Trump Vows To Reach Mars + Startup & VC News

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TECH IN THE NEWS

MAGA Musk - Tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared on stage and gave a speech at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the recent assassination attempt. Trump publicly vowed to go to Mars within his term if he is elected.

Mental Privacy - New California Law protects consumers’ brain data from “mind-reading” technologies that track brain activity. Some think it doesn't go far enough.

Rockbridge Network - The J.D. Vance-linked, Silicon Valley-backed donor organization has around a $75 million budget to finance MAGA-friendly news, voter turnout operations and election polls according to an investigation by Reuters.

Goldilocks Zone - Asian stocks rose Monday after stronger-than-expected US jobs data reduced recession fears and boosted optimism over a soft or “no landing”.

YC backed AptDeco, the only end-to-end furniture resale solution

AptDeco offers a comprehensive suite of resale technology and logistics solutions tailored for the furniture industry. They make sustainable decorating easy, affordable and accessible. Connecting consumers with the perfect piece helps divert millions of pounds of furniture from landfills. With over $84M GMV, 500K+ active users, & partnerships with top brands like West Elm and Pottery Barn, AptDeco is transforming the $702B furniture industry. They’ve raised more than $1.3M from 250+ investors.

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:

MASSIVE DEALS

Code Automation - San Francisco startup Poolside raised a $500M Series B at $3B post-money led by Bain and joined by eBay Ventures and Nvidia Ventures.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service - Nvidia-backed New Jersey startup CoreWeave is selling $400M to $500M in secondary shares to Cisco Systems at a $23B valuation.

Metabolic Disease Therapies - Boston startup Kailera Therapeutics raised a $400M Series A co-led by Atlas, Bain Life Sciences, and RTW Investments.

Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals - Boston-based Aktis Oncology raised a $175M a Series B co-led by RA Capital, RTW, and Janus Henderson with T. Rowe Price, Avidity Partners, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, and MRL Ventures Fund.

Cloud Data Automation - Israeli and New York-based Eon raised $127M across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds at $750M post-money from Sequoia, Vine Ventures, Meron Capital, Eight Roads, Lightspeed, Sheva, Greenoaks, and Quiet.

Satellite Optimization - Redondo Beach-based Impulse Space raised a $150M Series B led by Founders Fund with DCVC, 137, Airbus, Alumni, Balerion Space , Elysium, Tamarack Global, Lux, Spring Tide and more.

LARGE DEALS

Asian Food Delivery - London-based delivery app startup HungryPanda raised $55M at a $500M valuation led by Mars Growth Capital bringing its total to $275M.

AI Customer Service - San Fran startup Crescendo raised a $50M Series C at a $500M valuation led by General Catalyst and joined by Celesta Capital and Alorica.

AI Sales Automation - San Fran startup 11x.ai raised a $50M Series B at a $350M post-money valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Analytics & AI Infrastructure - Mountain View startup DataPelago raised $47M in seed and Series A funding from Eclipse, Taiwania Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Alter Venture Partners, Nautilus Venture Partners, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Code Generation & Testing - Israeli AI coding startup Qodo (formerly CodiumAI), raised $40M in a new round led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg.

SMALLER DEALS

AI Troubleshooting - San Fran AI code startup Resolve AI raised a $35M seed round led by Greylock.

Gen AI Gaming Platform - San Fran AI gaming studio startup Series Entertainment raised a $28M Series A from Netflix, Dell, & Andreessen Horowitz.

AI Content Prediction - Boston customer engagement startup Vizit raised a $25M Series B led by Industry Ventures, with participation from eGateway & Highmount.

Generative AI for Finance - New York AI financial questions startup Rogo raised $18.5M in a Series A led by Khosla Ventures.

Smart Building Infrastructure - San Francisco cloud-based infrastructure startup for eco-minded developers, Neeve raised $15M from Cantor Fitzgerald and RXR.

Water-Powered-Spacecraft - California in-space transfer startup Argo Space raised $7.9M for its development of a moon-water fueled craft.

Voice Dictation AI - San Fran startup Wispr raised $12M led by Matt Kraning with NEA, 8VC for its tool integrated with apps to assist with dictation, edits, commands.

AI-Powered Sales Teams - San Francisco startup Artisan raised a $7.3M seed round led by Oliver Jung, with Sequoia Scout, YC, Soma Capital, and others. 

Exit Watch:

Cerebras Systems - The Coatue/Altman-backed US AI chip startup has filed for an IPO at a $7-8B valuation. It reported a 3x revenue jump in its filing with sales of $136.4M a net loss of $66.6M in H1 2024, 87% of it coming from just one customer.

Ingram Micro - The IT Services & Supply Chain Solutions company has publicly filed for a U.S. IPO which it hopes will tap into investor demand for tech services. 

WuXi AppTec - The China-based pharmaceutical services giant is reportedly exploring the sale of some of its pharma units due to U.S. restrictions. 

Omada Health - The San Francisco-based healthcare & diabetes management startup has confidentially filed for an IPO.

Companies to Watch:

Cerebras Systems - The Coatue/Altman-backed US AI chip startup has filed for an IPO at a $7-8B valuation. It reported a 3x revenue jump with sales of $136.4M and a net loss of $66.6M in H1 2024. 87% of its H1 revenue came from just one customer.

ElevenLabs - The AI audio applications tools startup is being pushed by existing and new investors to launch a new round valued as high as $3B. ARR grew from $25M in Dec to ~$80M.

Oura - The Finnish health ring startup expects to see its annual sales double to ~$500M this year and sees “healthy” growth in 2025, according to Bloomberg.

Joby Aviation - Toyota is doubling down on the California electric air taxi company with another $500M to add to its original $394M to help it get certification and ramp up commercial production.

Impulse Space - Last week the in-space transportation startup raised a $150M Series B led by Founders Fund. Now it has landed a $34.5M contract with the U.S. Space Force for two ultra-mobile spacecraft missions.

The Funding Buzz

Lightspeed Venture Partners - The California VC firm is aiming to raise $7b for three new funds, with about 40% allocated to a follow-on “opportunity fund“ for portfolio companies and late-stage startups like Stripe and Rippling.

Blackstone - The world's largest alternative asset manager is raising a third Asia-focused PE fund, targeting at least $10B, focused on India, Japan and Australia.

DCVC - The veteran Palo Alto VC firm that invests in early stage deep tech startups like life sciences, has raised a third bio fund in the amount of $400 million.

Thrive Capital - Josh Kushner’s VC firm has raised $391.3M in new capital for a SPV investment vehicle associated with its $3.5b growth fund launched in August.

The Cancer AI Alliance - A $40M collaboration between major medical institutions and tech giants like Microsoft, AWS, Nvidia, and Deloitte to drive AI in cancer care.

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