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| Here's a look at today's Startups briefing. - 🆕 AI startup Anthropic launched three new AI models as part of the Claude 3 product family
- 🏛️ GovTech sector is poised for growth as Statista expects global spending to touch $17.5B this year
- ⛔ Larry Ellison's healthcare startup Project Ronin is shutting down after running out of cash
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | AI startup Anthropic released three new AI models for its Claude 3 product family: Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus. Opus is the most powerful model in the lineup, with Anthropic claiming that it beats OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT-4 and Google's Gemini 1.0 Ultra in benchmarking tests. Claude 3 is Anthropic's first multimodal generative AI product, which can analyze text and images. More: - While the new models are an improvement over their predecessor, the model still suffers from bias and hallucinations, as acknowledged by Anthropic in its technical whitepaper.
- Claude 3 has a 200,000-token context window, equivalent to 150,000 words.
- Select customers will be able to use a 1-million-token context window or about 700,000 words.
Zoom out: - Anthropic received a $2B commitment from Google and a $4B capital infusion from Amazon last year.
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| 2 | | Global spending for govtech startups, developing software and applications for government customers, is expected to touch $17.5B this year, per a Statista report referenced by Crunchbase. 
What the numbers say: VC funding for the govtech sector remained strong amidst a global pullback trend. VC-backed startups in the sector are modernizing government services, such as parking payments and permit applications. Notable rounds closed this year in the sector include construction permit application and management firm PermitFlow's $31M Series A, government SaaS solutions startup Second Front System's $40M Series B, and water system management solutions firm 120Water's $43M funding rounds. Relevance: Last week, government budgeting and procurement software maker OpenGov generated one of the biggest exits in the govtech sector when existing investor Cox Enterprises agreed to acquire a majority stake at a $1.8B valuation. In Q4 2023, OpenGov reported a 76% YoY growth in gross new sales. The startup had raised $178M from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Emerson Collective, and Cox. | | | |
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| 3 | | Battery startup Our Next Energy (ONE) laid off 40 employees or 13% of its workforce. In addition to the layoffs, the Michigan-based startup is looking for new leadership to streamline operations and bring in fresh capital. More: - The job cuts primarily impacted the general and administrative positions.
- Last December, board member Paul Humphries replaced founder Mujeeb Ijaz as the CEO after the firm failed to secure funding.
- Ijaz pivoted into the CTO role.
- The firm also shut down offices in Boston and California to bring all the engineering under one roof in Michigan.
- Humphries secured two funding rounds in January and February this year.
- He expects to close additional funding from new investors in April.
- ONE seeks near-term funding through sales of its lithium-ion phosphate-based battery pack called Aries.
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| 4 | | Project Ronin, a cancer-focused healthcare startup co-founded by Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison, is shutting down. About 150 employees are set to lose their jobs due to the shutdown, which the firm blamed on difficulty in attracting paying customers and running out of funds. More: - Project Ronin was established in 2018 to develop an intelligence system that helped oncologists identify the best treatment plans for patients.
- Ellison provided seed funding to the firm.
- In addition to Ellison, the firm was co-founded by Dave Hodgson, David Agus, and Rowan Chapman.
- In an earnings call in March 2023, Ellison touted the startup's ability to "reduce hospital admissions and readmissions by 30%" during its partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Zoom out: - Ellison is a prominent backer of healthcare research and medical technology.
- He donated $33.83M to the Tony Blair Institute, a leading policy institute founded by former U.K. prime minister.
- In 2022, Oracle acquired health records software company Cerner for $28.3B.
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| 5 | | Seattle-based peer-to-peer laundry service Loopie acquired gig economy platform Bidbud. With the strategic move, Loopie will be able to bolster its mobile app marketplace and streamline service requests and fulfillment by incorporating members from the gig economy marketplace. More: - Loopie's platform connects users needing laundry services with individuals who can wash and dry their clothes while earning money.
- The acquisition is expected to solidify Loopie's growth in the Pacific Northwest.
- Loopie has raised about $4M to date since its launch in 2018.
- About $1M in capital came from Jason Calacanis and the Launch Syndicate.
- Other notable investors of the firm include Hyphen Capital, 37 Angels, Elevate Capital, and the TiE Angels.
- Additionally, Loopie raised $388,710 through a crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder last November.
*Note: Inside.com founder and CEO Jason Calacanis is an investor in Loopie. | | | |
| 6 | | Hospitality management solutions startup Mews cemented its unicorn status with a $1.2B valuation at its $110M funding round. Mews will use the proceeds to fuel its global expansion, accelerate product growth, and back strategic acquisitions. More: - Mews witnessed a 60% surge in revenues last year and crossed the $100M mark in annualized net revenue.
- Existing investor Kinnevik led the current round, with additional support from Revaia, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Notion Capital, and LGVP.
- Including the new round, Mews has raised $335M in total funding to date.
- The Dutch startup was last valued at $865M when it raised a $185M round at the end of 2022.
- Mews has acquired eight startups to date, including Frontdesk Anywhere in January.
- It acquired Hotello and Nomi in 2023.
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- Chinese AI startup MiniMax is in advanced talks with investors to raise a $600M funding round at a $2.5B valuation. Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. is reportedly leading the round. HongShan, formerly Sequoia China, has also committed capital for the current round.
- Hotel startup Life House founder Rami Zeidan has stepped down from the CEO role after growing dissatisfaction among customers. Per an earlier report by The Information, about a third of its 50 hotel customers were planning to terminate their contracts with the startup. FlightHub's former CEO, Christopher Cave, has been roped in as the interim CEO.
- AI-powered digital health platform Healthee closed its Series A funding round at $32M. Fin Capital, Glilot Capital Partners, and Group11 co-led the funding round, with additional support from TriNet.
- Saudi Arabian software startup Salla secured $130M from sovereign wealth fund Sanabil and VC firm STV ahead of its planned IPO listing.
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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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