Who Got Funded? Week 1, 2024

Good morning ☀️ 

The first week of 2024 is already over, and numerous exciting startup funding rounds have been announced.

Now it’s time to delve into the most interesting ones.

Last week's top-funded startups (1-7 Jan, 2024)

👼 Pre-seed / Angel

🇫🇷 Spore.Bio raised a $8,000,000 round led by LocalGlobe VC. You can read more about this deal here.

This startup combines AI and photonics innovation to improve the way food and beverage manufacturerers ensure the safety of their products.

🇺🇸 Lumian closed a $3,200,000 round led by Domino Ventures. You can learn more about this deal here.

This company uses AI to analyze energy use and efficiency, helping businesses and organizations reduce their energy bills.

🇬🇧 Fanhub raised a $3,000,000 round led by Blockchange Ventures. You can learn more about this deal here.

FanHub is an app that tracks sports fans' game attendance and activities, rewarding them for their loyalty.

🇺🇸 Crew secured a $2,500,000 round led by Kickstart Seed Fund. You can learn more about this deal here.

This startup provides a family-friendly banking platform that simplifies setting up and managing accounts for parents and their children, offering high-interest savings and checking accounts.

🇺🇸 Bracket Labs raised a $2,000,000 round led by Binance Labs. You can learn more about this deal here.

Bracket Labs develops easy-to-use blockchain-based tools for trading cryptocurrency volatility.

🇺🇸 Knownwell closed a $2,000,000 round from undisclosed investors. You can read more about this deal here.

This startup develops an AI-powered platform to enhance decision-making and operations in professional services.

👶 Seed

🇮🇱 Annabella closed a $8,500,000 round led by Shark Tank’s Yasmin Lukatz. You can read more about this deal here.

Annabella offers a portable electric breast pump designed to simulate a baby's tongue, optimizing milk output naturally and efficiently.

🇨🇭 Metafuels secured a $8,000,000 round co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures. You can learn more about this deal here.

Metafuels develops sustainable aviation fuel using renewable electricity, aiming to produce it efficiently and at a lower cost.

🇺🇸 Credo Health raised a $5,250,000 round led by FCA Venture Partners. You can read more about this deal here.

Credo Health provides a solution for healthcare providers to access complete and integrated medical records of patients, improving medical decision-making and patient care.

🇩🇪 Suena closed a $3,270,000 round co-led by Santander InnoEnergy Climate Fund and Smart Energy. You can learn more about this deal here.

Suena develops software for trading and optimizing battery energy storage, focusing on renewable energy assets.

🇺🇸 Intrinsic closed a $3,100,000 round led by Y Combinator. You can read more about this deal here.

Intrinsic provides a platform for creating AI agents that enhance trust and safety in online environments, automating and improving content moderation processes.

🧒 Series A

🇺🇸 OnCusp Therapeutics raised a $100,000,000 round led by OrbiMed, Novo Holdings, and F-Prime Capital. You can learn more about this deal here.

OnCusp Therapeutics develops cancer treatments, focusing on an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting solid tumors.H

🇺🇸 Lykos Therapeutics closed a $100,000,000 round led by Helena. You can read more about this deal here.

Lykos Therapeutics is working on a treatment for severe stress using a special medication.

🇺🇸 Claris secured a $57,000,000 round led by Novo Holdings. You can read more about this deal here.

Claris Bio is developing a treatment for eye diseases, focusing on healing the surface of the eye.

🇺🇸 Radionetics Oncology closed a $52,000,000 round led by Frazier Life Sciences. You can read more about this deal here.

Radionetics develops new cancer treatments using special drugs that target cancer cells.

👵 Series B and later

🇺🇸 Perplexity AI closed a $73,600,000 round led by IVP. You can learn more about this deal here.

Perplexity AI develops an AI-powered search engine that allows users to ask questions in natural language and get summarized answers with source citations.

🇺🇸 Replicate secured a $40,000,000 round led by Andreessen Horowitz. You can learn more about this deal here.

Replicate offers a platform where developers can access and deploy a variety of open-source AI models, like those for generating images, text, and music.

🇬🇧 Robin AI closed a $26,000,000 round led by Temasek. You can learn more about this deal here.

Robin AI develops AI software to automate and speed up the process of drafting, negotiating, and reviewing contracts for businesses.

🇫🇷 Nabla raised a $24,000,000 round led by Cathay Innovation. You can read more about this deal here.

Nabla develops an AI assistant that helps doctors by automatically writing clinical notes during patient consultations.

✅ Takeaways

🤯 The most shocking round: I would say that finding pre-seed rounds in Europe as high as the one closed by Spore.Bio is not common. Their technology seems promising, and I would keep a close eye on this startup.

👩‍🔬 The most disruptive technology: I absolutely love what Metafuels is doing. The aviation industry is among the most environmentally damaging, and we need companies like them to transform it into a more sustainable one.

👀 One thing that caught my attention: Did you know that Jeff Bezos invested in Perplexity AI’s round, aiming to compete with Google and other search engines?

That's everything for today. ✌️ 

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Thank you so much for reading!

Ono