Hey, Insider! Want to be featured in next week’s newsletter? Answer our weekly question: How do you protect your startup's intellectual property? Share your response here. | |  Karan | |
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Former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee established an AI startup called Project AI 2.0 that aims to build AI-powered platforms and productivity applications. The firm expects to capitalize on the next generation of AI platforms to drive productivity in the workplace and build ChatGPT-like applications. The firm is in talks with potential investors to raise its first round of funding. More: - Lee is currently the CEO and chairman of early-stage venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures, which he founded in 2009.
- Lee will balance his responsibilities in running Sinovation and the new startup.
- Project AI 2.0 is the seventh company to emerge from Sinovation Ventures' AI institute.
- Lee estimates the opportunities within the AI sector are nearly ten times larger than those in the mobile internet era.
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Myno Carbon, a Seattle-based startup that sells biochar — a type of soil used in ancient Amazon — is seeking to scale its tech to build its supply. Myno plans to convert 183,000 tons of timber waste per year into 40,000 tons biochar through pyrolysis. More: - Myno, founded in 2020, raised $5M from friends and family.
- The startup was co-founded by Thor Kallestad, who previously co-founded DataCloud, which developed software for mining analysis.
- “Biochar increases the productivity of agricultural lands and fights climate change by capturing carbon in soils,” said Hilary Franz, the Washington state commissioner for public lands.
- Kallestad says the startup initially had a misstep as it pursued undeveloped sites for facilities and that seeking partnerships instead enabled it to save time and gain access to power plants already plugged into the grid.
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Singaporean refurbished electronics marketplace Reebelo secured $29M in Series A extension funding led by Cathay Innovation. The latest capital infusion brings its total funds raised in the Series A round to $50M. The firm intends to use the proceeds to grow its presence in the U.S. and expand into Canada later this year. More: - Moore Strategic Ventures, Gandel Invest, and Antler participated in the funding round.
- The firm is planning on entering new product categories.
- Reebelo currently provides services in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the U.S.
- Reebelo announced it has built a new U.S. headquarters in San Mateo, California.
- Reebelo entered the U.S. market less than a year ago, and it has already become its second-largest market, contributing 25% of the total sales with over 21,000 customers.
- It expects the U.S. to become its largest market within six months.
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Candela, a startup that develops electric hydrofoil boats, raised ~$20M to begin mass production of its P-12 vessel this summer. The electric boat will go into operation in the Stockholm region, transporting passengers between the downtown area and Ekerö within 25 minutes, ~30 minutes less than a conventional diesel ferry. More: - Candela claims to be in talks with 180 potential customers for the P-12.
- The startup claims its product uses 80% less energy than traditional vessels.
- The round was led by EQT Ventures, with participation from angels in the real estate and private equity sectors.
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Numbers Station, an automation platform, announced it raised a $17.5M Series A led by Madrona. The startup's product enables SQL transformation via natural language, generative AI for datasets, and record matching between CRM systems. More: - The startup's co-founder Chris Aberger highlighted that amid wider interest in AI, while the news focused on content generation, the founders saw an opportunity to create a product for data operations and wrangling.
- “The idea is to generate answers that are specific to the organization, so we use fine-tuning techniques and also feedback,” said Numbers Station co-founder and chief scientist Ines Chami.
- The round included participation from Factory, Norwest Venture Partners, and Cloudera co-founder Jeff Hammerbacher, among others.
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Robotics technology startup Unbox Robotics expanded its presence in the U.S. and started offering its automation solutions nationwide. The firm makes vertical sorting intralogistics robots that automate operations at fulfillment centers. Unbox showcased its product lineup at the ProMat 2023 event, marking its foray into the U.S. market. More: - Co-founder and CEO Pramod Ghadge said, "Powered by a swarm intelligence-based sorting mechanism, the UnboxSort system empowers customers to process parcel sortation efficiently and helps them scale up their operations and transition to Industry 4.0 with ease."
- Unbox claims its products have a sorting efficiency of 99.99%.
- The vertical sorting solution can reportedly increase space efficiency by 50% to 70%.
- Unbox claims customers have reported a 3x productivity bump in logistic operations using their products.
- The Indian startup has raised $9.1M in total funding to date, including a $7M Series A round led by 3one4 Capital in Dec. 2021.
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I'm Kiani from Inside.com, and last week, we asked our community, "What is your startup's definition of success?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Michael Hoffman (p/michael-hoffman), CEO at Gather Voices, Inc., answered, "For me, startup success means creating something long lasting that brings value to our customers, employees and partners."
- Alan R. Newton (p/alan-newton), COO / Co-Founder at virtuall, answered, "Our long-term definition of success would be defining and dominating a category that does not yet exist (We currently operate in another 'category' to the one we are creating). Providing such a positive impact that we create changes in behavior that support sustainability. Another measure would be enabling people to be their very best, to have the freedom and support to develop both professionally and personally, and to aspire to do whatever positive things they want to do with their lives. If employees can be the best versions of themselves having worked for the company, then that is a beautiful measure of success for me personally as a founder."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️
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- Digital banking infrastructure startup Credable raised a $2.5M seed round led by Ventures Platform.
- Cultivated meat startup Fork and Good launched a pilot facility in Jersey City to start manufacturing cultivated ground pork.
- AI video personalization platform Tavus raised $6.1M in seed funding led by Sequoia, with participation from Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, and YC Continuity.
- Generative AI startup Runway unveiled its Gen-2 text-to-video platform that will be available to users "in the coming weeks."
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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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