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| Hey Insiders, Here are the latest stories: - Graphcore is looking to raise fresh funding
- Crypto funding falls to lowest levels since Q4 2020
- Metropolis raises $1.7B funding to take SP Plus private
Plus, we have rounded up the top late-stage funding rounds of this week. If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | British chip design startup Graphcore is looking to raise fresh funding from investors as losses widened due to a drop in revenue. The firm reports it will need to raise new capital by next May; otherwise, it may find it difficult to continue operating the business. The firm's pre-tax losses increased by 11% YoY to $204.6M, per its recent filing. More: - Graphcore had $157M in cash at the end of the year.
- The firm saw a 46% drop in revenue to $2.7M.
- Graphcore attributed the drop to "headwinds in the wider macroeconomic environment" and buyers deferring hardware purchases.
- Graphore has struggled to win corporate customers and fulfill its initial promise of being a viable alternative to industry giant Nvidia.
- The firm, which was valued at $2.8B in 2020, lost Microsoft as a customer when the latter opted not to continue using Graphcore's chips in its cloud computing platform.
- Per Crunchbase, the firm has raised $682M in venture capital to date from investors, including BMW iVentures, Sequoia Capital, Atomico, Amadeus Capital Partners, and others.
- Earlier this year, Sequoia wrote off its entire stake in Graphcore to zero.
Q: Will prospective investors take advantage of Graphcore's current challenges to get preferential terms when investing in the new round? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | VCs deployed $2.2B in late-stage and beyond global startups this week between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, per Crunchbase data. Transportation startups raked in 49% of the funding this week, thanks to Metropolis' $1.05B Series C round, which we have covered in today's newsletter below. Clean energy, fintech, and healthcare startups nabbed 18%, 16%, and 8% of the financing, respectively. 
Here are the other five largest rounds announced this week: - Green hydrogen electrolyzer maker Electric Hydrogen closed its oversubscribed Series C funding round at $380M. Fortescue, Fifth Wall, and Energy Impact Partners led the round, with participation from bp Ventures, Temasek, Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, and others.
- Indonesian peer-to-peer lending platform Investree bagged $231M (€220M) in Series D funding. JTA International Holding led the funding with participation from SBI Holdings.
- Headway, a healthcare startup that connects patients with therapists and psychiatrists, cemented its unicorn status with its new $125M Series C funding led by Spark Capital. Existing backers Thrive Capital, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz participated in the round.
- AI-powered accounts payable automation startup Stampli bagged $61M in Series D funding led by funds managed by Blackston. Existing backers Insight Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta, and NextWorld Capital participated in the round.
- Clearco, a fintech startup that provides non-dilutive financing to e-commerce businesses, raised $60M in Series D funding led by Inovia Capital and Founders Circle Capital. Additionally, the firm secured a $100M asset-backed debt facility from Pollen Street Capital.
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| 3 | | Global crypto startups raised $2.1B in VC funding across 297 deals in Q3 2023, per data from blockchain analytics firm Messari reviewed by CoinTelegraph. Funding for the sector has fallen 70% from Q3 2022 and 36% from Q2 2023. The current quarterly total is the lowest since Q4 2020. More: - Majority of the funding was raked in by seed startups, which raised $488M from 98 deals.
- Per Messari, "Trends in deal counts show a significant shift away from later-stage projects and into early-stage projects over the last three years."
- Average deal sizes halved from $16.9M in Q3 2021 to $7.1M in Q3 2023.
- Investors have also moved away from investing in user-facing applications to blockchain infrastructure.
- Investments in blockchain infrastructure have surpassed consumer-focused application funding for the last three months.
- However, Messari predicts that investors will start increasing their investments in consumer-facing crypto applications as they will likely give better returns in the long run than infrastructure investments.
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| 4 | | AI-powered parking platform Metropolis raised $1.7B in fresh funding consisting of $1.05B in Series C equity funding and $650M in debt. The firm will use the proceeds to take parking facility management firm SP Plus private in a $1.5B deal. The price offered represents a 52% premium over SP Plus' closing stock price on Oct. 4. More: - Metropolis CEO and co-founder Alex Israel said, "The combined platform will seek to bring checkout-free payment experiences to consumers."
- Metropolis equips parking structures with computer vision systems that help customers pay for parking automatically without having to swipe a credit card or pay cash.
- The firm is set to receive SP Plus' two million parking spaces, over 3,300 managed parking spaces, and shuttle bus operations at 160 airports.
- Prior to the current financing, Metropolis had raised just $226M in total funding.
- Eldridge Capital and 3L Capital co-led the latest funding, with BDT & MSD Partners' affiliated credit funds, Vista Credit Partners, Temasek, Slow Ventures, and Assembly Ventures participating in the round.
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| 5 | | VC firm Section 32 secured $525M in capital commitments towards its fifth fund, per TechCrunch. Part of the capital will be invested in early-stage startups, with the remaining set aside for follow-on opportunities. The firm typically invests in 20-25 startups per fund, writing checks between $5M to $10M. More: - The new fund brings Section 32's assets under management to $2.3B.
- The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm has backed 100 startups to date across software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, gaming, enterprise, precision medicine, and computational biology sectors.
- Notable startups in its portfolio include AI startup Cohere, last valued at $2.1B in June; Scale AI, valued at $3.5B in late 2020; and HR tech company Gusto, valued at nearly $10B in 2022.
- Section 32 successfully exited CrowdStrike, Coinbase, and Relay Therapeutics, which went public in 2019, 2021, and 2020, respectively.
- Section 32 was founded by former Google Ventures CEO Bill Maris in 2017.
- Section 32's CEO and managing partner, Andy Harrison, said, "This time, we reduced the fund size, given the current market environment, and held the line closer to our upper bound."
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| 6 | | Today's Funding: E-commerce - Consumer brand accelerator SuperOrdinary bagged $58M in Series B funding at a $800M valuation from Manzanita, Alliance Consumer Growth, and Demira GateUpper90.
Fintech - French pay management startup Qobra raised €10M ($10.5M) in fresh funding led by Singular.
Healthcare - Women's health services startup Diana Health raised $34M in Series B funding led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Manufacturing - Machina Labs, a startup that leverages AI and robotics to manufacture advanced composites and metal products, raked in $32M in Series B funding. NVentures and Innovation Endeavors co-led the funding.
Transportation - Electric seaglider maker Regent bagged $60M in Series A funding. 8090 Industries and Peter Theil's Founders Fund led the funding round, supported by Japan Airlines Innovation Fund and Point72 Ventures.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - LiquidPiston's engines are up to 10x smaller and 30% more fuel efficient. Invest as they disrupt the $400B combustion engine market.*
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's brother Max Altman is raising a $200M fund with former Flexport executive Ben Braverman to invest in early-stage startups.
- Tribe Capital, a VC firm with nearly $1.6B in assets under management, secured $16.3M in capital commitments towards its new crypto-related fund against a target of $50M.
- Seedbrite Ventures launched Seedcraft, a platform that will help Registered Investment Advisors invest in venture capital.
- SoftBank is reportedly looking at selling a 2.54% stake in PB Fintech at a discount of up to 2%. The Japanese investment firm will likely receive $105M from the transaction.
- Indian hotel booking startup Oyo Hotels' parent company, Oravel Stays Pvt, is in talks with Apollo Global Management to refinance its $660M loan and extend the maturity deadline by five years.
- These are the 5 core strategies for cloud innovation that showcase how digital native businesses are harnessing cloud innovations. Read now.*
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Term of the Day Bottom of funnel: Bottom of funnel (BOF) is a marketing term used to describe the last stage in a marketing funnel. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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