The plunge in cryptocurrency prices has wiped off 40% of the value from Andreessen Horowitz's flagship crypto fund, according to the WSJ. A16z's partner and founder of the crypto arm, Chris Dixon, is unperturbed by the slump. A16z's other venture funds have faced between 10% and 20% drops. More: - In May this year, the firm announced its fourth crypto fund with $4.5B in capital.
- This fund was the firm's largest dedicated crypto fund to date, bringing the total raised for crypto funds to $7.6B.
- The firm raised its first $350M crypto fund in 2018 and followed it up with a $515M second fund in 2020.
- Despite the large stockpile of cash available for crypto investments, the firm has slowed down its funding for the sector.
- A16z invested in nine crypto startups in Q3 2022, down from 26 deals in Q4 2021.
- Dixon is confident that the investment will pay off in the long term once widespread adoption of crypto services occurs.
- The first crypto fund received a 10.6 times return on initial investment at the end of 2021.
- The third fund saw a gain of 9.7 times as of Dec. 31 last year.
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Latino-founded startups in the U.S. received $250M in funding in Q3 2022, down 80% QoQ. In the previous quarter, startups raked in $1.3B. Although the decline is consistent with the global venture funding pullback trend, it is significantly higher than the 50% funding decline seen by all U.S.-based startups. More: - Startups in the late stages saw the largest decline in funding, which was 70% less than the previous year.
- Early-stage funding increased by 15% YoY and is expected to cross 2021’s totals at year-end.
- In the second quarter of last year, Latino-founded startups secured $2.3B in funding.
- At year-end of 2021, Latino-founded startups had secured $8.5B in funding.
- A number of venture capital funds have cropped up to exclusively fund Latino-founded startups.
- Some of the notable firms are VamosVentures, VCFamilia, LatinxVC, and LAT VC.
- LAT VC announced a $100M early-stage focussed fund in August 2022.
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Space tech startups have been able to nab $6.2B in funding from 112 deals so far this year. The financing has already matched 2021's record of $6.2B, per Pitchbook. Elon Musk's SpaceX raked in half of the total investment received by the sector. More: - SpaceX raised $3.6B from multiple funding rounds this year.
- Funding for the sector is focused on in-space manufacturing, satellite, space infrastructure, space tourism, geospatial intelligence, and satellite communication domains.
- Other notable funding rounds in the year include geospatial intelligence startup ICEYE's $136M Series D, aerospace precision component manufacturer Hadrian's $90M financing, and British launch vehicle manufacturer Firefly Aerospace's $75M financing.
- Funding for the space sector amounted to $2.4B in 2019 and $5.4B in 2020.
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Stability AI is in talks with investors to raise new $1B financing, according to The Information. Two sources close to the matter said that CEO Emad Mostaque is targeting a multi-billion dollar valuation. Mostaque said he is "not raising" more money when questioned by The Information. More: - Earlier this month, the firm nabbed $101M in seed funding at a unicorn valuation of $1B.
- The firm launched its AI-generated art platform, DreamStudio, in August 2020.
- In the first month, the firm generated "millions of dollars in revenue," according to the article.
- The product has a free pricing tier, which provides end-users with a limited number of credits to generate art.
- Customers can pay for more art generations.
- The platform has 1.8 million users.
- Stability's competitors, Jasper AI and OpenAI, are looking to raise more funding.
- Jasper was last valued at $1.5B, while OpenAI was valued at $20B.
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Aramco Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco, launched a new $1.5B venture capital fund. The sustainability fund will invest in global companies that are accelerating the energy transition. More: - The new fund complements Aramco’s carbon-neutral pledge, in which it aims to achieve net-neutral emissions by 2050.
- Aramco’s subsidiary participated in a voluntary carbon credit auction organized by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) after the duo signed an MoU earlier this year.
- Initially, the fund will invest in startups working on carbon capture and storage, greenhouse gas emission reduction, energy efficiency, climate tech, digital sustainability, and alternative fuel manufacturing sectors.
- The fund was announced at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) and is reportedly one of the largest sustainability-focused venture funds.
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Australian venture capital firm Square Peg Capital received $550M in capital commitments toward its fifth fund. The firm has raised $1.6B in total capital across all of its funds to date. The firm will focus its investments in Australia, Southeast Asia, and Israel. More: - The venture firm will invest in Seed to Series B-stage startups with the new fund.
- It will back late-stage investments through its Opportunities Fund.
- Focus areas for the new fund are consumer internet, fintech, edtech, the future of work, health tech, and SaaS.
- Square Peg has 60 companies in its portfolio, most notably Canva, Airwallex, Fiverr, ROKT, Doctor Anywhere, and FinAccel.
- The firm has had 11 exits so far with an IRR of 42%.
- It has returned $580M to investors.
- The firm received $275M in capital commitments toward its Fund 3, half of which was invested in Southeast Asia.
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- Saudi Telecom Company (STC) doubled down on its venture capital investment with an additional $300M commitment to venture capital firm STV, led by former Google executive Abdulrahman Tarabzouni. STC had initially given a $500M investment to STV.
- Moneta Venture Capital held the first close of its fourth fund at $120M. The firm intends to back growth-stage fintech and insurtech companies.
- Early-stage life sciences venture firm Time BioVentures closed its debut fund at $100M. The firm has already invested in Neuralink and Kling Biotherapeutics.
- Canadian mobile phone component manufacturer OTI Lumionics secured $55M in Series B funding from LG Technology Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, UDC Ventures, and others.
- Application integration and automation solutions provider Unito nabbed $20M in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners, Rainfall Ventures, and Investissement Quebec participated in the Equity 253-led funding round.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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 and 1972 Fords. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
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