PIN'd

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
September 15, 2023

Welcome to PIN’d - our brand new 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.

Got a friend that wants to learn more or stay up to date on angel investing/VC? Help us spread the word and forward this email to them ;)

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📰 This week’s best news

Another day, another IPO. Seems like we’re on a roll, everybody ready to IPO. Alright, alright, enough with the rhymes. German shoemaker Birkenstock has officially filed for its IPO in New York (and not Europe).

Fun fact: The family business traces its origins back to 1774 when church archives mention Johannes Birkenstock, who worked as a cobbler in Langen-Bergheim, Germany.

OpenAI is set to open its first office in the European Union (EU) and make several strategic hires, as the company prepares for regulatory headwinds.

According to its careers page, OpenAI is currently hiring for 9 positions in the Irish capital, Dublin, and the roles that it’s looking to fill are somewhat indicative of where it’s head is currently at.

Apple held its annual iPhone launch event Tuesday at Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The company announced some big and small stuff, like the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, complete with USB-C charging, starting at $799. Another key announcement was the brand-new Apple Watch, as well as updated AirPods with USB-C. Full details covered in the article.

Hospitality and entertainment company, MGM Resorts, recently suffered a cyber attack that severely impacted its business operations.

The cyber attack was discovered on September 11, when MGM Resorts put out a statement via Twitter/X that a “cyber security incident” was impacting come of its systems. MGM Resorts continues to battle the widespread outage.

What’s new? Definitely not AI startups raking in that VC 💵. Databricks, a data analytics platform using AI, announced on Thursday it secured more than $500 million in a funding round that valued the company at $43 billion, marking one of the biggest funding events for private tech companies this year amid AI-fueled optimism.

The new round, led by T. Rowe Price, could mark the last round of private funding as the data company gears up for the public market.


💰 Funding announcement highlights

Digital energy company Arbor has raised a $9 million seed round led by First Round Capital, the consumer tech investor behind startups like Uber and Mint. The startup is using web tools common in fintech for the energy space.

Sonera, the company making neural data accessible to the masses through its breakthrough sensing technology, today exited stealth and announced $11 million in seed funding led by Amplify Partners with participation from Abstract Ventures and existing investors.

NYC-based SEC compliance company, Hadrius, raised $2 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Lynett Capital, Singularity Capital, Dorm Room Fund, Unpopular Ventures, and the founders of Arrived, SmartAsset, FutureAdvisor, among others. The company intends to use the funds for product development.

Pahdo Labs raised $15 million in funding for the startup’s plans to create an anime-style role-playing game and user-generated content (UGC) platform. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Pear VC, BoxGroup, Long Journey Ventures, Neo, and Global Founders Capital.

Tel Aviv-based startup, Prisma Photonics, raised a $20 million Series C round led by Insight Partners. The AI-driven startup monitors large-scale infrastructure, such as power grids.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

Short, sweet, and practical. Trace Cohen, pre-seed and seed investor at New York Venture Partners shares seven useful tips for new angel investors. If you’re just starting your journey, it’s good to know how to show up, where to start from, and what to focus on.

Mark your calendars for October 16-22, 2023!

It’s almost time for Tech Week in NYC, LA, and SF. The calendar was released this week, and attendees can expect more than 200 events by startups and VCs across GenAI, Fintech, Marketplaces, Health Security, and more.

Nine companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in August 2023, with three of those companies in financial services. They are South Africa-based MTN Group, Hong Kong-based Micro Connect, and Korea-based Korea Credit Data.

August’s new unicorn count is not far below the 13 new unicorns minted in August 2022, but well below the 47 new unicorns born in August 2021.

Jensen Huang, CEO of the sixth largest company in the world, took Twitter by storm as he revealed his unusual management style.

Apparently Jensen doesn’t do 1:1s, formal planning cycles, or status reports. Full video in the comments section.

💪 Tech Mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Valon

⭐ Favorite rising stars: RevOps & Groupthink

😇 Twilio’s first investors: Bessemer Venture Partners & Techstars

🤑 Total money raised by Twilio Mafia: $1.5 billion

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

The latest addition is the Twilio Mafia. Former employees of Twilio have raised a total of $1.5 billion and founded 74 companies. According to Crunchbase data, most of the companies founded are in Software, Electronics, Mobile Devices, and Internet of things.

PS: Are you a Twilio 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

On a more serious note…

🤝 Inside the Deal

Our new weekly series Inside the Deal takes a look at the first/early investors of iconic companies. This week we covered the investment memo of Twilio’s first VC investors, Bessemer Venture Partners.

Get the full scoop.

💼 Who’s hiring in VC?

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

Differential Ventures is looking for a VC Analyst.

Coinbase is looking for an Investor Relations Associate.

Sixty Degree Capital is looking for a Fund Accounting Manager.

a16z is looking for a Compensation Partner.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The founder of the Centre for Venture Research and also a professor at the University of New Hampshire, William Wetzel, coined the term “Angel Investor” in 1978 after completing a study on how entrepreneurs raised capital for businesses.

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