| 1 | | Potential buyers are in talks to acquire legal generative AI startup Casetext, sources informed Business Insider. Sources did not reveal the identity of the potential buyer nor the amount the firm is quoting. Per sources, the deal could be in "hundreds of millions of dollars." More: - Business Insider reckons that Thomson Reuter could be a potential buyer, citing Casetext's close strategic overlap with existing legal research platform Westlaw.
- The acquisition could pave the way for a potential exit for Casetext's VC backers, including Union Square Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Y Combinator, and Touchdown Ventures.
- To date, Casetext has raised $68M in equity funding from investors.
- Although the company has existed for over a decade, it explored the idea of using large language models in its products just five years ago.
- Last year, the firm integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 model into its AI legal assistant CoCounsel.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: Indoor farming startups are struggling due to high operational expenses, rising energy bills, high supply costs, and pest infestations. Their troubles are further amplified due to a lack of VC funding, which previously kept them afloat. VC funding for the sector slumped to $198.4M in Q1 2023, 4.5 times less than quarterly peak totals of $895M from the same period last year, per AgFunder. In the ongoing quarter, VCs have invested less than $10M into indoor farming startups, indicating that funding will continue to slide further from last month. What happened: Indoor farming is divided into high-tech greenhouses and vertical farms. The former have been operating profitability, unlike the latter. Vertical farming startups —which attracted funding from Cargill and Walmart— have suffered due to steep costs associated with operating new facilities, heating and ventilation, and lighting. 
Why it matters: In recent months, four indoor farming companies either declared bankruptcy or shut down. Their publicly listed counterparts have also not fared well, with stock prices of AppHarvest and Local Bounti down 95% over their respective listing prices. AppHarvest —once valued at $825M— fears that it will not be able to survive without additional funding. | | | |
| 3 | | Checkmate, an L.A.-based brand discovery and savings app, raised a $15M Series A led by Google Ventures. The round also included participation from the electronic music duo The Chainsmokers, Paris Hilton, and Trevor Neff from Ashton Kutcher's Sound Ventures, among others. More: - Checkmate develops an order-tracking dashboard that stores and manages gift cards and aggregates emails across promotional emails to avoid spam volume.
- The startup claims more than 400,000 users and 60,000 daily active users. The app has a 4.5-star rating from 2,000 users.
- Other participants in the round include Ancestry CEO Deborah Liu, the former CEO of Ebates at Rakuten, Kevin Johnson, and Firstbase CEO Chris Herd.
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| 4 | | Volvo Cars announced an investment of an undisclosed amount into a Montreal-based vehicle-to-grid energy startup, dcbell. "Rising energy prices coupled with frequent blackouts are challenges faced by consumers today, and our investment in dcbel and its technology can help alleviate those challenges for our customers," said Alexander Petrofski, CEO of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. More: - Dcbell is developing the r16 Home Energy Station using the Orchestrate operating system that converts energy from rooftop solar panels and storage batteries and manages the transfer of energy from a vehicle to the home.
- Volvo has been developing vehicle-to-grid capabilities for its EX90 vehicle and upcoming models.
- The startup last raised $40M in a venture round led by Coatue, with participation from Narrative Fund, among others.
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| 5 | | The former CFO of Seattle-based Fabric Nevin Shetty pled not guilty to four charges involving the alleged transfer of funds from the e-commerce startup to his cryptocurrency business. The next court appearance is scheduled for July 24. More: - According to an inditement, Shetty transferred funds from Fabric to HighTower a month after he was told he would be let go of the e-commerce company due to performance.
- Fabric reportedly began investing in startups, with Shetty helping craft the policy, with the aim of incurring 6% interest and the CFO keeping the returns for his separate crypto business.
- Fabric's primary business is building APIs for e-commerce, including pricing, inventory management, and digital storefronts.
- The software startup was valued at $1.5B after a $140M Series C led by SoftBank.
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| 6 | | FemTec Health sold off subsidiary Birchbox's assets to Retention Brand for an undisclosed sum. FemTec acquired the subscription beauty box startup Birchbox in late 2021 for $45M, a fraction of its peak valuation of $485M. The company made the move to satisfy creditors. More: - Birchbox —started by Harvard Business School graduates Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna—pioneered the beauty subscription box business model, selling designer beauty products for $10 per month.
- The company raised $97M from investors, including a $60M Series B round led by Viking Global Investors in 2014, giving it its peak valuation.
- Other notable backers of the firm include Accel Partners, First Round Capital, and Walgreens.
- Struggles surfaced at the firm after several companies started offering similar products. In 2016, at least 300 subscription beauty service providers were competing in the market, per the WSJ.
- Viking Global provided a $15M buyout in 2018 after it ran low on cash and struggled to find a buyer.
- However, the company continued to lose subscribers, forcing downsize its global team by 25% in early 2020.
- Birchbox's troubles continued even after FemTec acquired the firm in 2021.
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- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provided approval to Elon Musk's brain-implant startup Neuralink to commence the company's first human clinical trial.
- Space tech startup Constanellis Aerospace emerged from stealth with a $78.9M Series A funding round. Names of the investors were not disclosed.
- Creator economy startup Jellysmack laid off 13 staff members in the U.S. The company's layoffs will also impact its team in France, although the company did not reveal the number of jobs impacted due to this decision.
- Indonesian government-backed startup accelerator program Startup Studio Indonesia (SSI) opened registration for its seventh batch. SSI announced that startups that emerged from its previous cohorts had successfully raised $65.8M in VC funding through subsequent rounds.
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INSIDE STARTUPS LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Analyst | | 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. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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