E.U. votes on AI regulation / Ozempic and Berberine projections / Temu passes Shein in sales

Also, the Federal Reserve halts rate hike

Inside Business For June 14, 2023

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Hey Insiders, It's Wednesday, and the Federal Reserve halted any rate hike at today's meeting. What does it mean for the rest of the year? We dive into that and what the future sales projections are for Ozempic and Berberine supplements. Keep us in the loop with what you're interested in reading more about! Christopher p/chris951156

1 A major step toward regulating AI just was taken as the European Union passed one of the first major laws on the subject. The European Parliament, the main legislative branch of the EU, voted to pass the AI Act, which puts new restrictions on the strictest uses of AI.  More: This will severely minimize the use of facial recognition technology and software and will require makers of AI systems, such as ChatGPT, to disclose data on how the programs are created. A final version of the law is not expected to be passed until later this year. The EU is farther along than the U.S. and other countries in these regards, as the 27-nation bloc debated this topic for the past two years. Once ChatGPT was released, the discussions picked up in earnest. This could send a chain reaction through governments worldwide to race to control AI technology in other countries.

2 What the data says: Ozempic, the antidiabetic medication, has seen its projections go through the roof after it became a popular drug to take for weight loss. It is forecasted to reach more than $17B in sales by 2029 after registering around $9B in sales in 2022. The jump from last year to this year is projected to be a 23% increase to around $12.5B. Relevance: Ever since users realized that one of Ozempic's side effects was weight loss, its popularity grew so much that those with diabetes had trouble finding it. Berberine is a cheaper, natural alternative that some have dubbed "nature's Ozempic." It is a bright yellow compound that can be extracted from the stem, roots, and bark of a variety of plant species. It is available in the U.S. from many different manufacturers, leading some to choose it over trying to find Ozempic.  Other projections: The studies about it causing weight loss are limited. But the berberine market is expected to grow exponentially over the next 10 years. In 2022, the berberine supplements market was estimated at $885M. It's expected to grow to $2.1B by 2033.

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3 After a year of massive growth in the U.S., bargain shopping app Temu passed rival Shein in sales. Temu had a 20% higher revenue in May than Shein, according to Bloomberg Second Measure. More: Temu is an e-commerce marketplace backed by Chinese company PDD Holdings Inc. Temu has been the top iOS app for much of 2023, based on metrics including downloads, engagement, and retention. It had more global downloads in the six months after its launch than any other shopping app. It is projected to pass Shein in terms of gross merchandising value in a day by September 2023, which would be the year anniversary of its debut. Overall, Amazon is still the top shopping app in the U.S.

4 The Federal Reserve announced that it would not hike interest rates in June, but warned that it would still be inclined to raise interest rates in the future to combat inflation. It is the first time since January that the monthly meeting ended without a rate hike. More: It maintained its benchmark interest rate in the range of 5%-5.25%. Fed officials did say the forecasts for the interest rates for the year were raised, meaning that Americans could see rates of 5.6%. That would mean at least two more rate hikes would happen this year. Some officials projected it could hit 6%. The Fed had raised rates at 10 consecutive meetings through May, going from 0%-0.25% to 5%-5.25%, the highest it's been since 2007, in just 14 months.

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5 Modelo, a Constellation Brands brand, took the top spot in the U.S. beer market in May as it beat out Anheuser-Busch InBev's Bud Light. Modelo took 8.4% of beer sales from retail stores for the four weeks in May, with Bud Light getting 7.3%. More: Bud Light's sales fell 24.6% YoY for the period, and Modelo's sales jumped 10.2% during that time. Still, Bud Light leads in sales for the year. This all comes amidst the backlash to Bud Light after an anti-LGBTQ+ campaign was lobbied at the company for an inclusive ad it ran with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.  Bud Light then did not defend the promotion of the ad, angering LGBTQ+ allies. The boycott of Bud Light has proven positive for its competitors, as Modelo overtook the top spot. Although Constellation Brands own Modelo in the U.S., it's owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev in the rest of the world.

6 Members of the U.S. health insurance industry saw their shares plummet after UnitedHealth, one of the biggest listed companies, warned that an increase in non-urgent procedures was driving up costs. Thanks to patients putting off procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic, UnitedHealth and other insurers benefitted greatly. More: Now, seniors and other patients are electing to go through with their delayed non-urgent procedures, causing the insurance companies to cover more. Seniors are now "more comfortable accessing services for things that they might have pushed off a bit, like knees and hips," said Tim Noel, who leads UnitedHealth's Medicare and retirement business, UnitedHealth is valued at more than $400B. It saw its shares drop more than 7% while fellow insurers Humana, CVS Health, and Cigna all saw decreases of 12%, 6%, and 4%, respectively.

7 Quick Hits: This ultimate guide covers partnership marketing fundamentals, best practices, and key things to consider when choosing the perfect partnership platform.* Toyota shareholders re-elected Akio Toyoda as the company's president at its annual meeting. The New York Times dove into the mass exodus by retailers from San Francisco's downtown malls.  Brussels has charged Google with abusing its positioning in an antitrust case.  Learn why leading investors have called whiskey casks the ultimate safe-haven investment. Start Investing.* *This is a sponsored post.

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Christopher Hachey Freelance Editor Christopher Hachey is a freelance writer and editor based in the New York City area. He has spent most of the past 15 years in newsrooms covering all kinds of topics like sports, tech, business, finance, and commerce. He's now returning to his broadcast journalism roots by diving into podcasting news. Reach out to him at chris@inside.com This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield

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Mistral AI nabs $113M seed funding / New hires at Primer, DTEX, Cyemptive / Thirty Madison acquires patient records of The Pill Club

Plus, former DeepMind, Apple engineers raise $5.4M for AI co-pilot for sales

Inside Startups For June 14, 2023

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Hey Insiders,  Today we are bringing you news about an AI startup that raised $113M in seed funding and why Thirty Madison is acquiring patient records of The Pill Club. We have also rounded up the top leadership changes in startups this week.  Scroll down for some quick hits, and let us know what other content you'd like to see in future issues.    Karan p/karan-chafekar

1 Paris-based startup Mistral AI raised a $113M Seed round to build a large language models application. The pre-product company is valued at $260M post-money. More: The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Redpoint, Index Ventures, Xavier Niel, and JCDecaux Holding, among others. The startup also claims Bpifrance and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as equity holders. The company, founded by former DeepMind and Meta alums, is aiming for a product launch in 2024. "At the moment we have proof that AI is useful in some cases, but there are still too many workers in different fields being asked to be creative [with AI], and we need to figure this out for them. We want to give them tools that are easy to use to create their own products", said Mistral's co-founder, Arthur Mensch.

2 AI-powered data analysis solutions provider Primer Technologies, which held the first close of its Series D round at $69M today, announced Sean Moriarty as its new CEO. Moriarty stepped into the role vacated by founder Sean Gourley. Startups DTEX, Cyemptive, Calm Wave, and Smarsh also saw leadership changes this week.  Hires: San Jose, Calif.-based cybersecurity startup DTEX Systems hired Dave Salverson as its first CFO. Prior to joining DTEX, Salverson held the CFO role at real-time data processing services firm Hazelcast and the vice-president role at cybersecurity firm Shape Security.  Cybersecurity company Cyemptive hired former Hitachi Data Systems SVP Ray McCay as its chief revenue officer.  Houston, Texas-based IT services company Softeq Development Corp hired Craig Ceccanti as COO, Albert Esser as a chief delivery officer, and Edwin Lemus as chief people officer.  Seth Falcon joined nurse burnout and alarm fatigue reduction solutions maker CalmWave as VP of engineering.  Vinay Mehta joined Portland, Ore.-based startup digital communications compliance and intelligence startup Smarsh as its CTO.

A message from our sponsor, Linqto. Ripple is significantly transforming the future of financial transactions. Leveraging blockchain technology, it's enhancing international transfers by making them swifter, more affordable, and more reliable through its decentralized infrastructure. RippleNet, its cutting-edge solution, has connected over 300 financial institutions across 40 countries to facilitate seamless real-time settlements, improving liquidity and lowering transaction costs substantially. Further, Ripple's strategic expansions and acquisitions, like the recent $250 million purchase of a Swiss crypto custody provider, Metaco, underline its ambitious vision for the future. As blockchain technology continues to disrupt mainstream finance, Ripple's consistent innovation solidifies its place at the vanguard of this evolution. Through Linqto, you have the unique opportunity to invest in Ripple and be a part of the ongoing revolution in global finance that it is spearheading.  Global Network: RippleNet connects 300+ financial institutions across 40 countries, streamlining cross-border transactions.  Cost-Efficiency: Ripple's technology significantly lowers transaction costs, improving the affordability of international transfers.  Transaction Speed: Ripple reduces settlement times to seconds, far surpassing traditional banking methods that often take days.  Growth Strategy: Ripple's recent $250 million acquisition demonstrates its commitment to expanding services and influence in the blockchain sector. Invest in Ripple Today

3 Healthcare startup Thirty Madison acquired the patient records of bankrupt startup The Pill Club, including medical records, patient lists, and prescription files. The news will come as a relief for The Pill Club's over 100,000 patients, who can continue receiving care through Thirty Madison's women's telehealth unit Nurx.  More: Thirty Madison acquired certain debt obligations of The Pill Club, including a $30M loan from TriplePoint.  San Mateo, Calif.-based birth control and telehealth startup The Pill Club declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Apr. 2023 after California officials alleged that the company fraudulently charged the state's Medicaid program for contraception and counseling services never provided to clients.  The company settled the claims for $18.275M without admitting any wrongdoing.

4 Glyphic AI, a London-based startup founded in 2022 by former DeepMind and Apple engineers, raised a ~$5.4M pre-seed round. The round was led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from Dhyan Ventures and the Creator Fund. More: The startup develops a co-pilot for sales teams to process unstructured data from customer interactions. Glyphic AI is aiming to help businesses obtain data on deal completion and potential customer churn.  The round also included participation from the head of product at Google DeepMind and the director of Google Bard, Rushin Shah.

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5 Seattle, Wash.-based carbon footprint software maker Climate Vault Solutions nabbed $9.4M Series A funding led by Inclusive Capital Partners Foundation. The firm intends to use the proceeds to expand operations and business reach. Additionally, it intends to use the funding to double its workforce.  More: Climate Vault Solutions uses data from government-regulated carbon markets instead of voluntary carbon markets.  King Philanthropies, Valor Siren Ventures, and ThirdStream Partners participated in the funding round.  The firm has already mitigated 1 million metric tons of carbon so far and expects to expand its services to 10 million metric tons by 2025.  Zoom out: Banks, insurers, private equity firms, and investment managers are expected to spend $256M on climate-tracking software by 2027.

6 Vancouver-based fantasy sports startup GameOn announced a $1.7M round led by Lightning Capital. The amount includes a non-dilutive grant from the Flow Ecosystem Fund, subject to milestones. More: The startup partners with brands in sports and entertainment to develop NFT-based games. GameOn has worked with NBCUniversal, Dick's Sporting Goods, Bravo, the WNBA, and the Gaming Society, among others. The startup claims more than 500,000 active users.

7 Quick Hits: This ultimate guide covers partnership marketing fundamentals, best practices, and key things to consider when choosing the perfect partnership platform.* VCs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross set up an AI cloud service dubbed Andromeda Cluster with 2,512 of Nvidia's H100 GPUs. The VCs have set up this unit to provide computing power to portfolio startups because several of them were encountering AI GPU shortages.  Software startup Pendo conducted a second round of layoffs, reducing its workforce by 12%, or 100 employees.  Professional membership network Pollen raised $4M in fresh funding from Animo VC, Founder Collective, XYZ, and Precursor Ventures.  Pincus Capital led a $1.6M seed funding round into AI energy startup Axle. Eka Ventures participated in the funding round.  Learn why leading investors have called whiskey casks the ultimate safe-haven investment. Start Investing.* *This is sponsored content.

Upcoming Events JUN 14 Monthly Meditation guided by Nicholas Whitaker Virtual Register Here JUN 15 Transform your product roadmap with AI @ A.Team's Generative AI Salon* Virtual Register Here JUN 20 Contract Negotiations 101 with Mathew Kerbis Virtual Register Here * This is a sponsored event

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Karan Chafekar 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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