Hey, Insider! Want to be featured in next week’s newsletter? Answer our weekly question: How do you handle failure and bounce back from it? Share your response here. | |  Karan | |
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Character, a startup that developed an AI chatbot, is looking to raise $250M in funding, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The chatbot can assume different roles, like a celebrity or a famous CEO, and allows users to engage in text-based role-playing games. More: - The company wants to reach a $1B valuation and has already met with Sequoia Capital.
- The funding efforts might be challenging due to the startup being in early product development and the high funding costs for AI development.
- However, Microsoft recently invested $10B in OpenAI, which shows significant interest from tech investors in machine learning.
- In fact, so far this year, other AI companies have raised $1B.
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Oakland, Calif.-based Marqeta entered an agreement to acquire credit card program management startup Power Finance. The deal is valued at $223M, with an additional payment of $52M available, subject to reaching milestones in the next 12 months. The acquisition will help Marqeta expand its product offerings, incorporate data science programs, and launch new rewards programs. More: - Marqeta is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $3.7B that offers a cloud-based open API platform for card transaction processing.
- Notable clients of the firm include Block, Uber, Google, DoorDash, JP Morgan, Citi, and Goldman Sachs.
- The Power Finance acquisition is Marqeta's first to date.
- Power Finance, established in 2021, previously raised $16.1M in seed funding and a $300M credit facility.
- Anthemis, Fin Capital, CRV, Restive Ventures, Dash Fund, and others have backed the New York-based startup.
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Atomos Space announced it raised a $16.2M Series A to build a demo mission to display its docking and towing in space. The startup is building Orbital Transfer Vehicles to move satellites in space. More: - Atomos claims it could lower the launch costs for satellite operators by half, saving them from having full navigation capabilities to move to different orbits.
- The company is working on a self-driving satellite that could detect and move objects in space.
- Atomos is a proponent of nuclear propulsion in space, claiming an order-of-magnitude improvement in speed.
- The startup expects the first two OTVs to launch in early 2024.
- The round was led by Cantos Ventures and the Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office, with participation from Dolby Family Ventures, Arden Road Investments, and Techstars, among others.
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Early-stage AI-powered shopping app startup Nate has laid off most of its staff and stopped payment processing from its app, per sources close to the matter. The news comes after reports surfaced that the company exaggerated the capabilities of its app. Instead of using AI to automate its processes, as initially claimed, reports revealed that the company hired workers overseas to manually enter transaction data. The recent move suggests that the New York-based startup may cease operations soon. More: - The firm has previously raised $50M from backers, including Coatue Management and Forerunner Ventures.
- Nate was valued at $307M in Jun. 2021.
- Last March, Nate reportedly had $20M in cash in the bank when it received a $4M venture debt funding from TriplePoint Capital.
- It began layoffs in June of last year, first laying off 30 employees, then contract workers in August, and then more layoffs in December.
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Prism VR, a startup that teaches math with VR, raised $12.5M in a Series A funding round. The company will use the capital for product development and marketing. More: - Prism VR's product focuses on bringing problem-driven, tactile, and visual learning to math teaching.
- The company already works with more than 100 schools across 26 states.
- Anurupa Ganguly founded Prism to increase low math proficiency rates across the U.S.
- He previously was a math and physics teacher in Boston.
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Longevity research community VitaDAO announced it raised a $4.1M round, including participation from Pfizer's venture arm and Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase. The investments were voted on by community members. More: - VitaDAO was created by early-stage drug development and research protocol Molecule, which raised $12.7M in June 2022. Molecule also launched AthenaDAO for women's health research and ValleyDAO for synthetic biology.
- VitaDAO expects the traditional sources of funding from the round to build credibility between the community and pharmaceutical companies.
- "Translating academic science into the biotech space is often referred to as the valley of death, as many projects fail to find sufficient funding to advance. Decentralized Science caught our attention as an emerging area to address the valley of death challenge," said Pfizer Ventures' executive director Michael Baran.
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I'm Kiani from Inside.com, and last week, we asked our startups community, "How can you find accurate market data for assessing your startup’s potential?" Here’s a highlighted response we received: Daniel James Scott (p/sparkcatalyst | LinkedIn), Co-Founder of Life Transcript Co, answered simply, “Secondary data could come from anywhere, which is why it is typically meaningless. Primary data, speaking directly to customers, that's where the gold is.” 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: - This year, try a resolution that sticks - going to therapy with BetterHelp. Save 25% off your first month.*
- New York-based clinical trial tech platform Paradigm secured $203M in Series A funding co-led by Arch Venture Partners and General Catalyst. It also acquired Deep Lens, an oncology patient recruitment startup.
- Australian quantum sensing software firm Q-CTRL secured $27.4M in Series B extension funding, adding on to the initial $25M Series B round from Nov. 2021. Salesforce Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Mindrock Capital, and others participated in the funding round.
- British EV startup Arrival slashed its global workforce strength by half. Igor Torgov stepped into the CEO role, taking over from interim CEO Peter Cuneo.
- Israeli EV startup City Transformer aims to raise a $50M Series B round this year as it gears up to release its CT-2 vehicle in Western Europe by the end of 2024.
- Australian retail startup Victoria appointed Joanne Smith, formerly the CFO at Little Birdie, as the company's CFO.
- Automation is your finance team's best productivity strategy. See five finance tasks you should be automating today.*
*This is sponsored content.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Nicolas is a Sr. Analyst at Inside, covering startups and transportation trends. He is an avid map maker and data nerd. Nicolas has worked in the shared-scooter space, as well as advised e-bike and moped start-ups.
Martin Ruiz-Cantu is a Business Researcher at Inside.com. He has a Master's in Global Business and Finance from Georgetown University. He previously worked at HSBC and the World Bank. He is passionate about finance, startups and tech.
| | | | 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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