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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 🪪 Entrust acquired identity verification and authentication startup Onfido for $650M.
- 🤝 Bollegraaf Group made a strategic investment in Greyparrot.
- 🌎 Money transfer fintech Atlantic Money to expand into North America and Australia.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Payments company Entrust is acquiring identity verification and authentication startup Onfido. While the firm has not officially revealed the acquisition price, TechCrunch placed the transaction well above the $400M mark. However, Reuters claims the price to be as high as $650M. More: - Onfido offers automated digital identity verification technology to over 1,200 businesses globally.
- Notable customers include Luno Technologies, DocuSign, Millennium Bank, Union Bank, Orange, and Bunq.
- Entrust will add Onfido's AI and machine learning-based biometric and document identity verification technology to its product portfolio.
- Onfido had raised $242M in total VC funding to date, including a $100M round in April 2021, per Tracxn.
- The startup counts TPG Growth, Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Crane Venture Partners as notable backers.
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| 2 | | Dutch recycling giant Bollegraaf Group made a $12.8M strategic investment into AI startup Greyparrot. What happened: Besides the funding, Bollegraaf will become a distributor and strategic partner of Greyparrot's AI technology. Greyparrot will get Bollegraaf's AI intellectual property and team as a part of the deal. Bollegraaf aims to double the residential recycling rate using Greyparrot's AI technology. 
What the numbers say: AI is the only sector to defy the global VC funding dip. Although funding dipped by 10% YoY in 2023, the slump was much better than the 42% plunge across the broader VC funding landscape. AI startups raised $42.5B in VC funding in 2023 from about 2,500 equity rounds. The funding dip was gentle for the AI sector thanks to generative AI startups, which dominated the AI funding landscape, raking in 48% of the total funding. 2023's surge was driven by large funding rounds raised by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection. 317 M&A transactions were completed in 2023, setting a new record. | | | |
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| 3 | | European money transfer fintech startup Atlantic Money is bringing its solutions to the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The fintech startup has partnered with an undisclosed regulated bank to offer its services in the U.S. In Canada and Australia, Atlantic will offer services under its brand name. More: - Former Robinhood employees Neeraj Baid and Patrick Kavanagh established Atlantic Money in 2020.
- The startup charges a fixed fee of £3 ($3.8) for money transfers up to £1M ($1.26M).
- It currently has about 10,000 users in Europe, transferring about £3,000 ($3,786) on average.
- The startup wants to eventually get its own U.S. money transmission license, which Baid claims is harder than in Europe.
- Atlantic has a payment institution license in the U.K. and a National Bank of Belgium payment license.
- The fintech was initially focused on individual customers but started focusing on business clients less than six months ago.
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| 4 | | Seattle-based 3D laser engravers maker Glowforge laid off an undisclosed number of employees recently after its funding round fell through. Co-founder and CEO Dan Shapiro defended the layoffs as necessary to help the company become cash-positive. This is the firm's second round of layoffs in just three months after it let go 30 employees last December. More: - The firm's funding round was delayed in December before being canceled a few weeks ago.
- Shapiro said, "As a part of our restructuring, we're moving from 5-day-a-week customer support to 7-day-a-week; we're doing that by moving to a hybrid of U.S.-based and international support team members."
- Last week, the firm expanded its product lineup with a lower-priced product called Aura engraver, which should help widen its reach.
- Glowforge is leveraging AI tools to offload non-critical work from employees so they can focus on high-impact work.
- The startup has raised $135M in funding to date, the last of which came in the form of a $20M Series E extension round in May 2023.
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| 5 | | British luxury ride-hailing startup Wheely is expanding to Dubai. The move is part of its broader international expansion ambitions, which it paused in 2020 due to Covid. In Dubai, the firm will offer airport pickup rides, business class, and Wheely XL services. The firm has been planning to enter Dubai since 2021, drawn by its sizable population of wealthy business people and growing community of young digital nomads. More: - For business rides, the company is offering a choice of BMW 5-series or Mercedes Benz S-Class vehicles.
- The firm's fares for a 30-minute ride in the City of London average £46 ($57.7).
- In addition to providing premium rides, the firm also accommodates special requests made by users and provides trained chauffeurs.
- Wheely discreetly raised $15M in funding from existing backers, bringing its total funds raised to date to $43M.
- Per filing documents seen by CNBC, the company reported £22.5M ($28.4M) in revenues in the 2021 financial year.
Zoom out: - Wheely faces stiff competition from existing Dubai-based ride-hailing operators Careem and Blacklane.
- Careem has struggled under Uber's ownership, which acquired it for $3.1B a few years ago.
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| 6 | | Kelly Zhang is stepping down from the CEO role at Douyin Group, the Chinese version of TikTok. Zhang will remain with the parent group Bytedance and will be responsible for the video-editing product CapCut. More: - Zhang's departure comes a week after ByteDance's CEO Liang Rubo urged the company to make up lost ground in the AI race.
- In the memo announcing Zhang's departure, Rubo wrote, "AI technology will greatly disrupt content creation and even lead to new creative tools. We hope to actively explore, fully understand, and seize the opportunities."
- ByteDance is not looking to hire a successor to Zhang in the near future.
- Zhang joined ByteDance about 10 years ago when the company was still a startup.
- ByteDance's current status as a startup is debatable, as it warrants a valuation of about $220B, making it the most valuable private company in the world.
- The firm reported revenues of $110B last year.
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- Co-founder Adam Neumann has reportedly given a $200M financing package offer to revive the bankrupt company WeWork Inc., a move which could effectively put him back in control of the company. DGIM Law's founding partner, Daniel Gielchinsky, argues that putting ousted leader Neumann "back at the helm of this company would almost certainly spell its demise in the long-run."
- Enterprise edge computing solutions provider Zededa doubled its valuation from $193M in 2022 to about $400M while raising a $72M funding round. Smith Point Capital led the round, joined by existing investors Lux Capital, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Porsche Ventures.
- AI-powered cybersecurity firm SentinelOne completed the acquisition of cloud-native application protection platform PingSafe. The move will help SentinelOne strengthen its market position in the cloud security space.
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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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