Hey, Insider! Want to be featured in next week’s newsletter? Answer our weekly question: Are you team build in public or build in private, and why? Share your response here. | |  Karan | |
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What the numbers say: Startups with all-female founding teams raised $800M in venture capital in Q1 2023, representing 2.1% of the total capital deployed in U.S. startups. Venture funding for all-female-founded startups declined 53% YoY compared to $1.7B in Q1 2022. Meanwhile, startups with at least one female founder raked in $7B in Q1 2023, half than $15.8B raised by such startups at the same time last year. Mixed-gender teams nabbed 18.9% of the total capital deployed in U.S. startups in the quarter, a slight rise over the 17.5% share nabbed by mixed-gender startups on average over the last two years. 
Deep dive: Early-stage startups with at least one female founder raked in 44% share of the total funding for mixed-gender startups. Late-stage, growth-stage, and angel-seed-stage startups secured 31.4%, 14.3%, and 10% of the financing, respectively. What happened: Per TechCrunch, the funding declined for startups with all-female founders due to economic volatility, rising recessionary fears, and geopolitical instability.
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On March 9, Elon Musk incorporated a company named X.AI in the state of Nevada. Sources informed FT that the company would be an AI company that will rival OpenAI. Musk is reportedly in talks with investors to raise funding for the new startup. The filing shows that the firm has authorized the sale of 100 million shares. More: - Musk is named as the company's only director in the incorporation filing, with ex-Morgan Stanley banker Jared Birchall designated secretary.
- According to sources, Musk is assembling a team of AI researchers and engineers, which includes former DeepMind executive Igor Babuschkin.
- Musk has also secured nearly 10,000 GPU processors from Nvidia for the new venture, per Business Insider.
- Musk dismissed the notion that the processors were for his new venture, adding that his firm's "Twitter and Tesla are certainly buying GPUs."
Zoom out: - Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before stepping away from the board after three years due to clashes with its management.
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 A message from MONOGRAM The $19.4B joint replacement market may be entering a new era, and this company is hoping to lead the way. It is estimated that up to 50% of joint replacements will be robotic by 2030 and Monogram is aiming to have the first active navigated robotic arm on the market. And you can invest in the company ahead of their planned Nasdaq listing. With 100,000 failed joint replacement surgeries every year, we believe that this market has been due for a realignment. Surgeons have been forced to rely on the same technology, like hand saws and generic-sized joint implants for the last 40 years. Monogram’s surgical robots and 3D-printed joint components are hoping to up the ante when it comes to personalization and precision. They’ve already demonstrated how their surgical system works on cadavers in front of 5,000+ live viewers, they have 20 patents filed, and 17,000+ people have previously invested. Join Monogram ahead of their intended NASDAQ listing. Invest Now
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German startup Tvarit, which aims to make manufacturing efficient and help the industry produce less waste, raised €5M ($5.4M) to scale. The company has an AI-powered solution to provide waste-free and energy-efficient metal manufacturing. More: - The funding round was led by Momenta and Futury Capital and included a re-investment by existing investor Matterwave Ventures.
- Tvarit is focused on combining metal manufacturing processes like casting, hot forming, and welding with data-driven AI to help machine operators work more efficiently.
- The Frankfurt-based company claims it can reduce scrap by 50% and energy costs by 30%.
- "We have been fortunate enough to invest with our early-stage fund in Tvarit's early days," said Benjamin Krahmer, Managing Partner at Futury Capital. "With Tvarit's recent significant growth, its superior AI, and its deep industry know-how, we are excited to further invest with our Growth Fund, enabling Tvarit to accelerate even stronger."
Zoom Out: - Tvarit was founded in 2019 by Suhas Patel and Rahul Prajapat.
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Creative platform EVEN closed a $2.2M seed round led by CSA Partners. The platform allows musical artists to sell their music directly to consumers. More: - The platform is for artists who want to grow their fanbases before they release music. They can sell exclusive content and experiences on EVEN before releasing music to the masses.
- Mag Rodriguez, the company's founder and CEO, stated that he built the platform to help black and brown artists retain equity in their work.
- EVEN will also work to address other pitfalls of the music industry, such as artists being compensated or credited properly and letting them connect with fans easily.
- This, in turn, will help limit third-party fees from reseller platforms that fans typically have to incur.
- EVEN hopes to launch later this year with more than 600 artists.
- Other investors in the seed round include gANGELS, gener8tor and angel investors Daniel Rotman, Adie Akuffo-Afful, and Ogo.
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VC firm Torch Capital's founder Jonathan Keidan advised startup founders to be open to raising down rounds. Keidan asserts that raising down rounds is better than accepting onerous terms — such as ratchets — or raising venture debt that may have its own financial covenants. More: - Founders that are adamant about retaining their startup's previous valuations may find that if "that goes the wrong way, that company's over," according to Keidan.
- He added, "The good founders are willing to just figure it out and take the lumps."
- Per Business Insider, late-stage startups already reduced their valuations after IPO opportunities were reduced and scrutiny for tech M&As increased.
- In Mar. 2023, Stripe raised $6.5B in funding at a $50B valuation, nearly half its peak valuation of $95B.
Zoom out: - Last month, the New York-based VC firm raised $116M for its second flagship fund and $89M for its first opportunity fund.
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Bspkl, a New Zealand-based deep-tech manufacturing startup that helps produce cleaner hydrogen, raised NZ$2.5M ($1.55M) in a seed round. The company created an innovative way to produce catalyst coated membranes (CCMs) for the hydrogen industry. More: - WNT Ventures led the round, which Sydney VC Investible supported.
- The round also includes a $750,000 repayable grant from Callaghan Innovation's Technology Incubator Program.
- Bspkl is the first company to spin out from the Kiwi Crown Research Institute at GNS Science, where the inventor of the technology used to produce the cleaner hydrogen, Jérôme Leveneur, created it. Leveneur is now the co-founder and CTO of Bspkl.
- CCMs usually use platinum and iridium in solid membranes to produce hydrogen. As water passes through the CCMs, electrolysis breaks down the molecules to produce protons, electrons, and oxygen. With Bspkl's technology, creating a CCM requires 25 times fewer precious metals than previously needed.
- This technology is seen as necessary as the price of iridium poses a large problem for the hydrogen industry.
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Last week, we asked our startups community, "Debate: Is a co-founder necessary to build a successful startup?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Philip Allan (p/philip), CEO at Agriquery, answered, "While we know the benefits of having a cofounder, in order to find a cofounder you may need to first prove your own commitment, resolve, and potential contributions to the business. This means you might need to take the initial steps with the intention of going it alone, and then the cofounders become easier to find."
- Mathew Kerbis (p/kerbisverse), Founder at Kerbisverse LLC, answered, "No, but it will probably help you raise VC if you want to found a high growth startup." He continued, "VCs prefer to invest in startups with co-founders since the data show that there's a higher likelihood the startup will succeed for a myriad of reasons. There are always some exceptions, but that seems to be the VC industry preference. Plenty of startups either don't want to raise VC or aren't high growth companies and therefore not a fit for VC. For those startups, it could go either way. As a solo founder myself, I think of my spouse as my co-founder!"
- John Martin (p/jjgmartin), FOUNDER at Authentic Joinery, Inc, "A co-founder is critical for success. Check writers don't like solo founders, as they're almost never the complete package. I'm partnered with a veteran of the VC space in Utah, who brings experience and insight I didn't even know I needed. Advertising on LinkedIn is a great way to find someone!"
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: - Say goodbye to silos. With Miro, teams can sync, flow, and feel the connection of working side by side, even in remote and hybrid work environments.*
- French insect farming startup Ynsect secured $175M (€160M) in fresh funding to expand globally. The firm also announced its strategic pivot from animal feed to pet food and food ingredients.
- British rewards credit startup Yonder secured £62.5M ($77.5M) in Series A funding co-led by Northzone and RTP Global. The funding consisted of £12.5M ($15.5M) in equity and £50M ($62M) in debt.
- AI startup LangChain is raising between $20M and $25M in fresh funding at a $200M valuation from Sequoia Capital, per Business Insider. The firm's new fundraising comes just a week after it closed a $10M seed funding round led by Benchmark.
- Commercial insurance digital marketplace platform Capitola secured $15.6M in Series A funding led by Munich Re Ventures, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
- Sales pros worldwide say sales ops is key to productivity. Download the new "Trends in Sales Ops" report to learn more.*
*This is sponsored content.
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Upcoming Events: - April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
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*This is a sponsored event listing.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Christopher Hachey is an editor based in the New York City area. Reach out to him at chris@inside.com | | | | 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. | |
Surgery won’t look the same in 10 years – invest in Monogram, the robots pioneering more precise procedures. | |
