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This week once again brings us AI funding news and a few caveats. Some categories and stages are showing signs of overheating. Luckily, I also found some literally amazing startups.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
It may be hard to believe, but OpenAI is still a startup, so it continues to occupy the top spot here. But there was another interesting story this week.
Billion AI: OpenAI raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion post-money valuation, in addition to securing a $4 billion revolving credit line and launching a new interface. The company has asked investors not to support competitors like Anthropic and xAI, but OpenAI has not confirmed this. Meanwhile, Anthropic hired OpenAI co-founder Durk Kingma in a remote role.
attack of the clones: Y Combinator faced criticism for supporting PearAI, an AI code editor. PearAI’s CEO apologized for copying another YC-backed open source project using a “flubbed” license without proper attribution.
Live Stream Shopping: Livestream shopping app Whatnot said its annual gross merchandise value (GMV) exceeded $2 billion this year. This is a sign that there is still hope for the live commerce business in the United States.
Most exciting fundraising activities of the week
Some companies prefer to raise funds under the radar. Others even work underwater.
deep end: AI coding startup Poolside attracted $500 million in Series B investment, led by Bain Capital Ventures and with participation from eBay and Nvidia. This allowed Poolside to bring 10,000 Nvidia GPUs online to train future models, CEO Jason Warner said.
cool water: Barcelona-based immersion cooling startup Submer has raised $55.5 million to win more customers for its solutions. This solution is already being used by hyperscalers, telcos, and other large enterprises.
11x meets a16z: 11x.ai, a startup developing AI sales bots, has secured about $50 million in funding in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, TechCrunch said.
secret financing: Cloud backup startup Eon said it has already reached a post-money valuation of $750 million through three rounds of funding, including a $77 million Series B.
More covert financing.: Series, a generative AI game development platform, quietly raised $28 million in Series A funding from Netflix, Dell, a16z, and others.
The most interesting VC and fund news of the week
trim season: Veteran venture firm CRV returned $275 million to investors from a $500 million late-stage select fund, citing overvaluation of mature startups. This follows a similar move by India’s Peak XV, which reduced its fund size and fees amid signs of overheating.
launching: Former Y Combinator managing director and Twitter executive Ali Rowghani is launching a new venture, Maxq, targeting $250 million in debut funding.
not optimistic: Index Ventures plans to hire another New York-based investor within the next year, with plans to add three to four new people to its local team, partner Shardul Shah told TechCrunch.
Last but not least
Speaking with TechCrunch Global Editor-in-Chief Matt Rosoff ahead of this year’s Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt, New York-based tech investor and serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan shared some thoughts on when and whether founders should sell their companies. His belief: More people should do that.
