Hey, Insider! Want to be featured in next week’s newsletter? Answer our weekly question: What sets your startup apart from competitors? Share your response here. | |  Karan | |
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WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann's new residential real estate startup Flow may expand to Saudi Arabia. Neumann disclosed the news at an event organized by a non-profit backed by one of Saudi Arabia's largest sovereign wealth fund. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — Flow's largest backer — shares Neumann's enthusiasm for the nation, with co-founder Ben Horowitz calling Saudi Arabia a "startup country." More: - Horowitz confirmed the news, adding that he was "excited" to bring Flow to the nation.
- A16z invested $350M into Flow in Nov. 2022 at a unicorn valuation of over $1B before the platform was launched.
Zoom out: - A16z's co-founders are seeking capital from investors in Saudi Arabia amidst a venture funding slump in the U.S.
- Horowitz visited Saudi Arabia in Oct. 2022 and met with Saudi Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud and the governor of the sovereign wealth fund Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
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Textio, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to help remove biased language from workplaces, revealed it is restructuring its organization. The company let go of 15 employees, reorganized current roles, and plans to hire employees with new skill sets. More: - "People are expecting experiences that feel magical and fast because they have felt firsthand what those experiences are like," said the startup's co-founder, Jensen Harris, in relation to how OpenAI's ChatGPT has changed the landscape of AI language tools.
- Founded in 2014, Textio has raised $42.5M to date.
- Textio, which now employs 107 people, switched to a fully distributed workforce during the pandemic.
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Green Labs, a South Korean AgTech startup, announced it raised $38.4M in debt financing. The news comes a month after it let go of 70% of its staff (350 people). More: - Green Labs works on Farm Morning, an app that aggregates farm data and gives insights on the crops' lifecycle using AI.
- The company claims 900,000 users, growing by 3x in the past 12 months.
- The startup last raised $140M Series C in Jan. 2022, after which it ran out of capital due to overexpansion.
- Green Labs took to borrowing money for cash liquidity with credit sales as collateral; however, Lotte suspended the factoring financing in late 2022, which led to the startup having to pay loans all at once.
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Sequoia India and Southeast Asia led a $21.7M seed funding round into fintech startup Zamp Finance, founded by the former leader of Uber's Asia Pacific division Amit Jain. Zamp offers businesses a platform to invest in U.S. Treasury bills. Jain said, "Our customers, and a lot of them are startups, are not looking for a particular yield or want to speculate with the cash they have. They are looking for ways to keep their cash safe in a way that protects them from risks related to currency or institution." More: - The platform saw over 100 new signups within two weeks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
- The Zamp platform acts as both a corporate treasurer and a gateway to financial instruments.
- The seed funding round received funding from Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, former SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure, and Doordash CEO Tony Xu.
- Jain was formerly a partner at Sequoia India and Southeast Asia.
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 A message from PEGGY Throw away your posters—It’s time to upgrade your art collection. This new art app enables people to enter the art market with the ability to buy and resell art—all in one place. In contrast to recent macroeconomic uncertainty, Peggy has raised $8 million USD in venture funding. -
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Natick, Mass.-based early-stage cancer detection startup Mercy BioAnalytics closed its oversubscribed Series A funding round at $41M. Mercy is pioneering an extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsy procedure for early cancer detection. The firm intends to use the proceeds to accelerate the development and commercialization of Mercy Halo test for lung cancer screening. More: - Part of the fresh funds will be earmarked to develop detection tests for other types of cancer, starting with ovarian cancer.
- Novalis LifeSciences led the funding round with participation from Sozo Ventures, iSelect fund, American Cancer Society, BrightEdge, Broadway Angels, and others.
- Labcorp and Bruker joined as strategic investors in the round.
- Prior to the Series A round, the firm raised over $27M in venture funding.
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Sarna, a startup focused on retail investing, raised a total of $2.5M as it seeks to come out of beta in the U.S. this summer. The company also plans to make its platform available in Europe by the end of the year. More: - The funding is divided between a $1.6M Seed round led by Simplex Ventures, with participation from Wedbush Financial Services and Wedbush Ventures, and a previous ~$950,000 pre-Seed investment led by Motivate Venture Capital.
- Other companies in the Simplex portfolio include Bluepallet, a B2B market network for the chemicals sector, and SureBright, an insurance-as-a-service platform.
- "Rather than putting a modern skin on legacy infrastructure, Dominik and team are building the technical backend and internal risk management capabilities for today's trading volumes and volatility with intraday buying power calculations and margin capabilities," said Petra Griffith, founder and managing director at Wedbush Ventures.
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Last week, we asked our startups community, "How many startup ideas are stored in your notes?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Lida Liberopoulou (p/lliberopoulou), Founder of ArchaeoXR, answered, "Used to note down interesting business/app ideas all the time (or at least they looked interesting to me). After I started working on my startup almost every new idea I have revolves around that."
- Darnell Jackson (p/d-jackson-vip), COO at VIP Luxury Brands, "I currently have 27 viable startup ideas in my notes ranging from eCommerce to food service. I prune my list regularly though. I haven't been jotting down ideas as much recently since I decided to hone in my focus on one business at a time. The only way an idea makes the list now is if I just can't get it out of my head."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️
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Quick Hits: - Quickly familiarize yourself with building on Google Cloud with real-world examples and code snippets in this Google Cloud Cookbook.*
- Savings and investing platform Acorns acquired money management and financial education platform GoHenry for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is an all-stock deal through which GoHenry's backers will be added to Acorns' capitalization table.
- AI-powered identity verification and anti-money laundering solution provider Fourthline secured $54M (€50M) in fresh funding led by Finch Capital.
- Automated tip distribution software maker TipHaus secured $3.5M in fresh funding led by Fuse, with participation from Sugar Mountain and former Human CEO Bill Moore.
- SHRMLabs accepted HR performance review and talent intelligence startup Confirm into its SHRMLabs WorkplaceTech Accelerator Program's latest cohort. SHRM will invest $160,000 into startups that successfully complete the course.
- Sharpen your math, data, and CS skills with Brilliant. Quick, hands-on lessons make learning fun and easy. Over 10M+ people agree, so try it today.*
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Upcoming Events: - April 06 - Inside Marketing Coffee Break w/ Jeremy Sporn (Royce Brook Media) (Register Here)
- April 07 - US Visa and Green Card Options for Immigrant Founders and Employees (Watch Here)
- April 13 - Inside Interview with Lacework - The Evolution of Cloud Security w/ Ulfar Erlingsson (Watch On Demand)
- April 14 - Inside Interview with Landing - The Ultimate Corporate Housing Resource with Torger Philosophos (Register Here)
- April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
Experience the future of corporate housing with Landing. | |
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