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| Hey Insiders, Today we are taking a look at Ampaire's acquisition of drone startup Talyn, the reason behind the slump in new startup creation, and Nabtesco's acquisition of a majority stake in DeepSea. Scroll down for some quick hits, and let us know what other content you'd like to see in future issues. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Ampaire, a California-based hybrid VTOL developer, announced the acquisition of drone company Talyn for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, Ampaire is seeking to enter adjacent markets, such as the defense industry. More: - Talyn currently has seven contracts with the Department of Defense, including Group 3 to 5 unmanned aerial systems.
- The startup also works under the U.S. Air Force's AFWERX Agility Prime program to develop working prototypes.
- Ampaire is seeking to grow its VTOL capabilities for passengers and cargo, which is Talyn's specialty.
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What the numbers say: The number of new startups created has steadily declined each year since 2020. Between 2020 to 2023, the number of new startups created in the U.S. declined by 86%. Israel and the EU have seen an even higher decline of 89% and 87%, respectively. What happened: Crunchbase reckons that the year-on-year slump may have been started due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global economic downturn, political instability, and lack of early-stage capital may have further hindered startup formation. Where to see the impact: The low startup formation numbers provide a silver lining for aspiring entrepreneurs, as they will likely face lesser competition and can focus on the untapped needs of customers. However, the lack of funding means that founders will have to rely on bootstrapping the company with their own funds and gear the company for profit. | | | |
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| 3 | | Japanese automation giant Nabtesco acquired a majority stake in Greek shipping startup DeepSea for an undisclosed sum. The startup will continue to function autonomously. With the acquisition, DeepSea will further develop its fuel optimization platform for fossil fuel-powered marine vessels and support Nabtesco Marine Control Systems' goal of developing semi-autonomous shipping. More: - DeepSea is currently working on the vessel monitoring and optimization platform Cassandra and the weather routing platform Pythia.
- Cassandra analyzes a ship's components and their effect on performance, giving clients an insight into reducing emissions across a specific vessel or the entire fleet.
- Meanwhile, Pythia is able to provide customized routing, speed, and trim settings to lower overall cost and CO2 emissions.
- The firm claims it can improve efficiency by 10% across any fleet within 12 months.
- DeepSea has raised €8M ($8.9M) from investors to date, of which Nabtesco Technology Ventures had provided €5M ($5.55M).
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| 4 | | Space logistics startup Impulse Space raised a $45M Series A funding round led by Raytheon Technologies' venture arm RTX Ventures. The startup will use the proceeds to further develop its two orbital transportation vehicles designed for last-mile payload delivery. The firm's first orbital mission, dubbed Leo Express-1, is scheduled to launch onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 in Q4 later this year. More: - Seed-round's lead investor Founders Fund participated in the current round, joined by other existing backers Lux Capital, Airbus Ventures, and Space Capital.
- Founders Fund led Impulse's $20M seed round in early 2022.
- Former SpaceX employee Tom Mueller founded Impulse Space in 2021.
- The Redondo Beach, Calif.-based startup has scheduled an orbit refueling demonstration mission with partner Orbit Fab in 2025.
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| 5 | | New York-based startup Altana announced it has been granted a contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The startup uses artificial intelligence to track goods produced using forced labor and prevent them from entering the U.S. More: - Altana would generate $2.85M for the first year of the contract, for a total of ~$10M over the span of three years.
- The startup uses network analysis to build a map of the supply chain.
- "There is no greater validation of our efforts than being awarded a contract by the world's most important supply chain regulator, and we couldn't be more proud to support this essential mission," said the company's CEO and co-founder, Evan Smith.
- Altana is backed by Activate Capital Partners, Google Ventures, and Amadeus Capital Partners, among others.
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| 6 | | Wisdom Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $10M for its initial fund. The VC firm is focusing on investing in areas such as mindfulness, well-being, and human connection. More: - After securing $5M in 2022, the firm invested in 15 startups, including grief counseling site Betterleave, employee benefits platform Juno, and APAC leadership coaching company Ami.
- Investors in Wisdom's Fund I include LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Medium founder Evan Williams, and Google Empathy Lab founder Danielle Krettek.
- The VC firm's team includes Google VP Bradley Horowitz and former head of Well-being Learning at Google Ruchika Sikri, among others.
- Wisdom plans to launch a second fund in the future.
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| 7 | | 
Get noticed and join the conversation! Create your account on Inside.com and participate in our featured questions to be featured in our newsletters here and reach a wider audience. See your name in lights and share your expertise with the community. ⭐️ Go to Inside.com | | | |
| 8 | | Quick Hits: - Invest in Virtuix before they ship their VR treadmills to their waitlist, a $100M opportunity. This opportunity ends on 8/10.*
- Blood testing startup Vital Biosciences Inc. raised $48M in funding from Lachy Groom, Sam Altman, 8VC, and Laboratory Corp of America.
- Supply Change Capital raised $40M capital towards their debut fund, which aims to back global food industry startups.
- Seattle-based property inspection services startup Inspectify secured $5.76M in fresh funding led by Fundrise.
- Indian ed-tech startup Byju's creditors have agreed to revise the terms of its $1.2B loan.
- Discover how collagen helps reduce loose skin, deep wrinkles, and dark spots.*
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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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