Startup Monday: Latest tech trends & news happening in the global startup ecosystem (Issue 133- June 16)
Welcome to Startup Monday, my weekly newsletter that recaps the week in the global startup ecosystem. To have this newsletter emailed to you, you can sign up here.
-Narine -
Top startup news to follow this week:
1. 26 Top Venture Capital Firms in Tech
In the tech industry, much of the financial support successful startups receive comes from an array of top venture capital (or VC) firms that invest in companies, as well as the people and ideas behind them. While founders may have to cede part of their ownership in exchange for funds, top VC firms can breathe new life into a tech startup and give leaders the resources they need to grow their businesses.
But for every Apple and Amazon that has relied on venture capital to emerge as well-known, publicly traded companies , there are others that weren’t so successful for any number of reasons — either from or just hitting the market too soon . To manage risk, VC firms conduct immense amounts of research and analysis and may even focus their investments in certain niche sectors within the tech industry like outright collapse or . artificial intelligence digital healthcare
One of the most well-known VC firms backing tech companies today is Andreessen Horowitz , or a16z, as it’s commonly known. Launched in 2009 by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, a co-founder, alongside Andreesen, of the software company Opsware, a16z has invested in companies in various industries ranging from healthcare to . It cryptocurrency across its funds and has manages $42 billion like Airbnb, Facebook, Lyft and Skype. backed companies
2. J.P. Morgan Raises Over $500M for First Biotech Venture Capital Fund
Private Capital Thursday that it has closed its first biotechnology-focused capital fund, securing over from various backers. $500 million
The fund, called 270 Life Sciences Private Capital Fund I, attracted “strong support” from investors including family offices, corporate partners, institutional allocators and “high net worth individuals,” according to the announcement. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also contributed.
Early investments will target biotechs in the cardiometabolic disease, immunology, oncology and genetic medicine spaces. The fund is led by Squinto and managing partner Gaurav Gupta.
“As investors and company builders, we are strongly positioned at J.P. Morgan Private Capital to identify and support highly innovative companies that can shape the future of how patients are treated. Our mission is to capitalize companies and utilize our collective experience to guide them towards successful outcomes and mentor a new generation of biotechnology founders and executives,” Squinto said in a statement.
3. Investment Firm Paradigm Raises $850,000,000 for Venture Fund Targeting Early-Stage Crypto Projects
The San Francisco-based firm was an early contributor to the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap ( ), the Ethereum ( ) layer-2 network Optimism ( ) and the Ethereum-centric research and development startup Flashbots.
“It’s more important than ever to accelerate a positive future for crypto, not just as investors but as builders. Over the past few years, we’ve launched several open-source projects including Foundry, a popular Ethereum development tool, and Reth, a high-performance Ethereum execution node, with the goal of pushing the crypto frontier forward. We’re excited to dedicate significant effort to such projects over the coming years.”
The $850 million fund is the venture capital firm’s third since it was founded by Coinbase Global co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ex-Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang in 2018.
In 2021, Paradigm also announced a $2.5 billion crypto fund, the largest at the time, beating the $2.2 billion Andreessen Horowitz crypto-centric fund. With $850 million, Paradigm’s new fund will be the industry’s biggest since the 2022 crypto downturn.
4. Venture capital funding in crypto rises to $2.4 bln, PitchBook says
“The recovery in publicly traded tokens and continued rise in institutional adoption will drive increased VC funding,” PitchBook analyst Robert Le said.
Startups focused on building infrastructure for crypto and blockchain technology led the way in funding during the quarter, according to PitchBook.
The largest deal was made by decentralized cloud platform Together AI, which raised $106 million in an early stage round led by Salesforce Ventures that valued the company at $1.1 billion.
5. Enveda raises $55M to combine ancient remedies with AI for drug discovery
Even with this impressive success of harnessing nature’s bounty, scientists estimate that they have discovered only a tiny fraction of natural chemical compounds that could be developed into powerful medicines.
In part that’s because identifying, isolating and testing molecules from nature is complex and more time-consuming than synthesizing new compounds in a lab.
Viswa Colluru, an early employee of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, which went public in 2021, decided that AI and other techniques can expedite the process of discovering new medicines from nature.
Colluru told TechCrunch that Enveda tapped all of the world’s digital information about how humans across cultures have used plants to cure pain and disease.
6. Amazon says it’ll spend $230 million on generative AI startups
The investment, roughly $80 million of which will fund Amazon’s second AWS Generative AI Accelerator program, aims to position AWS as an attractive cloud infrastructure choice for startups developing generative AI models to power their products, apps and services. Much of the new tranche — including the entire portion set aside for the accelerator program — comes in the form of compute credits for AWS infrastructure, meaning that it can’t be transferred to other cloud service providers like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
To sweeten the pot, Amazon is pledging that startups in this year’s Generative AI Accelerator cohort will gain access to experts and tech from Nvidia, the program’s presenting partner. They will also be invited to join the Nvidia Inception program, which provides companies opportunities to connect with potential investors and additional consulting resources.
“With this new effort, we will help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks they need to unleash new AI applications that will impact all facets of how the world learns, connects, and does business,” Matt Wood, VP of AI products at AWS, said in a statement.
Amazon’s growing spending on generative AI tech, which includes efforts like its $100 million AWS Generative AI Innovation Center , and its free credits for startups using major AI models model, comes as the company looks to catch up to tech giant rivals in the blooming — and increasingly competitive — generative AI space. While Amazon claims that its various generative AI businesses have “multiple billions” in run rate, the company is widely perceived as having missed the boat on generative AI. Project Olympus
7. Danish startup Light secures $13M for sustainable energy solutions
Atomico’s involvement serves as a testament to the rising interest in sustainable energy startups and highlights the potential of renewable energy solutions. With Light’s groundbreaking technology and Atomico’s substantial backing, the European renewable energy industry could well be on the cusp of a revolution.
Light is led by CEO Jonathan Sanders and CTO Filip Kozjak, a pair with considerable experience in AI and finance. Sanders brings to the table extensive operational expertise gained from work with corporations such as Credit Suisse, while Kozjak’s expertise in tech projects and digital transformations plays a crucial role in driving Light’s growth.
The company’s goal is to transform accounting operations by integrating Artificial Intelligence, making it an automatic accounting service that synchronises with various systems like CRM, HRM, and banking platforms, including Microsoft Teams and Slack.
Light’s stride towards sustainable energy solutions
This has the potential to redefine traditional accounting practices while enhancing functionality and efficiency.
Light faces competition from established market players such as Oracle NetSuite, SAP ERP, and Microsoft Dynamics, as well as newcomers like Quickbooks and Xero. Nonetheless, Light aims to challenge these competitors with its customised solutions, offering businesses an all-encompassing, real-time platform for recording transactions around the globe.
What sets Light apart is its focus on user experience, boasting a modern interface that values user enjoyment as well as functionality. The aim is to merge state-of-the-art technology with daily financial needs, fostering easy and enjoyable interactions for users.
CEO Sanders believes that there’s a demand among current CFOs for more effective, user-friendly tools to manage their roles effectively. He is optimistic that Light, with its distinctive value proposition, is well-positioned to meet this demand and outperform its competitors.
8. AccountsIQ takes in $65M to boost bookkeeping with AI
The European economy is on shaky ground, but there is a silver lining for enterprise startups: Those building tools to help businesses run their finances in more steady and predictable ways are seeing a boost.
AccountsIQ , which has been in business (mostly bootstrapped) for nearly 20 years, was founded by accountants who saw an opportunity to build the tools that they wanted. As you might expect from that pedigree, they have been fiscally prudent when it comes to growth.
Until this fundraise, with just €12.7 million of outside funding, AccountsIQ had gained some 1,000 customers, covering 10,000 “entities” (multiple operations for single businesses) and 20,000 users. The company’s CAGR has stuck to a steady 30% annually for the last several years, COO Darren Cran said in an interview.
The platform is hosted on Azure, and Cran said it is leveraging Microsoft’s AI tools and building customizations in-house to offer the next generation of services, which will include more robotic process automation and AI-based features to speed up how its users work.
9. London-based Sidekick secures €10 million to make private wealth less private
, a wealth management platform for the modern investor that unlocks the financial advantages of the ultra-wealthy, has raised €5.3 million in a seed round and €4.7 million via a debt facility. The combined €10 million will see the startup continue scaling its team and expanding its product lineup while securing a European license.
The seed round was co-led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity and supported by MS&AD, Blackwood, and 1818, alongside previous investors Octopus Ventures, Seedcamp, and Semantic Ventures. Columbia Lake Partners, backers of Mews, Factorial, Griffin, and Contentsquare, provided the debt financing.
Enter Sidekick, a financial services provider for investors who have graduated beyond dabbling in stock picking and robo-advisory and are actively seeking solutions to grow their wealth more meaningfully. Sidekick targets founders, tech workers, lawyers, and other hard-working professionals who know they should be doing more with their money but are uncertain of the next step and distrustful of traditional financial advisors who often don’t understand their situation.
Matthew Ford, Co-Founder and CEO of Sidekick, explained: “We’re looking to address the growing inequity of wealth creation and let the money of hard-working entrepreneurs and professionals work harder. With over a million people in our target demographic in the UK seeking support for their financial goals, the demand for innovative wealth management solutions tailored to their unique needs is undeniable. Sidekick exists to ensure that it’s not just the ultra-wealthy that have access to the tools and products needed to secure long-term financial prosperity.”
Sidekick obtained a comprehensive set of regulatory permissions from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and launched its actively managed flagship equities product in January. Offering a low minimum portfolio requirement of just £1,000, investors receive a premium product set and service, including expertly managed investments, regular portfolio updates, insights into market trends, and broader investment themes, typically reserved for a £500,000 to £1 million and upwards portfolio.
10. Dublin-based AccountsIQ secures €60 million Series C to embed AI into its cloud-based accounting platform
AccountsIQ , a cloud-based accounting platform, announced that it has secured a €60 million Series C investment from Axiom Equity, a specialist B2B SaaS growth equity fund. The investment will be focussed on continuing to develop the AccountsIQ product to shape the finance function of the future, particularly to take advantage of advancement in AI throughout all aspects of the solution
AccountsIQ provides a financial management system (FMS) Software-as-a-Service designed to transform the finance function, solving complex problems like multi-currency consolidation, multi-level approvals, third-party integrations, and automation of daily processes. It empowers finance teams to collaborate digitally with stakeholders in their businesses by giving the right information to the right user at the right time, enhancing the financial IQ of the organisation so it can make better decisions.
Tony Connolly, Founder and CEO of AccountsIQ, commented: “Having hit a critical milestone with over 1,000 customers, we are now poised to take the AccountsIQ product and service to the next level. This investment comes at a perfect inflection point for our offering, to allow us leverage AI tools into practical, easy to adopt services for our user base; to make finance team roles more flexible, valuable, less repetitive and indeed more interesting.”
This investment will enable AccountsIQ to move to the next level of its development as a leading international FMS, growing its resources to more than double its team to over 200 people over the next few years and enhancing its AI capability to deliver even more value to its diverse customer base.
Martin Wygas, Founding Partner of Axiom Equity, added: “We were immediately impressed when we met the AccountsIQ team and saw the product and its positioning. The deep understanding of their customer base and forward-thinking vision deeply resonated with our team. Recognising the potential to accelerate AccountsIQ’s product development with additional capital and expertise, we are excited to be partnering with them to scale AIQ to the next level.”
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
