Augury and Hightouch Soar into the Unicorn Club: Celebrating Their Billion-Dollar Valuation!
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Startup Highlights: Beginnings and Endings
This week in the startup ecosystem showcased a mix of exciting new ventures and unfortunate closures, reaffirming that the narrative of startup life is indeed one of births and deaths.
Noteworthy Startup Developments
- Thinking Machines Lab: Founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, this AI startup emerged from stealth mode, yet details on its venture capital funding remain undisclosed. Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever’s startup, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), is reportedly in the process of raising around $1 billion.
- HP Acquires Humane: The hardware startup behind the controversial AI Pin has sold most of its assets to HP for $116 million.
- Future Family’s New Offering: Based in San Francisco, Future Family has launched an innovative IVF insurance product that promises a refund to parents if the treatment fails after two attempts.
- Nikola Corp’s Bankruptcy: Once a favorite in Silicon Valley, the hydrogen electric trucking company has filed for bankruptcy, unable to secure a buyer or additional funding to continue operations.
Funding and Investment Trends
Despite earlier skepticism, it appears that unicorn startups are still making waves in the investment landscape. The legal AI sector is gaining traction, and the prospect of budget cuts has led to the formation of a new biotech venture fund.
Recent VC Activities
- Saronic’s Series C: This Austin-based defense startup successfully raised $600 million to develop an autonomous ship factory, boosting its valuation to $4 billion.
- Codeium’s New Round: Following a $150 million Series C, the AI coding startup is in discussions for a new round led by Kleiner Perkins that values it at $2.85 billion.
- Hightouch Secures Funding: Co-founded by a former Segment engineering manager, Hightouch closed an $80 million Series C, achieving a valuation of $1.2 billion.
- Augury’s Series F: Specializing in AI-based hardware for factory machine diagnostics, Augury has raised $75 million in equity funding, marking a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
- Varo’s New Capital: The fintech company has closed $29 million out of a planned $55 million Series G, amidst leadership changes.
- Sanas Funding Round: The AI company transforming call center accents has secured $65 million, pushing its valuation over $500 million.
- Luminance’s Series C: This legal tech startup raised $75 million, highlighting the growing demand for AI solutions in the legal field.
- Altitude Lab’s New Fund: As NIH funding faces uncertainty, Altitude Lab’s Pre-seed Venture Fund is set to invest $100,000 to $250,000 in qualified biotech startups.
Industry Insights
In a recent episode of the Invest Like the Best podcast, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz discussed the firm’s long-term vision, emphasizing that despite managing $45 billion in assets, he is not eager to take the company public.
Stay tuned for more updates in the evolving startup landscape, and don’t forget to subscribe to Startups Weekly for your weekly dose of startup insights!
