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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 📢 Ex-Salesforce Co-CEO and veteran Google executive to launch new AI startup, armed with $110M funding.
- 🌍 Finom secured €50M Series B funding to expand across Europe.
- 🤝 CDL 1000 acquired rival NEXT Trucking to gain a foothold in L.A.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Cloud software giant Salesforce's former co-CEO Bret Taylor and veteran Google executive Clay Bavor are launching a new AI startup called Sierra. The startup, which aims to develop a conversational AI chatbot for businesses, has already bagged $110M in funding ahead of its official launch. Sequoia Capital and Benchmark provided the funding. More: - The San Francisco, Calif.-based startup has already established a team of 30 employees.
- Sierra is developing the AI chatbot to handle simple tasks such as providing customer support service to clients, account management, and other issues.
- Its AI agents are already being used by a select group of clients, including Weight Watchers, SiriusXM, Sonos, and OluKai.
- The startup's product is going up against similar projects launched by competitors, such as Twilio's Customer AI, Zendesk's Answer Bot, and Salesforce's Einstein.
- Taylor leads Sierra as its CEO.
- While the official valuation of the startup is unknown, an earlier report from Bloomberg suggested that Sierra was raising capital at a $1B valuation.
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| 2 | | Challenger bank Finom secured €50M ($54M) in Series B funding to fuel its expansion across Europe. Relevance: The Dutch fintech startup helps SME businesses conduct cross-border transactions by providing fully integrated banking solutions. Customers can also request physical bank cards, expense management tools, and integrate the platform with their accounting software. The firm's USP is providing fully integrated solutions that include business registration, banking, payments, invoicing, expense management, and accounting services. Northzone and General Catalyst co-led the round, with additional support from Target Global, Cogito Capital, Entrée Capital, FJLabs, and S16vc. 
What the numbers say: Finom is one of the few startups that has been able to raise a subsequent Series B round in the current tough fundraising environment. FintechNexus refers to an F-Prime Capital report, which showed that out of the 819 fintech startups that raised Series A rounds in 2021, about 357 are yet to announce a Series B round. Considering the typical runways of startups, these startups might be running low on cash reserves. While few in the group might be able to close a Series B round, others might have to look at M&A options or, worse, consider shutting down the business altogether. | | | |
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| 3 | | Digital freight broker CDL 1000 acquired Long Beach, Calif.-based rival NEXT Trucking for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Chicago, Ill.-based CDL 1000 expand its services and boost its reach by entering the L.A. market. More: - The acquisition straightaway makes CDL 1000 "one of the top three trucking players in L.A. and Long Beach," per founder and CEO Andrew Sobko.
- CDL 1000 financed the acquisition with backing from Brookfield Growth, Mucker Capital, and SVB Capital.
- Since its founding in 2015, NEXT Trucking has raised $273M from investors.
- It was last valued at $196M when it raised a funding round in July 2023.
Zoom out: - CDL 1000 acquired Jacksonville, Florida-based freight broker Hickory Transportation Services last November.
- The firm plans to scoop up more companies in the near future, taking advantage of the low valuations of digital freight startups and the lack of exit options available.
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| 4 | | Wisense, an autotech startup developing radar guidance technology for autonomous vehicles, is on the verge of shutting down. The Israeli startup laid off about 90% of its employees last November and informed them about its impending closure. More: - The remaining employees were helping Wisense sell off its assets to potential buyers.
- Wisense, which had about 70 employees, informed remaining employees in mid-January that it would be shutting down within a month.
- The firm had raised about $37M in total funding, the last of which came in May last year.
- Notable investors in the firm include autotech investor Shmuel Harlap, Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman, and Bank Leumi.
- The company largely operated in stealth mode. However, according to sources, it was in the advanced stages of developing a chip for autonomous vehicles and had about a dozen customers, including some large autonomous vehicle companies.
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| 5 | | Premium short-term apartment rental marketplace platform Bob W raised €40M ($43M) in fresh funding to expand across Europe. The Finnish startup currently has about 3,000 apartments listed on its platform from 17 European cities, including Amsterdam, Athens, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Helsinki. More: - Bob W, derived from the term "best of both worlds," provides a hybrid solution that is a mix of services offered by Airbnb and Booking.com.
- The startup manages and operates the apartments and signs a leasing and management agreement with the property owner.
- Co-founder and CEO Niko Karstikko said, "Our technology enables us to scale like no other — we recently launched two properties in Amsterdam, totaling over 150 apartments in the city, with just four employees."
- Evli Growth led the current Series B round, with additional support from Flashpoint, Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, and Taavet+Sten.
- Bob W is already profitable and tripled its revenues in 2023.
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| 6 | | British family investment app Nosso is closing down by the end of this month. The London-based startup had 10 employees. The firm did not disclose the exact reason behind the decision. More: - Nosso, founded by former Tide employee Youssef Darwich and ex-Eigen Technologies executive Sigurjon Isaksson in 2020, had last raised a seed round of €2.8M ($3M).
- Fintech-focused VC firm Anthemis and European early-stage investment firm Octopus Ventures had backed the firm.
- Nosso provides parents with Junior stocks & shares, ISAs, and general investment accounts to invest on behalf of their children.
- The firm informed all customers about the decision earlier this year.
- In the email sent to customers, the firm assured them their capital "is still safely invested with BlackRock or Vanguard, who are not affected by our decision to wind down."
- It had £346,000 ($436,648) worth of net assets at the year ending June 2023, about third compared to the £1.1M ($1.4M) assets from the previous year.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Visa and Mastercard have come to a historic $5 billion settlement, marking a pivotal moment for small business owners.*
- Spacetech startup K2 Space secured $50M in fresh funding led by Altimeter Capital. Alpine Space Ventures participated in the round.
- Cybersecurity startup Deepwatch hired Shane McGee as its general counsel and chief privacy officer. He is tasked with developing and maintaining Deepwatch's legal team and privacy program. McGee was previously the chief privacy officer at FireEye and Cofense.
- Former Amazon executives Jesse Clark and Tom Hamer's new AI startup Marqo bagged $12.5M in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The firm will use the proceeds to commercialize its search platform.
- Dive into advanced tips and tricks with the Kubernetes Cookbook. Get your copy, compliments of the cloud experts at DoiT.*
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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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