Plus, Nuro partners with Foretellix
| For January 04, 2024 |  |
| Here’s a look at today’s Startups briefing. - 🤝🏻 Relex Solutions acquired Optimity to expand product offerings.
- 📉 Indian fintech funding slumped by 63% YoY in 2023.
- 🚗 Nuro roped in Foretellix to help with virtual testing of its automated driving system.
Thanks! Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Finnish supply chain and retail planning solutions startup Relex Solutions acquired Swedish rival Optimity for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Relex expand its product offering by adding daily production planning, optimizing, and scheduling capabilities. More: - Relex's co-founder and CEO, Mikko Kärkkäinen, said, "This acquisition also further accelerates our vision towards an adaptive, autonomous, and synchronized supply chain unifying demand and supply planning decisions in one platform to minimize all wasted cost and product."
- This is Relex's fifth acquisition to date.
- It previously acquired Galleria RTS in 2016, Forecast Solutions in 2018, Zenopt Oy in 2019, and Formulate in 2022.
- Since its founding in 2005, Relex has raised $804M in total funding to date and was last valued at €5B ($5.47B) in early 2022.
- BP, Blackstone Group, TCV, EASME, and Summit Partners are a few of the firm's investors.
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| 2 | | Indian fintech startups raised $2B in VC funding in 2023, 63% less than the $5.4B secured in 2022, per Tracxn data seen by Business Insider. 
What the numbers say: The funding is about a quarter of the record high of $8.4B from 2021. Early-stage funding witnessed a 56% funding drop. Meanwhile, funding slumped by 69% and 56% for seed and late-stage startups, respectively. The alternative lending domain raked in the highest share of funding within the fintech sector, ending the year with $835M. Relevance: Five startups bagged mega funding rounds of over $100M, the most notable being credit decision platform Perfios' $229M Series D and business loans marketplace Mintifi's $110M Series D rounds. InCred was the only startup within the sector that cemented its unicorn status last year. What happened: VC funding slumped worldwide due to volatile macroeconomic conditions and heightened interest rates. Despite the slump seen in India, the nation still ranked third globally for its fintech startup funding, likely due to the favorable regulatory environment and the government's commitment to digitization. | | | |
| 3 | | Cybersecurity solutions startup Novetiq filed documentation with the U.S. SEC to go public via a SPAC merger with Corner Growth Acquisition Corp. The proposed merger and listing transaction is expected to give Noventiq access to new sources of capital, enhance its reach, and provide M&A opportunities. More: - The firm had to delist from the London and Moscow stock exchanges before going in for the SPAC merger.
- Noventiq has a presence in 60 countries and has a global workforce strength of 6,400 employees.
- The firm reported $402M in revenue in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, 62% higher than the previous year.
- Noventiq's merger with Corner Growth will be through a "double-dummy" structure, which will effectively lower its valuation from $877M to $330M.
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| 4 | | Autonomous delivery startup Numo has partnered with Foretellix in a bid to cut R&D costs. Foretellix will conduct the virtual testing of Numo's automated driving systems. Foretellix has inked similar partnerships with Volvo Group and Torc Robotics. More: - Foretellix will use the driving logs from Nuro's test vehicles and automatically create different scenarios to train the autonomous driving system, eliminating the need to actually run all variations in the real world.
- Nuro has raised about $2B in total funding to date from investors, including Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research, and Google.
Zoom out: - The partnership comes amidst a tumultuous time not just for Nuro but the entire autonomous driving industry.
- Nuro announced two layoffs in the past 18 months and underwent a restructuring in May that saw it move away from planned commercial operations.
- Meanwhile, peers Cruise announced layoffs, TuSimple exited the U.S. market, and Argo AI shut down in 2022.
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| 5 | | Denmark-based engineering giant Danfoss acquired Enfor's district energy software business. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will solidify Danfoss' market position and help it offer complete solutions for optimizing energy efficiency in district energy networks. More: - Additionally, Enfor's solutions will help strengthen the Danfoss Leanheat suite of products, which uses data analytics and AI to optimize the energy consumption of district energy and buildings.
- Danfoss has been a minority shareholder in Enfor since 2020.
- Enfor will continue to operate independently after the acquisition and will work on further developing its ML solutions for the electricity sector.
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| 6 | | New fundraising platform Diadem Capital aims to quicken capital access for high-growth startups and promises to close rounds "5x faster." The platform is a "warm introduction network" that matches founders with institutional investors and debt lenders. Diadem can help lower the equity fundraising timeline from four to six months to two to three months. More: - Diadem was started two years ago by former Wall Street investment bankers Stephanie Rieben and Joe Hammill.
- Founders need to submit an application, which is vetted by Rieben and Hammill, before being accepted to the platform.
- Companies must have previous VC backing and at least $1M in ARR to be accepted to the platform.
- Diadem is also onboarding bootstrapped companies that have up to $50M in ARR for debt funding.
- The platform currently has 800 VC firms and 100 lenders.
- Diadem has received about 1,500 startup applications.
- So far, about 17 startups have been able to raise $60M via Diadem's platform.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Need to close more deals, faster? See 6 tips on how Calendly helps sales & marketing teams automate the meeting lifecycle and grow revenue. Read the blog.*
- San Francisco, Calif.-based biotech startup Star Therapeutics hired Scott Robertson as its chief business officer and CFO. Robertson previously held the same position at DICE Therapeutics.
- French quantum computing startup PASQAL's chief commercial officer, Benno Broer, has stepped down from the role to start a new startup called Science Rockstars. The startup is currently operating in stealth mode.
- Lennar Corp. has reportedly acquired the remaining assets of bankrupt modular construction company Veev for an undisclosed sum.
- Foodtech startup Imagindairy received FDA approval for its animal-free milk protein products.
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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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