I'm Kiani from Inside.com, and this week, we asked our Inside Venture Capital community, "What funding stage are you in?" and I wanted to share one answer with our newsletter readers. ⭐️ Fred Tabsharani is the Founder and CEO at Loxz Digital Group, a machine learning collective based in Berkeley, California, focused on building highly accurate models and serving predictions to two important industries: law enforcement and email service providers. Fred and Loxz Digital are currently raising their initial round. Fred writes: “We are looking to close this initial round by the end of the year, if not sooner and we currently have 5 subscribers to the round and have raised 280K. Keep in mind that the normalized seed round "raise" for an ML company this past year has been over 5M. There are many investors who have expressed interest in working with us in later rounds, but the initial goal is to close our initial round.” You can read Fred's full comment here. Well, what funding stage are you in? Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️
| |
Thomson Reuters is set to acquire SurePrep for $500M in an all-cash deal that is expected to close in Q1 2023. SurePrep is a U.S.-based tax automation platform that is expected to grow its $60M annual revenue by 20% for the next few years. More: - SurePrep helps accountants file 1040 tax returns for their clients. The platform uses AI to support uploading documents at scheduled intervals throughout the year, as well as additional features that enable mobile scanning, signatures, etc.
- The proprietary AI technology SurePrep deploys can gather all of the documentation that is uploaded throughout the year and organize it, making it easy for deployment and filing to a third party.
- SurePrep has over 23,000 finance professionals using the service, and its revenue has reached $60M.
- Thomson Reuters, the parent company of media company Reuters, has been in due diligence for the last six months and has chosen to partner with the tax software after concluding that SurePrep will grow at an annual rate of 20% for the next few years.
| |
A new report shows that climate-tech funding makes up for more than a quarter of all VC investments so far in 2022, a trend that is similar to 2021. This positive trend is a sign that climate tech investing is resisting the overall downmarket and the lack of funding many startups are dealing with. More: - The pace in climate-tech investing has remained steady, even when compared to the last few years. Since 2018, $250B has been invested in the sector, $50B of which has been invested in 2022.
- Investors believe that inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the overall economic instability were all factors that could have significantly hurt climate-tech investment, but the fact that the vertical has remained relatively stable is a sign of encouragement for investors and startups who believe in climate-tech solutions.
- These factors, however, have had an effect on the industry.
- Early-stage investments under $5M have dropped systematically since 2021.
- This drop can be attributed to the overall drop in VC funding across all verticals, as VC investment amounts are 30% lower than those in 2021.
| |
Global VC funding in October dropped by 50% YoY, reaching a total amount of $27B. The same negative trend affected the overall number of funding deals, which dropped to 1,800. More: - There were 2,200 deals reached in September and 3,400 in January. The downward trend in VC funding has mainly affected larger companies in the size of rounds they've been able to raise.
- Investors have been consistent with their conservative approach so far, choosing to withhold their cash from intensive investment dynamics. Some have reduced the number of deals they make, while some have chosen to reduce the average check size they write.
- In the absence of VC funding, many startups have attempted to raise funds through debt deals. This avenue saw a sharp increase but quickly fell due to rising interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve.
| |
Elemental Machines has raised a $41M Series B funding round to provide advanced data analytics tools and device connectivity for enterprises. The platform helps connect any lab equipment in 60 seconds or less. More: - Elemental Machines offers solutions in four main verticals:
- Software & Cloud,
- Hardware,
- Support, and
- API.
- The company says its services have battery backup, a secure cloud connection, no-tool installation, GxP compliance, a backup cellular connection, solid and impenetrable standards, wireless sensor connections, smart alerts, etc.
- Elemental Machines works with clients such as Perkin Elmer, Quanterix, Lab Central, Baker, etc.
- LabOps believes that it can become a leader in the $60B LabOps market, a sentiment shared by its investors, who claim that the company's vertically integrated suite of products will differentiate it from the rest of the solution providers in the market.
- The company aims to use the funding to develop its R&D capabilities for manufacturing, materials science, food tech, ag tech, and other data-focused industries.
- The round was led by Sageview Capital and Omega Venture Partners, with participation from Gutbrain Ventures and Digitalis Ventures.
| |
VCs from underrepresented groups are reportedly having a harder time raising funds from their investors at a time when VC firms are doing so at all-time highs. 100 first-time funds have had success launching in 2022, compared to 307 last year, a figure that directly affects African American VCs. More: - U.S. venture capital firms raised $150.9B during January-September 2022, according to Pitchbook. The figure represents an all-time record.
- Venture Capitalists from underrepresented groups usually choose to form their own firms, which means that they are being directly affected by a 2/3 drop in the successful launch of new VC companies.
- Statistics show that 54% of Black VCs who became partners at their companies did so in their own firms rather than being hired or promoted by existing firms. The downmarket in the VC funding space has led to established firms taking an even larger part of the overall investment amount.
- Funds sized $1B+ have received three-fifths of the capital during the January-September period, a 34% increase from 2021.
| |
Brightside has raised a $33M Series B funding round to help struggling families save and reduce their debt. With 300,000 users, the company helps Fortune 500 companies hire workers from this talent pool. More: - Brightside offers individualized, hands-on support in addition to its proprietary engine that formulates a financial plan for families.
- The company claims that households that work with Brightside save approximately $1,200 a year, reduce credit card debt by three times more than their co-workers, have a 34% improvement in subprime credit scores, and leave their jobs 41% less than those who do not use the benefit, while employers see an 80% reduction in 401(k) non-contributors.
- Revenue grew 800% YoY in 2021, while this figure is on track to grow tenfold in 2022.
- The company plans to hire 200 more people, a considerable addition to its 175-employee team.
| |
Quick Hits: - $250 for International Acct. Day? Demo Divvy by Nov. 10 so you can stop wasting time on expense reports and start wasting it at the beach.*
- Robotics company Rewst has raised a $21.5M A round led by Open View. The company wants to use its technology to automate tasks such as onboarding/offboarding, phishing remediation, licensing, billing, etc.
- New York-based open-source software company Directus has raised a $7M Seed round led by True Ventures, with participation from Handshake Ventures.
- Zohar Zisapel and Mobilion Ventures led a $6.5M funding round in Israeli startup Carteav. The startup develops low-speed self-driving vehicles used for transportation.
- Media entertainment company Voyce.me closed a $2.5M Seed round. The company, which wants to create manga content in English, was backed by Torch Capital, RiverPark Ventures, M13 Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Clearview Media Partners, and Red Sea Ventures.
*This is sponsored content.
| |
Upcoming events at Inside: - November 29 - Learn about concrete 3D printed houses: how it works, market snapshot and investment opportunity. (Register Here) *
- January 31 - Growth Summit'23 (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored listing.
| |
 |  | 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 and 1972 Fords. | |
Comments
Post a Comment