduril Mops Up Giant $1.48B Funding
California-based defense and security startup Anduril raised a $1.48 billion Series E led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, 8VC, Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, DFJ Growth, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, Human Capital, Marlinspike, WCM Investment Management, MVP Ventures, Lightspeed Venture and US Innovative Technology Fund.
Artificial Intelligence: Bionaut Labs Raises $43.2M For Its Micro Robots That Swim Inside The Human Body
Bionaut Labs is developing micro-scale, magnetically guided robots that deliver biologics or small molecule therapies locally to targeted disease areas to help patients suffering from severe brain disorders. The company raised a $43.2 million Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the company’s total financing raised to date to $63.2 million. New investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, What if Ventures, Tintah Grace and Gaingels participated alongside existing investors Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolution VC, and Compound.
Venture Capital: Frore, Which Makes Cooling Chips For Consumer Devices, Raises $100M
Frore Systems is a developer of innovative thermal technology for consumer devices. The company’s active cooling chips, AirJet® Mini and AirJet® Pro, are integrated into devices to remove heat silently, delivering 2X improvement in device processor performance. AirJet’s compact size and unique capability enables faster, quieter, thinner, lighter and dust-proof devices. Frore has emerged from stealth, wrapping up a $100 million round from investors including Mayfield, Addition, Clear Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
Venture Capital: Daycations Platform ResortPass Lands $26M Series B Including From Gwyneth Paltrow
Ever considered a daycation (day+vacation) at your nearest luxury hotel, spending hours enjoying facilities at the property such as the pool, spa, fitness center, and more, without breaking the bank? It’s possible with ResortPass, which makes it possible to enjoy these ‘experiences’ right there in your neighbourhood, at hotels including Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, W Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Fairmont, and Westin. ResortPass announced a Series B raise of $26 million.
Artificial Intelligence: Global Specialty Chemicals Major Nouryon Invests In AGEYE Technologies
AGEYE Technologies aims to help indoor farms become sustainable and scalable through significant reductions in operational costs by using AI, IoT sensors, and its automation platform. The platform monitors every connected vertical farm or greenhouse 24/7, 365 – and uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to turn these visual inputs into growth development insights and autonomous actions, improving harvest predictability and profitability. Dutch speciality chemicals producer Nouryon has announced a collaboration with, and an investment, in AGEYE.
Artificial Intelligence/VC: AI-Enabled Business Automation Company AAICO Raises $42M
London-based The Applied AI Company (AAICO), which applies its proprietary AI platform to transform legacy business models, announced its raise of US$42 million from investors including G42, A.R.M Holding, Plug and Play Investment Group as well as distinguished families in Europe and the MENA region.
Venture Capital: Astera Labs Lands $150M At $3.15B Valuation
Astera Labs announced a $150 million Series D funding round led by Fidelity Management and Research that valued the company at $3.15 billion. Other existing investors, including Atreides Management, Intel Capital, and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the round. Astera also said it had expanded both its board of directors as well as its product lineup.
Venture Capital: At Home Healthcare Provider DispatchHealth Lands $330M Funding
DispatchHealth, the Denver-based in-home care provider has raised $330 million as it addresses the rapidly growing demand for at home care and works on a proprietary platform called the Last Mile Health Care Technology Platform. The platform aims to help with care delivery via logistics, clinical support and coordination with other parties in its ecosystem.
Venture Capital: Schneider’s SE Ventures Launches EUR 500M Fund II
Menlo Park, California-based SE Ventures, which is the VC arm of Schneider Electric (EPA: SU), announced today a 500-million-euro fund-II to accelerate climate and industrial technology start-ups within the firm’s overall target sectors of electrification, digitization, and decarbonisation.
Artificial Intelligence: UK Startup Carbon Re Uses AI To Decarbonize The Biggest GHG Emitters
London-based Carbon Re uses AI to cut emissions at the most energy-intensive industries, for example, glass, cement, and steel. Its technology can develop a ‘digital twin’ of an individual plant by analysing the sensor data gathered on a minute-by-minute basis by Distributed Control Systems. In a cement plant, this creates a high-resolution digital model that captures the properties of a given kiln (the thermodynamics, and the physical processes of clinker production). AI agents can therefore learn these processes in a simulation, so to speak, and then act in real time to maximize the plant efficiency.
Venture Capital: V.C. Arm Of Agricultural Cooperatives Invests In Agtech Startup Sabanto
“The labor shortage in ag retail is a very real problem,” said GROWMARK Director of Innovation Heather Thompson. “Autonomy presents an exciting solution but adopting autonomous equipment creates a new set of challenges for traditional operations. By partnering with Sabanto, GROWMARK and our FS cooperatives have the advanced opportunity to test and learn the impacts of this cutting-edge technology.”
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Based Robotic Waste Recycler AMP Raises $91M
AMP Robotics Corp has announced a $91 million Series C round led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management as well as new and existing investors including Blue Earth Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), Tao Capital Partners, XN, Sequoia Capital, GV, Range Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners. The funds will be used for AMP’s international expansion as well as to scale up its operations. The company intends to enhance manufacturing capacity to support a fleet of approximately 275 robots around the world and advance its ongoing development of AI-enabled automation applications for recycling.
Venture Capital/AI: OpenAI Launches Converge, An Accelerator For AI Startups
In May last year OpenAI launched its $100 million Open AI Startup Fund to provide support to early-stage startups in fields where artificial intelligence (AI) can have a transformative effect—like health care, climate change, and education. On Wednesday, the Fund launched Converge, an accelerator program for founders building transformative companies powered by AI.
Venture Capital: Israel-Based Vintage, A Global Tech VC, Raises $631M For Fund-Of-Funds
Founded in 2003, Vintage Investment Partners is an Israeli investment firm managed by seven partners. It has closed its seventh fund-of-funds with a raise of $631 million, bringing its assets under management to more than $3.6 billion. A Fund of Funds type fund does not invest directly in companies, but in venture capital funds.
Venture Capital: J.P. Morgan Launches Life Sciences V.C. Team As Part Of Private Capital Platform
J.P. Morgan Asset Management today announced the launch of a new life sciences private equity team, Life Sciences Private Capital, as part of its J.P. Morgan Private Capital arm, a growth equity and private credit investment platform.
Venture Capital: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Launches Its Falcon Heavy Rocket On National Security Mission
Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday launched a classified USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force on board its towering Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch came more than three years after the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission in June 2019, which carried experimental satellites on a demonstration flight for the Pentagon. It was also the company’s record 50th launch this year from the Falcon series, with most from the Falcon 9.
Venture Capital: Indian B2B E-Commerce Platform Udaan Raises $120M
An internal email sent by Aditya Pandey, the CFO of Indian business-to-business e-commerce major Udaan revealed that the startup has raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt led by existing shareholders and bondholders.
FinTech: India’s Money View In Talks To Raise $150M At $1B Valuation
Sources have told The Economic Times that Money View, an Indian fintech, is in talks to raise up to $150 million at a valuation of $900 million to $925 million pre-money and over $1 billion post-money. The sources also revealed that global private equity giant Apis Partners is expected to join as a new investor and also lead the round.
Venture Capital: Australian VC Square Peg Raises $550M For Two Funds
Square Peg, an Australian VC firm, announced its raise of $550 million, a so-called “fifth generation” of funds, for the Square Peg Fund 4 and Opportunities Fund 2. The firm has now received capital commitments in excess of $1.6 billion since it launched a decade ago. The size and timing of the raise is noteworthy given the global macroeconomic situation and the meltdown in technology valuations.
Venture Capital: Black-Owned VC Firm Collide Capital Raises $66M From Top Investors
Collide Capital, a VC firm founded in 2016 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, seeks to back founders best positioned to solve the next generation of global challenges. The firm announced Thursday its debut VC fund of $ 66 million backed by nameplate investors. These include the University of California endowment as anchor, Citi, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR).
Venture Capital: Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Temasek And Others To Launch Agritech For Rice Cultivation Decarbonization
Wavemaker Impact, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, and Singapore’s Temasek have come together to create an innovative agritech that will promote rice decarbonization in Southeast Asia and the rest of Asia. The agritech will identify strategies to cut rice field emissions using a combination of climate-tech, agri-food, and venture-building capabilities.
Venture Capital: Saudi Aramco Launches $1.5B Sustainability Fund
Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL: 2222) announced Wednesday a $1.5 billion Sustainability Fund to be managed by Aramco Ventures, its venture capital arm. The Fund would support Aramco’s ambitions to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050, development of new lower-carbon fuels businesses, and furthering Aramco’s broader environmental objectives.
Venture Capital: Walmart To Raise Upto $3B For Indian E-Commerce Subsidiary Flipkart
A news report said Flipkart, Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) Indian e-commerce subsidiary was mulling a fundraise of $2 – 3 billion at a valuation of over $40 billion to drive a country-wide expansion. Last year, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion in a funding round that had the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart as investors. That round gave it a valuation of $37.6 billion.