Plus, drone startup Zipline completes 1M deliveries
| For April 23, 2024 |  |
| Here’s your daily Startups briefing: - Apple quietly acquired French AI startup Datakalab
- 🎮 Gaming sector experienced a resurgence in VC funding in Q1 2024
- 🕹️ Drone startup Zipline completed 1M deliveries across four continents
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Apple reportedly acquired Datakalab, a French AI startup specializing in data compression and computer vision technology, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition was finalized in December 2023 but has not been previously reported until today. More: - Earlier this year, Apple bought Canadian AI firm DarwinAI.
- Datakalab implemented social distancing monitoring systems on Paris's transportation systems along with the French government.
- The French startup also worked with entertainment companies to analyze the attention-span and emotional reaction of audience members watching movies in theaters.
- The acquisition aligns with Apple's anticipated rollout of advanced AI features in iOS 18 and presents promising synergies with Apple's Vision Pro initiatives.
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| 2 | | The gaming startup industry is experiencing a resurgence in early-stage dealmaking, ending Q1 with $265M, per Crunchbase. 
What happened: Funding for the sector increased 65% from Q4 2023 and roughly fourfold from Q3. This uptick can be attributed to the rise in global video game industry revenue and the growing worldwide population of mobile gamers, currently estimated to be about 2B. Revenue for the industry reached a new record high of $400B last year per Statistica and is on track to cross the $450B mark this year. Prominent VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Bitkraft Ventures are raising dedicated funds for gaming-focused investments, with the former raising a $600M fund last week while Bitkraft secured $275M in capital commitments towards its third fund this month. Relevance: Notable fundraisings for the sector include immersive gaming platform developer Build A Rocket Boy's $110M Series D round and game development studio Second Dinner Studios' $100M Series B round. There is a modest amount of optimism regarding exits, with companies like Epic Games and Valve considered as potential IPO candidates. Additionally, there is scope for massive acquisition transactions, as evidenced by Microsoft's $69B purchase offer for Activision Blizzard. | | | |
| 3 | | TabaPay is acquiring the assets of a16z-backed Synapse, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a challenging year. The SoftBank-backed money transfer platform aims to leverage Synapse's assets to accelerate its growth. The acquisition has yet to receive approval from the bankruptcy court. More: - Synapse, founded in 2014, operated a platform for banks and fintech companies to develop financial services.
- Synapse had two large-scale layoffs in the past year due to slowing growth and faced difficulties working as an intermediary banking partner to Evolve Bank & Trust and Mercury.
- The startup last raised a $33M Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2019.
- The banking-as-a-service industry has experienced several challenges in recent times, with several players announcing layoffs and facing regulatory crackdowns.
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| 4 | | Autonomous delivery drone company Zipline celebrated a significant milestone of completing 1M deliveries across four continents. The San Francisco-based startup's autonomous drones have logged over 70M miles and delivered more than 10M products. Zipline is now expanding its partnerships with leading brands in healthcare, quick commerce, and food sectors to unlock its next phase of growth. More: - It currently works with about 4,700 hospital clients, including the Cleveland Clinic.
- Notable clients across other industries include Walmart and GNC.
- Zipline, which has raised about $500M in total VC funding to date, expects to scale operations to make about 1M daily deliveries.
- The company's drones are projected to deliver items 10 times faster, at a lower cost, and with a threefold increase in service radius compared to traditional delivery methods.
- The startup counts Sequoia Capital, a16z, and Google Ventures as its most prominent backers.
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| 5 | | General Galactic has emerged from stealth mode with a mission to revolutionize e-fuel production. The company is producing methane from carbon dioxide by using renewable energy and reusing emissions. More: - General Galactic's strategy is to design and develop the entire system in-house, which includes capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, generating hydrogen from water, and combining the two to form methane.
- This approach contrasts with competitors who focus on individual aspects like direct air capture, electrolysis, or e-fuel production.
- General Galactic is currently producing about 2,000 liters of methane per day.
- Former SpaceX executive Halen Mattison and Luke Neise co-founded General Galactic, with the former leading it as its CEO.
- The startup raised a $1.9M pre-seed funding round in July 2023 from VC firms, including Box Group and Refractor.
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| 6 | | African startup The Peer is reportedly planning to return $350,000 to investors, sources informed TechCabal. The Nigeria-based API startup shut down last month after failing to achieve product-market fit. The company opted to shut down despite having about twenty months of runway. More: - The startup's APIs allowed customers to move money between wallets, offering a more convenient and transparent environment than traditional payment companies.
- The Peer had raised about $2.3M in funding from investors and had a monthly burn rate of less than $20,000.
- The firm touched a peak valuation of $5M when it raised a $2.1M seed round in June 2022.
- Notable investors who have backed the startup include Chipper Cash, Flutterwave, Sunu Ventures, Byld Ventures, Timon Capital, Musha Ventures, Uncovered Fund, and RaliCap.
- The startup experimented with other products and business lines, including fraud prevention, before deciding not to pivot with investor money.
- While The Peer's product showed promise, it failed to catch traction and generate meaningful revenue.
- After processing orders worth $500,000 in the first three quarters of 2023, the startup only generated less than $1,000 in revenue.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Exowatt, a startup that stores solar energy as heat and produces electricity for AI data centers, bagged $20M in fresh funding from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.
- International money transfer fintech startup Pomelo raised a Series A round of $35M. Dubai-based VC firm Vy Capital led the round with additional support from Founders Fund and A* Capital.
- Unmanned aerial vehicle maker Nominal emerged from stealth mode with $27M in funding from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund.
- A U.S. District Court judge sentenced banking-as-a-service startup HeadSpin's founder and CEO Manish Lachwani to one and a half years in federal prison for duping investors. Lachwani pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud in April 2023.
- Social platform Post News is shutting down within the next few weeks, founder Noam Bardin announced in a social media post. Bardin was the former CEO of Waze and held the VP role at Google.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Karan Chafekar | |
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