| |
| Here's a look at today's VC briefing. - Google agrees to invest $2B in Anthropic
- Nvidia increases VC investments, betting big on promising applications for the semiconductor industry
- LeapFrog looking to raise $1B fund to back financial services and healthcare startups across emerging markets
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Google has reportedly agreed to invest $2B in AI startup Anthropic, per CNBC. Anthropic will receive $500M in cash upfront, with the remaining $1.5B to be disbursed over time. More: - Anthropic was founded by ex-OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei.
- The firm has developed Claude 2, an AI chatbot that rivals OpenAI's ChatGPT.
- Google had already invested $300M in Anthropic earlier this February, taking up a 10% stake in the firm.
- Following Google's investment, Anthropic raised another $450M from investors in May, at a valuation of $4.1B.
- Earlier this month, Amazon agreed to invest $4B in Anthropic, which includes an initial investment of $1.25B and the remaining contingent upon meeting certain conditions.
- Sources informed WSJ that Anthropic had signed a multi-year deal with Google Cloud worth more than $3B a few months before the recent investment.
|     | |
| 2 | | Semiconductor giant Nvidia has significantly increased its VC investment pace this year, especially in startups with promising applications in the semiconductor industry. 
What the numbers say: Since the start of this year, Nvidia and its affiliates, NVentures and Nvidia GPU Ventures, participated in 33 VC deals involving robotics, machine learning, SaaS, and cloud-computing startups, per Pitchbook. Nvidia participated in deals worth $625M in Q1, $2.48B in Q2, and $1.84B in Q3. Relevance: Nvidia co-led a $99M Series C round into 3D metal-printing startup Seurat Technologies along with climate investor Capricorn. Earlier this month, NVentures co-led a $32M funding round into machine learning and robotics startup Machina Labs. The firm also participated in large language model startup Cohere's $270M Series C round in June. What happened: Nvidia's intensified participation in VC funding rounds is in stark contrast to the wider pullback of non-traditional investors. Corporate venture capital firms participated in just 24.1% of all VC deals in Q3 2023, per Pitchbook. CVC's deal participation reached an eight-year low in the recent quarter. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, hear.com. |  | | Get the world's first hearing aids with dual processing Improve your conversations with clear speech understanding and quick sound processing from Horizon hearing aids. - Developed by top German engineers, these tiny, medical-grade devices are ultra-discreet and backed by audiologists nationwide.
Start with a 45-day, no-risk trial today. Start Your Trial | |
|
| 3 | | LeapFrog Investments is looking to raise $1B capital for its Emerging Consumer Fund IV. The fund will back about 20 high-growth financial services and healthcare startups across emerging markets. LeapFrog has earmarked 40% of the fund to invest in African startups. The firm will also invest in South and Southeast Asia. More: - The European Investment Bank and International Finance Corporation have already committed $60M and $50M, respectively.
- Other limited partners contributing to the fund include Prudential Financial and AIA Group.
- LeapFrog hopes to write checks worth $30M to $70M.
- The firm has already backed African off-grid solar firm Sun King and Indian healthcare chain Redcliffe Labs with the capital raised toward Fund IV.
- LeapFrog is interested in backing insurance, banking, credit, and digital solutions startups within the financial services sector and diagnostics, pharmaceutical distribution, clinics, and digital health startups within the healthcare sector.
| | | |
| 4 | | Global freight forwarding and logistics startup Flexport is looking to acquire the technology of digital freight startup Convoy, which shuttered last week. The move will help Flexport expand its freight forwarding service in the domestic U.S. trucking industry, sources informed WSJ. More: - Flexport is reportedly looking to rope in a small team of business, product, and tech experts from Convoy as well.
- The firm is not looking to acquire Convoy's physical assets or its overall business.
- However, by taking over Convoy's technology, Flexport could restore the trucking services for Convoy's previous clients.
Zoom out: - Convoy closed its operations and laid off all its 500 employees after it failed to find a buyer.
- The Seattle-based startup was valued at $3.8B at its peak after raising a funding round in April 2022.
- The startup struggled with heavy debt and declining freight volumes.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Infrahub. |  | NVIDIA Elite Partner introduces Supercomputers as a New Asset Class In the first offering of its kind, IaaS provider NexGen Cloud is giving investors the opportunity to purchase its GPU cloud servers, specialising in LLM and Gen AI workloads. The company is projecting 30-50% annualised returns. Targeting 150% profit over 5 years - Income-producing hands-off asset
- Uncapped ROI
- Limited Opportunity
- Fully trackable earnings via the platform
- First mover advantage - AI Boom needs more compute!
“NexGen Cloud has been an excellent investment for me. The returns on the two supercomputers I bought have been remarkable.” Craig, USA Get your investment guide | |
|
| 5 | | Korea Investment Partners Southeast Asia (KIPSEA) held the first close of its flagship Southeast Asia VC fund at $60M. The fund is sector-agnostic and will back early-stage startups between seed and Series B stages, especially ones looking to expand into South Korea. More: - Limited partners contributing to the fund include Samsung Life Insurance, Korea Development Bank, Korea Growth Investment Corporation, Woomi Global, D.camp, Mirana Ventures, and Korea Investment & Securities.
- 60% of the funding is earmarked for new investments, with the remaining set aside for follow-on rounds.
- Individual check sizes will range from $2M to $3M.
Zoom out: - KIPSEA has backed more than 900 startups to date since its launch in 1986, including Kakoa, Naver, YG Entertainment, Tiki.vn, and Halodoc.
- The firm has $3B in assets under management.
| | | |
| 6 | | Today's Funding: Energy - Renewable energy solutions provider Scatec raised $102M in fresh funding from Climate Fund Managers (CFM) and others. CFM acquired a 32% stake in the firm by providing $55M in equity financing.
Information technology - Water filtration membrane and systems manufacturer Fibracast closed its Series A round at $44.6M. Cycle Capital led the funding round, with Export Development Canada participating in the round.
Healthcare - Outpatient clinic network Commons Clinic secured $19.5M in Series A funding led by RA Capital Management. Participants in the funding round include Floating Point, Courtside Ventures, and Time BioVentures.
Manufacturing - 3D metal-printing startup Seurat Technologies secured $99M in Series C funding co-led by Nvidia's VC arm NVentures and Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund. The firm was valued at $350M at the fundraising.
Spacetech - Indian spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace bagged $27.5M in pre-Series C funding led by Singapore's state investment firm, Temasek.
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Are you getting the best discounts from leading cloud providers? This is your go-to resource for learning how to maximize multicloud discounts.*
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was reportedly seeking bids for Philadelphia regional bank Republic First Bancorp but put the decision on hold after the bank was able to raise $35M from an investor group last Friday.
- Thai bank Kasikornbank's fully-owned subsidiary Unita Capital acquired a majority stake in crypto exchange Satang's parent company worth $102.8M (3.7B Thai baht).
- Chinese online fashion giant Shein acquired British online fashion brand Missguided from Frasers Group Plc for an undisclosed sum. Frasers had acquired Missguided for $21M (£20M) after it entered into insolvency proceedings.
- Indonesian bank Bank Mandiri's corporate venture capital division, Mandiri Capital Indonesia, is set to launch a new early-stage climate tech fund along with early-stage VC firm Investible.
- Create a winning SaaS business plan and calculate your break-even point. Join the 1-Page SaaS Blueprint Challenge to map out your startup.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | NOV
8 | | Compete Week - Competitive Intelligence Summit is back: Join top GTM leaders from Salesforce, Hubspot, Apollo and more!* | | | | | | | NOV
25 | | AI in Financial Services with Saroop Bharwani | | | | | | | NOV
25 | | The Future of Fractional Work with David Berkowitz | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
Term of the Day Upselling: Upselling is a sales technique that encourages customers to buy upgraded versions of their selected products. Question of the Week What's one tool or app that has significantly made your life easier at work? Join the conversation |
INSIDE VENTURE CAPITAL LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Comments
Post a Comment