PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
August 30, 2024

Welcome to PIN’d - our weekly newsletter where we pin (lol, bear with us) the most important tech/startup news of the week for aspiring angels, vc’s, startup investors, founders, etc. Expect a new weekly roundup from us every Friday morning!

If you’re receiving this, it’s because you’ve signed up for our waitlist and/or for newsletter updates.

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📰 This week’s best news

The founder of Telegram revealed he has over 100 biological children across the world before his arrest over the weekend. Pavel Durov, the founder of the popular messaging app, was detained in France as part of an ongoing judicial investigation.

Ares Industries, launched earlier this week, is the first defense startup to receive backing from Y Combinator. The company founders have stated that they have already tested prototypes in the Mojave Desert and plan to deliver working missile systems to their first customers next year.

Magnetar launches $235M AI fund as asset managers come back to VC

Magnetar Capital, a $17.5 billion hedge fund, has raised $235 million for its first dedicated venture fund, AI Ventures Fund. They will focus on early- to mid-stage startups. In July, the company backed a $500 million Series D for Cohere, a large language model developer.

New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is getting back into the secondaries game. The Silicon Valley-based VC raised more than $468 million for NEA Secondary Opportunity Fund, according to an SEC filing. The fund raised capital from more than 60 limited partners including the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, which committed $20 million to the fund, according to meeting documents.

OpenAI is in talks to raise a funding round that would value the artificial intelligence startup at more than $100 billion. Thrive Capital is leading the round and will invest $1 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has threatened to sue non-fungible tokens marketplace OpenSea, the company's CEO said. A Wells notice is a formal declaration that SEC staff intend to recommend an enforcement action.

📢 PIN special announcement

We attended Kernal’s AI pitch event yesterday and loved it. Investors can check out the recording and connect with the startups here.

Kernal puts on startup demo days like these every month and their next one on September 19th has a gaming theme. Investors can RSVP to it here and founders can apply to pitch here.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Viggle, a startup that creates AI-powered characters that users can customize to visualize ideas or create memes, raised a $19 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Two Small Fish was also part of the deal.

Supio, a startup using generative AI to automate the collection and organization of data for legal teams, specifically focusing on personal injury and mass tort cases, raised a $25 million Series A round. Sapphire Ventures was the main investor, with additional participation from Bonfire Ventures and Foothill Ventures.

ZBiotics, a startup creating genetically engineered probiotics designed to address health concerns such as hangovers, raised a $12 million Series A. Spring Tide Capital led the deal, with Access Capital, Seamless Capital, Goat Rodeo Capital, Seaside Ventures, Garry Tan, and Evan Spiegel also joining.

Cribl Inc., a startup helping enterprises manage, process, and route their IT and security data, raised a $319 million Series E round. GV was the main investor, with CapitalG, GIC, IVP, and CRV also contributing.

Piramidal, a recently founded startup developing an AI-powered model designed to analyze brainwave data from EEG scans, raised a $6 million seed round. Adverb Ventures and Lionheart Ventures co-led the deal, with Y Combinator also participating.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

Young venture capitalists are focusing on emerging trends, such as women's health, AI, and the care economy. They want to keep seeing companies addressing women's unique healthcare needs and developing AI tools that can improve people's lives.

Ex-Googlers discover that startups are hard

Dozens of AI researchers who left Google to start their companies are finding that running startups is more challenging than expected. A good example is the French AI company H, which had five co-founders (four ex-Googlers) and lost three shortly after raising $220 million. Other startups founded by former Google AI researchers, such as Inflection, Adept and Character, also faced big acquisition challenges.

AI is artificially inflating valuation numbers across venture. While the sector represented almost half of all deal value in the second quarter of 2024, flat and down rounds have reached their highest levels in a decade, and valuation increases between funding rounds have slowed down. You can see these trends in PitchBook's Q2 2024 US VC Valuations Report.

Josh Wolfe shares on X/Twitter the quarterly letter from Lux Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage science and technology companies. The document explores the current state of the world, marked by anxiety, anger, and geopolitical tensions, and contrasts this with the potential for scientific advancement to bring about a better future.

Millionaire Nvidia employees still working until 2 AM

In a June poll of over 3,000 Nvidia employees (out of around 30,000), 76% were millionaires and one in three had a net worth of more than $20 million because of the company's growth. But that doesn’t mean that they are living the millionaire life. The report shed light on the work culture at the chip-maker, which includes insanely long hours and lots of yelling and pressure.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Slash

🤑 Total money raised by the Faire Mafia: $52 million

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

The Faire alumni network has built some amazing companies, so we took a look at the top companies.

The Faire Mafia takes the 85th spot, with 12 companies founded and $52 million raised.

PS: Are you a Faire employee/alum interested in getting your community together to invest in the community (and earn carry/other benefits along the way)? Or are you a member of another community that you think would make for an amazing startup investment community? 

Learn more about us and sign up for the waitlist here.

📌 PIN tweet of the week

💼 Who’s hiring in VC?

Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.

Four Cities Capital is looking for an Operations and Investment Associate.

Gener8tor is looking for a Program Manager.

Matter Venture Partners is looking for an Associate.

French Founders is looking for a Senior Relationship Manager.

Stuck Capital is looking for an Investor Analyst.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The year with the most IPOs was 2021. In the U.S., 2021 saw a record-breaking number of IPOs, with over 1,000 companies going public, fueled by high investor interest, low interest rates, and a booming stock market. This year surpassed previous records, including the dot-com boom era.

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