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| Hey Insiders, Today's newsletter covers: - 🔀 Project Canary's business strategy pivot
- 📉 90% drop in market cap of four recently listed startups
- 🚲 Buycycle's expansion in the U.S.
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Denver, Colo.-based climate data emissions software maker Project Canary is changing its business strategy from certification to measuring methane leaks at oil and gas operations. Along with the business strategy pivot, the firm also promoted CFO Tim Romer and COO Will Foiles to co-CEO roles. Existing CEO Chris Romer will transition into the Project Canary board's executive chairman role. More: - Project Canary said, "With this leadership transition, measurement, precision and scientific rigor will continue to be core to the company's business."
- The startup has signed Chevron Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co. as its clients.
Zoom out: - Project Canary's strategic pivot comes amidst U.S. regulators' push to tighten regulations concerning detection of methane leaks and greenhouse gas from oil and gas equipment.
Q: What are the common challenges that arise when startups have multiple CEOs sharing leadership responsibilities, and how do these challenges impact decision-making? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | Out of the 14 startups that debuted on public markets with a valuation of over $100M, four have seen their market cap slump by over 90%. 
What the numbers say: The startups that saw a drop in market cap include mortgage platform Better.com, commercial lunar lander company Intuitive Machines, industrial blue laser technology maker Nuburu, and data intelligence provider Near. Better.com's share prices nosedived by 93%. What happened: Considering the prevailing global economic conditions, startups that have demonstrated profitability are the ones that have performed well after their respective offerings. Mediterranean dining chain startup Cava Group has been able to raise its market cap to $5B after it reported its first profitable quarter. Other top performers on the IPO market online makeup brand Oddity Tech and solar tracker and software maker Nextracker have both been profitable for several years. Why it matters: Share prices of profitable companies remain stable after their IPO debuts. The market's acceptance of profitable startups is encouraging for the three imminent IPO launches of Arm Holdings, Instacart, and Klaviyo. Arm has been profitable, reporting more than $500M in net income in the most recent fiscal year. Instacart has been profitable for five consecutive quarters, while Klaviyo has positive net income and growing revenues. | | | |
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| 3 | | Germany-based Buycycle announced it is launching its pre-owned bikes marketplace in the U.S. The startup has over 15,000 bikes listed on its platform, originating from 30 countries. More: - "The strong demand in the U.S. took us by surprise — we noticed an uptick in organic sales, which showed us that there is a big interest in pre-owned bikes and the need for a platform where people can buy and sell them safely and conveniently," said Theo Golditchuk, Buycycle's CEO and co-founder.
- The bicycle market in the U.S. was estimated to be worth $12B in 2021 and is expected to grow at an annual compounded rate of 8.8% by 2030.
- Buycycle raised a €3M Seed round ($3.27M) led by Cherry Ventures in Jul. 2023.
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| 4 | | On Wednesday, Bengaluru, India-based delivery startup Dunzo said it would not be able to make its extended deadline for payroll. The startup had also deferred its June payroll as it attempted to secure funding. More: - Dunzo's valuation is estimated at $757M, having raised $500M since its founding eight years ago.
- The startup was able to raise $45M out of the expected $150M earlier this year.
- Dunzo's competitor, Zepto, became India's first startup to reach unicorn status this year, after raising $200M last week.
- Another company in the space, Zomato, acquired the struggling instant delivery startup Blinkit for $568.1M through an all-stock deal in 2022.
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| 5 | | Over the last 18 months, two-thirds of Latin American startups have downsized due to the sharp dip in venture capital funding, per VC firm Atlantico's latest Latin America Digital Transformation report. The venture funding dip was more severe for Latin American startups, which witnessed a 65% QoQ drop in venture funding while funding dropped 49% globally during the same period. More: - The drop in funding can be attributed mostly to a lack of exit opportunities.
- Investors expect IPO markets to show a recovery next year, with Atlantico's managing partner expecting "at least 10 new companies to list in public markets in 2024."
- Investors will be closely monitoring the upcoming IPO listings of chip design firm Arm Holdings and grocery delivery startup Instacart to gauge the potential exit valuations of their portfolio startups.
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| 6 | | AI-driven drug discovery company QuantHealth announced it raised a $15M Series A led by Bertelsmann Investment and Pitango HealthTech. The startup works on a dataset that covers 350 million patients, with more than 700,000 biomedical graphs and clinical trials. More: - QuantHealth claims to predict clinical trial outcomes with an accuracy of 86%.
- According to the company, the simulations enabled a client to design its Phase 2 trial for acute respiratory distress syndrome to increase the target population by 4.5x, reducing the study duration by 11 months.
- Tel Aviv-based QuantHealth expanded to the U.S. in June, where it plans to grow to 40 employees by 2024.
- The round included participation by recurring investors Shoni Top Ventures, Nova Capital, and Nina Capital.
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- Cloud computing startup CoreWeave is eyeing a valuation of nearly $8B at its upcoming minority stake sale.
- ElleVet Sciences, a startup making cannabis-based products to treat pain in pets, secured a patent for its proprietary formulation.
- SentinelOne Inc. terminated its strategic re-sell agreement with cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz Inc.
- The University of Arkansas selected eight startups for its Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP). The startups in the current cohort are Adventure Trail Outfitters, Co-Angler, Jane Wick, Outdoor Education Services, Paddl, Rider Up, SABO Outdoors, and SLAPCHALKS.
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INSIDE STARTUPS LEADERBOARD (30 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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