PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
May 24, 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

Farcaster, a blockchain-based social protocol that invites developers to build other apps on top of it, announced on Tuesday that it closed a $150 million fundraise. Paradigm led the round, which included contributions from a16z crypto, Haun Ventures, USV, Variant, and Standard Crypto. 

Bumble is acquiring the New York-based community app Geneva, which assists users in finding connections based on shared interests, such as running clubs. This move is part of the company's new strategy to revitalize itself in response to dating app fatigue and to enhance its tools for making connections.

Humane, the company behind AI Pin, is reportedly seeking a buyer. According to Bloomberg, the company has priced itself between $750 million and $1 billion, and the sale process is in the early stages.

Space VC, an Austin-based micro-fund that invests in frontier tech, has recently closed a $20 million Fund II. Despite the increasing consolidation of multi-stage funds and their growing involvement in industrial startups at pre-seed and seed rounds, they believe specialized firms still have significant opportunities at the earliest stages.

Scarlett Johansson revealed that she declined a request from OpenAI to use her voice for a conversational ChatGPT system. She was surprised and upset to discover that the company went ahead and used a voice that closely resembled hers anyway. Johansson's legal team has already contacted OpenAI to request the removal of the voice of “Sky,” one of the new voices in the GPT-4o chatbot.

Scale AI secured a $1 billion Series F funding round, valuing the company at $13.8 billion, marking an 89% increase from its 2021 valuation. A portion of the funding will be used for model evaluation work with the US Department of Defense, collaborating to establish a framework for utilizing large language models for military applications.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Haz, a startup building a social commerce app that creates live feeds of users' past and present purchases, allowing them to share and explore buying experiences, raised a $1.4 million pre-seed. Speedinvest led the round, with Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, and Concept Ventures also contributing.

Overland AI, a startup developing autonomous vehicle technology for defense organizations and industries that operate in remote or rugged areas, raised a $10 million seed round led by Point72 Ventures. Shasta Ventures, Ascend VC, Pioneer Square Labs, Voyager Capital, and Cubit Capital also participated.

Teal, a startup building a “Stripe for accounting,” raised an $8 million seed round. Torch Capital was the main investor, and Basis Set Ventures, General Advance, and Dash Fund also contributed.

Neros, a startup building autonomous drones for military use, raised a $10.9 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital.

Honey Homes, a startup that provides a subscription service for homeowners that includes regular visits from a dedicated handyman to handle various home maintenance tasks, raised a $9.3 million Series A extension led by Era Ventures. Previous investors Khosla Ventures and Pear VC were also part of the deal.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

Nvidia was on the brink of bankruptcy before becoming one of the world’s most valuable firms. It only survived thanks to Shoichiro Irimajiri, also known as Irimajiri-san. When Jensen Huang approached the senior executive at Sega for a $5 million lifeline to keep his company afloat, Irimajiri-san had no motivation to do it. But he did.

Marc Andreessen, the legendary investor and entrepreneur, joins Rob Lowe to discuss the future of TikTok in the U.S., the impact of artificial intelligence on everyday lives, the secrets of the algorithm, and more.

Tom Blomfield, partner at Y Combinator, reflects on the US positive-sum mindset, which holds that business growth will create more wealth and prosperity and that most people will benefit as a result.

PitchBook’s Q1 2024 Global League Tables are now available to analyze a firm’s public PitchBook profile and explore its top-line stats. 

According to data from Crunchbase, in 2023, AI-related startups headquartered in the Bay Area received more than 50% of global venture funding. These companies raised over $27 billion, a significant increase from the $14 billion they raised in 2022 when the Bay Area companies accounted for 29% of all AI funding.

💪 Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Western Digital

🤑 Total money raised by the MongoDB Mafia: $1.6 billion

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

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

The MongoDB Mafia takes the 38th spot, with 60 companies founded and $1.6 billion raised.

PS: Are you a MongoDB 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.

Munrich VE is looking for an Investment Associate.

ADP is looking for a Senior Director.

Costanoa Ventures is looking for a Finance Manager.

Cota Capital is looking for an Investment Principal.

CoinFund is looking for a Blockchain Investment Associate.

📠 Fun fact of the week

Music manager turned angel investor, Troy Carter, has managed artists like Lady Gaga and John Legend. He transitioned into tech investing with early stakes in companies like Lyft, Spotify, and Warby Parker, blending his entertainment industry insights with tech investments.

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

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