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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 💰 A judge allowed FTX to liquidate its 7.84% stake in AI startup Anthropic
- 🤝 Jasper acquired Stability AI's image creation platform, Clipdrop
- 📝 OV Loop sued Mastercard for denying access to digital payment technology
We have also rounded up the top early-stage funding rounds of this week. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | A U.S. bankruptcy judge allowed bankrupt crypto exchange FTX to liquidate its stake in AI startup Anthropic. FTX holds a 7.84% stake in Anthropic, expected to be worth about $1.4B considering the AI startup's current valuation of $18B. FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said the proceeds from the sale will be used to repay customers. More: - Dietderich said FTX currently has about $6.4B in cash and expects to pay all customers and creditors in full, albeit at cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, when FTX declared bankruptcy.
- FTX and its affiliated company, Alameda, invested $500M in Anthropic in 2021, initially getting a 13.56% stake in the firm.
- FTX's holdings have since been diluted after Anthropic raised subsequent funding rounds from other investors.
- Customers had initially opposed the share sale over concerns about their rights.
- The issue was later resolved after the order was tweaked to reflect that FTX customers would own any money generated from future sales.
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| 2 | | VCs deployed $823.7M in early-stage North American startups this week between Feb. 17 and Feb. 23, per Crunchbase data. Healthcare startups raked in 29% of the funding this week. Energy, blockchain, and electronics startups nabbed 18%, 13%, and 4.4% of the financing, respectively. 
Here are the top five largest rounds announced this week: - Thermal battery startup Antora Energy raised a $150M Series B funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, a joint venture between BlackRock and Temasek. Emerson Collective, GS Futures, The Nature Conservancy, Lowercarbon Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures participated in the round.
- Andreessen Horowitz invested $100M into blockchain infrastructure startup EigenLayer through a Series B funding round.
- Health technology startup Fabric Labs Inc. bagged $60M in Series A funding led by General Catalyst. Fabric's existing investors, Thrive Capital, GV, and Salesforce Ventures, participated in the round.
- Reprieve Cardiovascular, a biotech startup developing intelligent fluid management solutions for heart failure patients, emerged from stealth with a $42M Series A round co-led by Lightstone Ventures and Sante Ventures. Deerfield Management, Genesis Capital, and Arboretum Ventures joined the funding round.
- Construction permitting process simplification platform PermitFlow bagged $31M in Series A funding led by Kleiner Perkins. Other participants in the round include Felicis, Altos Ventures, Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, and ConTech.
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| 3 | | Generative AI-powered marketing content writing platform Jasper acquired the image creation and editing tool Clipdrop from Stability AI for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will strengthen the capabilities of Jasper's creative companion product suite and help customers accelerate their content creation process. More: - Jasper's CEO Timothy Young said, "This is a great way for us to not only expand the product capabilities, expand our AI talent, but also expand our footprint into Europe."
- Jasper will eventually integrate Clipdrop into its copilot platform.
- For now, Clipdrop will remain a standalone product but will be connected to Jasper via an API.
- The acquisition comes as Jasper pivots from catering to individual customers to enterprises.
- Both Jasper and Stability AI are billion-dollar companies that have raised more than $100M each from VC firms.
Zoom out: - Stability AI, which acquired Clipdrop in March 2023, said the sale will allow it to focus on developing "cutting-edge open models."
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| 4 | | OV Loop filed a lawsuit against Mastercard in Boston federal court for allegedly denying it access to a critical digital payments technology and stifling its efforts to build a universal digital wallet application that can work across different mobile operating systems. The Massachusetts-based fintech startup is claiming about $75M in damages under U.S. antitrust law, blaming Mastercard for lost profits and business opportunities. More: - The lawsuit claims, "Mastercard has used its size, influence, power, and wealth to stifle emerging technology companies, such as OV Loop, that threaten its grip over payment processing networks."
- OV Loop has been backed by prominent VC firms such as Verizon Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures.
- Founder and chairman Will Graylin has personally invested $36M into the startup since its inception in 2018.
Zoom out: - This is the second time OV Loop has sued Mastercard.
- Last year, OV Loop alleged Mastercard infringed its patent rights in cloud-based card transaction technology.
- A judge paused the case in November amidst related proceedings before a U.S. patent tribunal.
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| 5 | | Menswear brand Percival launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube on Thursday. Despite raising $4M in VC funding through two previous rounds, the firm wanted to avoid a VC funding round, citing some bad experiences with a few investors. More: - The company is raising fresh funds to scale globally and expand its reach in the U.S.
- In addition, funds will be diverted to marketing and customer acquisition efforts.
- Individuals can invest as little as £10 ($12.6), after which they will get personal updates from founder and CEO Chris Gove.
- A £1,000 ($1,266) investment can get individuals an unlimited 20% discount on products for a period ranging from six months to a lifetime.
- Individuals investing more than £20,000 ($25,300) can join a special advisory board, receive free and custom-made products, meet executives at a quarterly dinner, and gain exclusive access to the company's executive team.
- Percival is profitable and grew its revenue from $11M in 2022 to $15M in 2023.
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| 6 | | Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart is in preliminary talks to acquire hyperlocal instant delivery startup Dunzo, sources informed TechCrunch. The companies are facing difficulties closing an acquisition deal due to Dunzo's ownership structure. More: - The acquisition news comes after a turbulent period for Dunzo, which has struggled to raise fresh funding, had to defer staff salaries, and lost market share to newer startups, including Zepto, Swiggy, and BlinkIt.
- There are complications in the deal, including Dunzo's IP relationship with Reliance Retail.
- Additionally, Reliance Retail — the largest investor in Dunzo — has not approved the deal.
- Dunzo has denied the rumors about the potential acquisition by Walmart-backed Flipkart.
- A company spokesperson said, "We are on a path to free cash flow break even in the month of March '24, and we have not had any conversation with any player for an acquisition of the business."
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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