Plus, Amadeus acquires Vision-Box to add biometric solutions
| For February 01, 2024 |  |
| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 👥 Investors call for an EGM to change Byju's leadership amidst governance concerns.
- 💰 Kriya raised £50M in debt funding to double down on embedded credit and payment offerings.
- ⛔ The Messenger is shutting down within a year of launch.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | A consortium of investors issued a notice to Think & Learn Private Limited's shareholders requesting an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to change subsidiary Byju's leadership. The request for the EGM comes just days after the firm launched a $200M rights issue with a valuation drop of 99%. More: - Investors are looking to resolve the governance, financial mismanagement, and compliance issues at Byju's.
- Last year, representatives of Prosus, Peak XV, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative stepped down from Byju's board of directors due to governance issues.
- The three investors requested the EGM along with other investors, including General Atlantic, Owl Ventures, and Sofina.
- The investors are also looking to reconstitute the board of directors "so that it is no longer controlled by the founders of T&L," according to the letter addressed to shareholders.
- The investors "are deeply concerned about the future stability of the company under its current leadership and with the current constitution of the Board."
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| 2 | | British B2B payments fintech Kriya secured a new £50M ($63.2M) debt facility from Israeli tech investment firm Viola Group. What the numbers say: Viola provided Kriya with a £30M ($37.9M) credit facility last year. The firm will use the proceeds to double down on its PayNow and PayLater embedded credit and payments offering for B2B retailers and marketplaces. The firm aims to process over £1B ($1.26B) in B2B payments over the next 24 months. 
Relevance: Viola's latest debt funding comes as VC funding for fintech startups slumped in 2022 and 2023. While funding continues to drop, the number of fintech startups continues to grow. The Americas still account for the largest number of fintechs globally. The number of fintechs in the Americas grew by 1,500 to 13,100 in 2024. EMEA region had the second largest number of fintechs, followed by the Asia Pacific region. | | | |
| 3 | | Digital news startup The Messenger is shutting down, founder and CEO Jimmy Finkelstein informed the employees through a memo. The startup is shutting down within a year after launch. More: - The Messenger launched in May 2023 with $50M in funding and had an ambitious target of making $100M in revenue after its first year.
- Notable backers of the firm include International Media Investments, Apollo Global Management's co-founder Josh Harris, and Loews' CEO James Tisch.
- The startup could only generate about $3M in revenue by the end of last year.
- The Messenger lost about $38M of its startup capital, per the New York Times.
- The firm initially had 175 reporters at launch and planned to grow that figure to 500 by the end of 2024.
- Finkelstein couldn't raise funding or reach profitability, forcing it to shut down and lay off roughly 300 employees.
- As the firm exhausted its capital, it will not be able to offer severance packages to employees.
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| 4 | | Traveltech company Amadeus is acquiring airport and border control biometric solutions Vision-Box. Amadeus paid €320M ($345M) for Vision-Box. Vision-Box will leverage this acquisition to enhance its products with advanced biometric hardware and software capabilities to deliver end-to-end solutions for a seamless passenger experience. More: - Amadeus will absorb all of Vision-Box's 470 employees.
- The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024.
- Miguel Leitmann, the co-founder and CEO of Vision-Box, said, "Together we can deliver the next big step in the travel experience: to unite all separate players and systems in a single, digitally integrated and orchestrated ecosystem. This compelling value proposition will drive user experience, on-time performance, infrastructure usage, and other key indicators to new levels of efficiency."
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| 5 | | Swedish startup Heart Aerospace raised $107M in Series B funding to further develop its hybrid-electric airplane. The funds will be utilized to scale the business and progress the company's first hybrid-electric plane, ES-30, toward type certification. More: - The latest round brings the firm's total funding raised to date to $145M.
- Heart Aerospace's first fully-electric plane will have a range of 200 kilometers.
- The extended-range version of the plane will be capable of covering 400 kilometers and accommodate 30 passengers.
- The ES-30 has filed for an active-type certification with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
- Heart will focus on the development of its hybrid-electric powertrain this year.
- The startup has orders for 250 planes, with an option to purchase another 120.
- Sagitta Ventures, Air Canada, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the European Innovation Council Fund, EQT Ventures, Lower Carbon Capital, Norrsken VC, United Airlines, and Y Combinator provided the funding.
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| 6 | | Healthcare operations firm Fabric has completed an all-cash acquisition of AI-powered medical assistant firm Gyant. The exact financial details were kept confidential. Fabric hopes the acquisition will solidify its role in driving the digital transformation of healthcare. With the acquisition, Fabric will be able to increase clinical capacity, improve patient access, and enhance the patient experience. More: - All of Gyant's employees will be joining Fabric, expanding its team size to 130.
- Gyant's CEO Stefan Behrens is poised to become Fabric's chief strategy officer.
- Patients can use Gyant's symptom checker chatbot to start a virtual care visit.
- This marks Fabric's second acquisition in the last 12 months after it acquired Zipnosis from Bright Health to expand its virtual care capabilities last May.
- Fabric, formerly known as Florence, raised $20M in seed funding led by Thrive Capital last March.
- Fabric's CEO, Aniq Rahman, expressed the firm's intent to pursue further acquisitions to expand into new verticals.
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- Software usage-based billing platform Metronome raised $43M in Series B funding led by NEA. The round saw participation from Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.
- Location-based identity solutions startup Incognia raked in $31M in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. New investor FJ Labs participated in the round along with existing backers Point72, Prosus, and Valor Capital.
- Cybersecurity startup Protect AI acquired Layier AI, a startup providing security for large language models. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
- Global transit-tech startup Zeelo acquired British school transportation and safeguarding software firm Kura for an undisclosed sum.
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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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