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This week's newsletter is about startups, but it's also about big tech companies expanding their reach through acquisitions and investments.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
M&A dominated this week's exit news as tech initial public offerings remain rare in the United States. Plus, we have a new startup to track.
Public market is booming: Blaize, an artificial intelligence chip startup founded in 2011 by Intel engineers that focuses on edge applications, went public on Tuesday after announcing its intention to go public via a SPAC the day before.
Buy now, pay now: According to sources, Amazon will acquire Indian BNPL startup Axio for more than $150 million. This will help the e-commerce giant accelerate its push into financial services in India, one of its fastest-growing markets.
car sales: eBay plans to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final steps of a transaction. The company previously acquired Cargigi, a car dealer advertising and marketing technology company, and UK classifieds website Motors.co.uk.
Moody's acquires Cape Town: Moody’s agreed to acquire geospatial artificial intelligence startup Cape Analytics for an undisclosed amount. This will enable the financial services firm to create a property database that it plans to use to provide local risk insights to its insurance clients.
AGI's Thoughts: High-profile AI researcher François Chollet has teamed up with Zapier co-founder and head of AI Mike Knoop to launch Ndea, an AI research and science lab dedicated to the "development and implementation" of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
The most interesting venture capital and funding news of the week
huge ambition: Colossal Biosciences, which raised $200 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $10.2 billion, is equally ambitious to resurrect the mammoth and two other extinct species.
take off: Fast-growing space infrastructure startup Loft Orbital has raised $170 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners. The company declined to disclose its valuation, but it's more than the $160 million in total funding it has raised to date.
The rise of avatars: Synthesia is a British startup whose artificial intelligence technology helps companies produce avatar-based videos. The company completed a US$180 million Series D financing led by NEA, with a valuation of US$2.1 billion.
Biology GPT: French artificial intelligence startup Biooptimus raised $41 million to develop basic artificial intelligence models in biology, specifically trained for downstream biological applications.
digital switch: With ambitions to become the largest fintech startup in the healthcare industry, Berlin-based startup Nelly has raised $51 million in Series B funding to help more medical practices transition to digital workflows.
Quantum acceleration: Quantum computing startup SEEQC has raised $30 million in Series A funding co-led by Booz Allen and NordicNinja to accelerate the commercial rollout of its chips and improve its capabilities.
spin off: Intel announced plans to spin off its corporate venture capital arm, Intel Capital, into an independent fund that will begin operating independently in the second half of 2025, with Intel as the "major investor."
Founders and Investors: Powerset, an investment program co-founded by AngelList alum Jake Zeller, operates as a decentralized venture fund that will provide $1 million to five to 10 founders to invest in other startups.
Nvidia’s artificial intelligence empire: Just days after TechCrunch's roundup of Nvidia startup investments, another investment has been added: MetAI, a Taiwanese company working on creating AI-powered digital twins.
last but not least
After more than two years interviewing founders for TechCrunch's recently concluded Found podcast, Rebecca Szkutak has heard a lot of her advice for startups. In this article, she shares five of her top tips. Some are counterintuitive – “It pays to not be first” – but all are worth reading.