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| Hey Insiders, Here are the latest stories: - Observe's new $50M convertible debt funding
- 86 new cross-border payment startups launched since 2022
- Machina Labs raised $32M Series B
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | SaaS application observability startup Observe secured $50M in convertible debt funding to grow its sales and R&D teams. Sutter Hill Ventures led the funding. CEO Jeremy Burton told TechCrunch, "We expect to raise the Series B early next year, at which time the debt will convert to equity." More: - Burton said the company opted for convertible debt to defer diluting their stake at a lower valuation.
- In addition to the funding, the company announced new generative AI features for its platform, including "live" interactive debugging.
- Customers can now use natural language commands to debug error messages, summarize threads for incident response, and troubleshoot issues using Observe's new GPT module.
- Observe is looking to grow its headcount from 150 to 250 by the end of 2024.
Zoom out: - 650 Group predicts that the observability market will grow from $278M in 2022 to $2B by 2026.
- A report published by Enterprise Strategy Group found that companies using advanced observability tools can reduce downtime costs by 90%.
Q: Is raising capital through convertible debt better than raising equity funding in an economic downturn? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | 86 new cross-border payment startups have been launched since the start of 2022 to now, per Crunchbase data reviewed by FXC Intelligence. 
What the numbers say: Previously, cross-border payments primarily focused on serving consumers directly. However, since 2022, the trend has reversed, with nearly 74% of the new startups catering primarily to businesses. Majority of the new startups launched in the space were in the crypto payments orchestration and B2B payments domains. What happened: New startups in the space are mainly providing crypto applications to facilitate crypto-to-fiat conversions and vice-versa, as crypto-fiat interoperability is a major pain point for businesses. The other areas where new startups emerged were focused on emerging markets support and ease of doing business. On the consumer side, new businesses emerged in areas such as financial inclusion and reducing friction in sending payments. Relevance: 47% of the companies have not declared raising any external funding. 22% of the startups analyzed had raised seed funding. | | | |
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| 3 | | Los Angeles-based Machina Labs, an automation startup, announced it raised a $32M Series B led by Nvidia's NVentures and Innovation Endeavors. The round brings Machina's total raised since launch to $45M. More: - The company plans to use the funds on research and development and go-to-market for manufacturing solutions.
- "Machina Labs uses robots the way a blacksmith uses a hammer to creatively manufacture different designs and material, introducing unprecedented flexibility and agility to the manufacturing industry," says the firm.
- Founded in 2019, the company came out of stealth with a $14M Series A in 2021.
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| 4 | | Alaska Airlines has partnered with venture studio UP.Labs to create six startups over the next three years focusing on the future of transportation. UP.Labs is the venture studio division of investment firm UP.Partners. Alaska Airlines corporate development director Pasha Saleh said the airline will back startups developing decarbonization technology, such as sustainable fuels, alternative propulsion options, and AI-powered flight routing technology. More: - Alaska Airlines has joined UP.Partners' venture capital fund UP.Ventures as a limited partner.
- UP.Labs will use the first year to identify challenges in Alaska Airlines' business.
- It will then develop proof of concepts and test their impact using Alaska Airlines' data before launching them.
- Later, UP.Labs will provide seed funding to the newly formed startups, while Alaska Airlines will retain a 20% equity stake in the startups.
Zoom out: - The move comes as Alaska Airlines has set an ambitious goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
- U.S.-based carbon and emissions tech startups raked in $4B in funding during the first half of the year, per Pitchbook.
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| 5 | | Solar car company Lightyear announced it is pausing its plans to produce its second model as it pivots to manufacturing solar modules for external purposes. This follows the same strategy from its competitor, Sono Motors, prior to its bankruptcy in May. More: - Lightyear, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year, said it plans to lay off an undisclosed number of employees. Sono Motors had laid off 300 people during its pivot.
- Despite its change of focus, Lightyear is still negotiating with South Korean firm Sunbo to secure financing for the production of the Lightyear 2.
- Lightyear had reached small-scale production for the 0 model, which was priced at $250,000, at the end of last year.
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| 6 | | Umob, a Rotterdam-based mobility-as-a-service startup, announced it raised a €6M (~$6.3M) round. The company collects anonymized data from operators for municipalities and other enterprises. More: - "Offering a large and diverse range of services is only one aspect important to the success of shared transport. Practical elements such as parking spaces, hotspots, and nuisances are at least as important," said the startup's co-founder, Bibi Jorissen.
- Umob was co-founded by Raymon Pouwels, former CEO of moped-sharing startup Go Sharing, which was sold to Turkish micro-mobility operator BinBin in February.
- Umob previously raised €2M ($2.1M) upon launching in 2022.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - LiquidPiston's engines are up to 10x smaller and 30% more fuel efficient. Invest as they disrupt the $400B combustion engine market.*
- ElectraMeccanica terminated its merger with hydrogen-electric truck startup Tevva, citing "multiple incurable breaches of the agreement by Tevva" as the reason behind the termination.
- Bill Gates-backed early-stage startup Likewise is launching a chatbot service dubbed Pix that can provide personalized recommendations for books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts.
- Seattle-based VC firm First Row Partners is launching a new startup competition called The Ensemble Event Fund to boost angel investor networks in the Pacific Northwest. Startups successfully completing the challenge will be awarded between $150,000 and $200,000 in early-stage capital.
- AI-powered auto finance platform Lendbuzz bagged $45M in equity funding and $300M through a forward flow facility. Group 1001 led the equity funding, with 83North, O.G. Venture Partners, and MUFG Innovation Partners participating in the round.
- These are the 5 core strategies for cloud innovation that showcase how digital native businesses are harnessing cloud innovations. Read now.*
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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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