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The Athens event was fantastic (much to share with you soon), but now it's off to London, where we are talking to power VC Sonali De Rycker of Accel, CEO TS Anil of "unicorn" bank Monzo, and veteran investor Nazo Moosa, a managing director of Paladin Capital Group, which is also generously co-hosting all of us. The event takes place this Tuesday, May 13th. Hope to see you there! |
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Top NewsThe GENIUS Act, a bipartisan attempt to regulate stablecoins, failed to clear a key Senate vote after Democrats balked at Trump’s crypto entanglements and the lack of finalized text. The collapse not only stalls stablecoin oversight but may poison the well for other crypto bills inching through Congress. Decrypt has more here. Insight Partners just confirmed that a January cyberattack compromised personal data from employees, limited partners, and portfolio companies, including banking and tax records. The firm had previously downplayed the breach, attributing it to a "sophisticated" social engineering attack without providing evidence. TechCrunch has more here. Bitcoin popped above $100,000 today for the first time in three months. CNBC has more here. |
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Sponsored By ...Harmonic: The startup discovery engine trusted by 1000s of investors, including DST, Redpoint, and Norrsken. “Hey Scout, summarize the insights from the last podcast the Hebbia founder was on, map their competitive landscape, and explain their product offering and pricing.” |
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Sequoia Leads $1.5B Tender Offer for Sales Automation Startup Clay
By Marina Temkin It took seven years of hard work for Kareem Amin, co-founder and CEO of sales automation startup Clay, to see the company’s product finally take off in 2022. Since then, the startup has experienced explosive growth, reached a valuation exceeding a billion dollars, and expanded its employee count from low double digits to over 150. Despite the team’s average short tenure at the company, Amin made a rare decision: Clay is allowing employees who have at least a year of tenure to sell some of their shares at a relatively high share price to one of its existing investors, Sequoia. It’s a win for everyone. The employee tender offer values the company at $1.5 billion, up from the $1.25 billion it secured in its Series B funding in January. Sequoia, an investor in Clay since its 2019 Series A, has agreed to purchase up to $20 million in employee stock. Startup employees often trade lower pay for a bet on the company’s future, Amin told TechCrunch. “Most of the startups don’t work out, but Clay is working out, and so we wanted to make sure that they have the option of liquidity.” According to Amin, both current employees and former employees are eligible to sell a specific portion of their equity, typically equivalent to about one year’s salary. Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia and Clay board member, sees Amin’s and co-founder Varun Anand’s decision to offer company-wide participation in the startup’s financial success as another sign of Clay’s uniqueness. “Clay is a very creative place,” Lin said. The startup’s technology helps salespeople and marketers find the right data and automate their go-to-market strategy with AI. Clay’s tools are used by thousands of customers, who range from large companies like OpenAI, HubSpot, and Canva, to over 100 small consulting agencies that help other businesses use Clay for their go-to-market efforts. |
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Massive FundingsTobin Scientific, a 17-year-old company based in Beverly, MA, that provides biopharma companies with logistics, transport, and storage services for temperature-sensitive materials, raised a $65 million round co-led by Denali Growth Partners and Truck 9 Partners. More here. |
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Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big FundingsCarta Healthcare, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that provides hospitals with AI-powered software to automate clinical data abstraction for use in quality reporting, research, and decision-making, raised an $18.25 million round led by UPMC Enterprises, with MemorialCare Innovation Fund, Rex Health Ventures, and Tampa General Hospital Ventures as well as previous investors Memorial Hermann Health System, Frist Cressey Ventures, Storm Ventures, Paramark Ventures, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, and Mass General Brigham Ventures also piling on. MobiHealthNews has more here. Eyeo, a 14-year-old Cologne company that develops nanophotonic color-splitting technology that allows image sensors to capture more light and sharper detail, even in low-light environments, raised a $16.8 million round co-led by Imec.expand and Invest-NL, with HTGF and BOM also pitching in. Tech Funding News has more here. Koala Health, a four-year-old Boston startup that delivers pet medications directly to consumers, raised a $20 million round. Valspring Capital was the deal lead. More here. |
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Smaller FundingsCueZen, a four-year-old Seattle startup that uses AI and data from connected health devices to encourage patients to stick to care plans and build better habits, raised a $5 million round led by Point72 Ventures, with Pack VC, Fortson VC, and Nextinfinity also chipping in. More here. Doubleword, a four-year-old London startup that develops a language inference engine that helps large organizations process and apply complex internal knowledge at scale, raised a $12 million round. Dawn Capital led the financing. Silicon Canals has more here. Fuse Games, a two-year-old Istanbul startup that develops mobile games combining casual gameplay with deeper engagement mechanics, raised a $7 million round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with Lakestar, NFX Capital, and Actera also participating. VentureBeat has more here. Gardin, a five-year-old startup based in Oxford, UK, that develops a remote sensing device that helps indoor farmers monitor plant health and optimize growing conditions in real-time, raised a $4.5 million round led by Navus Ventures, with Oxford Innovation Finance LDV Capital, MMC Ventures, Seedcamp, and Alchimia Investments also chiming in. More here. Kind Designs, a three-year-old Miami Beach startup that uses 3D printing to manufacture sustainable seawalls that mimic coral reef structures and support marine biodiversity, raised a $5 million round at a $30 million valuation. The deal was led by Overlay Capital, with Mark Cuban also taking part. More here. Operand, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing AI software aimed at replacing traditional management consulting by automating strategic analysis and business advice, raised a $3.1 million round led by Felicis, with Y Combinator, SV Angel, and Soma Capital also anteing up. More here. Posha, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that builds an AI-powered home booking assistant that helps users discover and reserve short-term rentals based on personalized preferences, raised an $8 million round led by Accel, with previous investors Xeed Ventures and Waterbridge Ventures also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here. |
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Prefer-Not-to-Say FundingsBVNK, a four-year-old London startup that builds infrastructure that helps businesses issue, accept, and convert stablecoins for global payments and treasury operations, raised an undisclosed amount from Visa Ventures. NFTgators has more here. |
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Sponsored By ...The market potential is massive -- $3T. The technology is proven. The momentum to reshore metal manufacturing is real. Join investors like Capricorn and NVIDIA backing Seurat to unlock a new wave of product innovation and investor value. More here. |
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New FundsBosch, the German giant known for making everything from auto parts to power tools, just launched a €250 million venture fund to back deeptech startups in AI, climatetech, and quantum computing. Tech.eu has more here. |
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ExitsCoinbase is dropping $2.9 billion to acquire Deribit, a nine-year-old crypto options exchange based in Dubai, in a bet that derivatives—and a friendlier Trump-era crypto climate—are key to global expansion. The Wall Street Journal has more here. |
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PeopleInstacart CEO and OpenAI board member Fidji Simo is assuming the position of "CEO of Applications" at OpenAI. In this new role, she will help OpenAI scale "traditional" company functions, OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said in a blog post. TechCrunch has more here. Bill Gates tells The New York Times that he has decided to close down his foundation by 2045. With $200 billion left to spend, he plans on making a big bet on AI as infrastructure–that is, using AI for not only drug discovery but as a means to deliver personalized care to remote regions. More here. Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for defrauding hundreds of thousands of customers who deposited crypto with the company in exchange for the promise of high returns. Bloomberg has more here. Tom Brady, Larry David, and Steph Curry are breathing easier today after a federal judge dismissed claims that they had "knowledge of FTX fraud." The Verge has more here. |
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Data
New research from Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev suggests that the fastest path to unicorn status might start with a one-way ticket to the U.S. Israeli startups that relocate are 9x more likely to hit the billion-dollar mark than those that stay put—India and the UK show similar patterns. More here. |
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Essential ReadsSkilled trades are having a moment, as employers desperate for welders, plumbers, and mechanics start wooing high schoolers with salaries that rival entry-level tech jobs—no college degree required. The Wall Street Journal has more here. Meta is tiptoeing back into crypto with stablecoins aimed at streamlining small cross-border payouts to creators. However, few doubt Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has his sights set on a grander global payments play. Fortune has more here. |
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DetoursRockstar says its stunning new GTA VI trailer was captured entirely in-game on a PS5, with no smoke, mirrors, or canned CGI. The Verge has more here. Conan O'Brien's travel tips. |
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Retail TherapyA tough choice for Los Angelenos - the $5 million Tunnel Suite at Crypto.com Arena or the $2 million court-side cabana suite at the Intuit Dome. |
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