Anika Begay
Welcome to Startups Weekly, your weekly roundup of everything you can’t miss in the startup world. I’m Anna Heim from TechCrunch‘international team, and I’ll be writing this newsletter from here on out. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here.
This week we’re taking a look at some companies that get started, funded, shut down, and acquired—the life cycle of a startup.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
While one company made a splash with its stealth strategy, others have fallen off the radar this week.
Out of the woods: Black Forest Labs is the name of the startup behind Grok’s AI image-generating feature. As its name suggests, the company is German, but its latest backers are a Silicon Valley powerhouse, including Garry Tan, CEO of a16z and Y Combinator. In a blog post earlier this month announcing it was leaving stealth mode, the company said its mission is to “bring cutting-edge AI from Europe to the world.”
Sad count: Founder and CEO Jason Brown announced that his fintech company, Tally, would be shutting down after running out of cash. Backed by a16z, the 9-year-old startup helped consumers manage and pay off credit card debt with a lower-interest loan until it transitioned to a B2B model with a partnership that later fell through.
Goal scored: Score, a dating app for people with good to excellent credit, closed its doors in early August, actually months later than originally planned for what was supposed to be a temporary project. Its parent company, Neon Money Club, which launched in 2021 to help teach financial literacy, is now working to add to its Amex card and Time investment account.
Discounted Jewelry: After attempting to go public at a valuation of over $40 billion, Indian edtech startup Byju’s will see its insolvency proceedings resume after a Supreme Court order. Once the country’s most valuable startup, Byju’s isn’t alone in its troubles: Sources told TechCrunch that Oyo, once ranked second at $10 billion, has seen its valuation slashed to $2.4 billion in a new round.
This Week’s Most Interesting Fundraisers
While raising money is an activity worth celebrating, there was also some good news in the startup world this week.
New crownIndian instant delivery startup Zepto is now valued at $5 billion after a $340 million round that brings its new funding raised this year to nearly $1 billion.
New winds: Formerly known as Accellion, US cybersecurity startup Kiteworks is now valued at over $1 billion after raising a $456 million round. Despite suffering a data breach in 2021, the fledgling unicorn has now been profitable for two years and plans to use some of the funding for acquisitions.
New scoops: Fei-Fei Li’s stealth startup World Labs has been valued at more than $1 billion in its latest $100 million funding round led by NEA, sources have learned. This was the second round the AI professor’s new venture has raised since it launched earlier this year.
Other bots: EliseAI, a company that develops chatbots for landlords to manage tenants, has raised a $75 million Series D round at a $1 billion valuation. It now plans to expand further into the healthcare sector after launching its dedicated HealthAI solution in 2023.
Other co-pilots: Anysphere, the startup behind GitHub rival Copilot, Cursor, has raised more than $60 million in a Series A round, sources tell TechCrunch. Co-led by a16z and Thrive Capital, it has a post-money valuation of $400 million.
Take care now, pay later: PayZen, a BNPL healthcare solution, has raised $32 million in Series B funding and a $200 million credit line to enable patients to pay their medical bills in interest-free installments. The VC round was led by NEA, with participation from existing investors.
This Week’s Hottest VC & Funding News
Excellent on Europe: European VC firm Balderton Capital has raised $615 million for its latest early-stage fund and $685 million for its second growth fund. The billion-plus fundraise was met with cautious optimism by VCs TechCrunch spoke to.
Fighting the crisisSingapore VC Antler has raised $72 million for its second Southeast Asia fund, Antler SEA Fund II, which will focus on pre-launch, pre-seed and seed money stages and has already started distributing.
Last but not least
As defense technology continues to heat up, Hadrian has acquired Datum Source, a company founded by SpaceX alumni that uses AI to help hardware companies find manufacturing partners, which is especially useful for startups aiming for DoD contracts. CEO Chris Power put the acquisition in context, saying it will be the “first of many” acquisitions for Hadrian.
