| Hey Insiders, Today we are looking at Eli Lilly's acquisition of Versanis, Cowboy's app for struggling e-bike startup VanMoof's customers, and wildfire detection startup Pano AI's $17M Series A extension round. We have also rounded up the top early-stage funding rounds of 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 | | Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is set to acquire obesity drug startup Versanis Bio for $1.93B in cash. The transaction includes an upfront payment and future payments linked to certain milestones. With the Versanis acquisition, Eli Lilly will be able to strengthen its market position within the obesity drug domain. More: - Versanis licensed bimagrumab from Novartis AG and is also researching its synergy potential with Novo Nordisk's obesity drug semaglutide.
- Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is trying to get regulatory approval for its obesity drug Mounjaro and is also developing a promising drug, retatrutide.
Zoom out: - The market for obesity drugs underwent a paradigm shift when regulators approved Novo Nordisk's Wegovy drug for obesity treatment.
- "That has spurred a tremendous amount of innovation and competition in this space and Versanis was formed just in front of that to develop a completely differentiated mechanism," per Versanis' CEO Mark Pruzanski.
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| 2 | | 
VCs deployed $822M in early-stage North American startups between July 8 to July 14, per Crunchbase data. Biotech startups raked in 28% of the funding this week. Fintech, healthcare, and AI startups nabbed 10%, 10%, and 9% of the financing, respectively. Here are the top five largest rounds announced this week: - Septerna, a San Francisco-based biotech startup developing small molecule medicines, closed its Series B funding round at $150M. RA Capital Management led the round with participation from Samsara BioCapital, Invus, BVF Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Vertex Ventures, Mirae Asset Financial Group, and others.
- Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Crossbow Therapeutics announced a $80M Series A to develop antibody therapies for cancers. The round was led by MPM BioImpact and Pfizer, with participation from Eli Lilly, Polaris Partners, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, among others.
- Collective, an AI-powered fintech platform for freelancers, secured $50M in fresh funding from Google's AI fund, Gradient Ventures, Innovius Capital, General Catalyst, QED, and Better Tomorrow Ventures.
- RFID and computer vision-powered in-store inventory technology platform RADAR raised $30M in Series A funding led by Align Ventures, with participation from RX Ventures.
- AI-powered senior care company CarePredict raised $29M in Series A-3 funding co-led by Aspire Healthtech Partners and SV Health Investors' Medtech Convergence Fund.
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| 3 | | Cowboy, a Belgian e-bike company, released an app that enables VanMoof bike owners to use a digital key amid uncertainty with the Dutch brand. VanMoof decided to close all stores and bike servicing as it struggles to raise funds to continue operating. More: - "Our software team worked through the night on this, and we must stress that it's a beta so bugs may be experienced but we wanted to get this shipped ASAP because it will work while the VanMoof servers are live," said Cowboy in a statement.
- Moofer is another third-party app designed for VanMoof customers to continue using their bikes.
- VanMoof applied for payment deferrals in the Netherlands amid its financial difficulties.
- The Dutch bike company was reportedly impacted by a 10% return rate and high repair costs.
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| 4 | | Pano AI, a company that uses cameras to detect forest fires, raised a $17M Series A extension led by Valor Equity Partners. T-Mobile participated in the round, as the AI company uses its 5G network and some of its masts to mount the hardware. More: - Pano's clients include utilities such as PacifiCorp, Xcel Energy, Portland General Electric, the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales in Australia, and the Aspen and Big Sky fire departments, among others.
- The company charges approximately one million dollars for 20 custom stations per year.
- Pano currently monitors 6 million acres and employs 45 people.
- "We'll be able to raise a nice big Series B and continue on with our Series B plans. The wildfires aren't slowing down, so this additional capital now means that we don't have to slow anything down either," said the startup's CEO, Sonia Kastner.
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| 5 | | Stability AI's co-founder Cyrus Hodes has sued the company claiming that he was deceived into selling his 15% stake to fellow co-founder Emad Mostaque after the latter persuaded him that the company "was essentially worthless." Hodes sold his stake for $100, months before the British AI startup touched $1B in post-money valuation at its $101M funding round. More: - Stability AI is looking to raise fresh funding at a $4B valuation, which would have made Hodes' stake worth nearly $500M.
- The lawsuit alleges, "In an act of self-dealing by a faithless fiduciary, Mostaque brazenly deceived Hodes about the core business of Stability AI that Mostaque was developing, its likely valuation, and its fundraising."
- Stability dismissed the allegations and said, "The suit is without merit and we will aggressively defend our position."
Zoom out: - Hodes was a former adviser to the United Arab Emirates and a previous AI program director at Harvard University.
- Per the lawsuit, he invested $15,000 when Stability AI began working on the Collective and Augmented Intelligence Against COVID-19 project in early 2020.
- Hodes says that Mostaque secretly diverted funds to a text-to-image generator which later became known as Stable Diffusion.
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| 6 | | Peaxy, a software startup focusing on battery lifecycle analytics, raised a $12M Series B extension from an undisclosed investor. The company plans to use the funds to expand its product offering for the stationary energy storage and electric vehicles sectors. More: - In January, Peaxy partnered with Beast Code to provide a "first mile to last mile" predictive maintenance solution through digital twins for the defense industry.
- Peaxy's clients include the U.S. Navy, the Department of Energy, and the California Energy Commission, among others.
- The round brings the total raised by Peaxy to $44M.
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- Creator monetization platform Passes acquired its competitor Fanhouse for an undisclosed sum.
- Bob Casey, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to eldercare startup Papa's CEO Andrew Parker to take action to "ensure the safety and dignity of care workers and clients." Earlier this May, a Bloomberg investigation reported sexual assault and harassment allegations against the startup.
- Upskilling platform Skill-Lync laid off 225 employees or 20% of its workforce. The move will help the firm reduce operation costs.
- Indian food delivery startup Swiggy acquired retail distribution startup LYNK Logistics for an undisclosed sum.
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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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