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| Here’s a look at today’s Startups briefing. - Google has reportedly agreed to invest $2B in AI startup Anthropic.
- 3D metal-printing startup Seurat raises $99M Series C round.
- Kenyan B2B e-commerce startup MarketForce shuts operations in three markets.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Google reportedly plans to invest up to $2B in Anthropic, a large language model startup. The deal would include an up-front investment of $500M, with the remainder injected over time. More: - Anthropic develops the Claude-2 and Claude Instant, making them available via API and chatbot interface.
- Google first invested in Anthropic in 2022, reportedly acquiring a 10% stake for $300M. It also participated in the startup's $450M round in May.
- The newest deal would come within weeks of Amazon's $4B investment in Anthropic, which made AWS the startup's main cloud provider.
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| 2 | | 3D metal-printing startup Seurat secured $99M in Series C funding co-led by Nvidia's VC arm NVentures and Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund. Relevance: New investors Honda Motor and Cubit Capital participated in the funding round along with existing backers SIP Global Partners, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Denso Global, General Motors Ventures, Maniv Mobility LP, and Xerox Ventures. Six customers, including Siemens Energy, have signed letters of intent with Seurat. The firm will be looking to supply 4,000 tons of material in the next few years, of which Siemens intends to buy 59 tons for its wind turbines. Seurat expects to rake in $750M in revenue over the next few years. 
What the numbers say: Seurat's fresh fundraising comes as Series B and C rounds show signs of stabilizing after slumping consistently since mid-2021. Carta data shows that the median Series C round size increased by 1% QoQ to $25M in Q3, whereas the median Series B round size increased by 11% QoQ to $15.6M. | | | |
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| 3 | | Kenyan B2B e-commerce startup MarketForce has exited operations from three markets in Africa. The firm is also considering spinning out a social commerce firm called Chpter, which will help merchants increase sales from social media channels. More: - MarketForce's CEO and co-founder, Tesh Mbaabu, is poised to lead Chpter as its CEO.
- The firm had to scale down operations after VCs backtracked on Series A funding commitments.
- As a result, the firm had to abandon its growth ambitions and instead focus on profitability, which meant shutting down non-profitable business divisions and exiting areas with low demands.
- The firm was recently able to raise $1M through crowdfunding.
- MarketForce will only cater to customers in Uganda and has closed operations in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
- The firm will continue to be headquartered in Kenya.
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| 4 | | Skyroot, a space company based in Hyderabad, India, announced a $27.5M Series C led by Temasek. The startup was India's first company to launch a private rocket in 2022. More: - Skyroot is preparing for the launch of its second commercial rocket, Vikram-I, in 2024, which can carry ~661 lbs to low Earth orbit.
- The round comes within a week of its competitor Agnikul Cosmo raising $26.7M as it seeks its inaugural launch.
- Skyroot has raised a total of $95.1M since its inception. The company last raised $51M through a Series B led by Waverly in Sep. 2022.
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| 5 | | Oxide Computer, a San Francisco-based on-premise cloud company, raised a $44M Series A led by Eclipse. The round included participation from Intel, Riot Capital, Counterpart Ventures, and Rally Ventures. More: - The company sells a cloud computer for data center use, combining computing, network, and storage.
- The computer uses 16 to 32 rack sleds, with each containing a 64-core central processing unit from Advanced Micro Devices, a 1 TB memory pool, and 1 TB of NVMe flash storage.
- Oxide says its product is used by the Idaho National Laboratory and an unnamed global financial services organization.
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| 6 | | Intercontinental Exchange Inc's subsidiary, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), launched the NYSE LaunchPad program. The cloud-based program is aimed at helping startups evaluate and test their product ideas and gain actionable insights about the products. More: - NYSE Group's president Lynn Martin said, "NYSE LaunchPad provides startups with a unique opportunity to tap into our vast expertise, using a secure, cloud-based platform to leverage the best in enterprise-level technology."
- Startups using the NYSE LaunchPad program will be able to test and evaluate ideas based on real-world use cases.
- Additionally, startups will gain feedback from other innovators and tech professionals.
- Startups will also have the opportunity to participate in NYSE's annual Tech Summit conference.
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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: - Are you getting the best discounts from leading cloud providers? This is your go-to resource for learning how to maximize multicloud discounts.*
- Airbnb spinout Samara bagged $41M in Series A funding led by Thrive Capital, with participation from 8VC, General Catalyst, SV Angels, and others. The firm is making prefabricated studio and one-bedroom units using "environmentally-considerate" materials.
- Global accelerator Brinc and VC firm Hatcher+ announced their intent to support more than 300 climate tech startups over the next three years.
- Chinese online fashion giant Shein acquired British online fashion brand Missguided from Frasers Group Plc for an undisclosed sum. Frasers had acquired Missguided for $21M (£20M) after it entered into insolvency proceedings.
- Create a winning SaaS business plan and calculate your break-even point. Join the 1-Page SaaS Blueprint Challenge to map out your startup.*
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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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