Latest AI, Biotech & Fintech Raises + News

TECH IN THE NEWS

Highs All Round — US stocks and bitcoin hit all-time highs, with BTC passing $80k in weekend trading, while the USD and bond yields saw big jumps, as investors bet on tax cuts, tariffs, and deregulation.

Trillion $ Tesla — Tesla crossed the $1T market cap threshold as investors bet a Trump presidency will benefit the automaker owing to Trump's ties to CEO Elon Musk.

Stimulating — China announced a $1.4T stimulus package to boost its economy in the wake of the US election, but Chinese consumer prices are rising the slowest in 4 months as inflation cools.

Free Zuck — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is declared by a federal judge to not be personally liable in 25 lawsuits accusing Meta of addicting children to social media.

“A Proactive Step” — Online travel agency Booking.com could cut jobs as part of a review of its organizational structure after posting a 13.6% jump in Q3 opex.

MADE POSSIBLE BY

Whiskey Investing: Consistent Returns with Vinovest

It’s no secret that investors love strong returns.

That’s why 250,000 people use Vinovest to invest in fine whiskey.

Whiskey has consistently matured and delivered noteworthy exits. With the most recent exit at 30.7%, Vinovest’s track record supports whiskey’s value growth across categories such as Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish whiskey.

With Vinovest’s strategic approach to sourcing and market analysis, you get access to optimal acquisition costs and profitable exits.

Schedule a call with a Vinovest advisor to learn more.

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:

MASSIVE DEALS

eVTOL Aircraft — Vermont startup BETA Technologies designs electric vertical and conventional takeoff aircraft for cargo, logistics, medical transport, and defense. It closed a $318M Series C round led by QIA, with United Therapeutics and previous investors Fidelity and TPG Rise Climate participating.

Digital Bill Payments — New York-based SMB bills and invoicing platform startup Melio raised a $150M Series E round at $2B post-money led by Fiserv, with Shopify and Capital One Ventures.

Real-time Cloud Security — Upwind, a Israeli/San Fran startup providing real-time cloud security visibility, is finalizing a $100M Series B round at $850M - $900M post-money. Investors include Craft, Greylock, CyberStarts, Leaders Fund, Sheva Fund, and Penny Jar.

Brain–Computer Interface — New York-based brain–computer interface tech startup Precision Neuroscience has raised $93M of a planned $100M round at a $500M valuation. It aims to treat paralysis and neurodegenerative diseases..

Chinese Autonomous Cars — Shenzhen autonomous driving systems technology startup DeepRoute raised a $100M round solely from Great Wall Motor.

MID-SIZE DEALS

Leal Therapeutics — A massachusetts startup developing treatments for central nervous system disorders like ALS, closed a $45M round led by Newpath Partners.

SMALLER DEALS

Parker — The New York E-commerce business banking startup raised a $20M Series B round led by Valar with input from Y Combinator.

Ellipsis Labs — The New York startup offering systems for verifying financial transactions raised $21M led by Haun Ventures, joined by Electric Capital, Anatoly Yakovenko, and Paradigm.

Fractional — A San Fran startup offering investment properties co-ownership raised a $15M Series A round led by Fifth Wall, with Left Lane also participating.

Sapien — A startup developing AI-driven financial analysis tools for CFOs and finance teams to streamline complex tasks, raised $8.7M in seed funding led by General Catalyst.

Troveo — The Los Angeles startup enables content creators to license videos to AI companies for training. It raised a $4.5M seed round funded by Seven Seven Six.

Embed Security — The newly founded startup using AI to automate security alert investigations raised a $6M pre-seed round led by Paladin Capital Group.

Exit Watch:

RepairPal — The 17-year-old San Francisco company that helps car owners navigate automotive services with trust, has been acquired by user-generated reviews company Yelp for $80 million in cash.

CoreWeave — The buzzy Nvidia-backed startup offering infrastructure-as-a-service for industries like AI and CGI, has picked bankers for a 2025 IPO.

Chat.com — HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah sold the domain name to OpenAI for stock in the startup. He bought it last year for $15.5M.

Companies to Watch:

Kalshi — The predictions marketplace has boomed during the elections, trading ~$200M in a month. It has now secured tens of millions in loans from VCs, and is now eyeing a $50M+ round.

Anthropic — The AI startup is in talks with Amazon about another billion-dollar plus investment into the startup, but the catch is it would need to commit to using AWS to train its AI rather than its current solution, Nvidia.

Anysphere — Benchmark, Index Ventures, other VC firms are in reportedly in a wild, unsolicited bidding war over the maker of the AI-powered coding tool, Cursor.

Fathom — The four-year-old AI notetaking startup’s revenue is up 90x and usage by 20% over two years. It also recently raised a $17M Series A led by Telescope partners, with $2M coming via crowdfunding from users.

The Funding Buzz

Saudi Arabia — The Kingdom unveiled "Project Transcendence," a $100B AI initiative to establish itself as a global tech powerhouse through investments in data centers, AI startups, and infrastructure.

Coatue Management — The investment firm, known for its tech startup investments during the pandemic, is raising $1 billion to support AI-focused companies.

Conviction Partners — Sarah Guo, former Greylock Partners GP, is raising around $200M for her second fund to back early-stage AI startups. Mike Vernal, formerly of Sequoia, has joined the firm.

Category Ventures — A San Francisco VC firm founded by Villi Iltchev, formerly of Two Sigma Ventures and August Capital, is raising a first fund of $156M.

Superscrypt — The early-stage blockchain VC firm backed by Singapore’s Temasek is raising a new $100M fund in collaboration with fintech company Republic.

Faber — A Lisbon-based pre-seed and seed-stage VC firm focusing on deep tech, AI, robotics, and biotech, completed a first close of $33.9M for its third fund.

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Unlock the full potential of your workday with cutting-edge AI strategies and actionable insights, empowering you to achieve unparalleled excellence in the future of work. Download the free guide today!