| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 🇬🇧 British Business Bank's new chair shows concerns over the U.K.'s ability to retain multibillion-pound startups.
- 💥 PrecisionHawk filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
- 🤝 Blaize to go public via a SPAC merger with BurTech Acquisition Corp.
Thank you. Karan
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| 1 | | British Business Bank's new chair, Stephen Welton, informed FT about the firm's intention to back high-growth startups in the U.K. He voiced concerns over the U.K. turning into an "incubator economy" as several potential multibillion-pound companies have been acquired by foreign buyers. More: - Over the past decade, foreign corporate buyers have acquired almost 5,000 high-growth British startups.
- "We don't want to be an incubator economy taking all the risk of these very, very tiny companies, and then not able to capitalize on that by following through with the scale-up capital to turn some of those into true global companies," said Welton.
- Welton's appointment to the top role in October aligns with BBB's strategic shift toward bolstering domestic businesses and simplifying finance access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
- High-growth businesses have had a tough time raising capital in the U.K. as big pension funds have shied away from such investments.
- As a solution, BBB is setting up a growth fund that will allow pension funds to be invested in the fund.
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| 2 | | Commercial drone startup PrecisionHawk filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and will no longer continue operations due to mounting financial challenges, per the Robot Report. What the numbers say: The bankruptcy filing shows the firm has about $17M in debt and $3.8M in assets. Since its founding in 2010, the firm has raised more than $136M in total funding, including a $32M Series E round in 2019. European data analytics solutions company Field Group acquired PrecisionHawk earlier this year but decided to shut down the office in Raleigh in Sept. 2023. Field Group's CEO, Krister Pedersen, acknowledged the difficulty in steering PrecisionHawk toward profitability within a constrained time frame. 
What happened: The economic downturn and lack of VC funding have increased fears of startup failures. Startups that are best shaped to weather this economic downturn focus on the business fundamentals rather than growing at all costs. As a result, there is an uptick in the median startup runways as many prioritize efficiency and bring down average burn rates. The median cash runway widened to 12.5 months in the second half of 2023, significantly higher than the typical runway period of nine to 10 months. | | | |
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| 3 | | Israeli startups raised $1.45B in VC funding so far in Q4 2023 despite severe challenges like global volatility, a local judicial coup, and ongoing conflict, per data from IVC and LeumiTech seen by Calcalistech. Funding dipped 15% compared to the previous quarter. The latest quarter's tally brings this year's total to $6.9B. More: - About 392 VC funding rounds have been completed this year, of which 75 were done in Q4.
- Although this year's funding tally is 56% lower than last year, it is the second-highest funding for Israeli tech startups.
- In Q4, $365M of the total sum was invested in seed-stage startups, surpassing the previous quarter's tally of $220M.
- The consistent funding pace and amounts suggest that investors are undeterred by the prevailing challenges.
- Foreign investors participated in 272 investment transactions in Q4.
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| 4 | | Technology startup Blaize is about to go public via a SPAC merger with blank check entity BurTech Acquisition Corp. Blaize will receive shares of BurTech at $10 a piece, giving the firm an implied valuation of $894M. The startup is set to receive $71M in proceeds from the transaction, including a $46M cash infusion from BurTech and a $25M capital infusion from BurTech affiliate Burkhan Capital. More: - The architecture and software platform startup has raised $224M in total venture capital to date.
- Notable strategic investors that backed Blaize include Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, and Franklin Templeton.
- The SPAC merger is expected to be completed by Q2 2024, subject to approval by the shareholders of both companies.
Zoom out: - BurTech Acquisition Corp. raised $287.5M from investors when it went public in 2021.
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| 5 | | BotBuilt, a startup that develops robotic systems to simplify home construction, bagged $12.4M in seed funding from existing investors Ambassador Supply, Y Combinator, Owens Corning, and Shadow Ventures. The Durham, N.C.-based startup will use part of the proceeds to expand its team size from 13 to 20 employees. BotBuilt received a post-money valuation of $35M at the latest round. More: - Founded in 2020, BotBuilt has a robotic system that fuses together panels for walls, floor trusses, roof trusses, and several of the major framing components of houses.
- The startup has raked in around $75,000 in revenue so far.
- BotBuilt aims to scale operations in 2024 and begin shipping trusses built by its robotic systems.
- Founder Barrett Ames said, "Manual wall panel and truss plants operate at 30-40% gross margins, so our level of automation will allow us to be significantly higher than that and still deliver significant cost savings to builders."
Zoom out: - Home sales volume in the U.S. has reached a record low due to soaring housing prices.
- As a result, prospective homeowners are now turning to environmentally friendly, sustainable, and affordable alternatives.
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| 6 | | Indian digital lending platform Revfin closed its Series B funding round at $14M (1.5B INR). Omidyar Network led the round with a $5M investment. More: - The latest capital infusion brings the firm's total equity and debt capital raised to date to $75M (6.25B INR).
- Asian Development Bank, Companion Capital Limited, Green Frontiers Capital, and LC Nueva participated in the current round.
- Revfin provides loans to individuals and small businesses to purchase two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and other electric vehicles.
- In addition, the firm also extends funding to businesses working on the EV ecosystem, including battery manufacturers and charging stations.
- Revfin's previous notable backers include Dhiiraj Jain, Anuraag Jaipuria, Ruchi Rans Jaipuria, Rishi Kajaria, Let's Venture Angel Fund, and Harash Jain.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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