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| Here’s your daily Startups briefing: - 🥫 Canned water brand Liquid Death entered the unicorn club by doubling its valuation to $1.4B
- 🌡️ Aira launched a proprietary heat pump just as European heat pump sales dipped
- 🤝 Uplift acquired TAO Connect to provide a comprehensive higher-ed mental healthcare solution
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Canned water brand Liquid Death doubled its valuation from $700M in 2022 to $1.4B while raising a $67M funding round from strategic investors and distributors. Liquid Death will use the fresh capital to accelerate product development and launch new product lines. More: - The Los Angeles-based company increased retail sales from $130M in 2022 to $263M in 2023.
- The company attributes its sales growth to its marketing, with the company boasting 7.9 million followers across TikTok and Instagram.
- The increased revenue resulted from expanding its retail presence across 113,000 outlets across the U.S. and U.K.
- CEO Mike Cessario highlights that the firm is witnessing strong growth in newer categories such as iced tea and flavored waters.
- SuRo Capital, Live Nation, Science Inc., and Creek Capital Partners provided the funding, along with actor Josh Brolin and NFL player DeAndre Hopkins.
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| 2 | | Aira debuted its proprietary heat pump in London last week in a bid to decarbonize home heating and reduce dependency on gas. 
What the numbers say: Aira's product launch coincided with the first drop in European heat pump sales in a decade. Per Bloomberg, the drop can be attributed to negative perceptions about the technology, delays in European green policies, and inflationary concerns. Additionally, the heat pump industry is grappling with the limited availability of skilled installers and the disparity between gas and electricity prices, with gas being cheaper by four times. Relevance: Aira is trying to address the challenges with its high-efficiency product, which can generate four units of heat for every unit of power. The firm claims its products can reduce the annual cost of heating by 40% and reduce CO2 emissions by 75%. To further bring down costs, the company has also introduced monthly payment options. Additionally, the firm is offering a 15-year "guarantee comfort" program, giving performance adjustments free of charge. Recognizing the need for skilled installers, Aira is investing in training programs for its workforce. What happened: The Swedish startup raised €145M ($158M) in funding from investors in January. It already offered installation services in Germany, Italy, and the U.K. and can now offer its own heat pump as well. Aira has an ambitious target to serve 5 million customers across Europe. | | | |
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| 3 | | Telemental health startup Uplift acquired higher education mental health provider TAO Connect for an undisclosed sum, per Axios. Uplift financed the deal through existing cash and equity. With the acquisition, Uplift will launch a new TAO by Uplift program, giving institutions access to a comprehensive higher-ed mental healthcare solution. More: - The deal was completed last November, at the same time as when it acquired an online psychiatry provider, Minded, in an all-stock deal.
- At the time of the acquisition, TAO generated about $2.2M in revenue.
- Two of TAO's investors, DeepWork Capital and New World Angels, received stock in Uplift.
- Uplift is simultaneously integrating both TAO and Minded into its company.
- The Tampa, Florida-based startup provides virtual-first psychotherapy and psychiatry services covered by insurance plans.
- It accepts insurance from 2,000 providers, including Aetna, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare.
- It last raised an $11M Series A round in July 2023.
Zoom out: - Uplift CEO Kyle Talcott is keen on acquiring more cash-strapped startups looking for "a place to basically call home."
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| 4 | | South African rent-to-buy startup Planet42 availed a $16M (300M rand) debt facility from Standard Bank, one of Africa's biggest lenders by assets. Planet42 will use the latest financing to cut down on some of its costly Euro-denominated loans. More: - The startup provides rent-to-buy financing for African residents looking to purchase cars.
- Planet42 assesses a customer's credit risk by analyzing data points.
- The algorithm can generate an offer to buy or rent a car within minutes.
- The firm saw a 26% growth in sales and a 37% surge in revenue last year.
- Per Crunchbase, Planet42 has raised $166.8M in total equity and debt funding to date from Naspers Foundry, Rivonia Road Capital, ARS Holdings, and others.
- It last secured $100M funding in 2023 to expand further in South Africa and Mexico.
- Rivonia provided a $75M credit facility, and Naspers and other investors provided $15M in equity and $10M in debt.
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| 5 | | Monad Labs is in talks with investors to raise a $200M funding round at a $3B valuation, sources informed Fortune. Crypto investor Paradigm has reportedly committed $150M to the round. More: - Talks about the new round come one year after it raised a $19M seed round, which Dragonfly Capital led with additional backing from Finality Capital, Placeholder Capital, Shima Capital, and Lemniscap.
- The startup is developing an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain that uses a proof-of-chain consensus mechanism and would be theoretically capable of processing 10,000 transactions per second.
- Monad Labs was believed to be working on its own native coin dubbed Mon.
Zoom out: - If successful in raising the desired sum, Monad Labs' funding round might be the largest in the crypto sector so far this year.
- Paradigm is one of the most prolific VC firms in the crypto space, having backed decentralized exchange dYdX, Ethereum startup Flashbots, and failed crypto exchange FTX.
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| 6 | | Pouched baby food brand Serenity Kids raised $52M in Series B funding led by Stride Consumer Partners. The firm will use the proceeds to double down on marketing, grow team size, and innovate new products as it looks to expand further into the baby and toddler food segment. More: - Serenity and Joe Carr co-founded the startup in 2018 after facing difficulty in finding baby food products with low sugar and balanced macronutrients.
- The startup offers nutrient-dense baby products in pouches, puffs, and toddler formula.
- Serenity Kids' products are currently available across 18,000 stores in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Publix, Amazon, and Thrive Market.
- The Austin, Texas-based company is profitable and witnessed a 71% YoY growth in retail revenue in 2023.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Attention busy professionals & feline owners: Meowtel has the largest elite network of insured cat sitters who tailor to your cat's every need.*
- Semiconductor giant AMD's former vice president, Rick Bergman, is set to take up the CEO role at mobile connectivity startup Kymeta at the start of next month. Co-CEOs Doug Hutcheson and Walter Berger will step down from the helm at the end of this month.
- European startup Lineup Publishing laid off the entire staff of Deadspin, a sports and news site company it just acquired from parent company G/O Media.
- AI-powered Web3 infrastructure firm ChainGPT launched a $1M grant initiative, through which it will provide selected startups access to its AI and blockchain tools. ChainGPT will award grants worth $50,000 to selected startups.
- HSBC is looking to boost startup lending in the U.S. by hiring 50 more employees for its commercial bank lending division. The division will finance startups, particularly in the technology and healthcare sectors.
- Everyone wants to move fast. But you need a strong DevOps foundation to accelerate your AWS workloads & release pipelines. Jump start DevOps with DoiT.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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