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Welcome to Startups Weekly – your weekly roundup of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here.
This week’s newsletter is all about startups, but it’s also about Big Tech companies expanding their reach, both through acquisitions and investments.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
With tech IPOs still a rarity in the US, M&A dominated the exit news this week. Plus, we have a new startup to follow.
Blazing through public markets: Blaize, an AI chip startup founded by Intel engineers in 2011 that focuses on cutting-edge applications, went public later Tuesday. announcing its intention to do away with a SPAC the day before.
Buy now, pay now: Amazon is set to buy Indian startup BNPL Axio for more than $150 million, according to sources. This will help the e-commerce giant accelerate its push into financial services in India, which is one of its fastest growing markets.
Car sales: eBay thinking of buying Caramela startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of the transaction. It previously acquired Cargigi, an advertising and marketing technology company for car dealerships, as well as UK classifieds site Motors.co.uk.
Moody’s buys Cape: Moody agreed acquire geospatial AI startup Cape Analytics for an undisclosed sum. This will give the financial services firm the ability to create a proprietary database that it plans to use to provide local risk insights for its insurance clients.
An idea for AGI: : François Chollet, a senior AI researcher, has teamed up with Mike Knoop, Zapier’s co-founder and head of AI. launch Ndeaan AI science and research laboratory that seeks to “develop and operate” artificial general intelligence (AGI).
The most interesting VC and funding news this week
Mammoth ambitions: Colossal biosciences resurrected a $200 million Series C funding round at a colossal valuation of $10.2 billion with the equally grand ambition of bringing back the woolly mammoth and two other extinct species.
Take it: : Fast-growing space infrastructure startup Loft Orbital raised $170 million in Series C funding co-led by Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners. He declined to reveal his valuation, but it is more capital in one go than the combined $160 million he had raised to date.
Rise of avatars: : Synthesia, a British startup whose AI technology helps companies build avatar-based videos, closed a $180 million Series D funding round led by NEA at a valuation of $2.1 billion.
GPT for biology: French AI startup Bioptimus raised $41 million to develop a foundational AI model for biology, trained specifically for downstream biological applications.
Digital switch: With the ambition to become the biggest fintech startup in the healthcare industry, the Berlin startup Nelly has created $51 million in Series B funding to help more medical practices move to a digital workflow.
Quantum acceleration: Quantum computing startup SEEQC resurrected a $30 million Series A extension co-led by Booz Allen and NordicNinja to accelerate the commercial rollout of its chips and improve its capabilities.
Spinning off: Intel announced plans spin off its corporate venture armIntel Capital, in an autonomous fund, which will begin to operate independently in the second half of 2025 with Intel as “anchor investor”.
Founders and investors: Powerset, the investment program co-founded by AngelList alumni Jake Zeller that operates as a kind of decentralized venture fund, will provide 5 to 10 founders. $1 million to invest in other startups.
Nvidia’s AI empire: Just a few days after TechCrunch’s roundup Nvidia startup investmentsanother has been added: yeara Taiwanese company that creates Al-powered digital twins.
Last but not least
After more than two years of interviewing founders for TechCrunch’s Found podcast, Rebecca Szkutak has heard her fair share of advice about startups. In this postshared the five tips that stood out the most. Some are counterintuitive – “It doesn’t pay to be first” – and all are worth reading.
