In Case You Missed It - An Exclusive Round we shared in ‘Open Deals’ got funded this week - TECH BUZZ EXCLUSIVE DEAL

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∆ Tech in the News

Run Continues - Nvidia surged 2.9% past Amazon to claim the #4 spot at $1.83T valuation, as news leaked of its’ new unit’s $30B custom chip talks with AI and cloud computing firms.

100M Weekly Users - ChatGPT usage pushes OpenAI’s revenue over $2B, making it one of the fastest-growing Unicorns ever. Revenue is expected to double by 2025.

Copilot Wins Superbowl - Microsoft's AI app hit the #2 spot on Apple’s App Store downloads chart after the company’s Super Bowl ad showed it in action.

X + BetMGM - Sports betting operator BetMGM, is now X’s “exclusive Live Odds Sports Betting partner,” which could finally fix X’s revenue problem.

Prompts Patentable - USPTO released guidance that AI-assisted inventions are “not unpatentable” and protection may be sought if humans were involved.

˚The Hottest Thing in Tech this Week

The Biggest Deal of All Time

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is eyeing the biggest deal of all time - seeking $5T-$7T to boost global AI chip production. For perspective, $7T is the combined GDP of Japan and the UK. Altman is already courting investors like SoftBank’s Billionaire CEO Masayoshi Son and the UAE’s $4T sovereign wealth fund to fund the build of more silicon chip factories with OpenAI committed as a keystone client. The plan sees OpenAI, investors, chip manufacturers, and power suppliers establishing a network of foundries operated by local teams.

The Geopolitical Significance

The National security implications here are major, given the strategic geopolitical importance of semiconductor manufacturing to AI market, military, and broader economic supremacy. The US has been cautious about allowing foreign control over the supply of microchips, and just last week announced a $5B investment in bolstering domestic R&D to advance US semiconductor tech.

Hot on the heels of this news, we also learned that Abu Dhabi's AI leader, G42, has divested of all stakes in Chinese firms after the Commerce Department was considering trade restrictions on it due to its ties to China. G42’s chair Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan is also the UAE’s National Security adviser and chair of various Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth vehicles. What’s more, G42 already announced a partnership with Microsoft and OpenAI in October 2023.

Translation: The UAE has been seen as a key U.S. ally in the Middle East region but relations have been strained at times. In August 2023 the nation joined the BRICS bloc which caused some alarm in the U.S. There appears to be a carrot-and-stick approach here, with actions to sanction UAE companies for moving closer into China’s sphere, and the offering of incentives and closer cooperation with US tech companies if they play ball.

Fantasy Buzz Poll

Learn more and see the results and our analysis from January here >>

Deals We’re Watching

Founders to Watch and Opportunities to Catch

Open Deals:

Looking to invest? Let us know if you want a warm intro —> [email protected] 

MedSpa InsurTech - Accelerating first-to-market aesthetics procedure insurance for US medspas. 700+ plans, 0 claims over 4 locations generating $23K in 12 weeks. On track for 2K+ locations in 2024. Founders have multiple startups sold to public companies.

Leading Generative AI Startup - Backed by Microsoft, early SpaceX/Tesla/YC/Google team. 100M DAUs and competitor to some of the largest LLMs. Seeking to build infrastructure and expand the capacity of AI globally.

Late-stage Military/Industrial GenAI IP - $11M in private industry contracts in the works. Ex-vet Marine, SEAL founders in Air/Space accelerator. Closing on seed round. Seeking strategic partners before next round.

Ending Cancer - Invested $36M+ into a world-first “Universal Early Cancer Detection” solution through ML/AI analytics tool for genes, eying 70k+ patients in 2024 + $200M deal value in the enterprise pipeline. Raising via Safe.

Raising for your startup? Send us your Open Round —> [email protected]

Closed Deals:

Bugcrowd - The crowdsourced cybersecurity startup raised a $102M Series E to boost staff and expand/acquire internationally.

LeoLabs - A startup helping the U.S. monitor space junk and adversarial satellites added a $29M extension to its $65M 2021 Series B.

Notion Acquires Skiff - The Sequoia, John Hennessy, & Jerry Yang-backed platform is an encrypted version of Google’s suite with $14.2M total raised.

Perigon - A startup providing tools to monitor media, trends, and threats, and enhance AI applications with contextual intelligence, raised a $5M seed.

Vocode - A startup offering an API for developers to deploy conversational AI apps, raised a $3.3M Seed round backed by Google Ventures, and Accel.

* Healthcare Funding Special Feature

Neurona Therapeutics - The San Fran company developing cell therapies for neurological conditions raised $120M, giving it $285M total raised.

Aizon - A San Fran startup using AI to enhance pharmaceutical manufacturing raised a $20M Series C round led by NewVale Capital.

Headlight - A San Diego startup offering in-person and virtual mental health therapy and medication management raised $18M from stealth.

DeepLook Medical - A New Haven medical imaging startup automating breast cancer tumor analysis raised a $1.7M seed round.

Companies to Watch:

Geologic Hydrogen - “Green hydrogen” startup Koloma landed a $20M USED grant and raised a $245M Series B backed by Khosla, and United Airlines.

The Funding Buzz

Homebrew - The VC firm targets $50M for a new fund, in what is seen as a pivot from its GP-funded stage-agnostic evergreen model of the past two years.

Bupa Asia Pacific - The medical sector giant is raising a $20M fund to invest in early-stage “customer-centric” healthcare startups.

20VC - Harry Stebbings secured $5M toward its new “20PRODUCT” offshoot fund to write one-off checks for pre-seed to Series A startups averaging $100K.

Trending Tools and Buzzy Tech

Trending Tools

Frame - $349 open-source smart glasses promise AI "superpowers" via voice.

AiSee - An AI wearable camera/headphones for visually impaired people.

CodeSignal - AI-Guided “Learn” platform revolutionizes tech education.

Midjourney GPT- Crafts detailed Midjourney image prompts.

Buzzy Tech

Nvidia - GH200 superchip benchmarks at above high-end AMD & Intel CPUs.

Bollegraaf/Grey Parrot - Recycling giant taps AI startup to help with sorting.

Nanoscrolls - Next-gen nano sheets tech unlocks optics and PV panel uses.

Imran Khan - Pakistan’s jailed ex-PM used AI video to declare election victory.

WE ARE BUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM

In Case You Missed It - An Exclusive Round we shared in ‘Open Deals’ got funded this week - TECH BUZZ EXCLUSIVE DEAL

We’re incredibly proud to serve as a conduit between the most driven founders and forward-thinking investors. If you would like to co-invest in deals like these, before everyone else reply to this email with “YES” OR reach out to us [email protected].

P.S.

We are not a VC firm. We are not a media company. We are at the intersection of the two aiming to bring the best founders the attention they need to change the world. And we have tons more deals in the pipeline that we are excited to share including: AI Hardware, Robotics, Healthtech and Digital Therapeutics, Blockchain, Insuretech, MediaTech, Real Estate, Proptech and so much more.

If you haven’t taken us up on our offer for a ‘warm intro’ yet, it’s time.

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