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Despite it being summer, there was a ton of announcements this week. Let's take a closer look.
This week's most interesting startup stories
Image credit: Niharika Kulkarni / NurPhoto / Getty Images
No two businesses are the same, which is good news: as we've seen this week, it creates room for companies to try opposing approaches, join forces, and challenge leaders.
To focus or not to focus: In one of the biggest recent M&A deals by a tech company in India, food delivery giant Zomato spent $244.1 million to acquire Paytm's entertainment ticketing business as it refocuses on its fintech core. In contrast, Zomato has been diversifying, aiming to offer a one-stop shop for dining and entertainment options.
Firefighting: FireHydrant, a startup that helps site reliability engineers find, fix and prevent problems, has acquired competitor Blameless as a stepping stone to end-to-end incident management. FireHydrant did not disclose the purchase price but indicated it also raised an undisclosed amount of additional funding at the time of the acquisition.
BUSY SCHEDULE: Dropbox has acquired AI-powered schedule management tool Reclaim.ai. The startup, founded in 2019, plans to continue developing its product after the acquisition. Reclaim.ai's founders said in a video that its entire 22-person team will join Dropbox, but financial terms were not disclosed.
New Launch: A new generation of rocket companies is beginning to challenge SpaceX. As TechCrunch space and defense reporter Aria Alamalhodaei noted, SpaceX, the undisputed leader in launch, “is not intimidating a growing number of competitors; rather, they argue they can bring much-needed supply and competitive pressure to the market, which benefits the entire industry.”
Most interesting fundraisers this week
Image credit: Grafana Labs
This week's big funding rounds weren't just about AI, they also included open source, blockchain, construction tech, and defense tech.
Up Arrow: Grafana Labs, which provides dashboards to help businesses visualize and analyze data from infrastructure services, is now valued at more than $6 billion after what the open-source company described as an extension of its Series D round for 2022. The new funding comes from a primary and secondary deal worth $270 million led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with proceeds going to the open-source company and a portion of its shareholders.
IP vs. AI: PIP Labs, the parent company of startup Story, has raised $80 million in a Series B round from the crypto division of a16z and others to build an “IP blockchain” that will help content owners track and monetize their IP in the AI era.
Military Operations: Virginia-based startup Defcon AI raised $44 million in a seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners to help the U.S. Department of Defense optimize logistics. The company has won about $15 million in government contracts to date and is in the process of certifying its software to process classified and confidential information.
Building Blocks: Trunk Tools, a startup that offers automated tools for organizing unstructured construction documents, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Redpoint. CEO Sarah Buchner told TechCrunch that the company plans to use the funding to expand its team and develop new services, such as its recently launched construction worker incentive program.
This week's most interesting VC and fund news
Image credit: Bolt
Instead of cash: Fintech startup Bolt has yet to close the $450 million funding round it alluded to in a surprise letter to investors. London Fund CEO Ashesh Shah gave TechCrunch more context on why and how his company is participating, at least in part, with a marketing credit.
Planetary Health: Life sciences investment firm BEVC is raising a $25 million fund targeting climate startups, according to an SEC filing, following in the footsteps of RA Capital and Flagship Pioneering, which have similarly expanded their mandates beyond human health.
Last but not least
Image credit: Getty Images
Acquisition hiring is more common than publicized and isn't necessarily a bad deal, founders and investors told TechCrunch. In the current market, the alternative is to run out of money and go out of business. Being acquired by another company “is often not as bad an outcome for founders and key staff as it may first seem,” TechCrunch's Marina Temkin found. Joining in these circumstances typically means passing new hires in terms of salary and stock, which provides an incentive to stay.