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| Hey Insiders, Today's newsletter covers: - Roblox's acquisition of Speechly
- The slump in VC-backed startup M&A transactions
- Virtual Incision's $30M Series C extension
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Online gaming company Roblox acquired voice chat moderation, real-time transcription, and voice API startup Speechly for an undisclosed sum. The move comes after Roblox announced it would expand into voice chat-based interactions. More: - Speechly co-founder and CTO Hannes Heikinheimo said, "Safety and civility are foundational to Roblox. We are excited to be joining a company dedicated to safety and civility and to use our AI expertise to evolve traditional methods of moderation to meet the scale, real-time, and dynamic needs of a user-generated content (UGC) platform."
- The Finnish voice tech startup last raised €2M ($2.1M) seed round in 2019.
- Notable investors backing the firm include Y Combinator, Seedcamp, SNÖ Ventures, TQ Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Quantum Angels, Joyance Partners, Social Starts, and Tiny.vc.
Q: What are the most common integration challenges that startups face when they are acquired by larger companies? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | The number of VC-backed startup M&A transactions this year is on track to record the lowest tally since 2017. 
What the numbers say: So far this year, only 211 VC-backed M&A transactions have occurred, less than half of last year's tally of 431. Only three VC-backed startup M&A transactions so far have had a value of more than $200M, namely Databricks' acquisition of MosiacML for $1.3B in June, Lessen's acquisition of SMS Assist for $950M in January, and ThoughSpot's purchase of Mode Analytics for $200M in June. What happened: M&A transactions have declined as startups are concerned about conserving cash and extending their cash runways, "so the urgency to buy something is not there," per Thomvest Ventures' managing director Don Butler. M&A transactions peaked at 547 in 2021, as startups were plush with cash in an era where VC funding deployment reached record levels. | | | |
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| 3 | | Virtual Incision, a Nebraska-based company that focuses on developing miniaturized assisted surgery systems, raised a $30M Series C extension. The new funding brings the round total to $46M. More: - Virtual Incision is developing the MIRA surgical system, which is designed to remove the logistical inefficiencies of traditional mainframe robots for abdominal surgical procedures.
- Earlier this year, the startup completed an Investigational Device Exemption clinical study for the robot's use in bowel resection, with its De Novo request being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration.
- The company plans to use the funds to support a gynecologic clinical study in 2024.
- The round was led by Bluestem Capital, Endeavor Vision, Braird Capital, Cultivate(MD) Capital Funds, and PraireGold Venture Partners.
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| 4 | | Analytics firm MotherDuck raised a $52.5M Series B funding round at a $400M post-money valuation. The firm provides an open-source online analytical processing database based on the DuckDB platform. The firm intends to scale the platform and expand its team size. More: - The fresh funding brings the total funding raised by the firm to $100M, which includes a $35M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and $12M seed funding led by Redpoint Ventures.
- Former Google engineer Jordan Tigani is the co-founder and CEO of MotherDuck.
- MotherDuck removed the waitlist for its product this week, making it accessible to everyone.
- The current round was led by Felicis, with additional support from Andreessen Horowitz, Madrona Venture Group, Amplify Partners, Altimeter, Redpoint, Zero Prime, and others.
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| 5 | | Metaloop, an Austrian startup focusing on vertical software for the metal recycling sector, announced a €16M ($17.1M) Series A led by New York-based FirstMark Capital. The company plans to use the funds to scale its sales and operations hiring and strategic international growth. More: - The software offers solutions for logistics coordination, financing options, and procuring raw materials.
- The scrap metal sector is estimated to be a $600B market, and the metal industry as a whole to be over $4T globally.
- The metal industry is projected to continue to grow at a 5% annual rate.
- FirstMark has made 355 investments through 12 funds, having 56 exits.
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| 6 | | Monark, a startup that develops micro-lessons for leaders, raised a $1.5M Seed round led by Storytime Capital. The company seeks to disrupt what it claims is a segment that has delivered poor results and completion rates. More: - The platform uses generative AI and machine learning-driven personalization for interactive training and performance optimization.
- Monark claims its lessons have a 96% completion rate and saves companies $136,000 per person.
- "While tech will see the automation of many work tasks, it will never replace the need for effective human leadership; in fact, it will make high-quality leadership even more vital," said Amanda Julian, the startup's co-founder and chief science officer.
- Other participants in the round include Archangel, UCeed, and The51.
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- LimeWire, a music-sharing service that pivoted into an AI image, video, and audio-sharing community, acquired the AI generation model BlueWillow.
- John Boresi, a former executive at global medical and dental supplies distributor Henry Schein, joined oral health biotech startup OraBio as its CEO.
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Term of the Day Agtech: The revolution in agriculture, where technology is used to improve production, efficiency, and sustainability, is called agtech. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation Today's Knowledge Hub Is Brought To You By Ready to take your career to the next level? Apply to join Sidebar, a highly-vetted and private community of small peer groups designed to support exceptional senior leaders in doing their best work. |
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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