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☆ Generative AI startups get 40% of all VC investment in cloud amid ChatGPT buzz
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Cloud startups raised $62.5 billion in Europe, Israel and the U.S. in 2023, the report found. Funding is up 65% from the $47.9 billion cloud firms raised four years ago, according to Accel. AI is eating softwareMuch of the growth of funding in cloud is being driven by excitement around AI. Globally, companies building so-called foundational models, which power much of today's generative AI tools, account for two thirds of overall funding for generative AI firms, Accel said. Big Tech's AI splurgeThe U.S. took the lead globally in terms of overall regional generative AI investment raised.

Persons: OpenAI, ChatGPT, Philippe Botteri, Botteri, Accel's, Anthropic, Elon Musk's xAI, Britain's, France's Mistral, Accel, Dev Ittycheria, Ittycheria Organizations: Accel, Venture, Microsoft, CNBC, Accel —, Nasdaq, Alpha, Google Locations: U.S, Europe, Israel, genAI

☆ The best-funded generative AI startups in Europe have something in common: Big Tech experience
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

That figure rose to more than a third (38%) for the top 40 European and Israeli generative AI companies in terms of venture funding raised, and 60% for the top 10 generative AI companies for funding levels. Google bought British AI lab DeepMind in 2014, and the firm's tech is now key to AI products including its Gemini generative AI tools. Many AI founders are professors, tooAccel noted universities play a major role in the creation of generative AI startups. British universities are the most popular study destination for generative AI founders, Accel's research found. France's Ecole Polytechnique is the second-highest academic founder factory in Europe, with 7% of generative AI founders having studied there.

Persons: Arthur Mensch, Porte de Versailles, Dealroom, Harry Nelis, Europe's, Nelis, Timothee Lacroix, Guillaume Lample, Laurent Sifre, Karl Tuyls, Charles Kantor, Mistral, Accel, —, Lourdes Agapito, Agapito, Matthias Niessner, Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild Organizations: Viva Technology, Parc, Chesnot, Getty, Accel, Apple, Google, Microsoft, CNBC, Mistral France Paris, Alpha, Alpha Germany Heidelberg, Face France Paris, France Paris, United, United Kingdom London, Kingdom London, Facebook, Research, Meta, Amazon, Stanford University, British, University College London, UCL, University of Cambridge, France's Ecole Polytechnique Locations: Paris, France, Europe, Israel, Israeli, Alpha Germany, United Kingdom, British, London, France's

☆ Early Facebook investor Accel raises $650 million fund to back European and Israeli startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

AccelVenture capital firm Accel said Tuesday it's raised $650 million for its eighth fund targeted at investing in European and Israeli early-stage startups, in a sign the venture capital market may be showing signs of a recovery. "The environment has dramatically changed since then," Nelis told CNBC. Climate-focused VC firm World Fund closed a 300 million euro fund in March. "We're lucky that with DeepMind here in London and with Fair [Facebook AI Research] in Paris, there's at least two big centers that have great AI expertise," Nelis told CNBC. "My expectation is Europe is going to generate some really interesting AI application companies," Nelis told CNBC.

Persons: Harry Nelis, Sonali de Rycker, Andrei Brasoveanu, Luca Bocchio, Philippe Botteri, it's, Nelis, UiPath, Russia's, Wise, Magnus Grimeland, Grimeland, there's, Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia, Riparbelli Organizations: Accel, Accel Venture, Spotify, CNBC, Skype, U.S, Nvidia Locations: Europe, Israel, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, New York, U.S, London, Paris, Synthesia

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ Sequoia bolsters London office with sixth partner hire as VC firm unveils radical restructure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital firm Sequoia has hired a sixth partner for its London office, Insider understands. Venture capital firm Sequoia has bolstered its presence in Europe with the hire of its sixth partner in London, Insider understands. "Since Julien joined us as an associate five years ago, he's become a valued member of our London team," Accel partner Sonali De Rycker said. Sequoia will expand in Europe despite a broader contraction in venture capital funding to European startups. Sequoia has closed 21 deals in Europe in the three years since it opened in London, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Julien Bek, Accel's Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia's Lixandru, Bek, Julien, he's, Sonali De Rycker, Slay, Matt Miller, George Robson, Anas Organizations: Sequoia, . Venture, Apple, Accel, London, Investment, Investments, Trade Republic, Global Founders Capital, Revolut Locations: Sequoia, Europe, London, California, China, India, Southeast Asia, Geneva, Switzerland, Lixandru

☆ Ex-employees from Europe’s 60 biggest fintech unicorns like Revolut and Klarna spawned 310 new startups, new data shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The biggest fintech startups in Europe are producing a large chunk of new founders in the industry. It's a sign that Europe's tech ecosystem is maturing, according to VC firm Accel. Europe's fintech boom is solving one of the biggest problems in the region's tech ecosystem, according to a new analysis: experienced founders. "Fintech has played a core role in the growth of the European tech ecosystem," Accel partner Luca Bocchio told Insider. The biggest producer of new startups, according to Accel, is N26.

☆ Investment in cloud firms plunged 42% in Q3, says venture capitalist Accel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

While 51 cloud software developers raised funds at valuations of over $1 billion in the first quarter of 2022, only three did so in the third quarter, Accel's 2022 Euroscape report showed. The valuation of publicly listed cloud companies has also dropped to $1.2 trillion from $2.8 trillion in the last 12 months, Accel said. Rising interest rates and climbing inflation has led to contracted software valuations," said Philippe Botteri, a partner at Accel. "But we firmly believe that strong secular trends, like the shift to cloud, will continue to propel European and Israeli SaaS forward." There is around $770 billion available to buy cloud companies, with $440 billion of cash on the balance sheets of strategic investors and $330 billion of dry powder from technology-focused private equity funds, Accel estimated.

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