In the past several years, the kitchen has increasingly become a focal point for the world of automation.
Others, including Zume Robotics, have been less successful – the pizza robot firm shut its doors last year after attempting a major pivot into Earth-conscious food packaging.
The new cash infusion follows a January 2021 raise of $7.7 million, bringing the total funding up to $22.5 million.
MaC Venture Capital, MFV Partners, Interwoven Ventures and Alumni Ventures joined existing backers, Construct Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Promus Ventures and Red and Blue Ventures.
Chef isn’t revealing specific sales figures, only saying that it has “robots at food companies in five cities around the US and Canada” including “Fortune 500 food companies.” Bhageria also tells TechCrunch that it has quadrupled “recurring revenue from 2022 to 2023,” though, again, nothing more specific than that.
Here’s what to know to raise a Series A right nowThere is good news and just “OK” news.
The good news is that the venture capital market is showing signs of stabilizing.
Today, Jesse Randall, the founder of the platform Sweater Ventures, said founders should start looking to raise a Series A when they have about 12 to 15 months of cash runway left.
“Don’t wait any longer than that,” he told TechCrunch+.
“In this market, you have to prep for an A way in advance,” Feinzaig told TechCrunch+, adding that it could be fruitful to do so right after closing a seed round.
Here’s what to know to raise a Series A right nowThere is good news and just “OK” news.
The good news is that the venture capital market is showing signs of stabilizing.
Today, Jesse Randall, the founder of the platform Sweater Ventures, said founders should start looking to raise a Series A when they have about 12 to 15 months of cash runway left.
“Don’t wait any longer than that,” he told TechCrunch+.
“In this market, you have to prep for an A way in advance,” Feinzaig told TechCrunch+, adding that it could be fruitful to do so right after closing a seed round.
Here’s what to know to raise a Series A right nowThere is good news and just “OK” news.
The good news is that the venture capital market is showing signs of stabilizing.
Today, Jesse Randall, the founder of the platform Sweater Ventures, said founders should start looking to raise a Series A when they have about 12 to 15 months of cash runway left.
“Don’t wait any longer than that,” he told TechCrunch+.
“In this market, you have to prep for an A way in advance,” Feinzaig told TechCrunch+, adding that it could be fruitful to do so right after closing a seed round.
Bilt Rewards, whose platform aims to allow consumers to earn rewards on rent and daily neighborhood spend, has raised $200 million at a $3.1 valuation, the company announced today.
General Catalyst led the financing, which more than doubles the New York-based company’s valuation compared to its $150 million October 2022 raise.
Ken Chenault, chairman and managing director of General Catalyst, is joining Bilt’s board of directors as part of the new funding.
It launched its rewards program in April of 2022.
Bilt also offers a co-branded Mastercard, issued by Wells Fargo, that can be used to pay rent and earn Bilt Points with no transaction fees.
As conversational AI begins to take over the world, chatbots are being given a new lease of life.
Parcel delivery giant DPD recently had to disable part of its online support chatbot after it swore at a customer.
The demand for conversational AI is skyrocketing, and is set to explode to a mind-boggling $38 billion globally by 2029.
However, regulated sectors are still grappling with Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Large Language Models (LLMs).
While an LLM might be able to sound like a human and understand context, regulated industries need high guard rails on an AI-driven approach.
Byju’s, once valued at $22 billion, is willing to cut its valuation to below $2 billion as it hunts for new funding, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
Byju’s willingness to cut the valuation is a stunning reversal of fortune for the startup, once the poster child of the Indian startup ecosystem.
Byju’s has been chasing for new funding for nearly a year.
The new funding deliberation follows BlackRock cutting the value of its holding in Byju’s, slashing the implied valuation of the Indian startup to about $1 billion, according to disclosures made by the asset manager.
Byju’s was preparing to go public in early 2022 through a SPAC deal that would have valued the company at up to $40 billion.
Captain Fresh, a business-to-business harvest-to-retail marketplace for animal protein, is engaging with investors to raise up to $50 million in fresh funding, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Captain Fresh declined to comment.
The startup specifically focuses on seafood, helping fishermen and farmers sell their catch and livestock to businesses.
Captain Fresh has raised over $100 million prior to the new funding and was valued at $500 million in the previous round, whose first tranche it closed in March 2022.
It has since extended that round to raise another $15 million or so.
Her company Fuck You Pay Me (FYPM), which is like a Glassdoor for influencers, raised a $275K seed extension solely via Instagram stories, with no pitch deck.
On the platform, creators can review brands they’ve worked with, and share data like how much they were paid, how long it took for them to get paid.
So, with the new funding, Lurgin wants to remove these technical barriers to scale, without damaging the quality of the product.
Lurgin wants to make sure that creators and talent managers can access this information for free, so long as they upload verified reviews.
She also wants FYPM to develop an API, allowing talent companies to upload their own data directly to the platform.
Briq, a startup that uses AI to automate finances in construction, brings in $8M extension at a $150M valuationAt a time where many startups are struggling to raise funding, or are raising – but at lower valuations, it’s notable when companies raise at flat or higher valuations.
The startup last announced a fundraise in June of 2021 – a $30 million Series B financing led by Tiger Global Management.
Customers include Briq Choate Construction, Catamount Construction, Fessler and Bowman, and Elder Construction, among others.
Briq deploys that across two products: Briq AutoPilot and Briq CoPilot.
“Usually when we think about robots in construction, we think about machines on a jobsite.
