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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - BlockFi emerges from bankruptcy.
- Microblogging platform Pebble shuts down after struggling to assert itself as a viable alternative to Twitter.
- Generative AI startup Perplexity seeks $500M post-money valuation at upcoming $50M funding round.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Jersey City, N.J.-based crypto startup BlockFi emerged from bankruptcy and can now start repaying creditors. The company will wind down operations. BlockFi will attempt to recover its assets from Three Arrows Capital and FTX, both of which collapsed last year. More: - The crypto startup has already opened up withdrawals on its platform for nearly all Wallet customers, with further plans to enable BlockFi Interest Account and Loan customers to withdraw some assets starting in early 2024.
- Per bankruptcy filings, customers who held interest-bearing Earn accounts can expect to recover between 39.4% and 100% of the value in their accounts.
Zoom out: - BlockFi had declared bankruptcy nearly 11 months ago, shortly after Terra's stablecoin collapsed.
- FTX had extended a $400M credit line to BlockFi.
- However, BlockFi collapsed soon after FTX and its affiliate Alameda Research collapsed last November.
Q: What lessons can other crypto startups take from the recent failures in the crypto sector? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | Microblogging platform Pebble, formerly known as T2, is shutting down. Relevance: Pebble emerged as an alternative to X, then known as Twitter. However, the company struggled to gain traction with users due to competition from other Twitter alternatives, including names such as Mastodon, BlueSky, Spill, Post, and Meta's Threads. The company had 20,000 registered users, with the daily active users peaking at 3,000. Following its rebranding from T2, the firm's daily active user count dwindled to 1,000. What happened: TechCrunch reckons that an absence of a native application, a lack of brand resonance, heavy moderation, and a mistimed rebranding from T2 to Pebble contributed to its failure. In an act of courtesy, Pebble will return the remaining funds to its investors. 
What the numbers say: Pebble joins the growing list of 132-odd startups that have failed this year. Notable casualties this year include trucking platform Convoy, social messaging platform IRL, and fintech startup tZERO. | | | |
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| 3 | | Generative AI search engine Perplexity is reportedly closing an investment round that would value it at approximately $500M. The company had a post-money valuation of $150M in March. More: - The search engine works by providing answers to user queries using natural language, asking for clarification, and acting as a co-pilot while browsing the web.
- The round is reported to be led by Venture Partners. The startup was previously backed by chief scientist at Meta Yann LeCun, transformer models developer Ashish Vaswani, and angel investors Nat Friedman and Elad Gil, among others.
- The startup is generating $3M in recurring revenue per month.
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| 4 | | Aiolos Bio, a biopharma startup developing treatments for respiratory and inflammatory conditions, emerged from stealth mode with a $245M Series A funding round co-led by Atlas Venture, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Forbion, and Sofinnova Investments. The firm is gearing up for the phase 2 trial of lead asset to treat severe asthma. A substantial portion of these funds will be allocated towards licensing the asset from Chinese biotech firm Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, with the remainder earmarked for the continuing development of this asset. More: - Khurem Farooq is leading Aiolos Bio as its CEO.
- Farooq was formerly the CEO of Gyroscope Therapeutics, a biotech company that Novartis acquired.
- Aiolos Bio's AIO-001 lead asset has already exhibited immense promise during phase 1 trials, demonstrating "very potent" effectiveness in a study involving 100 participants from China and New Zealand.
- Beyond asthma, the firm is also exploring the potential application of the asset as a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU).
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| 5 | | Adlumin, a security platform for mid-market organizations, raised a $70M Series B led by SYN Ventures. The startup seeks to bridge the cybersecurity talent gap for small and medium organizations in relation to big companies and government. More: - Adlumin offers services such as vulnerability scanning, threat intelligence, and automated incident response and forensics.
- The round included participation from BankTech Ventures, First In Ventures, and Washington Harbour Partners.
- The Washington,D.C.-based startup has raised $128.9M since its inception. It last raised a $11M venture round in July.
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| 6 | | Laka, an e-bike insurance startup, announced it raised $8M, led by Shift4Good. The startup also revealed the acquisition of its competitor Cylantro, further expanding in France. More: - Laka's model works by dividing monthly claims among a collective of cyclists rather than upfront premiums.
- London-based Laka currently operates in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and the U.K. It is planning to expand to Denmark and Austria.
- The round included participation from recurring investors Autotech Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Ponooc, and 1818 Venture Capital, among others.
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- A Detroit law firm is currently scrutinizing Convoy, the recently shuttered trucking startup that terminated its 533 employees without providing advance notice or severance, for potential WARN Act violations.
- RISC-V processors startup SiFive has reportedly laid off most of its engineers, product, and sales team members, per SiliconAngle. Additionally, the firm has discontinued its core product line as part of its restructuring initiative. Moving forward, the firm will focus primarily on designing customer cores for clients.
- Nanome, a startup that shows 3D molecular structures in VR, debuted its conversational AI co-pilot program called MARA.
- Layer, a startup that is building virtual personal assistants that automate tasks, has shifted operations from New York City to Columbus shortly after receiving $3M in funding from Drive Capital.
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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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