| Here’s your daily Startups briefing: - 🌎 Bolt is set to expand operations in the U.S.
- 📉 Florida startup funding buzz has faded away
- 👥 Sight Diagnostics laid off 40 employees, or 30% of its workforce
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Ride-hailing, feed delivery, and scooter rental services provider Bolt Technology OU is gearing up to launch scooter operations in several major cities in the U.S. The mobility startup is recruiting general managers and operations managers to help set up operations in Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, and other cities in the U.S. More: - Bolt operates in 45 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- The startup touched a valuation of €7.4B ($8B) when it raised a funding round from Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management, and other investors in 2022.
- Per the job listings posted on LinkedIn, general managers will be "responsible for managing strategic relationships with cities" and improving the customer experience for e-scooter riders.
- By expanding into the U.S., Bolt is set to go up against Uber-backed electric bike and scooter company Lime, which reportedly plans to spend $55M this year to grow its global fleet across the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
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| 2 | | Florida-based startups pulled in $950M in VC funding so far this year, per Crunchbase. 
What the numbers say: Funding declined sharply from the record high of $9B in 2022 to about $2.6B in 2022. So far this year, the funding is at par with last year's tally. Only two Florida-based startups could close mega funding rounds of more than $100M. Notable fundraising rounds include a $150M Series D for AI-enabled chatbot maker Kore.ai and a $115M Series D for cybersecurity startup ThreatLocker. What happened: A few years ago, investors and startup founders expected Florida, particularly Miami, to become a hot and low-tax destination for startups. However, the recent slump implies that the excitement has subsided because the previous firms that raised the biggest amounts of money in recent years haven't fulfilled expectations. Augmented headset maker Magic Leap pivoted to enterprise offerings after failing to get traction with customers, while cloud kitchen startup Reef is having trouble raising fresh capital after investor interest dried up. | | | |
| 3 | | Medical device startup Sight Diagnostics laid off 40 employees, or about 30% of its workforce, per Calcalist. The company employed about 130 employees before the layoffs. This is the startup's second round of layoffs after undergoing a significant reorganization in 2022. More: - Sight Diagnostics invented a new blood testing device called Sight OLO, which can perform a complete blood test count and report the results within a few minutes.
- Since its launch in 2011, the startup has raised $124M in total funding from Koch Disruptive Technologies, Longliv Ventures, CK Hutchison Holdings, OurCrowd, and other investors.
- The company said in a statement, "Like many startups and companies in the Israeli economy, we are required to make adjustments to the company's workforce to ensure its financial strength in the challenging macroeconomic reality - both in the State of Israel and outside of it."
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| 4 | | American software company Akamai confirmed it is acquiring API security startup Noname Security for $450M. The deal was previously rumored to be worth $500M. Akamai will incorporate Noname's technology into its API Security business. Akamai expects the acquisition to deliver additional revenue of $20M in fiscal year 2024. More: - The acquisition price is half compared to Noname's peak valuation of $1B from 2021.
- Noname has bagged $220M in total funding to date from Georgian, Lightspeed, Insight Partners, ForgePoint, Cyberstarts, Next47, and The Syndicate Group.
Zoom out: - Akamai's acquisition of Noname is the latest deal amidst the consolidation trend in the cybersecurity industry.
- Wiz was in advanced talks to acquire Lacework Security for $168M, which is a fraction of its peak valuation of $8.3B. The deal fell through in the due diligence phase.
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| 5 | | Samsung Electronics' medical device unit, Samsung Medison, is set to acquire French ultrasound startup Sonio for $92.7M. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Samsung's market position in the cutting-edge medical devices market. More: - The French startup leverages AI to automate ultrasound reporting and detect potential abnormalities in ultrasound images.
- Sonio claims its product has an anomaly detection accuracy of more than 95% and can identify over 300 potential prenatal syndromes.
- Last year, Sonio raised a $14M Series A funding round at a post-money valuation of $48.7M to expand in the U.S.
- Sonio has raised about $27.2M in total funding to date, per Tracxn.
- Notable investors that have previously backed the startup include Cross Border Impact, Elaia, Bpifrance French Tech Seed, and OneRagtime.
- After the acquisition, Sonio will continue to operate independently.
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| 6 | | Digital banking startup Mercury is adding accounting automation and bill payment features to its platform. In addition, the startup aims to add invoicing and employee reimbursement features by this summer. The move puts Mercury in direct competition with Brex, Ramp, Navan, Airbase, and Mesh Payments. More: - According to Mercury, more than 200,000 users use its platform to send outbound payments worth $4B each month.
- Startups now account for less than 40% of its customer base, per CEO and co-founder Immad Akhund.
- With the new features, customers will be able to auto-populate bill details, detect duplicate bills, and approve payments on mobile and via Slack.
- Customers can access the new workflows for free until August 1, after which Mercury intends to introduce paid plans ranging from $35 to $350 a month.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - On-demand food delivery startup Lina Man Wongai is gearing up for an IPO listing either in Thailand or the U.S. in 2025. The startup has a valuation of more than $1B and has raised about $372M in total funding to date from GIC, Z Holdings, Naver, BRV Asia, and other investors.
- SoCap Accelerator has selected four healthcare startups for the eighth cohort of its six-week-long accelerator program. Startups joining the program include hands-free breathing aid firm PEP Buddy, AI-powered legal document management business Legal-Pythia, healthcare SaaS company Milapole, and mobile cardiac screening company Cardio Core Champions.
- Israeli drone startup Xtend bagged $40M in fresh funding led by Chartered Group. Existing investors NFX, TAU Ventures, and Clal-Tech participated in the round. The firm had a post-money valuation of around $110M.
- Rize, a Singaporean startup that is looking to halve emissions resulting from rice farming, secured a Series A round of $14M co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, Temasek, and Wavemaker Impact.
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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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