PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
November 22, 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

After receiving funding for tech like drones, license plate readers, and more from Andreessen Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz, Las Vegas police is now looking for artificial intelligence to go through police footage. Although the relationship has startled a number of experts and advocates who follow police accountability and surveillance technology, Horowitz intends to continue and deepen it.

Bling Capital, founded in 2018 by Ben Ling, a former general partner at Khosla Ventures, has nabbed another $270 million for a new flagship fourth fund. Half of the money will be set aside for its opportunity fund, to make follow-on investments into winners.

GitHub is calling for applicants for the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund, a program designed to financially and programmatically improve security and sustainability of open source projects. Applications will close on January 7th.

Dexcom is investing $75 million in Ōura's latest funding round, valuing the smart ring maker at over $5 billion. Founded in Finland in 2013, Ōura produces wearable rings for tracking sleep, activity, stress, and heart health while Dexcom specializes in continuous glucose monitoring devices, including the prescription-free Stelo.

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup, xAI, has told investors it raised $5 billion in a funding round valuing it at $50 billion—more than twice what it was valued at several months ago.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Juna.ai, a German startup developing AI agents that help factories monitor and optimize energy consumption in real-time, raised a $7.5 million seed. Kleiner Perkins, Norrsken VC, and John Doerr were part of the investors.

Kalder, a startup enabling brands to create and manage customer loyalty programs, raised a $7 million seed. The round was led by Javelin Venture Partners, with 8VC, Human Capital, Gingerbread Capital, Emergence Capital, and Formus Capital also joining.

Keychain, a platform that connects CPG companies and retailers with manufacturing partners, raised a $15 million Series A round. BoxGroup was the main investor, with General Mills and Schreiber Foods as well as previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and SV Angel also showing up.

Distyl, a startup creating AI-driven workflows tailored to an organization's specific needs, raised a $20 million Series A round. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with Khosla Ventures as well as previous investors Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, and Nat Friedman also contributed,

Flipturn, a startup that gives companies real-time monitoring of chargers and vehicles, power management, and charging schedules, raised an $11 million Series A round. CRV led the round, with Accel also joining.

🎙️ Something New Podcast

Ever wondered how someone goes from hosting festivals in a tiny German village to making waves in Silicon Valley’s tech scene?

Golden Retriever energy. Ok not entirely, but still.

This week on Something New, Steph and Leeor chat with Andrej Safundzic, the visionary founder of Lumos. With a life motto of “Screw it, just do it,” Andrej has built a career defined by bold decisions and fearless innovation.

Not to be missed!

📚 Interesting reads of the week

PitchBook’s Q3 2024 Global League Tables are here. Check out the latest rankings and insights into private equity, venture capital, mergers, and acquisitions, among others.

Venture capital isn’t dead—it’s evolving. The best opportunities often emerge in moments of fear and uncertainty. If the market is tight today, that only means the illiquidity discount gives you an advantage for tomorrow.

Amazon, Uber, and Starbucks are all companies that thrive by understanding, building, and strengthening their business moats — the key competitive advantages that set them apart. This report looks into 29 business moat examples and dive into how they work.

Recently, Garry Tan revealed some pretty incredible data on the returns for investors at YC demo day. Check out the returns you would’ve seen if you invested in 3+ startups every demo day over a two-year period (2018-20).

Following the impressive pandemic surge of 2021 and early 2022, the venture market has adjusted to a new normal. The third quarter revealed positive trends in late-stage deal activity and mergers and acquisitions.

Ok, it looks like we’re all about reports this week. 🤷 It is what it is. Check out Affinity’s analysis and predictions for private capital in 2025.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Coinbase

🤑 Total money raised by the Duke University Mafia: $6 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard


Duke’s University alumni network has built some amazing companies, so we took a look at the top companies.

Duke University takes the 33rd spot on our weekly leaderboard, with 41 companies founded and $6 billion raised.

PS: Are you a Duke University 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.

NYS Innovation Fund is looking for a VC Director.

Autodesk is looking for a VC Principal.

Octave Fund is looking for a VC Associate.

Thunder VC is looking for an IR Manager.

AI Fund is looking for a VC Principal.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The top three most valuable private companies in the world are ByteDance (valued at $225B, China), SpaceX (valued at $200B+, Califo

rnia), and OpenAI (valued at $157B, San Francisco).

Want to learn more about investing in startups with your community through PIN’s platform? Simply reply to this email.