| Here’s your daily Startups briefing: - 🔌 EV charging startups have raised $4.9B through venture funding and grants since the start of 2023
- ⚡ Clean energy private investments set a new quarterly record in Q1 2024
- 🦄 Italian AI startup iGenius is eyeing a €1.7B valuation at an upcoming funding round
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | 65 private startups in the EV charging space have raised over $4.9B capital through venture funding and grants since the start of last year to date. As electric vehicle adoption accelerates, funding is pouring into startups building out EV charging infrastructure and related technologies. More: - Well-funded companies are spread globally, pursuing a variety of approaches - from installing public charging stations and operating charging networks to developing software that optimizes usage and integrates renewable power sources.
- Some of the most heavily funded startups include Electra, which raised a $330M Series B round this January; and Electrify America, which last raised $450M capital in 2022.
- New startups are tackling more specialized niches, such as curbside charging, apartment installations, and operating systems that optimize charging to reduce electricity costs.
- According to EV expert Loren McDonald, there are still plenty of untapped opportunities as EV charging requires unique solutions for different use cases.
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| 2 | | Private investment in clean energy startups in the U.S. hit a new quarterly record of $71B during Q1 2024, per a new report from the Clean Investment Monitor. 
What the numbers say: Funding for the sector has increased by 40% compared to Q1 2023. The retail sales segment within the clean energy sector took up the largest share of investment at $31B, driven by the increased sales of EVs, solar and storage, and heat pumps in the recent quarter. Private investment in clean energy projects soared to $24B, thanks to the growing solar and storage deployments. Decarbonization technologies, including green hydrogen, carbon capture, and sustainable aviation fuels, represented the fastest-growing segment, surging 37% QoQ to $6.3B. The manufacturing segment saw the steepest rise in investment, dominated by the EV supply chain, which raked in $11B alone, making up 85% of the total $17B invested in the segment. Where to see the impact: Overall, the clean energy sector now accounts for over 5% of total U.S. private investment in major capital expenditures, up from 3.7% a year ago. The report predicts that the U.S. needs to more than double its average annual capacity additions by 70 to 126 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030 to meet climate goals. | | | |
| 3 | | Israeli AI data acceleration startup Pliops is set to merge with French data processing company Kalray. Pliops' shareholders will own 35% of the newly merged entity, while Kalray's shareholders will own the remaining 65%. Kalray's current share prices give it a market capitalization of $150M. Assuming the share prices stay the same, Calcalist expects the merged entity to be worth about €240M ($258M), of which Pliops' value will be roughly $100M, over 80% less than its last known valuation. More: - Since its founding in 2017, Pliops has raised over $200M from investors, including Intel Capital, NVIDIA, AMD, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.
- Pliops was last valued at around $650M to $700M during its Series D funding round in August 2022.
- Kalray CEO Eric Baissus belives the merged entity has the strategic potential to become a global leader in data acceleration solutions for storage and AI GPUs.
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| 4 | | Italian AI startup iGenius is reportedly in talks with potential investors to raise a fresh funding round of €650M ($698M). CEO Uljan Sharka confirmed that the firm is eyeing a post-money valuation of €1.7B ($1.8B). The fundraising news comes days after it unveiled "Italia," an open-source AI model catering to financial service organizations. More: - iGenius has already secured commitments from Angelo Moratti's family office, Angel Capital Management, and Intesa Sanpaolo's division Eurizon Asset Management, locking in its unicorn status with a pre-money valuation of €1.05B ($1.13B).
- The startup's most prominent clients are Allianz SE, Aon Plc, Enel SpA, and Intesa Sanpaolo.
- It expects to cross the €20M ($21.5M) mark in annual recurring revenue by the end of this year.
Zoom out: - Venture funding into the space reportedly surged fivefold to $21.8B in 2023 as backers sought to discover the next viral AI application like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
- Other European AI startups developing AI platforms include French startup H, which raised $220M; and Mistral AI, which secured $415M at a $2B valuation last year.
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| 5 | | Sarah Frair, the former CEO of Nextdoor Holdings and CFO at Square, filled in the CFO role at AI startup OpenAI, a position that has remained vacant for the last two years. Additionally, Kevin Weil, previously a product leader at Instagram, Twitter, and Planet Labs, joined as the new chief product officer. The two executives join the company as it works to further develop its AI products in the face of intensifying competition and monetize its AI through enterprise services. More: - As CFO, Friar will help ensure OpenAI has the resources to invest in cutting-edge research while growing its global AI business.
- On the product side, Weil will spearhead efforts to apply OpenAI's research to solutions for consumer and corporate users.
- In a post announcing the new hires, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, "Sarah and Kevin bring a depth of experience that will enable OpenAI to scale our operations, set a strategy for the next phase of growth, and ensure that our teams have the resources they need to continue to thrive."
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| 6 | | AI-powered legal tech startup Harvey is looking to double its valuation to $2B at an upcoming $600M funding round. With the new capital, the startup is considering acquisitions to expand its offerings, including potentially buying long-standing legal research platform vLex, owned by PE firm Oakley Capital. More: - The fundraising news comes after Harvey's recent partnership with OpenAI, which aims to develop a powerful AI case law model that will be trained on 10B tokens of data points spanning all U.S. case laws.
- Since launching in 2022, Harvey has raised three funding rounds in rapid succession to build software that simplifies legal documentation through automation powered by large language models.
- Last December, the firm raised a $80M Series B funding round co-led by Elad Gil and Kleiner Perkins at a valuation of $715M.
- Existing investor Kleiner Perkins is expected to funnel $100M into the round.
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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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