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Qualcomm announced its acquisition of Israeli startup Autotalks, which develops smart vehicle communication systems to enhance road safety and prevent collisions. Autotalks utilizes sensor technology to enable vehicles to communicate with each other and with road infrastructure, providing early detection of hazards and increasing road safety. More: - The Israeli startup focused on smart vehicle communication systems developed the chipset vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system, which connects car technology to warn drivers and vehicles of hazards.
- The company is reportedly being acquired for $350M to $400M and comes at a time when Qualcomm looks to expand its capabilities and product range in its automotive semiconductor space.
- Autotalks had previously raised over $150M in funding from investors, including Hyundai Motor, Toyota, Samsung, Gemini Israel Ventures, and Magma Venture Partners.
- Current cars such as Volkswagen Golf, ID.3, and ID.4, as well as Toyota vehicles, are all equipped with V2X systems, displaying alerts on screens and integrating the technology for enhanced safety.
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What the numbers say: Climate prediction startups secured $266M in venture funding in 2022, per Crunchbase. VC funding deployment halved in 2022 compared to $541M deployed in the previous year. What happened: The overall climate tech sector initially showed resilience to the venture funding pullback. However, VC funding deployment tapered towards the end of last year as the industry succumbed to the funding retrenchment trend. In Q1 2023, VC funding for the overall climate tech sector slumped 36% QoQ to $5.7B. What next: Despite the drop, investors are confident about the sector's potential, especially considering the wide use cases for climate prediction and weather analytic startups. Several sectors, including vacation rental, proptech, and supply chain startups, are leveraging climate prediction startups' services to predict weather's impact on vacation rentals, analyze the risk of flood or fire risks on new properties, and de-risk the impact of weather on supply chains. The broad scope of the sector, coupled with the scaling potential of climate prediction startups — due to its low product expenses and platform-as-a-service business model — are the key reasons why VCs are investing in the sector.
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API marketplace startup RapidAPI has reduced its headcount further by 82% to just 42 employees. The company, which raised $150M in a Series D round last year, is reportedly looking to be sold. More: - The San Francisco-based startup laid off an additional 70 employees, reducing headcount from an all-time high of 230.
- The company helps businesses find and integrate third-party APIs and developers to easily build, use and share APIs.
- The move comes when the company looks further to significantly restructure the organization to remain laser-focused on its core competencies.
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Australian content aggregator startup Go1 acquired the non-fiction book summary platform Blinkist for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition gives the combined entity a valuation of "well above $2B," per Sifted. Go1 acquired Blinkist to expand its reach into corporate online learning. More: - Go1, last valued at $2B at its $100M Series E round last year, started working with Blinkist three years ago, eventually adding 150 of Blinklist's titles to its offerings.
- Blinkist's co-founder and CEO Holger Seim said, "We will also leverage some of Go1's content from partners. And Go1 will obviously leverage our content within their ecosystem and our capabilities around building great products."
- Blinkist will continue operating as an independent brand and tap into AI to generate more content while keeping costs low.
- Blinkist's investor Jonathan Becker, a general partner at Headline, dismissed suggestions that the acquisition was motivated by a race for survival, adding that Blinkist has been cash positive since 2019.
- The firm was last valued at $160M in 2018 when it raised $18.8M in equity funding.
- Blinkist's largest investor invested $30M into Go1 through an up round at the time of the acquisition transaction.
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Bay Area-based startup PermitFlow raised $5.5M in seed funding to further develop software that simplifies the construction permit application process. The round was led by Initialized Capital and included induvial investors from tech companies Thumbtack, Mighty Buildings, Zillow, and Bluebeam. More: - The startup aims to provide the construction market with faster-permitting software automation, ultimately cutting down on a process that can take years.
- PermitFlow, founded in 2021, works with dozens of customers, supporting over $600M of project value across more than 2,000 units of housing.
- The company has been in beta testing since 2021 and works with customers across some of the largest housing markets, including California, Texas, and Florida.
- The new funding will be put towards further technology development, customer experience enhancement, and expansion into new market areas.
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Virtual behavioral health startup Brightline is conducting a second round of layoffs, reducing its workforce count by 20% again after firing the same percentage of employees in Nov. 2022. The firm reportedly reduced its corporate roles to accommodate more clinical and client-facing employees, including therapists, psychiatry providers, coaches, and member support agents. More: - The layoffs will put the company in a strong position for the future.
- To date, the firm has secured $212M in venture funding, of which $115M came through a Series C round last year.
- Brightline recently hired Dr. Myra Altman as its new chief clinical officer.
- Last month, the company witnessed a ransomware data breach that impacted third-party vendor Fortra's GoAnywhere file transfer software, potentially compromising the contact information and details of 27,742 users.
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Last week, we asked our startups community, "How many people are working at your startup?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Nikita Kozlovski (p/nikita), Founder & CEO at Done!, answered, "We're building a productivity app called Done! with just 4 people for now. Everyone has different responsibilities, but all 4 are involved in improving the Product!"
- Henry Martin (p/shopforgamers), Owner at Shop For Gamers, answered, "Currently, there are 12 people working at our startup - a mix of engineers, designers, and business operations staff."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️
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- Mammoth Biosciences pivoted away from its diagnostics business and laid off 35 people, or less than 20% of its workforce.
- Zero-knowledge infrastructure startup Webb Protocol secured $7M in seed funding co-led by Polychain Capital and Lemniscap.
- Edtech startup RiseBack is expanding operations into Malaysia and appointed Norita Rahmat as country manager for the region to lead the expansion.
- Trustible emerged from stealth to help organizations build AI solutions that are compliant with governmental regulations. The firm closed a $1.6M pre-seed funding in April.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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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