| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - Anthropic to use Google's new Cloud TPU v5e chips under a new partnership.
- Nine startups joined the unicorn club in October, two of which were cybersecurity startups.
- Delivery operator Otto acquires ETT Industries.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Anthropic is deepening its partnership with Alphabet Inc.'s Google with the new cloud computing agreement. Under the agreement, the AI startup will deploy its large language model Claude on Google's new Cloud TPU v5e chips. Anthropic recently pledged to spend more than $3B on Google's cloud computing services after the latter agreed to invest $2B in the AI startup. More: - Anthropic stresses that it will use a multi-cloud approach and also uses Google's cloud computing rival Amazon's AWS cloud services and chips.
- Amazon also invested $1.25B in Anthropic recently through convertible notes, with the firm ready to invest another $2.75B in the future.
Zoom out: - Anthropic has been using Google's services since its founding in 2021.
- In addition, Google's very own generative AI chatbot, Bard, uses the chips.
- Google has also inked deals with HuggingFace and AssemblyAI to use its Cloud TPU v5e chips.
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| 2 | | Nine global startups cemented their status as unicorns in October, per Crunchbase. 
What the numbers say: Two unicorns were from the cybersecurity sector, with one each from generative AI, transportation, aerospace, HR, fintech, cleantech, and healthcare domains. Two startups shuttered this month, namely trucking company Convoy and healthcare claims management firm Olive AI exited from the unicorn club. Crunchbase reckons that many more startups will lose their unicorn status due to markdowns in valuation. Defense tech Shield AI was one the rare startups that was able to increase its valuation from $2.3B to $2.7B. Relevance: The two cybersecurity startups that became unicorns were security technology company Keyfactor, valued at $1.3B, and smartphone identity verification platform Prove, valued at $1B. Three startups, Headway, Electric Hydrogen, and Baichuan Intelligence, were founded in the last five years. | | | |
| 3 | | General Motors and Stellantis are investing in Niron Magnetics, which develops clean Earth magnets. The University of Minnesota spinoff has been granted 30 patents, with another 20 pending. More: - The investment amounts to $33M, with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the University of Minnesota also participating in the round.
- GM and Stellantis are not the first automakers to invest in the clean Earth magnets startup, as it previously received support from the Volvo Cars Tech Fund.
- "Nearly 40 years ago, GM's R&D team discovered and commercialized the world's first high-powered, rare-earth permanent magnet material. GM Ventures' investment in Niron's Magnetics brings our rich history in specialized magnet innovation full circle," said GM Ventures president Anirvan Coomer.
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| 4 | | Food delivery operator Otto acquired ETT Industries, a bike rental company. "We were looking for the company with the best vehicle in the market, which has a great reputation with customers," said Marco Colomban, managing director at Otto Scooter. More: - ETT's fleet includes the Trayser 2.0 e-bike, which has a 1000Wh battery capacity for 6 to 8 hours of range.
- Otto recently increased its fleet from 500 to 600 bikes.
- "The next step is cargo bikes. We are adding four-wheel cargo bikes to our brand in the very near future," said the executive.
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| 5 | | Cromatic, an S.F.-based startup, raised a $5.3M Seed round led by AgFunder and LifeX. The company focuses on helping biotech find the perfect contract research organization. More: - "Finding a CRO is still mostly by word of mouth," said the startup's co-founder, Ann Lin, seeking to build an R&D outsourcing platform.
- The company claims in its initial research, it found $15M worth of projects that were looking for an outsourcing solution.
- The round included participation by Accel, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, and FJ Labs.
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| 6 | | Luxury interior design and staging firm Vesta is reportedly acquiring rental startups Fernish and Feather. The three companies will operate as separate entities under a new holding company, Showroom. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. More: - The acquisition will help Vesta provide full life-cycle solutions to customers and serve a higher volume and mass-premium market without diluting its brand value.
- With the acquisitions, Vesta can scale quickly, said co-founder and CEO Julian Buckner.
- Buckner expects the combined revenues from the three entities to exceed nine figures in the first year of operations.
- Fernish's founder, Michael Barlow, will assume the role of vice-chairman of Showroom's board.
- Barlow is tasked with business development, raising capital, and searching for strategic partners.
- Barlow called the merger "a strategic move that combines our strengths and significantly enhances our market reach."
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Bike Friday is on! Upway sells discounted e-bikes from top brands, rigorously inspected and certified by master mechanics. Get discounts of up to $1000 on a selection of e-Bikes!*
- Global impact startups have raked in $41B in VC funding so far this year, per Dealroom data reviewed by Pioneers Post. VC funding for impact startups is projected to reach $48.1B by the end of this year.
- Automated healthtech solutions startup Eleos Health raised a Series B round worth $40M. Menlo Ventures led the round, joined by F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, Arkin Digital Health, SamsungNEXT, and ION.
- Decentralized AI network Ritual emerged from stealth mode with a $25M Series A funding round led by Archetype.
- Dutch startup SUPPLYZ rebranded itself to RESONIKS. The firm secured €1.5M ($1.6M) in seed capital led by Kvanted.
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Term of the Day Social democracy: Social democracy is a political ideology that seeks to promote economic and social justice through government intervention. Question of the Week What perks would convince you to return to the office? Join the conversation |
 | 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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