 Booz Allen Hamilton has launched a $100M Venture Capital fund named Booz Allen Ventures. The company is one of the 10 largest U.S. government defense contractors. More: - The fund will invest mainly in early-stage startups that are creating innovative products. Booz Allen will focus on AI, cybersecurity, C5ISR, etc. The investments will be made with the goal of helping improve the U.S.'s deeptech capabilities.
- Deep tech is a term that is being widely used in the tech industry. The term refers to technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, health tech, etc.
- Booz Allen stated that even though most of the companies it will invest in will be early-stage, the company wants to know that startups have launched at least some version of their product in the market to test it before making any investment decisions.
Zoom Out: - Cybersecurity startups have seen a rise in VC investments. In Q1 2022, the industry hit $6B in funding, a trend that could break the all-time high record if it continues at the same pace.
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 Anthony Pompliano has launched a crypto hiring company named Inflection Points. The startup has raised a $12.6M funding round as it comes out of stealth mode. More: - Pompliano co-founded the company together with Colton Sakamoto. Anthony Pompliano is a known Bitcoin bull who makes frequent appearances on business TV channels and his own podcast.
- The crypto bull also managed a $500M fund and has invested in Coinbase, Block-Fi, and others.
- Participants in the round include Peter Thiel's Thiel Ventures, Rose Park Advisors, Fifth Down Capital, Blockchange, XYZ Fund, and Third Prime. The company also raised money from angel investors such as Palantir's CFO Colin Anderson, Eight Sleep CEO Matteo Franceschetti, Brent Saunders, and Marc Roberts.
- Inflection Points claims it has helped employ over 1,000 job seekers at companies such as Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, etc.
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 A message from ARGYLE Nearly half (49%) of 1099 workers reported being rejected for financial products they could afford. Why? More people are self-employed today than they have been in 20 years, with the trend expected to continue. What’s more, independent workers are pulling income from multiple, often diverse, gigs, largely due to rapid technological advancements and lightning bolt global events. Yet, our legacy financial infrastructures cater to traditional W2 workers with single, full-time jobs. The industry inadvertently marginalizes self-employed, 1099 workers, who struggle to access financial products like credit cards and loans. In our latest whitepaper, we break down what the lending space needs to know, the groundwork for what FIs are missing – and all the ways leveraging alternative data can lead the way to a more inclusive financial system. Download the whitepaper
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Ukrainian startup Preply has announced that it has raised a $50M Series C funding round. The round was led by Owl Ventures, while other investors such as Diligent Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Educapital, Evli Growth Partners, Przemyslaw Gacek, Swisscom Ventures, and Orbit Capital participated. More: - Preply is an educational platform for foreign languages. Teachers and students sign up and connect for lessons. The company claims that so far, there are hundreds of thousands of students.
- The startup is now valued at $400M, having raised $100M since being launched in 2012. The company was initially bootstrapped.
- Preply claims the platform hosts over 32,000 teachers from 190 countries who teach 50 languages.
- The company is also offering its services to employees at companies such as Mercedes, TikTok, and McKinsey. Preply claims that this segment of the business is growing faster than the B2C product and that the company's revenue has grown 10x since 2019.
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China's securities regulator has launched a share distribution pilot program for VC firms. The decision could improve the way companies conduct exits and acquisitions. More: - The new decision would allow companies to transfer shares of companies from funds to investors.
- While this mechanism is standard practice in the international market, the more rigid Chinese regulation has not allowed funds to distribute shares to their investors through alternatives that do not include cash.
- The Chinese startup space has felt the effect of the recent economic downturn, as Chinese startups raised $24.7B in Q1 2022, a 44% drop YoY compared to 2021.
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Today's funding 💵 Sustainability/Energy - Nexii (Canada) produces a low-emissions material that is used in construction: $34.6M funding round led by Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and Trinity Capital. The company is now valued at $1.5M.
- Persistent Energy (Africa), an investment and consulting firm for energy startups: $10M C led by Kyuden International Corporation.
Artificial Intelligence - Deci (Israel), software company that enables researchers to use AI at a lower cost than the standard: $25M B round led by Insight Partners with participation from Square Peg, Jibe Venture, Emerge, ICON, and Fort Ross Ventures.
Cybersecurity - Incident (United Kingdom), incident reporting software that integrates with Slack: $28.7M A led by Index Ventures with participation from Mike Krieger, Mantis VC, and Point Nine.
- Dedrone (California), Command and Control software that identifies hundreds of different types of drones: $30M C led by Axon with participation from Aqton Partners, Felicis Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Target Partners.
Fintech/VC - SmartBank (Japan), finance management app that focuses on couples: $20M A led by Globis Capital Partners with participation from DBJ Capital, Z Venture Capital, and Mitsui Sumimoto Insurance Venture Capital.
- Resolute Capital Partners (Tennessee), investment firm that focuses on lower middle market businesses: $405M funding by outside investors.
SaaS - Kontent (Czechia), SaaS platform that helps marketers plan, create and launch campaigns: $40M cash infusion round led by Expedition Growth Capital.
- Oper Credits (Belgium), platform that offers clients digital mortgage purchasing plans: $11.1M A led by Bessemer Venture Partners & ABN Amro Ventures with participation from investors such as Pitchdrive, Verve Ventures, and Techstars.
Food Tech/Bio Tech - Micropep (France), provides a solution that changes a plant's DNA expression without changing the DNA structure: $8.8M A funding round led by Fall Line Capital with participation from Supernova Invest, Soffinova Partners, FMC Ventures, and IRDI/SORIDEC.
Health Tech - Vascular Dynamics (California), a startup that develops endovascular technologies that reduce the need for invasive surgical intervention: $20M equity deal led by Rainbow Medical.
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Quick Hits: - Elon Musk gave a shout-out to Boxabl, calling it a "cool product." Invest in Boxabl today with over 15,000+ investors!*
- Wonder Robotics, an Israel-based company that focuses on military technology, has raised $4M in Seed round funding.
- Sumatra, an AI SaaS platform that enables companies to deploy machine learning in real-time, has raised $1.5M in a seed round.
- Zinklar has announced a $5.7M Series A funding round led by Caixa Capital Risc with participation from Beacon Capital, EASO Ventures, Full Global Investments, and CDTI Innvierte. The Barcelona-based startup offers a software solution that analyzes consumer behavior and allows companies to understand their customer data.
- SiTration, a company that aims to revolutionize the way minerals are extracted, has raised a $2.3M Pre-Seed funding round. The funding was led by Azolla Ventures.
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 |  | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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