Adept AI, a generated AI startup, raised $350M as part of its Series B, which sets its post-money valuation past $1B. The news comes amid its competitor OpenAI releasing a GPT-4 demo and reports of Anthropic raising $300M at a pre-money valuation of $4.1B. More: - Adept AI released ACT-1, an AI model that enables it to perform tasks, including website browsing and navigating software tools.
- The round was led by General Catalyst and Spark Capital.
- Last week, Salesforce Ventures launched a $250M generative AI fund.
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Space manufacturing startup Varda Space Industries is looking to help pharmaceutical companies pursue drug development in microgravity. Varda will use robots to synthesize chemical compounds in space, which will fit into a three feet wide drug development and testing lab that fits into a space capsule. Varda's co-founder and CEO, Will Bruey, said, "We have built a unique way to manipulate chemical systems. And the most expensive chemical systems on Earth are drugs. We knew that making them in space was the killer app of microgravity." More: - As drug compounds synthesize differently in low-gravity environments, developing medicines in low-Earth orbit has the potential to be one of the major advances in pharmaceutical research.
- Merck & Co. refined its cancer treatment drug Keytruda on the International Space Station.
- However, organizations typically avoid such projects due to the risk associated with handling potentially dangerous chemicals in a confined space.
- Varda believes its innovations will inspire other pharmaceutical firms to develop novel therapeutics in space.
- It plans to test its robotic equipment and reentry procedures in June when its first capsule will be onboard a SpaceX rocket.
- The San Francisco, Calif.-based startup has raised $53M to date, from investors such as Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, and others.
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Zurich-based warehouse drone startup Verity raised a $32M Series B. The company lists IKEA's Swiss stores, Samsung's SDS unit, and logistics company DSV as its clients. More: - "[Drones] improve our co-workers' well-being, lower operational costs, and allow us to become more affordable and convenient for our customers," said Tolga Öncu of IKEA's INGKA subsidiary.
- The round was led by A.P. Moller Holding and included participation from Exor Ventures, among others.
- Verity, founded in 2014, last raised $18M as part of its Series A in 2018.
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Minneapolis, Minn.-based fintech startup Kaleidoscope laid off 30% of its workforce, equating to 15 employees. Jody Johnson stepped into the CEO role vacated by founder Greg Dehn. Johnson said it "recently reduced its headcount to bring expenses in line with its revenues to ensure that the company is in a terrific position moving forward." More: - The news comes as the company plans for its next phase of growth as it expects to double revenue in 2023.
- The startup's total workforce strength prior to the layoffs was 50 employees.
- Kaleidoscope provides scholarship and grant management software for universities.
- In Apr. 2022, the firm secured $10M in Series A funding led by 3x5 Partners and Rally Ventures.
- To date, the firm has raised $16M in total funding.
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Japanese warehouse robotics maker LexxPlus is looking to expand into the U.S. market after closing a $10.7M (1.45B yen) Series A round. Additionally, it intends to use the proceeds to further develop its product by increasing its payload to 500kg and incorporating digital twins in operations. More: - Co-founder and CEO Masaya Aso said the lack of automation in "over 85% of warehouses" and their dependence on manual tasks was the impetus behind the starting LexxPlus two years ago.
- LexxPlus received a valuation of $38.8M (5.26B yen) at the recent funding round, which was led by Drone Fund.
- SOSV's HAX, Incubate Fund, SBI Investment, and DBJ Capital participated in the funding round.
- LexxPlus will leverage the network of existing clients to foray into the U.S. market.
- The firm's offerings are primarily aimed at logistics and automotive industry clients.
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U.K.-based startup Gener8 announced it raised €5.7M (~$6M) as it launched its personal information management systems (PIMS) app. "We believe Gener8 is the first company in the world to enable people to centralize their data into one location and earn from it," said the startup's founder, Sam Jones. More: - According to Gener8, the web version of the PIMS has 600,000 accounts and six million visitors.
- The deal values the startup at approximately $35.8M
- The round included participation from West Indies' former cricket captain Chris Gayle and the former chief executive of the British Olympic Association, Simon Cleg, among others.
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- Shopping rewards startup Fetch Rewards laid off 100 employees, or 10% of its workforce. The Information believes that the drop in retail funding prompted the layoffs.
- AI startup Anthropic launched its chatbot platform Claude, a direct competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Anthropic was co-founded by former OpenAI employees.
- A Delaware judge approved Walgreens' acquisition of core assets of the now-bankrupt pharmacy startup Medly. The transaction is valued at $19.35M.
- Google Cloud is offering AI startups $250,000 in cloud credits for the first year.
- TuSimple's co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou stepped down from the board last week, citing differences over compensation awarded to CEO Cheng Lu and the company's strategic pivot from Level 4 to Level 2 autonomy. TuSimple's board has accused Hou of poaching employees for his new venture, but he refuted the charges.
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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.
| | | | 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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