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This week was a bit of a carryover from the previous one in that the Bolt drama continued to unfold — another story to follow — but money also flowed into startups with traction, venture capital funds with proven track records, and valuable theses.
This week's most interesting startup stories
Image credit: Bryce Durbin
Some news stories appear and disappear within a few days, while others require you to keep an eye out for follow-up updates, and there were several of those this week.
BoltThorpe: To say the aftermath of Bolt's investor letter has been intense would be an understatement. The $14 billion valuation the fintech startup is seeking was just as shocking as the terms of the potential deal. Now, it appears the dust is not over yet, with one of Bolt's proposed new backers, the London Fund, having removed its webpage.
BOARD PRESSURE: The board of struggling startup Zipcar, the commercial trucking company Fluid Trucks, has ousted its brother co-founders amid allegations of financial mismanagement, people familiar with the matter said. The management shakeup follows several rounds of job cuts and other cost-cutting measures, but it's clear it's not over yet.
Food Square: Just weeks after GrubMarket acquired Good Eggs for an undisclosed amount, the $3.6 billion food delivery and supply chain startup has made another acquisition, this time targeting FreshGoGo, a New York-based B2C platform that sells Asian groceries and prepared meals. The companies didn't disclose the terms of the deal, but as the food delivery industry continues to consolidate, it may not be the last.
Leadership changes: AI expert Andrew Ng is stepping down as CEO of Landing AI, the computer vision company he co-founded, to be led by former COO Dan Maloney. Ng has become chairman of the board, and we can expect to hear more news from his AI fund soon.
OpenWallet: OpenAI is reportedly in talks to close a new funding round led by previous backer Thrive Capital at a valuation of over $100 billion. Again, keep your eyes peeled.
Most interesting fundraising this week
Image credit: Viggle AI
It may seem like a truism, but fundraising is much easier if you have traction, and this week's news bears that out.
Enterprise Resource Planning: Opkey, an AI-based ERP testing platform, closed a $47 million Series B funding round. ERP apps are a big source of IT spending for large enterprises, making automated testing valuable. This has helped the company secure 200 large enterprise customers and establish partnerships with system integrators such as KPMG and PwC.
Invoicing skills: Cloud spending is another big concern for businesses, and nOps raised $30 million in Series A to help companies optimize their AWS bills. The company also says it has seen a 450% increase in its customer base over the past 18 months.
Quick Funding: Comun, a neobank focused on serving Latino immigrants in the U.S., has seen its traction drive it to raise $21.5 million in Series A funding less than nine months after its last round. The company reported a “50x” increase in monthly revenue in the first six months of 2024. The company's founders plan to use the funding to expand its team, scale and launch new products.
Big Fish: Canadian AI startup Viggle raised $19 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Two Small Fish. The company is developing a 3D video-based model, JST-1, trained on YouTube videos that allows users to interact with animated characters, spawning many memes.
This week's most interesting VC and fund news
Image credit: redalpine
Swiss Made: Founded in 2006, Redalpine is a European science-focused venture capital firm that has raised $200 million in its seventh early-stage fund, buoyed by its track record. The firm has offices in Zurich and Berlin and plans to open an office in London, in part due to its interest in university spinouts.
Improving Cancer Care: With $30 million in capital, Oncology Ventures is a new venture capital firm that joins other cancer care-focused venture capital firms with a focus on startups improving patient care. The firm is led by Ben Freeberg, a private practice physician and cancer survivor.
In case you missed it: It’s tough even for solo GPs and small VC funds, but the SEC has made life a little easier for startup funds: the dollar threshold to be considered a “qualified venture fund” and benefit from the corresponding exemption has been raised from $10 million to $12 million.
Last but not least
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The secondary market is booming, driven in large part by demand for shares in popular AI companies. Recent days have brought further evidence: SEC filings show that New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has re-entered the space by raising more than $468 million for another fund focused on buying secondary shares, the NEA Secondary Opportunity Fund; meanwhile, it emerged that Paris-based Palico has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to become the first firm able to facilitate end-to-end LP secondary transactions.