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| Hey Insiders, Here are the latest stories: - Google says more than half of generative AI startups use Google Cloud
- Website builder Framer raises $27M
- BeReal says it has 25 million MAUs globally
We have also rounded up the top early-stage funding rounds this week. If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Google's parent organization, Alphabet, revealed that over half of venture-backed generative AI startups use its cloud computing platform. The firm claims that over 70% of startups valued at over $1B, including Anthropic, Character.ai, and Cohere, use Google Cloud. More: - Google Cloud reported its first profit earlier this year.
- "We're seeing strong momentum in our business, and we see Google Cloud as the preferred choice for startups building generative AI," said Google Cloud's general manager for AI and startups, James Lee.
- Elemental Cognition's CEO, David Ferrucci, expressed confidence in Google's extensive experience in the AI field, believing that the two teams can communicate effectively about his company's requirements.
- Elemental Cognition exclusively uses Google Cloud's services.
Zoom out: - Google Cloud has a smaller market share than rivals Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure.
Q: Which cloud platform does your startup use? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | VCs deployed $1.4B in early-stage North American startups this week between Sept. 23 and Sept. 29, per Crunchbase data. Aerospace startups raked in 21% of the funding this week. Healthcare, biotech, and AI startups nabbed 19%, 15%, and 8% of the financing, respectively. 
Here are the top five largest rounds announced this week: - Commercial space plane and low Earth orbit commercial habitation platform maker Sierra Space raised $290M in Series B funding at a valuation of $5.3B. Japanese bank MUFG, Kanematsu Corp., and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance co-led the funding round.
- Cancer screening and detection biotech startup Harbinger Health secured $140M in Series B funding from Flagship Pioneering, Pictet, Partners Investment, and Catalyst.
- AI-powered drug discovery and product development biotech Evozyne closed its Series B funding round at $81M. Fidelity Management & Research and OrbiMed co-led the funding round, supported by NVentures, Paragon Biosciences, and Valor Equity Partners.
- EV boat startup Arc bagged $70M in Series B funding from Eclipse, Andreessen Horowitz, Lowercarbon Capital, Abstract Ventures, and Menlo Ventures.
- AI semiconductor startup Kneron extended its Series B funding round with an additional $49M from Foxconn, Alltek, Horizon Ventures, Liteon Technology Corp, Adata, and Palpilot.
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| 3 | | Framer, an Amsterdam-based website builder for designers, raised a $27M Series C led by Meritech Capital. The round was announced five years after its $24M Series B. More: - The startup also works on handling search engine optimization on behalf of its clients.
- Framer was founded by Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk, who sold their software design company, Sofa, to Facebook in 2011.
- The company launched its no-code platform in May 2022, which increased adoption rates by 20% per month.
- The round also included recurring investments from Atomico and Accel.
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| 4 | | BeReal said that a report by Similarweb, which noted the social media app's monthly active users in the U.S. declined from a peak of 3.7 million in Nov. 2022 to upwards of 3 million in August, was inaccurate. The research firm also estimated BeReal's global MAUs to have dropped to 16.06 million, which the startup denied by revealing it has over 25 million MAUs in total. More: - BeReal was founded by former GoPro employee Alex Barreyat, who, along with Kevin Perreau, launched the app in December 2019.
- The startup, which encourages users to take photos at the same time, grew organically and through a college ambassador program.
- BeReal's $60M Series B in 2022 valued it at $587M.
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| 5 | | Food delivery startup Wonder Group is set to acquire publicly listed meal-kit company Blue Apron for $13 per share. The price offered for Class A common stock represents a 130% premium over Wonder's closing price of $5.49 per share on Thursday. The transaction will give Blue Apron a valuation of $103M, much less than its $1.9B valuation when it went public in 2017. More: - Blue Apron has struggled in recent months due to supply-chain challenges and fluctuating food ingredient costs.
- Its struggles were amplified after established rivals like Krogers and Amazon developed similar solutions.
- In late-2022, the firm laid off 10% of its corporate workforce.
- The firm received a cash infusion of $50M from FreshRealm after giving the latter some of its fulfillment centers, equipment, and staff members.
- FreshRealm, which owns 16.5% of Class A common stock in Blue Apron, decided to exercise its warrant and tender its shares.
- Wonder, led by former Walmart executive Marc Lore, was last valued at $3.5B after raising a $350M funding round in Jun. 2022.
- Lore said that the acquisition will help Wonder inch closer to becoming a "super app" for meals.
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| 6 | | Nx, a software development tool startup, announced a $16M Series A with participation from Nexus Venture Partners and a16z. The startup was founded by Jeff Cross and Victor Savkin, who previously worked in Google's Angular team. More: - "Having all dev workforces go remote during the pandemic, companies realized more of the pains and overhead of siloed development, and the benefits of using evergreen monorepos instead," said Cross.
- The company plans to use the funds to expand its Nx Cloud product to build it into a replacement for existing continuous integration tools.
- Nx claims its open-source project has more than 15 million installs per month.
- The startup says it has more than two years of runway, driven by inbound enterprise deals.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - No-code development is here to stay according to industry experts. Gartner predicts 80% of technology products will be built by those who are not IT professionals by 2024.*
- Oil giant TotalEnergies acquired agrivoltaics developer Ombrea to accelerate the development of 1.5 GW of agrivoltaics projects. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
- Healthcare startup InSpring aims to select 20-30 international students for its accelerated bachelor of nursing program to address the nursing shortages in the U.S.
- Jasper AI, a generative AI platform for marketing and brand content, slashed its internal 409A valuation by 20% after lowering revenue expectations. The firm was last valued at $1.5B.
- U.K.-based fintech firm Traydstream nabbed $21M in Series B funding led by Pivot Investment Partners and e& Capital.
- NEXT WEEK in LA, redefine development at DockerCon! Use DCHALF for 50% off in-person registration, or participate online for free. Come learn with us!*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
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Term of the Day Minimum viable product (MVP): A minimum viable product (MVP) is an early functioning model of a new product that can be presented to early adopters and investors. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
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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