| |
| Here’s a look at today’s Startups briefing. - 💻 Dell to supply computing hardware worth $150M to AI startup Imbue.
- 📊 Business closure rate exceeds openings in the U.K.
- 🤝 BlueVoyant to increase foothold in government and defense sectors with acquisition Conquest Cyber.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Dell Technologies has struck a $150M deal with Imbue to provide computing hardware to the AI startup. Dell will supply servers to Imbue, which it will use to develop AI models with advanced reasoning capabilities. More: - Earlier this September, Imbue bagged a $200M Series B round led by Astera Institute, with Nvidia participating.
- The funding round helped Imbue cement its unicorn status with a $1B valuation.
- At the time, Imbue also secured access to 10,000 Nvidia's graphic processing units.
- Imbue believes buying the hardware outright is cheaper than subscribing to cloud computing services.
- Additionally, purchasing the hardware gives the firm flexibility and reduces dependence on a single service provider.
- Had it opted for a cloud service provider, "it would make it much harder for the software side to move off of that in the future. This allows us to be able to remain independent," per co-founder and CTO Josh Albrecht.
- The firm is also designing a system with Dell that would allow it to group a cluster of servers to make one powerful machine.
- Imbue is already using Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers with Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs, which Voltage Park manages.
|     | |
| 2 | | The number of businesses that shut down exceeded the number of companies set up in 2022 in the U.K., per new data released by the Office of National Statistics reviewed by Financial Times. 
What the numbers say: 337,000 new businesses were set up in 2022, 7% less than the previous year. At the same time, the number of companies that closed in 2022 increased by 5% YoY. This is the first time since 2010 that business closures have overtaken creations. Per a separate report from IDBR, the number of total active businesses in the U.K. dropped for the first time since 2011 in Mar. 2023. Where to see the impact: New business openings have declined drastically in retail, logistics, real estate, and construction industries. Within the construction industry, new business creations dropped by 8% while closures increased by 41%. Closures in the retail sector increased by 30%, while the number of new businesses decreased from 38,900 in 2021 to 29,420 in 2022. Relevance: The drop in new business formation rate and increase in closures is due to the high interest rates and decline in household spending. Interest rates are now at a 15-year high of 5.25%. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, mmhmm. |  | | Energize your meetings to stand out and be better understood Stay on screen with your presentation, so no one has to choose between seeing you and seeing your content. mmhmm helps you: - Share your enthusiasm to engage your audience
- Interact with your slides to help others see your point
- Hold attention in live and recorded video
- Use clear video explanations to avoid confusion
- Improve your presentations on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Google Meet, and more
Start using mmhmm today to bring more personality and clarity to all your meetings and recordings. Get Started For Free | |
|
| 3 | | German micromobility scooter startup Tier Mobility is laying off 140 employees or 22% of its workforce, per a LinkedIn post by CEO Lawrence Leuschner. Tier made the layoffs in a bid to achieve profitability. The firm expects to be profitable in 80% of its markets after improving EBITDA from -62% in 2022 to -15% in 2023. More: - This is Tier Mobility's third round of layoffs, after reducing employees by 180 in Aug. 2022 and another 100 five months later.
- In 2022, the firm acquired e-bike share firm Nextbike, Wind Mobility's Italian unit, camera-based scooter parking technology Fantasmo, and Spin from Ford.
- In September, Tier sold off Spin to Bird for $19M.
- The firm's co-founder and CTO, Matthia Laug, stepped down earlier this February for personal reasons.
- Over the past six months, the firm has lost its head of engineering, VP of finance, SVP of corporate strategy, and VP of product and growth.
| | | |
| 4 | | Threat detection and response cybersecurity firm BlueVoyant acquired Conquest Cyber to increase its foothold in the government and defense sectors. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The firm will finance the acquisition with a $140M Series E round, which closed today. More: - PE firm Liberty Strategic Capital and cybersecurity investor Istari led the latest round.
- All of Conquest Cyber's 100 employees will join BlueVoyant as a result of the deal.
- BlueVoyant's current funding round is smaller than the previous $250M Series D round from Feb. 2022.
- Conquest Cyber is BlueVoyant's fifth acquisition to date and its largest yet.
- The firm previously acquired Managed Sentinel, Concanon, supply chain security firm 202 Group, and Marclay Associates.
Zoom out: - Other notable cybersecurity companies that raised funding this month include Chainguard and Dragos.
- Chainguard raised a $61M Series B round, while Dragos extended its Series D round with an additional $74M.
| | | |
| 5 | | Indian payments fintech One Mobikwik Systems has roped in DAM Capital Advisors Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. to assist with its upcoming IPO listing. The firm is looking to raise $84M. Mobikwik may file a prospectus next month as it is looking to debut on the public markets in 2024, sources informed Bloomberg. More: - Founded in 2009, Mobikwik provides mobile wallet and buy-now-pay-later services to more than 101 million registered users.
- The firm has over three million e-commerce, retail, and billing partners.
- Mobikwik has raised $177.4M in total funding to date from investors, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, American Express, and Sequoia Capital.
- The firm has been profitable since 2021.
- It was initially looking to go public at the end of 2021 but postponed its plans after the dip in stock prices of technology startups, including rival Paytm.
Zoom out: - So far this year, 205 companies have gone public in India, making it the busiest listing market in the world.
- The number of listings has been the highest than any other previous year.
| | | |
| 6 | | Stock trading app Webull acquired Mexican investment platform Flink for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Webull enter the Mexican market. Webull will also take control of brokerage firm Vifaru Casa de Bolsa, which Flink agreed to acquire in May 2022. More: - Founded in 2017, Flink allows Mexican residents to purchase fractional shares of U.S.-listed companies.
- Flink has raised $70M in total funding to date, $57M of which came through a Series B funding round in Aug. 2021.
- Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, ALLVP, Clocktower, and Mantis Venture Capital are some of the firm's notable investors.
- Webull will integrate Flink's technology into its own platform and launch investment and cash management products.
- In the meantime, Webull will support Flink and keep providing customers access to U.S. stocks through the Flink app.
- With the acquisition, Webull now operates in nine countries, including the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Japan, and the U.K.
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Competitors are killing your efficiency. Read how Greenhouse gained $85M in revenue from reps who used Klue over non-Klue users.*
- Zipmex, the cryptocurrency exchange that is currently under creditor protection, has proposed to repay creditors $0.335 for every dollar of claims. The firm is restructuring its $97.1M debt financing. Depending upon the outcome of the restructuring, the firm could increase the payout to $0.2935.
- Swedish battery maker Northvolt hired Apple's former AI researcher Siddharth Khullar to lead a team of machine learning experts to accelerate the development and manufacturing process.
- Expense management software maker Center has reportedly raised $30M in Series C funding, per a new SEC filing seen by GeekWire.
- FEBE Ventures has secured commitments for 90% of the $75M target for its second fund. Fund II will invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups, writing checks ranging from $250,000 to $750,000.
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
| |
| |
|
| |
