Plus: carbon management software company Planetly shuts down
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Seed-stage investments continue to be robust despite the venture funding pullback. Median pre-money valuations of seed-stage startups remained at $10M. Early-stage venture capital firms had accumulated $73B in dry powder through funds smaller than $250M before June 30, 2022. More: - In recent months, several larger funds and non-traditional investors have continued to back seed-stage startups.
- In the year to date, nontraditional investors have invested $6.7B in seed stage deals, of which nearly $2B was invested in Q3 2022.
- Seed stage valuations of startups established outside the Bay Area, New York, Los Angeles, and Boston regions have increased by 33% compared to last year.
- In Q3, 49% of seed-stage deals originated from these four regions.
- Median pre-money valuations for early-stage startups declined from $60M in Q1 2022 to $45M in Q3.
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Venture capital firm Day One Ventures will invest $100,000 in 20 startups this year as part of its newly unveiled "Funded not Fired" program. The fund will also invest $1M and lead the pre-seed round of the "top businesses" in the program. More: - Day One Ventures raised a $52.5M fund in Nov. 2020.
- It has allocated between $5M-$10M out of this fund for the program.
- GP Masha Bucher said the program targets employees let go by tech giants such as Twitter and Stripe.
- Bucher told TechCrunch interested founders don't need an established company to apply, but at least one member of the team must have been laid off recently.
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Teamraderie, a startup that helps companies host team-building events, raised $7M at a $60M valuation. The round was led by Founders Fund but also saw participation from 12 chief human resource officers and chief people officers. More: - Teamraderie lets its clients participate in virtual courses hosted by celebrities such as Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov and Pulitzer Prize recipient Marcia Chatelain.
- The company has 200 clients, including Microsoft, Google, and IBM.
- The company says 50,000 people in 50 countries have used its platform.
- Teamraderie has secured $9M in funding since it was founded in 2020.
Zoom out: - Founders Fund partner Keith Rabois told TechCrunch that the number of term sheets he's given to companies has declined from “twelve or thirteen” in 2021 to two so far this year.
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Carbon management software startup Planetly has shut down and laid off all 200 employees. The German startup was acquired by SoftBank-backed OneTrust in December last year. Employees were informed about the closure on Nov. 4. More: - Planetly, established in 2018, provided businesses with a SaaS platform to measure and reduce their carbon emissions.
- While the official reason why OneTrust shut down Planetly is unknown, sources told Business Insider that the company was probably less of a strategic match to the parent company's core business than previously anticipated.
- The firm has raised a total of $5.7M from investors to date.
- BMW, HelloFresh, and The Economist Group were among Planetly’s notable customers.
- In June, the parent company OneTrust laid off 950 employees.
- The same month, it nabbed $100M in debt funding from KeyBanc Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs Group.
Zoom out: - Emitwise, Planetly's competitor, also reduced its headcount last month.
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Cybersecurity platform Veriti has raised $18.5M in funding from Insight Partners, NFX, and Amiti. The startup plans to use the funding for product development and marketing strategy. More: - Veriti was founded in 2021 and is described as a security platform that integrates a company’s security stack to analyze and identify security gaps and misconfigurations automatically.
- The cybersecurity platform aims to address enterprise complexity and data quantity issues.
- The product purports to monitor threat exposure, provide visibility into vulnerabilities, and increase return on investment for enterprises by leveraging security configuration, logs, and sensor telemetry.
- The company has not disclosed its current revenue.
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Milan-based startup AEHRA has debuted new electric vehicles (EVs) expected to be on the market in 2025. The newly launched company aims to bring luxury to the global EV sector. More: - AEHRA plans to launch a sedan and an SUV model in 2025, with annual production ranging from 20,000-25,000 vehicles.
- The high-end vehicles are targeted at high-income earners and cost between $160,000-$180,000 depending on the model.
- AEHRA’s EVs will be introduced to the U.S. and Europe, followed by China.
- The startup’s debut comes at a critical time; the EU is banning sales of new fossil-fuel-burning cars by 2035.
- Italy-based Ferrari and Lamborghini have also shared plans to develop EVs.
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- EQT Ventures received $1.1B (€1B) in total commitments towards its latest fund dedicated to back early-stage startups across Europe.
- Mark Gardner, a former executive at Thermo Fisher and current vice president at Quest Diagnostics, joined biotech startup Pleno’s board of directors. His addition will enable Pleno to take further steps into the biological target detection domain.
- Indian HR tech platform Keka nabbed $57M in Series A financing led by WestBridge Capital. The funding is the largest yet for a SaaS platform in India.
- Web3 communication infrastructure platform Notifi secured $10M in seed funding co-led by Hashed and Race Capital, with participation from Struck Capital, HRT Capital, and Wintermute.
- Video news media startup, The Recount is exploring a possible sale. The firm fired half of its 75 employees last year before letting go of the other half earlier this month. It had secured $3M bridge financing earlier this year.
- San Francisco, Calif.-based digital customer engagement solutions developer Agent IQ secured $10M in funding. The Series A round was led by Mendon Venture Partners.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Jigney Pathak is a Business Researcher at Inside who loves technology, finance & sports. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a finance specialization & has previously worked at Salesforce.
Isabel Guerriera is an Inside Freelance Writer and Editor currently living in Madrid, Spain.
| | | | 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. | |
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