When it comes to funding, the fintech sector didn’t have a very good start to the year.
Fintech funding slid by 16% quarter-over-quarter during the three-month period, according to CB Insights’ Q1 2024 State of Venture Report.
But even more troubling than the double-digit dip was the fact that the $7.3 billion raised globally by fintech startups in the three-month period marked the lowest level the sector has seen since early 2017, according to the report.
During the three-month period, 904 investments were made into fintech startups.
Dollars raised and deal count is also down compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, when 786 fintech startups raised $8.7 billion.
SiMa.ai, named after Seema, the Hindi word for “boundary,” strives to leverage this shift by offering its edge AI SoC to organizations across industrial manufacturing, retail, aerospace, defense, agriculture and healthcare sectors.
As the demand for GenAI is growing, SiMa.ai is set to introduce its second-generation ML SoC in the first quarter of 2025 with an emphasis on providing its customers with multimodal GenAI capability.
The new SoC will be an “evolutionary change” over its predecessor with “a few architectural tunings” over the existing ML chipset, Rangasayee said.
It would work as a single-edge platform for all AI across computer vision, transformers and multimodal GenAI, the startup said.
The second-generation chipset will be based on TSMC’s 6nm process technology and include Synopsys EV74 embedded vision processors for pre- and post-processing in computer vision applications.
Paris-based startup Pigment has raised a $145 million funding round just five years after its inception.
This funding round comes as a bit of a surprise as large rounds have been few and far between in France.
Before Pigment, Crespo worked for VC firm Index Ventures and Google.
We’ve developed a lot of modules that enable us to serve HR teams, supply chain teams and sales teams,” Crespo said.
Like many software companies, Pigment has also added AI features.
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal is in talks to raise capital for his new startup, Indian fintech Navi.
Bansal is talking to investors to raise at a valuation of around $2 billion, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup Navi has been largely self-funded up to now — Bansal owns 97% of the company — and this would be its first large outside fundraise since it was founded in 2018.
After a particularly rough 2023 in which overall startup funding fell 73% in the country, this could be a signal that growth stage funding rounds are back on the table.
Even if this might become Navi’s first external raise, that doesn’t mean Bansal has not been talking to interested parties.
Nvidia might be clouding the funding climate for AI chip startups, but Hailo is still fightingHello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Wednesday show, when we take a moment to dig into a raft of startup and venture capital news.
No big tech here!
Keep in mind that Y Combinator’s demo day kicks off today, so we’re going to be snowed-under in startup news the rest of the week.
Consider today’s show the calm before the storm.
In 2023, higher egg prices provided an opportunity for alternative protein companies to show they could compete with traditional egg manufacturers.
At this capacity, Onego Bio is close to reaching competitive price points to traditional ways of making egg proteins, she added.
Onego Bio claims Bioalbumen is “bioidentical” to ovalbumin, which is the major protein in chicken egg white.
In preparation for this, Onego Bio recently secured $40 million in Series A funding to get Bioalbumen to market and increase manufacturing capabilities.
Tomosaku Sohara, managing partner of Nordic Ninja said in a statement: “Onego Bio is taking all the right steps to commercialize in record time … with a clear path to industrialization, go-to-market and profitability.
Google.org, Google’s charitable wing, is launching a new program to help fund nonprofits developing tech that leverages generative AI.
Called Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI, the program is to be funded by $20 million in grants and include 21 nonprofits to start, including Quill.org, a company creating AI-powered tools for student writing feedback, and World Bank, which is building a generative AI app to make development research more accessible.
“Generative AI can help social impact teams be more productive, creative and effective in serving their communities,” Annie Lewin, director of global advocacy at Google.org, said in a blog post.
But there remain significant barriers for nonprofits looking to build their own AI solutions or adopt third-party products — chiefly cost, resources and time.
Nonprofit accelerator Fast Forward said that this year, more than a third of applicants for its latest class were AI companies.
French spinout Diamfab, founded in 2019, is one example.
They also raised an €8.7 million round of funding from Asterion Ventures, Bpifrance’s French Tech Seed fund, Kreaxi, Better Angle, Hello Tomorrow and Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
But diamond wafers could also be leveraged for nuclear batteries, space tech and quantum computing, too.
While there’s warranted hype around AI in Paris, Grenoble may be the closest to a French Silicon Valley.
Now Diamfab hopes it can play a part, too, and unleash the full potential of diamond in semiconductors.
PayPal Ventures’ latest investment is in an Indonesian startup that provides personal insurance products covering a variety of risks, including accidents, phone screen damage, and ticket cancellations.
Qoala has secured $47 million in a new round co-led by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, the five-year-old startup said Wednesday.
Qoala, headquartered in Jakarta, is an insurance broker that works with top local insurers and e-commerce firms to offer customers personalized and affordable products.
The startup sells these insurance both through its website and app as well as through offline engagements.
“It is commendable to see what Qoala has achieved in a short period of time,” said Alexandros Bottenbruch, Principal at PayPal Ventures in a statement.
Electric boat maker Candela is approaching cruising speed with $25 million in new funding and the first commercial deployment of its new P-12 ferry, in New Zealand.
The P-12, a ferry design that can handle up to 30 passengers, made its debut late last year.
Like any other industry, you have to know when to buy and when to build, and big boating companies are happy to buy — or invest.
Candela’s boats use hydrofoils with electric engines mounted on the bottom to effectively fly above the surface of the water once they get past a certain speed, vastly reducing energy consumption — historically and understandably a sticking point for electric boating.
Theh $25 million round was led, as mentioned, by Beneteau, with participation from EQT Ventures, Ocean Zero LLC, and Kan DelaAB.
