PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
June 14, 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

Forbes' ranking of the country's most successful women entrepreneurs, executives, and entertainers has a record number of self-made women billionaires, including Katy Perry and Fawn Weaver.

General Motors is investing $850 million in Cruise to cover the company's operational costs after it had to shut down its robotaxi service when one of its driverless cars struck a pedestrian. Cruise has been a significant financial drain for GM, with the automaker losing $8.2 billion on Cruise since 2017, including $3.48 billion in losses in 2023 alone.

BeReal, the app known for its fleeting photo-sharing window, has been acquired by the French app developer Voodoo for €500 million (about $537.23 million).

Day One Ventures, founded by former PR entrepreneur Masha Bucher, raised $150 million for its new fund. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has focused on early-stage startups, investing initial checks from $1 million to $2 million. Its portfolio includes Worldcoin, DoNotPay Inc., and You.

Since fintech startup Brex’s inception in 2017, its two co-founders Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi have run the company as co-CEOs.

But starting today, the San Francisco-based corporate credit card and expense management company is shifting to a more traditional — and what they say should be a more agile — model of just one CEO at the helm.

Reg Stofman, the former principal and deals team lead at Los Angeles-based Struck Capital, has left the firm to establish his own fund, Veridical Ventures. Stofman aims to raise $30 million to invest in pre-seed and seed startups, with a preference for B2B software.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Anterior, a startup developing an AI tool designed to handle various administrative workflows for healthcare professionals, raised a $20 million Series A round. NEA was the deal lead, with previous investors Neo and Sequoia Capital taking part.

Astrocade, a startup with a platform that allows users to create games and interactive experiences using AI, raised a $12 million seed round. AME Cloud Ventures, NVIDIA Ventures, and Venture Reality Fund, as well as angels like Eric Schmidt, John Riccitiello, Jerry Yang, and Mike Abbott, were among the investors.

FirmPilot, a startup that delivers AI-driven marketing tools specifically for law firms and service-based small businesses, raised a $7 million Series A. Blumberg Capital, Valor Ventures, SaaS Ventures, FJ Labs, and Connexa Capital all invested.

Tenderd, a Dubai-based startup that has built an AI-powered analytics platform designed to optimize fleet operations, raised a $30 million Series A round. A.P. Moller Holding, with Quadri Ventures, Wa’ed Ventures, Nakhla Ventures, SOMA Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, and Y Combinator all contributed.

Whoosh, a four-year-old startup offering cloud-based software for managing golf clubs and similar venues, raised a $10.3 million Series A round led by AlleyCorp. 8VC, Alaris Capital, Bienville, Craft Ventures, Eberg Capital, Operator Partners, and Raptor Group also joined.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

In 2015, Urvashi Barooah unsuccessfully applied to many MBA programs to fulfill her dream of becoming a venture capitalist. But she didn’t let rejections and being told she was unrealistic stop her. Nine years later, at age 33, Barooah is promoted to partner at Redpoint.

Industrious, one of WeWork's main coworking competitors, has overtaken their New York headquarters spot. Industrious has signed a 10-year agreement to manage office space at Tower 49 in midtown Manhattan, overseeing approximately 240,000 square feet of space across 16 floors at Kato International’s 12 E. 49th St.

One of the main challenges startup founders face is balancing the need to attract top talent with equity concerns when fundraising from venture capitalists (VCs).

Build a VC network from scratch in 6-12 months with this roadmap.

A breakdown of global investors' inbound and outbound strategies for finding legendary startups.

💪 Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Espresso Systems

🤑 Total money raised by the Binance Mafia: $130 million

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

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

The Binance Mafia takes the 70th spot, with 11 companies founded and $130 million raised.

PS: Are you a Binance 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.

Stand Together Ventures Lab is looking for a Head of Startup Ops.

ADP Ventures Principal is looking for a Sr. Director.

Blue Owl Capital is looking for an Investor Operations, Associate.

a16z is looking for a VC Partner.

Live Nation Entertainment is looking for an Associate, New Ventures.

📠 Fun fact of the week

America’s richest self-made woman is Diane Hendricks. She has a net worth of $20.9 billion. Diane chairs ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows in the U.S.

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

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