| |
| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 🛰️ Global space startup funding surged 31% in Q4 2023.
- 🤝 Cybersecurity startup Snyk acquired Helios to maintain its market position in the AppSec space
- 🚀 Serial entrepreneur Fritz Brumder launched a new AI startup called WiseOx.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Private equity firm TPG is acquiring a majority stake in supply chain risk intelligence technology company Sayari Labs by making a $228M investment through its middle-market and growth-equity platform TPG Growth. Sayari will use the fresh funding to launch AI products that can extract insights from supply chain data. More: - Sayari's founders and existing investors will retain a significant stake in the company.
- The Washington, D.C.-based firm offers a risk intelligence platform to analyze global trade, financial crime, law enforcement, defense, and procurement.
- Sayari's notable clients include U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Treasury Department, as well as government agencies in Canada, Australia, the U.K., and Europe.
- The firm has received backing from VC firms, including Lavrock Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Centana Growth Partners, Arsenal Growth, and MissionOG.
|     | |
| 2 | | VCs invested $4.6B in global space startups in Q4 2023, up 31% compared to the previous quarter, per a report published by Space Capital seen by Reuters. 
What the numbers say: The surge in Q4 brought the annual tally for 2023 to $17.9B. "Despite a relatively slow start to the year, 2023 investment ultimately was in line with 2022. If the quarterly trajectory continues, 2024 should be a healthy year for investment in space," per Seraphim Space. Despite Q4's surge, funding reached a decade low in 2023, primarily due to the slump in funding for satellite hardware and software. Since 2014, about 1,832 space companies have collectively raised $298B in funding. Relevance: Established players in the sector more than doubled the number of acquisitions last year compared to 2022. This surge reflects the efforts of established firms to add to their in-house capabilities and cement their market positions. Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson expects M&A transactions to increase in 2024 due to the prospect of declining interest rates and improving leveraged buyout conditions. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Modern Treasury. |  | | Building payment systems that scale with your business is critical. Customers demand timely and consistent payment experiences, but without the right architecture, businesses can fall short. Learn how to set up your payment operations stack so that your technology and processes always keep up. Download the eBook to learn: - The key elements of scalable payment operations architecture
- The critical questions to ask when architecting your payment operations
- How to build a ledger database for payments.
Download Now | |
|
| 3 | | Cloud-based application security startup Snyk acquired observability software maker Helios. While the official price paid by Synk is unknown, sources estimate the deal to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Synk will be able to cement its market position in the AppSec service by integrating Helios' full-stack runtime data collection and insights platform with its Developer Security product suite. More: - Integrating Helios' platform will help Synk provide its customers comprehensive solutions covering the entire software development lifecycle.
- Helios last raised a $5M seed round in 2022, co-led by Entrée Capital and Amiti VC.
- Snyk will integrate Helios' end-to-end application discovery service and OpenTelemetry runtime data collection tools in its products.
Zoom out: - Snyk has raised $1.2B to date and was last valued at $7.4B when it raised a $196.5M investment in December 2022.
- Synk's valuation touched a peak of $8.5B in 2021.
- This is Synk's second acquisition after it acquired Enso Security in June 2023 for $32.7M.
| | | |
| 4 | | Serial entrepreneur Fritz Brumder has launched a new AI assistant startup called WiseOx. The startup is leveraging OpenAI's technology to help customers create their own AI assistants trained on their specific data. More: - About 60 customers are already using WiseOx's platform in an early access trial.
- One senior living organization is using WiseOx's platform to build a sales mascot into their customer relationship management.
- Until November, Brumder funded the new startup with the returns he received after selling his previous video chat startup, Zipcan.
- The company later received $500,000 in funding from the Cascade Seed Fund.
- Other co-founders of WiseOx include Andy Brown and Spenser Lea, both of whom were working in Brumder's previous startup, Brandlive.
- Lea also co-founded Zipcan along with Brumder.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Brilliant. |  | | Know more to do more. Learn cutting-edge skills in minutes a day with Brilliant. Thousands of bite-size, interactive lessons in programming, data science, technology, and more make it easy to build advanced knowledge you can put to work. Why do over 10 million daily learners love Brilliant? - They help you skill up fast on everything from AI and neural networks to data science.
- They break down complex concepts into digestible building blocks that stick.
- Their interactive style keeps you engaged, so building a daily habit is easy.
Start leveling your understanding of core AI concepts in as little as 15 minutes daily. Try Brilliant free for a full 30 days. Then, get a special 20% off an annual premium subscription for Inside readers when ready to take the next step. Unlock a special offer | |
|
| 5 | | VC firm Flat6Labs has witnessed a surge of 284% in international startup applications from beyond the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that were looking to participate in its Ignite seed funding and incubator program. The firm received over 4,000 applications across the five cohorts launched between June 2021 and October 2023. More: - Flat6Labs' general manager, Ryaan Sharif, said, "The nation's highly active VC and investor community, favorable legislation, rich talent pool, high standards of living, and coveted position as the gateway to the thriving MEA region, and indeed the world, make it ideal for disruptive businesses to establish their global headquarters."
- About 32% of applications to the Ignite program were from female-founded startups.
- Applications from female-founded startups grew 244% in the last two and a half years.
| | | |
| 6 | | German banking startup N26 is adding stock and ETF trading features to its platform, which will complement its banking services. The firm will initially launch the feature in the Austrian market before rolling it out to other countries, starting with Germany. N26 rolled out the new features to increase its average revenue per user. More: - N26 started as an online accounts, money transfer, and card management platform.
- The firm expanded into the U.S. and Brazil, later backing out of these markets to focus exclusively on European markets, specifically Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.
- The new platform supports fractional ownership of shares and was developed in partnership with Upvest.
- N26 has over 4.2 million customers and about €8B ($8.7B) worth of assets under management.
- It processes about €110M ($119.5M) worth of transactions annually.
- The company reported a €100M ($108.7M) loss in 2023 despite raking in €300M ($326M) in revenue from interchange fees, subscription revenue, credit products, and interest from customer deposits.
- Co-founder and CEO Valentin Stalf expects the company to be profitable on a monthly basis in the second half of this year.
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Are you creating the unique user journeys your customers demand? You can by Mastering Personalization with AI.*
- Uber is shutting down Drizzly, an alcohol-delivery service startup which it acquired for $1.1B in 2021.
- Single-cell sequencing biotech startup Parse Biosciences acquired single-cell RNA data analytics firm Biomage. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Parse Biosciences raised $50M last December.
- Real-time KYC solutions company Encompass acquired CoorpID and Blacksmith from ING for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Encompass build a complete KYC profile by combining public and private information.
- Brand automation and personalized engagement solutions startup Blueshift availed a $40M debt facility from Runway Growth Capital.
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAR
7 | | Alternative investment assets to know in 2024. | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
