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☆ Holistic, a Paris-based AI startup founded by ex-DeepMind staffers, is raising a $200 million funding round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI startup Holistic, founded by ex-DeepMind scientists, is raising $200 million in new funding. The Paris-based startup is raising capital from Accel and BPI France, sources say. The startup aims to develop a multi-agent AGI, per a leaked investor deck obtained by BI. AdvertisementA Paris-based AI startup founded by two ex-DeepMind scientists is set to raise around $200 million in new funding. Ex-DeepMind scientist Laurent Sifre is chief LLM officer.

Persons: AGI, —, Charles Kantor, Karl Tuyls, Laurent Sifre Organizations: Accel, BPI France, BI, Service, Stanford Business School, Business Locations: Paris

☆ Nvidia-backed startup Synthesia unveils AI avatars that can convey human emotions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.K. tech startup Synthesia unveiled a new range of AI-generated avatars that can convey emotions like happiness, sadness, and frustration. Nvidia -backed artificial intelligence firm Synthesia on Thursday unveiled a new wave of AI-generated digital avatars that can convey human emotions using a user's text inputs. The company said its "Expressive Avatars" can blur the lines between the virtual world and real characters. In one demonstration, the company showed three lines of text being inserted into its platform — "I am happy. The company's technology is used by more than 55,000 businesses, including half of the Fortune 100, to make digital avatars for corporate presentations and training videos, according to Synthesia.

Persons: Synthesia, Kleiner Perkins Organizations: Nvidia, Fortune, Accel, GV, FirstMark, MMC Locations: London

☆ BeReal weighs an uncertain Series C or acquisition as growth stalls and funding is set to run out later this year, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Kali Hays | Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The company is considering raising a Series C before what's left of its $90 million in funding runs out. BeReal closed a $60 million Series B funding round at an around $600 million valuation in late 2022, following a $30 million Series A earlier the same year. Sooner than later, BeReal leadership will be forced to choose between raising another round and maintaining its independence or selling itself outright, running the risk of disappearing. Company leadership holds an all-hands every quarter after they meet with the company's board, which includes investors. As for the possibility of an acquisition, BeReal leadership has told employees there are "offers" that have been made, without giving any specifics.

Persons: Alexis Barreyat, what's, BeReal, Yuri Milner's, Andreessen Horowitz, Barreyat, Romain Salzman, Kali Hays, Callum Burroughs cburroughs@businessinsider.com Organizations: Business, Gas, Yuri Milner's DST, Accel Locations: Paris, Japan, Asia, Pacific, khays@businessinsider.com

☆ Cybersecurity startup Cyera is set to triple its valuation to as high as $1.55 billion in a new funding round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Cyera is a cybersecurity startup founded in 2021 by two veterans of The Israel Defence Forces. It is raising funding that values the company at as much as $1.55 billion, three sources told BI. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementCyera, a New York-based data security startup founded in 2021, is raising a new funding round that values the company at as much as $1.55 billion, three sources familiar with the matter told Business Insider. The startup is raising $150 to $200 million in this latest round, according to multiple sources.

Persons: Douglas Leone, — Organizations: Israel Defence Forces, Sequoia Capital, Service, Accel, Business Locations: New York

☆ Nanonets, an AI-powered workflow automation startup, just raised $29 million with this 23-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI workflow automation startup Nanonets has raised $29 million in new funding. Check out the 24-slide pitch deck Nanonets used the land the funds. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementNanonets, an AI workflow automation startup, has raised $29 million in new funding.

Persons: —, Jain Organizations: Accel India, Capital, Service, Business

☆ Filigran, a French cybersecurity startup used by the FBI, just raised $16.2 million using this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Filigran, a French cybersecurity startup, has raised $16.2 million in new funding. Founded in 2022, Filigran provides a series of products to help private companies and public institutions defend against threats using an open-source program. Based in Paris, Filigran's threat intelligence platform is used by Hermes, Airbus, and the FBI to help better understand security issues, which the rise of AI attacks has exacerbated, Filigran CEO Samuel Hassine told Business Insider. "Our products are all about aggregating and understanding your threat landscape, not just the technical threat but also risk analysis and cybersecurity," Hassine told BI. Check out Filigran's 12-slide Series A pitch deck below:

Persons: Hermes, Samuel Hassine, Hassine, Filigran Organizations: Airbus, FBI, Business, Moonfire Ventures, Motier Ventures Locations: Filigran, Paris, Australia, Europe

Energy startup Axle is in talks to raise a round backed by VC fund Accel, BI understands. The year-old company could raise around $6 million in capital as part of the deal, sources say. The energy tech startup uses electric vehicles and home energy assets to help balance grids. Energy software startup Axle Energy is in talks to raise fresh funding in a round backed by venture capital fund Accel, Business Insider understands. The London-based company, founded in 2023, connects electric vehicles and batteries to energy grids to help solve the intermittency of renewables.

Organizations: Energy, Accel, BI, Business Locations: London, Europe

☆ Vinted cofounder Milda Mitkute shares the shopping app's path from 2 a.m. house party startup to $3.8B success
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Milda Mitkute, the cofounder of second-hand shopping app Vinted. But when you have 30,000 people on your site you need more servers and those invoices started going up to 200 euros. AdvertisementBut when we asked girls in Germany, France, and the US why they used Vinted, it was all about selling to earn some extra cash, authenticity, finding unique clothes, and consuming more sustainably. A life divided into projectsWhen you're young you think that the more you work, the more you're going to create. Mitkute stepped back from Vinted in 2017 and is no longer on the board but remains a shareholder.

Persons: —, Milda Mitkute, Vinted, Justas Janauskas, Justus, VIRGINIE LEFOUR, Getty, let's, Jonas Gratzer, Malvina, I've, It's, Mitkute Organizations: Service, Business, Vinted, Accel Partners, Facebook, Spotify Locations: Vilnius, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Germany, Soviet, France, Vinted

☆ Conversational AI startup Vocode entered Y Combinator without a business plan. Now, it's raised $3.25 million without a pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vocode, a conversational AI startup, has raised $3.25 million in seed funding. Founded in 2023, by Ajay Raj and Kian Hooshmand, Vocode raised funding at Y Combinator without a formal pitch deck. Vocode's founders are friends from high school who made it into Y Combinator despite opting against pitching their original business plan. With 10 weeks until demo day, the team began interviewing teams across fintech, healthcare, and climate, searching for ideas before landing on conversational AI. The company began making waves in online hacker communities before its demo day pitch session in front of investors.

Persons: Ajay Raj, Kian, Vocode, PrankGPT, Hooshmand, Y Organizations: Business Locations: San Francisco, fintech

Virginia is not the only state grappling with skill games, but the efforts there reflect points in a larger debate nationwide as they have exploded in popularity. It is also backed by skill games producer Pace-O-Matic, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to legislators in recent years. It would tax skill games revenue at 15% and would not explicitly limit the total number of machines that could exist. The skill games debate is a rare issue that doesn't split along partisan lines, and lawmakers have gone around and around on it for years. The General Assembly voted in 2020 to ban skill games, taking on the issue at the same time they were clearing the way for casinos for the first time.

Persons: ”, Sen, Aaron Rouse, Louise Lucas, Pace, Rouse, Chris Cylke, Ahmed Makhani, —, ” Cylke, Mark Peake, “, ” Peake, Democratic Sen, Jeremy McPike, Prince William County, McPike, Matt Hortenstine, Hortenstine, Lucas, Glenn Youngkin's, Christian Martinez, Ralph Northam Organizations: Senate Finance Committee, ABC, American Gaming Association, Republican, Democratic, Virginia Lottery Board, J Ventures, Accel Entertainment, Republican Gov, General, Virginia Supreme Locations: RICHMOND, Va, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Commonwealth, Lynchburg, Georgia, Illinois

☆ 16 VCs that are funding the future of entertainment by backing generative AI and other disruptive tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

AdvertisementAfter a period of "wild west" investing in AI, Blank believes activity will favor AI companies that respect artists' consent and compensation. It recently co-led a $1 million seed round in Conduiit, which centralizes entertainment companies' production finance operations. Endeavor Venture InvestmentsEndeavor Venture Investments is the venture arm of entertainment and sports behemoth Endeavor. SWaN & LegendThe Virginia-based VC firm has a broad consumer portfolio that includes a number of entertainment investments. With Hollywood in contraction, SWaN has largely hit pause on new entertainment investments to get its portfolio companies on a strong footing.

Persons: Michael Blank, Blank, Jon Miller, Miller, Slack, Garnet Heraman, BDMI, Urs Cete, Michael, TMRW, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Elysian Park Ventures Jay Adya, Grant Lamos, Tom Brady, Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan, Jay Adya, Morgan, Kushaan Ahuja, Drew Glover, Glover, Alex Harris, they've, Noah Doyle, Payback India, Jed Katz, Rich Greenfield, Rich, Ilya Pozin, Jamie Seltzer, LightShed, Steve Cohen's, it's, Sri Chandrasekar, Tripp Shriner, Ishan Sinha, That's, Wondery, Ian Doody, Raine, Gordon Rubenstein, Joe Ravitch, Jeff Sine, ‐, Fred Schaufeld, SWaN, that's, Oscar, Jose, Schaufeld, Sam Wick, Alex J, Investcorp, Paul Yoo, Edgar Bronfman Jr, Daniel Leff, Waverley, Leff Organizations: Service, Creative Artists, Connect Ventures, Business, Hollywood, Veteran, TPG, Integrated Media Co, Advancit, CAA, Bertelsmann, Waverley, Octopus Ventures, Accel, Facebook, Venture, Aperture Venture, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Fremantle, Connect, CAA Connect Ventures, New Enterprises Associates, TMRW Sports, Disney, Universal, Elysian Park Ventures, Elysian, Sports, Endeavor Venture, Endeavor Venture Investments, behemoth Endeavor, Dapper Labs, Fiat Ventures, Fiat Ventures Fiat Ventures, Fiat, Payback, Rent, LightShed, Rich Greenfield Influential, LightShed Ventures, Pluto, Apple, Octopus Ventures Octopus Ventures, Investments, Corp, Etsy, Re, Point72 Ventures New York Mets, Range Media Partners, Point72 Ventures, Sri, Powerhouse, Athletic, The New York Times Co, Evolution Media, Creative Artists Agency, Astro, Rave Digital Media, Accel Entertainment, Jose Andrés Media, Berliner, UTA Talent, UTA, UTA Ventures, Ventures, VR, Amazon, PFL Locations: blockchain, —, Conduiit, fintech, London, Australia, Papercup, Los Angeles, Virginia, UTA.VC

☆ Zepz, a $5 billion fintech unicorn, is laying off more staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Zepz, the money transfer group that owns WorldRemit, made a fresh round of layoffs. "Zepz has entered a redundancy consultation which will could affect less than 2% of its global headcount," a Zepz company spokesperson said in an exclusive statement to CNBC. "Zepz values the contributions these colleagues have made to our company," the spokesperson added. "To fully realise our mission to unlock the prosperity of cross-border communities, we sometimes need to make tough decisions," Zepz told CNBC. The business was last valued at $5 billion, making it one of the largest and most valuable fintech companies in Europe.

Persons: Zepz, Zepz hasn't Organizations: TCV, CNBC, Sendwave Locations: British, Europe

☆ Ex-Meta staffers see booming business targeting online disinformation after two wars break out
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

Wagner left Facebook parent Meta last year, and her work in trust and safety feels like it was from a prior era. One of her first investments was in a startup called Cove, which was founded by former Meta trust and safety staffers. "One thing I would recommend is transparency at a time where third-party access and understanding to what is going on at scale on social platforms is what is needed." Post is an example of the kinds of companies that trust and safety startups are focused on. Fishman said customers are starting to see trust and safety tools as almost an extension of their cybersecurity budgets.

Persons: Joshua Bratt, Lauren Wagner, Wagner, Mandel Ngan, Roblox, Wagner's, Michael Dworsky, it's, Mason Silber, Donald Trump, Manu Aggarwal, Aggarwal, Abhijnan Dasgupta, Sara Ittelson, Ittelson, Cove's Dworsky, they'd, Alex Goldenberg, Noam Bardin, he's, Bardin, that's, Brian Fishman, Cinder, Fishman Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Hamas, Twitter, Radium Ventures, White, AFP, Getty, CNBC, Innovation Labs, Google, Apple, Republican, Everest Group, Accenture, Genpact, Big Tech, Tech, Venture, Accel, European, Digital Services, Defamation League, Network, Research, Rumble Locations: King's Cross, London, Israel, Washington ,, San Francisco, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Cinder, who's, ActiveFence

Wednesday's batch of analyst research included bullish calls on a credit card giant and a sports betting name. The firm downgraded the pharmaceutical stock to neutral from overweight and lowered its price target to $55 per share from $68. The bank downgraded the Canadian Solar to underweight from neutral in a Wednesday note and lowered its price target to $22 per share from $32. The analyst noted that the guidance given confirms his bull case for the stock, which consists of a $70 price target. The bank initiated coverage of the credit card giant with an overweight rating and a $184 per share price target — which implies more than 17% upside from Tuesday's close.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Guggenheim, John DiFucci, there's, Brian Evans, Cantor Fitzgerald downgrades, Myers Squibb Cantor Fitzgerald, We've, Olivia Brayer, Myers Squibb, — Brian Evans, Julien Dumoulin, Smith, Wells, Omar Mejias, Mark Strouse, DraftKings, Stephen Grambling, Grambling, Fred Imbert, millennials, Z, Gen, Terry Ma Organizations: CNBC, Barclays, American Express, Guggenheim, FactSet, Myers Squibb, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Warner Music Group, accel, JPMorgan, American Locations: Bristol, Generac, Europe, CSIQ

☆ Check out the pitch decks AI startups Viso, Weav.ai, Dashtoon, and Frenetic used to raise a collective $31.2 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Four AI startups in the form of Weav.AI, Dashtoon, Frenetic, and Viso recently raised a combined $31.2 million in early-stage funding. All four startups, working in sectors ranging from computer vision to AI-driven illustration, shared their pitch decks with Insider. Viso raises round led by Spotify-backer AccelIn October, Swiss startup Viso secured $9.2 million from venture capital giant Accel. Developing computer vision applications is a timely and complex task, and scaling this technology usually "requires significant infrastructure," the startup said. Its platform allows clients — from construction companies to logistics enterprises and city councils — to manage and deploy these computer vision tools from one workspace.

Persons: Viso, DeepMind's Mehdi Ghissassi, Gaudenz Boesch, Slack, Mehdi Ghissassi, Mihai Faur Organizations: Accel, Sierra Ventures, Business, Spotify Locations: Swiss, —

☆ Web Summit CEO apologises for comments on Israeli conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave on Tuesday apologised for comments he made on the Israeli-Hamas conflict that prompted some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal next month. Web Summit, one of the world's largest tech conferences, will take place in Lisbon from Nov. 13-16, with attendees from companies such as Meta (META.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to investors such as Atomico. "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are," wrote Cosgrave, who was born in Ireland. Among executives to have cancelled their participation at Web Summit are AI21 Labs' Ori Goshen; Tome's Keith Peiris; Sequoia Capital partner Ravi Gupta; Yinon Costica, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity unicorn Wiz; and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, according to LinkedIn and X posts. Philippe Botteri, CEO of tech investor Accel, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday he would no longer speak at Web Summit.

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, Cosgrave, I’m, Leo Varadkar's, Israel, Cosgrove, Goshen, Tome's Keith Peiris, Ravi Gupta, Yinon Costica, Y, Garry Tan, Philippe Botteri, Portugal Dor Shapira, Steven Scheer, Supantha Mukherjee, Josephine Mason, Alison Williams, Mark Potter Organizations: Web, Microsoft, Palestinian, Hamas, Irish, AI21 Labs, Sequoia Capital, Thomson Locations: Portugal, Lisbon, Gaza, Israel, Ireland, Jerusalem, Stockholm, London

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSTOCKHOLM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) companies have become the major driver of unicorns -- startups reaching $1 billion valuation -- with 60% of the new ones falling in this category, according to a report from venture capital firm Accel. AI foundation models, developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Meta and others, are capable of generating text, images or other media in response to prompts. Europe, home to AI startups such as AI video avatar platform Synthesia and Stability AI, is already producing 50% more AI publications than the United States with similar citation rate, according to the report. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, editing by Deborah KyvrikosaiosOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Philippe Botteri, Botteri, Supantha Mukherjee, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Accel, Microsoft, Nvidia, Thomson Locations: Rights STOCKHOLM, Israeli, Meta, Europe, United States, Stockholm

☆ A lot of 2023's new unicorns have been generative AI startups. Here's what to expect from the sector next year, according to Accel.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Generative AI startups have made up a lot of the world's new unicorns this year. High-profile investors have jostled to back, in some cases, weeks-old startups like Mistral as the hype around generative AI intensified. Both regions also tout a batch of promising unicorns across the generative AI stack. Generative AI will become a run-of-the-mill tool"Generative AI will unlock new verticalised applications built with smaller and dedicated models and industry-specific workflows," the Accel report said. Enterprises will also jump to incorporate generative AI more seamlessly into their automation tools, per the report.

Persons: —, Phillipe Botteri, Harvey Organizations: Venture, Mistral, US, Accel Partners, Runway, Accel, EU, Stanford University, Enterprises, Big Tech, Microsoft Locations: Europe, Israel, Jasper, France, EU

SummaryCompanies India's Avendus to launch investment banking in Southeast AsiaKKR-backed Avendus' managing director Gupta to move to SingaporeAvendus expects Southeast Asia to grow fast in coming yearsMUMBAI, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Indian financial services firm Avendus will start offering investment banking services from Singapore to cash in on an expected technology sector dealmaking boom in the Southeast Asia region. Karan Sharma, a managing director for Avendus in India said the operations from Singapore will focus on advising technology sector funding rounds of $40-50 million in Southeast Asia. Sharma said Avendus India Managing Director Varun Gupta will lead the Southeast Asia operations and relocate to Singapore early next year. The demographics and infrastructure challenges are similar," said Sharma, who co-heads Avendus' Digital & Technology Investment Banking division in India. Dealmaking in Southeast Asia should help lift Asian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the second half of the year, bankers told Reuters in June.

Persons: Gupta, Avendus, Karan Sharma, Sharma, Varun Gupta, GoTo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Sriram, Yantoultra Ngui, Aditya Kalra, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Asia KKR, Singapore Avendus, U.S, KKR, Avendus, & Technology Investment Banking, Tiger Global, Reuters, Asia, Accel, Lightspeed, Venture Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Asia, Singapore, Southeast Asia, MUMBAI, India

☆ AI gave tech giants a $2.4 trillion boost to their market caps in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Nvidia's high-performance chips power many advanced generative AI models, which produce new content from huge volumes of training data. The world has been abuzz with talk about generative AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard and Anthropic's Claude. The U.S. led the way in generative AI funding deals, with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic raising billions. AccelIn Europe, three of the biggest generative AI company rounds came out of France — Hugging Face ($235 million), Poolside ($126 million) and Mistral AI ($113 million). In Europe and Israel, 40% of new unicorns were in generative AI; in the United States, it was 80%.

Persons: Botteri, Google's Bard, Anthropic's Claude, Philippe Botteri, they're, OpenAI, they'd Organizations: Future Publishing, Getty Images, Accel, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Companies, Nasdaq, U.S, Public, CNBC, Mistral, Tech, Big Tech, FAANG, Netflix, Google Locations: U.S, Unity, Europe, Israel, France, United States

Oct 4 (Reuters) - Headway, a healthcare tech startup that connects patients and in-network therapists, has raised $125 million in Series C funding, the company told Reuters. Insurance company Health Care Service Corporation also joined the round. Based in New York, Headway's platform connects patients with therapists and psychiatrists who can provide care covered by insurance. The company makes money by taking a cut of the payments that therapists on its platform receive from insurance companies. The pandemic prompted more people to turn to mental health services to deal with stress and burnout.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Andrew Adams, We've, Adams, Will Reed, Krystal Hu, Tom Hogue Organizations: Reuters, Spark Capital, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz . Insurance, Health Care Service Corporation, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, San Francisco

☆ Klaviyo's IPO gives CEO Andrew Bialecki a stake worth $3.6 billion. Here are the others getting rich.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Klaviyo went public after raising $576 million in its IPO. The opening price gives cofounder and CEO Andrew Bialecki a stake worth roughly $3.6 billion. Venture capital firms including Summit Partners, Accomplice, and Accel also made out handsomely. Klaviyo went public at a market cap of $11.3 billion on Wednesday, as it becomes the latest company trying to stir the initial public offering market from a deep slumber. This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers.

Persons: Klaviyo, Andrew Bialecki Organizations: Venture, Summit Partners, Accel, MIT's Sloan School of Management

☆ Early Revolut backer Lakestar leads $40 million investment in French fintech startup Swan
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

European venture capital giant Lakestar, an early supporter of fintech unicorn Revolut, has emerged as a prominent backer of French fintech startup Swan. Swan raised the funds in a series B investment led by European venture capital giant Lakestar. Accel, another venture capital firm, previously led Swan's series A round in 2021. "What we had in mind with our co-founders was that it shouldn't be that complex," he told CNBC. Georgia Watson, a principal at Lakestar based in the firm's London office, said the firm had been tracking Swan "for about a year."

Persons: Swan, Nicolas Benady, Benady, Georgia Watson, Watson, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Accel, Swan, CNBC, ABN Amro, ING Group Locations: French, Netherlands, London

☆ India’s fintech partygoers nurse a needed hangover
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUMBAI, Sept 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s financial technology industry is suffering from overindulgence. And it was on full display at a sombre Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai last week. The South Asian country is the world’s third-largest fintech market by number of unicorns. Poster child Byju’s is squabbling with lenders as investors walk away and financial reports get delayed. Follow @ShritamaBose on XCONTEXT NEWSThe Global Fintech Fest organised by the National Payments Corporation of India and industry association Payments Council of India was held between Sept. 5 and 7 in Mumbai.

Persons: securitisation, ’, hesitatingly, Vishwas Patel, they’re, fintechs, Mukesh Ambani’s, Antony Currie, Katrina Hamlin, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Founders, Boston Consulting Group, Venture, Reserve Bank, One97 Communications, FSN, Commerce Ventures, Innoven Triple Blue Capital, XV Partners, Financial, National Payments Corporation of India, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Mumbai, India, fintech, Sequoia Capital’s India, Southeast Asia, Rwanda, Japan, Germany, Peru

☆ A message to OpenAI's Sam Altman was an AI startup founder's last ditch effort to help save her company — and it worked
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The AI startup was recently named by VCs as one of 2023's most promising startups. Thompson named her startup Milo, an acronym for "my important loved ones," and raised some early funding from the accelerator Y Combinator in 2020. "You never hear someone talk about the power of these models to help families," said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer. On Milo, parents can send text messages of grocery lists, photos of permission slips or sign-up-sheets for school activities to the Milo chatbot. To date, Milo has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed and seed capital from Y Combinator, OpenAI, Magnify Ventures, Bronze Ventures, and several angel investors.

Persons: Milo, Avni Patel Thompson, Sam Altman, VCs, Thompson, Mary, Archa Jain, Brad Lightcap, Milo chatbot, Cleo, Sara Ittelson, I'm Organizations: Starbucks, Reebok, Accel, Bronze Ventures Locations: Y

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