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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - Island's valuation surges by 15% to $1.5B while raising $100M in funding
- Median seed and Series A round sizes increase in Q3 by 7% and 20% QoQ, respectively
- Chinese LLM startup Zhipu raises $300M
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Enterprise browser startup Island raised its valuation to $1.5B at its latest $100M funding round led by Prysm Capital. The firm's valuation was 15% higher than the last value from 2022. Island intends to use the fresh proceeds to expand its product portfolio, grow its customer base, and increase the size of its R&D team. More: - Canapi Ventures Fund LP participated in the Series C funding round.
- The newest funding round brings the firm's total funding raised to date to over $350M.
- Notable investors that have previously backed the firm include Insight Partners, Stripes, and Georgian.
- Island last raised a $115M funding round, later extending it by an additional $60M.
- The firm provides an enterprise-focused browser based on Chromium, the same underlying platform that powers Chrome.
- However, it differentiates from its competitors by providing remote-working-focused features and increased compatibility between personal and work devices.
Q: How can startups maintain or increase their valuation while raising capital in a tough economic environment? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | In Q3 2023, median seed and Series A round sizes increased by 7% and 20% QoQ, respectively, per preliminary data published by Carta. 
What the numbers say: Median seed stage deal sizes increased by 7% QoQ to $3.2M in Q3. At the same time, median Series A size increased to $9.1M. This is the first time in nearly two years that median deal sizes of seed and Series A stage startups have increased for consecutive quarters. Relevance: Median Series A stage deal sizes have increased by 30% from Q1 to Q3. Despite the increase, the median Series A stage deal sizes remained flat on a year-on-year basis, matching the values from Q2 2022. On the other hand, median seed stage deal sizes contracted 9% compared to the previous year. Where to see the impact: Per Carta, the increase in median early-stage deal sizes is accompanied by a rise in valuations. Median valuations of seed and Series A stage startups were $14.4M and $40M, up 7% and 2% respectively. | | | |
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| 3 | | Chinese LLM company Zhipu secured a $300M investment, reaching a total of $342M raised this year. The round included participation from Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, and Meituan, among others. More: - The company was spun out of Tsinghua University in 2019 by a professor in its computer science department, Tang Jie.
- Zhipu develops a chatbot named Qingyan and two open-source models, GLM-130B and ChatGLM-6B.
- The round comes within a week of a $300M investment by Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi in LLM startup Baichuan, reaching unicorn valuation.
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| 4 | | U.S. stock market clearing house Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) acquired Annapolis, Md.-based startup Securrency Inc for $50M. DTCC hopes to leverage Securrency's technology to facilitate the issuance of securities on blockchain networks. The deal is DTCC's first acquisition since 2013 when it acquired post-trade processing firm Omgeo. More: - DTCC will retain all of Securrency's 100 employees, with CEO Nadine Chakar set to continue running the unit.
- Chakar is also set to join DTCC's management committee.
- Securrency will assume the name DTCC Digital Assets after completion of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Zoom out: - Citigroup predicts that up to $5T worth of traditional financial assets could be represented on blockchain networks in the form of digital tokens by 2030.
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| 5 | | Worldcoin announced that its Orb Operators, tasked with scanning participants' irises in exchange for WLD, will be paid in the token instead of USDC starting in November. Worldcoin, however, noted that WLD is not available for U.S. users and operators. More: - Out of 134 million tokens issued, 34 million were distributed to Orb operators and new users.
- Worldcoin loaned 100 million tokens to five market-making entities, which are scheduled to expire on Oct. 24, 2023.
- Worldcoin raised $100M out of its initial coin offering in Mar. 2022, having previously raised a $25M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.
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| 6 | | Utah-based indie game developer Noodle Cat raised a $12M round led by Hiro Capital. Details about the studio's debut title are expected to be announced in 2024. More: - The startup plans to use the funds to expand development and recruit new employees.
- "Their vision for innovation in the Action RPG genre, utilizing physics-based combat, combined with the vast experience of their team, creates a compelling formula for success," said the managing director at Sony Ventures, Joseph Tou, who participated in the round.
- The company previously raised a $4.1M Seed round led by Makers Fund, with participation from Epyllion and 1Up Ventures in November.
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| 7 | | 
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- TikTok owner ByteDance has dismissed rumors about shutting down VR startup Pico, which it acquired in 2021. A ByteDance spokesperson affirmed the company's commitment to making long-term investments in the extended reality (XR) domain.
- Healthcare startup HistoSonics' non-invasive technique to treat cancerous tumors in the liver received federal approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- AI-powered music app maker Infinite Album launched the desktop version of its application for PC. The firm provides a music creation tool for Twitch content creators.
- The Serbian government signed a MoU with Ginkgo Bioworks to launch a startup accelerator in a bid to turn the nation into a hub for bioeconomic innovation.
- Retail tech startup QuoteMachine raised a $3.7M seed funding round led by Manresa Ventures. Clocktower Technology Ventures and Precursor Ventures participated in the round.
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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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