What happened: After the Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) implosion in March, Congress pushed to raise the $250,000 FDIC deposit insurance limit. However, the initiative has received pushback from conservative groups and trade associations. Irrespective of the limit changes, startup founders have several other options from banks that offer accounts with higher deposit protection above the FDIC insurance limit, per Kruze Consulting. Relevance: Information collated by Kruze shows that banks, such as Bank of America, provide insurance to cover deposits up to $6M. First Republic Bank and Bridge Bank offer a service that expands the FDIC insurance coverage to $150M by distributing the deposits across their respective network of banks. In addition, several neo-banks, such as Brex and Mercury, also cover deposits up to $5M and $6M, respectively. Why it matters: Startups, on average, had $5.5M in cash deposits in early 2023, with median cash runway figures of 10 months, per another Kruze Consulting report. Due to the volatile economic conditions, startups need to de-risk their cash and store it in safe places. Startups can open insured cash sweep accounts — through which the banks open multiple accounts across several FDIC-insured institutions — invest in short-term government debt, or use money market funds to de-risk their available capital.
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Mark Cuban's streaming app Fireside raised a $25M Series A, valuing the company at $138M post-money. In November, the startup acquired open-streaming TV platform Stemium, including its IP and staff, for an undisclosed amount. More: - Fireside is aiming at being platformed on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, and smart TVs.
- The Stremium deal added "more than 100 networks" with 24/7 broadcasting, including English football and eSports content.
- The startup's new round includes participation from Paris Hilton and Redbeard Ventures, among others.
- The company was founded by Mark Cuban, early Yammer employee Mike Ihbe, and former Googler Falon Fatemi.
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Rad Power Bikes announced its fourth round of layoffs in the past twelve months. The company, which had ~400 employees, did not confirm the number that would be let go. More: - The bike manufacturer previously cut an unknown number of positions in December, 63 in July, and 100 roles in Apr. 2022.
- In November, Mike Radenbaugh stepped down from the CEO role and was replaced by former president and COO at the company, Phil Molyneux.
- The company has been subject to recent lawsuits, involving accidents and property damage from a fire.
- Rad Power Bikes had a $1.65B valuation in October 2021.
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Finnish IT security firm F-Secure acquired Lookout's consumer mobile security division for $223M (€202M). The transaction is expected to generate annual revenue synergies of €12M ($13.2M) for F-Secure. The acquisition will enable F-Secure to nearly triple its presence in the U.S. and bolster its suite of consumer security products. More: - F-Secure intends to leverage Lookout's technology to strengthen its market position in the global communication service provider segment.
- Lookout will use the proceeds from the transaction to "evolve into a pure-play enterprise company," which will focus on mobile endpoint security and cloud security.
- Per Crunchbase, Lookout has raised over $432M in total funding to date, including a $150M Series F round led by T.Rowe Price Associates in mid-2014.
- Notable backers of the firm include Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Greylock, Morgan Stanley, and Jeff Bezos.
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Empiraa, a Melbourne, Australia-based business strategy platform, raised $518,000 for a $7.5M valuation. "This seed round was significantly harder than our previous round, the fact the market has shifted so much made it difficult to agree on terms with VCs," said the startup's founder, Ash Brown, who shifted focus to raising from high net worth individuals. More: - "There are some great businesses and startups out there that may not fit a certain model or spreadsheet, so it doesn't get a look in from certain VCs," Brown told Startup Daily.
- Empiraa recently released API integration capabilities for business metric tracking.
- The company plans to expand to the U.S. after landing a client in the transportation sector. Empiraa also plans to open an office in Colorado.
- The startup also sees potential locally in the 2.4 million small and medium-sized businesses in Australia.
- Empiraa previously raised a $110,000 pre-Seed round and $637,000 in December.
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UAE-based corporate spend management startup Alaan integrated OpenAI into its platform to provide personalized expense management insights and spending pattern trend analysis to businesses. The addition of OpenAI will help the firm to advance its mission of simplifying finance for underserved businesses in the Middle East. More: - Alaan was the only startup in Y Combinator's latest accelerator cohort to receive early access to ChatGPT-4.
- The firm says that by incorporating natural language processing capabilities, the platform can now address users' natural language-based queries and provide personalized responses.
- In addition to analyzing expenses in real-time and spotting patterns, the platform can also alert users about unusual activity.
- CEO and co-founder Parthi Duraisamy said, "This partnership will allow us to provide our users with a more intelligent, intuitive, and efficient experience. We believe this integration will be a game-changer in expense management, and we look forward to its positive impact on our users' businesses."
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- Puma Private Equity led a $7M Series A round into AI-powered voice isolation technology maker Iris Audio.
- AI-powered physical security modernization platform Hakimo secured $6M in fresh funding led by Rocketship.vc, with participation from Neotribe Ventures, defy.vc, Carrier Global Corporation, and Firebolt Ventures
- White-labeled digital wallet infrastructure provider Ansa emerged from stealth to provide embedded digital wallet and flexible payment options for businesses. The firm secured a $5.4M seed funding led by Bain Capital Ventures last year.
- KYC compliance and ID verification firm Smile Identity acquired Inclusive Innovations to expand its footprint across Africa. Sources estimate that the cash-and-stock transaction's value is "not more than $20M."
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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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