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| Hey Insiders, Today we are taking a look at open-banking startup Volt's $60M funding round, why Getir has decided to exit France, and Render's $50M Series B funding round. We have also rounded up the top leadership changes in startups this week. Scroll down for some quick hits, and then let us know what other content you'd like to see in future issues. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Volt, an open banking fintech, announced it raised a $60M Series B led by IVP. The company operates in the U.K., Europe, and Brazil. More: - Volt claims crypto exchange eToro, e-commerce company Farfetch, and second-hand fashion site Vestiaire Collective among its clients.
- The startup became Shopify's first open banking provider, becoming an option for merchant acquirer Worldpay's customers.
- "As over 70 countries, including the U.S., transition to RTP systems, merchants are experiencing the immense benefits of instant, secure, and cost-effective A2A payments," said Angela Zhu, partner at IVP.
- Volt previously raised a total of $30M between its seed and Series A rounds.
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| 2 | | New York-based food delivery startup Wonder hired Blackstone's senior managing director, Kelley Morrell, as its new chief financial officer. Morrell will succeed current CFO Dave Licata, who has been in the role since the startup's launch in 2018. Morrell will step into the role on July 24. Other startups Equip, Turing, Tracer, and Cano Health also announced leadership changes this week. Hires: - Eating disorder treatment healthcare startup Equip hired Nikia Bergan, a former Get Well executive, as its president.
- Data intelligence platform Tracer appointed Obele Brown-West as president. Brown-West is tasked with leading the firm's growth initiatives.
- AI-powered tech services company Turing appointed Phil Walsh as its chief marketing officer.
Departures: - Cano Health's CEO Marlow Hernandez stepped down from the CEO role, a day after the annual shareholder meeting.
- The firm's chief strategy officer, Mark Kent, will succeed Hernandez as interim CEO until the firm finds a permanent successor.
- The company is looking to reverse its fortunes after posting a $60M loss in the first quarter of this year.
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| 3 | | European quick commerce startup Getir is reportedly closing down its operations in France, citing the "complex legal environment and regulations imposed by local authorities." The news of Getir's exit from France comes as the firm's French unit filed for bankruptcy. Court-appointed administrators are now looking for potential acquirers for Getir's nationwide operations. More: - Getir's 1,800 employees now risk being unemployed, with their fate tied to the outcome of the bankruptcy process.
- The Turkish firm had reached a peak valuation of $11.8B.
- In late 2022, it acquired Gorillas, which itself had acquired French ready-to-eat meals and grocery delivery startup Frichti earlier in the year.
Zoom out: - Quick-delivery startups were already facing challenges due to high upfront costs, which were unsustainable as venture funding slumped.
- Their challenges were further compounded when the French government announced that it would consider dark stores as warehouses earlier this March.
- The move gave local authorities the power to decide whether or not to allow warehouses within city premises.
- Getir competitor Flink filed for bankruptcy in France late last year, while another peer Gopuff exited the country in January 2023.
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| 4 | | San Francisco-based cloud startup Render closed its Series B round with $50M in funding. Render provides a cloud-hosting platform for applications, databases, and websites. The company intends to use the proceeds to "expand the platform to support the needs of larger engineering teams and double down on best-in-class workflow and tooling," per CEO Anurag Goel. More: - Render's current fundraising brings its total raised to date to $77.5M.
- Bessemer Venture Partners led the current round, with participation from existing backers General Catalyst, South Park Common Fund, and Addition.
- The firm counts Watershed and Red Bull as two of its most notable clients.
- Render allows developers to focus their efforts on core product development by building and deploying the GitHub-based code as a cloud-based application.
- The platform manages cloud-related tasks such as server setup, deployment, and scaling.
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| 5 | | Outbound AI, a startup automating healthcare teams' interactions with insurance companies, announced it raised a $16M round led by Madrona Venture Group and SpringRock Ventures. The company's tools communicate with human representatives while summarizing dialogues. More: - Outbound claims its systems are three to four times faster than humans.
- "We're able to deliver more extensive information relevant to a task, which allows our ML models to make better conclusions and recommendations on behalf of staff and supervisors," said Outbound CEO Stead Burwell.
- Founded in March 2021, the startup previously raised $7M.
- The company joins a space tackling healthcare administration that includes startups such as Advata, MajorBoost, BirchAI, and Cascade Health.
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| 6 | | Madrona Labs announced it raised $11M for its fifth venture fund. The Seattle startup studio has backed 32 companies and raised $40M since its inception. More: - Madrona says 84% of its companies focus on intelligent applications, including AI areas such as natural language processing or computer vision.
- The venture studio's portfolio companies have gone on to raise a total of $261M for a combined valuation of $629M.
- Madrona's exits include Mighty AI (to Uber), Chatitive (to Mailchimp), and MessageYes (to Nordstrom).
- The studio's stake in its companies varies from 5% to 25%.
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| 7 | | 
Last week, we asked our startups community, "What is your all-time favorite inspirational quote that keeps you motivated on your startup journey?" Here are some of the community's favorite quotes: - Michael Davis (p/BudsyBBQ), Owner/Operator at Dr Budsy's Sauces, answered: "Nothing Good is ever EASY and Nothing EASY is ever any Good." A quote from the mythical Yoda when he was a meer 8 years old.
- Jane Goodrich (p/jane-goodrich), Founder and CEO at Picsello, answered: I have a quote from Theodore Roosevelt above my desk. It is originally the "The Man in the Arena" quote, but it is changed to the Woman in the Arena. I love it and it keeps me going!
- Lawrence Jean-Louis (p/lawrencejeanlouis), Digital Marketer at eBrand Me, answered: Steve Jobs' quote from the commencement speech at Stanford (2005) comes to mind sometimes. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️ | | | |
| 8 | | Quick Hits: - Notion combines traditional project management with your docs, knowledge base, and AI. Try it for free.*
- Web3 payments startup Ramp expanded its service offerings to include 40 global fiat currencies.
- Israeli alternative meat startup More Foods partnered with Osem-Nestlé's vegetarian frozen food subsidiary Tivall.
- Interviewing platform Vidcruiter acquired AI startup Ingage Solutions for an undisclosed sum.
- Foodtech firm BetterBrand raised $6M in Series A funding at a $170M pre-money valuation. Verso Capital led the funding round with participation from Gaingels Fund, Seven Seven Six, Craft Lane, and others.
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Term of the Day SAFE notes: The acronym SAFE (when used with notes) refers to a simple agreement for future equity. Question of the Week How do you feel about the phrase "The customer is always right"? Join the conversation |
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 Beth Duckett | |
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