| Hey Insiders! Check out our new interview series called Inside Founder Talks, where we bring you key conversations with startup founders. On this week's episode, we have Jake DiBattista, the founder of Youni and the winner of Inside.com's Build in Public Challenge, talking about how his startup is disrupting online education. Click here to check it out.
Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Seedcamp, a European early-stage investor, announced it secured €166M (~$179.9M) for its sixth fund, the largest amount it has raised. The new fund comes 2.5 years after Seedcamp V, with the purpose of investing in innovation for the next 10 to 15 years. More: - "Europe's needs have matured significantly, and it's now all about speed, coverage, and quality," said Seedcamp's founding partner, Reshma Sohoni.
- The fund's liquidity providers include Reference Capital, Harbourves, Indeed's Paul Forster, Gumtree's Michael Pennington, and UiPath's Daniel Dines, among others.
- Previous investments by Seedcamp include video conference site Hopin, AI for health diagnosis company Viz.ai, and neobank Revolut.
|     | |
| 2 | | What happened: Ethernet chip maker Ethernovia nabbed $64M in Series A from Porsche Automobile Holding, VentureTech Alliance, Qualcomm Ventures, and Western Digital Capital. The firm provides ethernet chips and software to connect the sensors and electronics to the central computer within EVs. The San Jose, Calif.-based startup intends to use the proceeds to accelerate product development and build out its marketing, sales, and customer support division. 
What the numbers say: Funding has declined for chip startups in the U.S. due to the venture funding pullback that has impacted all sectors. So far this year, chip startups in the U.S. have raised $262M from 17 deals. On the other hand, funding for global semiconductor startups has remained robust, raking in $2.3B from 168 deals. At the current rate, global funding will likely match or come just a "tick below" $7.9B total from 2022 at this year-end, per Crunchbase. Where to see the impact: Despite the dip in the U.S., funding is poised to increase due to the introduction of the CHIPS and Science Act by the Biden administration last year. The Act has earmarked $50B for semiconductor chip manufacturing in the nation. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, SLACK. |  | | When you’re growing a business, everyday tasks can slow you and your team down Back-and-forth emails. Meetings on top of meetings. A never-ending to-do list.
Enter Slack, a single space to connect with everything, share and search for information, and help your teams do more with less. And with Slack Pro, you can: - Keep conversations in one place:
Whether you’re working with your teammates or collaborating with partners outside your company, Slack Pro brings all the right people and information together in one organized space. - Find what you need, share what you know:
From files to photos to conversations, everyone can access any message that’s ever been shared, so they have all the information they need to make decisions and move work forward. - Connect instantly with huddles
Need to gather quickly to brainstorm or work through a complex problem? Start a huddle to talk instantly over audio or video. You can even share your screen and start a thread for notes.
Right now, you can save 50% off your first 3 months of Slack Pro. Learn More | |
|
| 3 | | San Francisco, Calif.-based blockchain firm Ripple acquired Swiss institutional digital asset management solutions provider Metaco. Ripple funded the acquisition with $250M cash on its balance sheet. The news comes as Ripple is fighting an SEC lawsuit that accused CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen of breaching U.S. securities laws by selling digital currency XRP without registering it with the regulator. More: - The acquisition will enable Ripple to expand its global footprint and product portfolio.
- Garlinghouse claims that Ripple is in a strong position "to play offense" and continue to make strategic acquisitions despite the regulatory hurdles and prevailing market conditions.
- Ripple was last valued at $15B at its most recent funding round.
- Earlier this month, Garlinghouse told CNBC that the firm might have to spend $200M fighting the SEC lawsuit.
Zoom out: - Ripple's acquisition of Metaco comes as several crypto companies have threatened to move operations outside the U.S. following tough enforcement actions taken by the SEC.
| | | |
| 4 | | Insurtech startup Obie announced a $25.5M round led by Battery Ventures. The company insures $20B worth of property, up from $3B two years ago. More: - Obie focuses on landlords of small and medium-sized apartments, claiming to save them 25% to 30% on premiums versus other insurance companies.
- A graduate of Y Combinator, Obie last raised a $10.4M Series A in May 2021.
- The startup partnered with 75 proptech companies, including Awning, Roofstock, Flock Homes, Baselane, and Marketplace Homes.
- "There are over 18 million residential real estate investors in the U.S., and more than 90% of them are small 'mom and pop' investors who spend over $60B a year on insurance premiums, so there's plenty of room for Obie to run here," said the company's co-founder, Aaron Letzeiser.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, VANTA. |  | | Streamline your security compliance to accelerate business growth. With its market-leading automated compliance platform, Vanta helps your business scale and thrive while reducing the need for countless spreadsheets and endless email threads. With Vanta, you can -
Automate up to 90% of compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and more, getting audit-ready in weeks instead of months -
Save hundreds of hours of manual work and up to 85% of compliance costs -
Utilize a single platform for continuously monitoring your controls, reporting on security posture, and streamlining audit readiness Watch Vanta’s 3-minute demo to learn more. Watch Now | |
|
| 5 | | Quilt, which works on ductless heat pump systems, raised $9M in Seed funding led by Lowercarbon Capital and Gradient Ventures. The company uses AI to recognize heating and cooling patterns to maximize efficiency in the home. More: - Quilt's CEO, Paul Lambert, was previously a director at Google's Area 120. The startup was also founded by former Googlers Matthew Knoll and Bill Kee.
- "At Nest, we reimagined the lowly thermostat to make homes smarter, more comfortable, and more efficient — Quilt brings that same innovative vision to heat pumps," said Nest Co-founder Matt Rogers, who participated in the round through his firm, Incite Ventures.
- Quilt intends to take advantage of incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides $10,000 in rebates and tax credits for heat pumps.
| | | |
| 6 | | London, U.K.-headquartered money transfer fintech startup Zepz reduced its headcount by 26%. The firm laid off 420 employees, primarily from its customer care and engineering division, out of its 1,600-strong workforce. Zepz cited "workforce optimization" as the reason behind the move, helping the firm eliminate duplicate roles from its subsidiaries WorldRemit and Sendwave. More: - Zepz's online money transfer subsidiary WorldRemit acquired its African counterpart Sendwave for $500M in Aug. 2020.
- At the time, the transaction gave the merged entity a valuation of $1.5B.
- This is Zepz's second round of layoffs after it slashed its workforce by 5% in Jun. 2022.
- Zepz CEO Mark Lenhard insists that the firm decided to streamline the organization rather than as a response to the macroeconomic conditions.
- Lenhard added that the decision was "an important and necessary step in transitioning from two vast, segmented teams to one dynamic organization under Zepz."
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Hippocratic AI, an AI startup developing the safest artificial health general intelligence, secured $50M in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.
- NEA and Nava Ventures led a $19.1M Series A round into Union AI, an open-sourced startup that orchestrates AI and data workflows for businesses.
- Wrangle, a startup developing productivity tools for remote workers, raised a $2M seed round led by Accomplice and Correlation Ventures, with participation from Bloomberg Beta, Eniac Ventures, and the Triangle Tweener Fund.
- Visa selected seven startups for its accelerator program in Asia Pacific. The shortlisted startups were Dowsure, Doxa Holdings, Kadmos, Pi-xcels, Playbux, Transpure, and Twid.
| | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAY
17 | | Monthly Meditation guided by Nicholas Whitaker | | | | | | | MAY
23 | | In-depth webinar on ML Monitoring at Scale with TruEra | | | | | | | MAY
23 | | Advance your security program and win more deals by joining this Vanta webinar | | | | | | | MAY
25 | | Inside.com Book Club - Zero To One by Peter Thiel | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
Term of the Day Venture debt: Venture debt is a form of non-dilutive debt financing used by startups, especially early-stage, to supplement their equity fundraising. Question of the Week How do you approach networking, and what advice can you give others looking to build their professional connections? Join the conversation |
INSIDE STARTUPS LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
| |
| |
RE:
RE ALL:
FWD:
