PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
August 09, 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!

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📰This week’s best news

According to a new report, two more employees left OpenAI while its co-founder is going on leave. John Schulman is leaving for Anthropic, while Peter Deng, the VP for consumer products, left after only being there for a year to lead product development at Uber and Meta. Greg Brockman announced that he would be taking a leave from the company until the end of the year, which will be his first time relaxing since founding OpenAI.

The artificial intelligence boom is revitalizing investor enthusiasm, as evidenced by Thrive Capital's recent funding. The company, which has invested hundreds of millions in OpenAI, has reportedly raised $5 billion for its largest-ever pair of venture capital funds. Thrive informed its investors that it has received commitments for the full amount, marking its largest fundraising effort to date.

Klarna weighs secondary share sale ahead of IPO

Klarna, the Swedish “buy now, pay later” firm, is preparing for one of next year's first big tech IPO. But first, the Sequoia-backed company wants to see if investors think it's worth more than the roughly $7 billion valuation awarded during its last fundraising.

The list prepared by TechCrunch includes Elon Musk's xAI, which is already valued at a staggering $24 billion, as well as many other startups in the AI space. However, that's not the only thriving sector. Cybersecurity, health tech, and fintech are also boasting some interesting unicorns.

Former Clubhouse employees venture into social media startup again

Clubhouse employees are back with a new startup. why?!, a new conversation app co-founded by former Netflix and Clubhouse employees Maya Watson and Lexi Nisita, that brings together messaging, networking, and dating, is looking to solve America’s “loneliness epidemic”.

Defense technology startup Anduril Industries Inc. has raised $1.5 billion in a new funding round and plans to spend hundreds of millions on a new facility to manufacture its rockets, underwater vehicles and other autonomous weapons systems at greater scale and speed. The deal, which values Anduril at $14 billion, is one of the largest venture capital financings of the year so far.

PS: In related news, we covered the Anduril tech mafia last week. 👀

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Curio, a blockchain-based game startup where players can own and trade in-game assets, raised $5.7 million. SevenX Ventures and previous investor Bain Capital Crypto co-led the round.

Savvy Wealth, a startup offering financial advisors AI-powered tools like customer relationship management, digital onboarding, and investment management services, raised a $15.5 million Series A extension. The deal was led by Canvas Ventures. Thrive Capital, Brewer Lane Ventures, Index Ventures, The House Fund, and Alumni Ventures also joined.

Aurascape AI, a newly founded startup that uses AI to detect and counteract sophisticated cyber threats in real time, raised a $12.8 million seed round. Mayfield was the main lead, with Celesta Capital, StepStone Group, and AISpace also investing.

ProRata.ai, a Los Angeles startup that ensures that media and music companies get proper attribution and revenue sharing for content used by AI platforms, raised a $25 million Series A round. Mayfield, Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, and Idealab Studio were part of the investors.

Abnormal Security, an email protection services provider that uses AI to detect and block email-based attacks targeting businesses, raised a $250 million Series D round. Wellington Management led the deal, which included previous investors Greylock Partners, Menlo Ventures, Insight Partners, and CrowdStrike Falcon Fund.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

Y Combinator is running an extra batch this fall, starting on September 29, with the Demo Day scheduled for early December. Participating companies will have access to YC's standard investment deal of $500,000, as well as dedicated GPU clusters from Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, along with exclusive credits worth over $1 million.

After several large funding rounds, femtech startups are set to raise a record amount of venture capital in 2024. So far, approximately $1.2 billion has been invested in these companies, making it pretty possible that the total value of deals in this sector will exceed the 2021 record of $1.9 billion.

Oh dear, yet another one bites the dust. Nader Al-Naji was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with carrying out a multi-million-dollar fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme involving a social media platform known as BitClout and its native token, also called BitClout.

The new venture model that’s as old as time and more necessary than ever

The traditional venture model, reliant on outsized returns from a few successful companies, is being reevaluated in favor of a more sustainable approach that emphasizes profitability, realistic growth strategies, and a focus on early-stage B2B SaaS companies with niche expertise.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Away

🤑 Total money raised by the Casper Mafia: $932 million

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

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

The Casper Mafia takes the 51st spot, with 32 companies founded and $932 million raised.

PS: Are you a Casper 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.

KeyBank is looking for a VC Vice President.

Seven Lanes Capital is looking for a VC Manager.

Red Cells Partners is looking for a VC Principal.

Playground Global is looking for a VC Assistant.

Huntington National Bank is looking for a Strategic Investments Director.

📠Fun fact of the week

Elon Musk once built a video game called Blastar when he was just 12 years old. He sold the code for this space-themed game to a computer magazine for about $500. The game involves destroying an alien freighter carrying deadly hydrogen bombs and status beam machines.

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