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 Know this name? Joe Betts LaCroix Role: Co-founder and CEO of Retro Biosciences What he's doing: Leading Retro Biosciences, which came out of stealth in 2022 with $180M in funding (recently confirmed to be from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman) to increase human life spans by 10 years. Past experience: Graduate of Harvard University and MIT, co-founded the handheld computer maker OQO, founded Health Extension Foundation, co-founded medical therapy research company Vium, and served as a biotech partner at Y Combinator. Random fact: In 2007, his previous company, OQO, created a 405-gram, pocket-sized computer, which at the time was the world's smallest computer capable of running Windows Vista. We're testing new content formats in Inside.com newsletters. Do you want to see more coverage like this? Respond to this email and let us know. MIT Technology Review 
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Online grocer Good Eggs' pre-money valuation dropped by 94%, down from $270M in late 2020 to $15M in its recent down round. The troubled startup raised $7M in Glade Brook Capital. More: - This is the second time investors have provided distressed funding to the startup.
- Benchmark invested $50M in the firm in 2018, rescuing it from the brink of bankruptcy.
- Many previous investors, including Benchmark, that did not participate in the current round will effectively see their stakes wiped away due to the reduced valuations.
- For the current down round, otherwise called a "cram-round," Good Eggs had to offer investors a 2x liquidation preference.
- Glade Brooks will be given preferred stock worth four times the capital invested.
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Dylibso, a startup that builds software for WebAssembly developers, raised a $6.6M Series A. "As someone who likes other languages more than JavaScript, just to put it nicely, I thought I got to use this WebAssembly runtime to bring another language to Cloudflare workers," said Dylibso co-founder and CEO Steve Manuel. More: - Dylibso, founded in Dec. 2022, develops an open-source plug-in system that enables developers to run code that can be compiled into WebAssembly inside any program written in a different programming language.
- The company is launching Modsurfer, a diagnostic tool for WebAssembly.
- The round was led by Felicis, with participation from Boldstart Ventures, Crew Capital, and Pebblebed.
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Wilderness Labs, which develops a platform for .NET IoT applications, announced it raised a $3.3M Seed round. "There are so few VCs that are both technologically proficient and understand the value of the .NET community, but nearly half of the active developers in the world are .NET developers," said the startup's CEO and co-founder, Bryan Costanich. More: - Wilderness plans to use the funds to expand its go-to-market and hiring.
- The startup's platform is used by defense contractor SAIC, in addition to energy, wastewater treatment facilities, and smart city applications.
- Wilderness was founded in 2016 by former Xamarin executives and engineers.
- The IoT market is estimated to be worth $1T, per Don Sheu, GP at Apertu Capital, which led the round.
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BetterMynd, an online therapy platform for students, is eyeing partnerships to introduce new services as it gears up to double its customer base by the end of next year. The startup is targeting its platform to be deployed in 200 schools by the end of 2024, up from its current tally of 75. The startup credits its previous growth to its state-by-state growth approach. Moving forward, it does intend to work with larger college systems and add supplemental services to boost its growth rate. More: - CEO Cody Semrau expects the demand for its services to continue climbing as universities prioritize student mental health due to the high "attrition in higher education, across the board."
- The firm started a 24x7 crisis hotline pilot program late last year, followed by an online therapy pilot in January earlier this year.
- BetterMynd is tapping into potential partnerships to offer psychiatry and medication management services.
- Semrau thinks partnerships are the right strategy at the moment, as he intends to keep the startup small and nimble.
- The firm is currently in the process of raising $1M in seed funding from investors.
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Proptech startup Roofstock laid off 27% of its workforce. This is the firm's second round of layoffs after it reduced its workforce strength by 20% five months ago. CEO Gary Beasley blamed the layoffs on the current macroeconomic conditions, which have negatively impacted its business. More: - The firm conducted the layoffs to ensure it had "adequate capital runway until the market eventually turns."
- Roofstock has raised $365M in total funding to date, receiving $240M last year at a valuation of $1.9B.
- The firm is backed by SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and others.
- The Oakland, Calif.-based startup does not expect any more layoffs.
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- Mysten Labs, a crypto startup established by former Meta executives, agreed to buy back its preferred shares from bankrupt crypto platform FTX for $95M. FTX had initially paid $101M for the stake when it led Mysten's $300M Series B round in Sept. 2022.
- Canadian healthcare technology firm PointClickCare acquired the care management platform Patient Pattern for an undisclosed sum.
- Global startup accelerator Techstars shut down its Stockholm, Sweden-based accelerator program, which was launched just last week. The cohort included 30 founders from France, Spain, Estonia, and Sweden.
- E& Capital led a $10M pre-Series C funding round into the Egyptian online learning platform Almentor.
- Pakistani logistics startup Trax secured $3.7M in seed funding led by Amaana Capital and Tricap Investments.
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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. | |
