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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 🤝 Microsoft inked a partnership with Semafor to deliver AI-powered news content.
- 🔻 Nearly 20% of funding rounds were down rounds in 2023, per Carta.
- 🎣 xAI is luring investors with access to Elon Musk's other companies.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Microsoft has inked a partnership with news and media startup Semafor. The duo will collaborate on a new project to develop generative AI tools that other news organizations can use in their content production pipeline. Financial details of the agreement were kept confidential. However, sources informed Engadget the sum is "substantial." More: - Semafor will curate a Microsoft-sponsored news feed called Signals, highlighting daily breaking news and analysis through a dozen or so posts every day.
- Journalists will write the stories using AI tools from Microsoft and OpenAI for research purposes.
- In addition to Semafor, Microsoft also announced partnerships with the Craig Newmark School of Journalism, the GroundTruth Project, the Online News Association, and other journalism organizations.
Zoom out: - Leading news outlets have opposing views about using AI in newsrooms.
- While sites like CNET have embraced them wholeheartedly, recently using AI tools to generate feature-length articles, others despise them for falsifying data and showing bizarre behavior.
- The New York Times was suing OpenAI and Microsoft at the end of last year for using its articles to train chatbots without authorization or providing compensation.
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| 2 | | Carta data shows that more than 19% of the funding rounds that closed on its platform in 2023 were down rounds. 
What the numbers say: The number of down rounds has increased to the highest level since 2018. The uptick in down rounds is due to the persisting VC funding slump. Startup founders have had to settle for lower valuations as investors exercised caution with their capital deployment. Relevance: VC deal-making slowed to the lowest quarterly levels since Q1 2019. 1,209 funding rounds worth $12.8B closed in Q4. While funding has dipped, the deal count was in line with 2018's and 2019's levels. 2023 closed out with 5,409 deals, slightly lower than 2019's tally of 5,799. | | | |
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| 3 | | AI startup xAI is enticing potential investors with access to founder Elon Musk's other companies, per the pitch deck seen by Bloomberg. The pitch deck listed Musk's other companies, X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla, as its strategic partners. xAI will likely use data from X and Tesla to develop its technology. More: - The pitch deck emphasizes Musk's track record of growing several companies, referred to as the "Muskonomy" in the pitch deck, as a key draw for investors.
- xAI also drew parallels with OpenAI, noting that critical attributes, including strategic partnerships and access to capital, remain similar in both companies.
- A slide in the pitch deck showed OpenAI's user growth and projected revenue trend and hinted at a similar trajectory for xAI.
- The AI startup was planning to raise about $1B in funding and had already raised $135M by last December, per a filing document seen by WSJ.
- Towards the end of January, the firm had reportedly secured $500M in commitments with a valuation ranging between $15B and $20B.
- Musk dismissed the report, calling it "fake news."
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| 4 | | Kleiner Perkins and OpenAI's Startup Fund are co-leading a $70M Series B funding round into healthcare startup Ambience Healthcare. The startup is developing an AI-powered healthcare operating system to help clinicians with administrative tasks. More: - The startup's notable customers include UCSF, Memorial Hermann Health System, John Muir Health, The Oncology Institute, GI Alliance, Midi Health, and Eventus WholeHealth.
- Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Optum Ventures participated in the Series B round, which brings its total funds raised to date to $100M.
- CEO Michael Ng and chief scientist Nikhil Buduma founded the startup.
- Ambience Healthcare did not disclose the valuation at the current round.
- Per Pitchbook's estimates, the firm was valued at $126M post-money when it raised its Series A round in 2022.
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| 5 | | CRED, an Indian fintech startup last valued at $6.4B, is set to acquire mutual fund and stock investment platform Kuvera for an undisclosed sum. The move will help CRED expand into the wealth management space. CRED will look into integrating Kuvera's solutions with its platform later. For now, Kuvera will continue to run as a standalone platform. More: - Kuvera has over $1.4B worth of assets under management, which it manages on behalf of its 300,000 customers.
- After the acquisition, Kuvera's shareholder, Fidelity, will become a shareholder of CRED.
- Kuvera has raised $10M in total funding since its founding.
Zoom out: - CRED has been looking to expand into wealth management services for a few years.
- It initially sought to acquire Smallcase in 2022, but the deal did not materialize.
- Since then, CRED has gradually built up its stakes in LiquiLoans, CredAvenue, and HapPay.
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| 6 | | Cybersecurity startup IONIX Inc. extended its Series A round by $15M. The Israeli startup will use the proceeds to bolster go-to-market operations, accelerate product development, and expand its threat exposure management capabilities. More: - IONIX provides attack surface management, risk assessment, risk prioritization, and remediation solutions, which help organizations access their overall security posture and protect the software supply chain.
- Along with the initial $27M, the new funding brings the total raised under the Series A round to $42M.
- Maor Investments led the Series A extension round, with additional support from Hyperwise Ventures, Team8, and U.S. Venture Partners.
- The news comes just months after it launched its Threat Exposure Radar, which unified threat management capability with its attack surface management solution.
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- Autonomous EV, specialized infrastructure, and mobility service startup Project 3 Mobility closed its Series A round at €100M ($107.5M). Public Investment Fund's subsidiary, TASARU Mobility Investments, participated in the funding round.
- Synthetaic, a space tech startup that leverages AI to analyze data from space and air sensors, bagged $15M in Series B funding led by Lupa Systems and TitletownTech. IBM Ventures and Booz Allen Hamilton participated in the funding round.
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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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