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Crux (YC W24), a Y Combinator-backed decision-making AI co-pilot for enterprises, has raised $2.6 million in a seed funding round led by Emergent Ventures. 🌟 Key Highlights: This investment will support Crux’s mission to change the way organizations make decisions by providing them access to advanced decision-making capabilities that surpass human abilities. About Crux: Founded by Himank Jain, Atharva Padhye, and Prabhat Singh in 2022, Crux helps B2B SaaS teams build embedded AI copilots faster. The startup creates AI models that answer questions about business data in plain language. Other startups that raised funds this week include Attentive.ai, controlZ, Papa Pawsome, Ivory, Rupyz, and OTO. Visit the link to read the detailed news piece. https://lnkd.in/gWwtKSeW . . #crux #attentiveai #ControlZ #PapaPawsome #Ivory #Rupyz #oto #startupfunding  

Menlo Ventures and Anthropic team up on a $100M AI fund Silicon Valley #VC firm #MenloVentures has announced a collaboration with AI startup #Anthropic to launch a $100 million initiative called "the Anthology Fund." This fund aims to invest in pre-seed, seed, and Series A artificial intelligence companies. Menlo Ventures, known for its significant investments in #AI, recently became one of the largest backers of Anthropic, closing a substantial funding round of over $750 million. The capital for the Anthology Fund is a carve-out from Menlo’s latest $1.35 billion vehicle, raised in November. Tim Tully, a partner at Menlo Ventures, emphasized the firm’s enthusiasm for Anthropic’s work and the potential of this partnership to discover and support innovative AI-first startups. The Anthology Fund will provide initial investments starting at $100,000 and offer $25,000 worth of credits for startups to use Anthropic’s models. This approach leverages Menlo Ventures' deep connection with Anthropic to identify and nurture promising AI companies. #Startups can apply through an online form, and Menlo Ventures will use its proprietary machine learning tool to evaluate and rank applications, streamlining the diligence process. This collaboration signifies a strategic move to foster growth in the AI ecosystem, supporting emerging companies that are building on Anthropic's technology or developing AI solutions more broadly. The implications of this initiative are far-reaching, potentially accelerating innovation and advancements in the AI sector, while strengthening Menlo Ventures' and Anthropic's positions as leaders in the AI investment landscape. The article on TechCrunch in the first comment. Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter: - Linkedin: https://lnkd.in/d4h8zqKA  - Substack: https://lnkd.in/dzfGJzmW

#venture #capital #deals Grafana Labs, which offers an open-source dashboard and visualization platform, extended its Series D with $270 million led by Lightspeed. The financing values the company at over $6 billion. XII Medical, a startup developing treatments for sleep apnea, raised a $45 million Series B led by Omega Funds. AstroForge, which mines elements from asteroids, raised a $40 million Series A led by Nova Threshold. Kindbody is in talks to raise between $30 million and $50 million in a round that would value the fertility services company at around $600 million, down from a previous valuation of $1.8 billion, Bloomberg reported. The Rounds, a startup providing recurring delivery services for household items and groceries, raised a $24 million Series B led by Moderne Ventures, TechCrunch reported. Ecommerce startup Redo raised a $24 million Series A led by Pelion Venture Partners. PreciseDx, a startup using AI in tools for diagnosing cancer, raised a $20.7 million Series B led by Eventide Asset Management. CLIP, a New York-based company creating an attachable device that makes regular bikes into e-bikes, is preparing to launch a $10 million Series A, Axios reported. uppercase, an Indian luggage-maker, raised $9 million from Accel. Singapore-based SleekFlow, which provides a social commerce platform, secured a $7 million Series A+ led by Atinum Investment.

Yesterday, startups raised over $70M, with the highest amount awarded to a startup specializing in AI-assisted data tools. Despite this December marking one of the leanest periods for capital raises in recent history, there's a noticeable rise in investments within the AI sector. With more capital expected to mobilize in 2024, we anticipate a surge in funding for AI-driven innovations. Notable Deals: Meltwater, a leader in business solutions, secured a $65M Private Equity round, boosting their total capital to $240M. Their offerings include aforementioned AI assisted media, social, consumer, and sales solutions. ImpriMed, Inc., a Mountain View-based oncology startup, has raised $23m in Series A funding. SBVA led the round, joined by investors like HRZ Han River Partners and SK Telecom Ventures. Lingrove , specializing in low carbon building materials, successfully completed a $10 million Series B funding, led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Diamond Edge Ventures, Inc.. Aether Fuels, an SF-based alternative fuels company for aviation and maritime, raised $8.5m from investors including JetBlue Ventures and TechEnergy Ventures ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are you going to be leading or left behind in 2024? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get the edge on what's happening in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. 👇

𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟎𝟖𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 1. 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 Sarvam AI 𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐬 $𝟒𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 Lightspeed, 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 Homegrown generative artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Sarvam AI has raised $41 million in its Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Ventures with participation from Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures. The AI firm plans to use the funding to focus on India-specific offerings which includes training AI models to support the diverse set of Indian languages and voice-first interfaces, the firm said in a media statement on December 7. 2. Pachama 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐁 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐨 $𝟔𝟒 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 $𝟗 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 San Francisco-based carbon credit platform Pachama has successfully raised an additional $9 million in an extension of its Series B funding round, bringing the total to $64 million, according to a company statement on Tuesday. The extension was led by T.Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom, as new investor, alongside existing investors Lowercarbon Capital and Positive Ventures. 3. ContactMonkey 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟓𝟓 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 ContactMonkey, a Toronto, Canada-based internal email communications platform, closed a Series A funding of $55m. Updata Partners made the investment. As part of the deal, Updata Partner Braden Snyder and Operating Partner Sloan Gaon will join ContactMonkey’s Board of Directors. 4. 𝐑𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟐𝟔𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 Rhythms, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered enterprise productivity startup, raised $26M in Seed funding. The round was led by 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐬 and Madrona with participation from Accel and Cercano The company intends to use the funds to expand its teams in the U.S. and India, accelerate product development, and bring its operating system to market. The company will launch a product preview to select customers in early 2024 and make its solution broadly available later in 2024. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Corporate Valuations 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 #news #newshighlights #updates #newsupdates #transactions #valuation #venturecapital #fund #BusinessValuation #investments #startup #venturecapital

#fundingalert 💼Company: PolyAI 💰Funding: $50Million ⚡Round: Series C 👥Investors: Hedosophia, nVentures, Zendesk, Khosla Ventures,Georgian, Point72 Ventures, Sands Capital and Passion Capital. PolyAI creates conversational assistants for #businesses that engage in natural dialogue with clients to address their issues. No matter what or how their #conversational assistants hear their clients speak, they are able to comprehend them. The funding will be used by the firm to create and enable AI-powered, voice-first automation in enterprise call centres. Nikola Mrkšić, Tsung-Hsien Wen, Pei-Hao (Eddy) Su, Kyle DiPentima, Michelle Schroeder, Jeff Jackson Read more - https://lnkd.in/gavSvMvy To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #PolyAI #AI #funding #fundingnews #news #startup #startupnews #startuprise

𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟐𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 1. Anthropic 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 $𝟕𝟓𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 Menlo Ventures Artificial intelligence (AI) #startup Anthropic is in discussions to raise $750 million in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The startup’s valuation before the #funding round comes to $18.4 billion, the source added. Anthropic, co-founded by siblings and former executives at Microsoft-backed rival OpenAI 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 and Daniela Amodei, has shown efforts to secure the resources and deep-pocketed backers needed to compete with OpenAI and be leaders in the technology sector. 2. HURR 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟏𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 Hurr, a London, UK-based fashion rental platform, raised $10M (£7.9M) in funding to date. The latest round included participation from Praetura Ventures (lead), and existing #investors including Octopus Ventures, Ascension and D4 Ventures. Founded in 2019 by Victoria Prew, Hurr is a combination of a peer-to-peer marketplace and a white-label SaaS solution that enables consumers to rent high fashion items from top brands such as Ganni A/S and Mulberry. 3. knownwell 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟐𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 knownwell, a Boston, MA-based in-person and virtual, weight-inclusive primary care and metabolic health company, raised $20m in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding to $24.5m, was led by a16z Bio + Health with participation from existing investors including Flare Capital Partners. The company intends to use the funds to expand its clinics and telehealth offering, to double down on product development, including incorporating AI-powered patient stratification, asynchronous communication, and provider workflow enablement tools into its care model, as well as partnering with major pharmaceutical companies to conduct and participate in clinical trials. 4. Lassen Therapeutics 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 $𝟖𝟓 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐁 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 Lassen Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA-based clinical stage biotech company, raised $85M in Series B funding. The round was led by Frazier Life Sciences with participation from Longitude Capital. The syndicate also included new investors BVF PARTNERS, L.P and Catalio Capital Management as well as existing investors, Alta Partners, and 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥. Concurrent with this financing, Brian Liu, M.D. from Longitude Capital and 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐇𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐧, Ph.D. from Catalio Capital Management have joined the Board of Directors. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Corporate Valuations 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 #news #newshighlights #updates #newsupdates #transactions #valuation #venturecapital #fund #BusinessValuation #investments #startup #growth #acquired #venturecapital #deal

The AI startup landscape is bustling with activity, as evidenced by the $50 billion in venture funding in 2023. This year, the trend continues with significant investments, although the industry is recalibrating to ensure sustainable growth. Last year’s funding frenzy included over 70 rounds of $100 million or more, with Moonshot AI’s $1 billion round being particularly noteworthy. Despite the high volume of venture funding, M&A activity has been slow, with a 31% decline in deals from 2022, totaling only 190 compared to 276 the previous year. The largest M&A transaction was Veradigm’s acquisition of ScienceIO for $140 million. The AI sector’s resilience is further highlighted by companies like Scale AI and Perplexity AI, which are rumored to be raising funds at substantial valuations. As the industry evolves, startups must navigate the challenges of market saturation and differentiation to maintain their innovative edge and create lasting value. #AIStartups #VentureCapital #MergersAndAcquisitions #SustainableGrowth

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In a significant shift within the venture capital landscape, AI-based startups are now commanding a considerable share of the market. A recent PitchBook report reveals that 40% of new US unicorns in 2024 are AI-focused, accounting for over 60% of the total valuation increases in the VC space. This year alone, 13 AI ventures have achieved unicorn status, contributing $162B in valuation. As AI's presence in venture capital strengthens, it’s clear the trajectory for these innovative startups is on an upward trend #InceptiontoExit #LaunchFinance #LaunchYourStartup #AI #VentureCapital #TechNews #Innovation https://buff.ly/4cNFXO2