AI software development platform, Poolside, has raised $500M in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures.  The funding round saw participation from eBay and Nvidia, among others, bringing Pool...

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- AI software development platform, **Poolside**, has raised $500M in a Series B round led by **Bain Capital Ventures**.
- The funding round saw participation from **eBay** and **Nvidia**, among others, bringing Poolside's total funding to $626M and its valuation to $3B.
- Poolside, founded by former GitHub CTO **Jason Warner** and software engineer **Eiso Kant**, develops AI models to assist with tasks like autocompleting code.
- The new funding will be used to bring 10,000 Nvidia GPUs online for future model training and to bolster the company's go-to-market and R&D efforts.
- Despite concerns, developers are showing enthusiasm for AI-powered assistive coding tools, with the market projected to be worth $27B by 2032.

Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/02/ai-coding-startup-poolside-raises-500m-from-ebay-nvidia-and-others/)

AI Coding Startup Poolside Secures $500M in Series B Funding

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AI Coding Startup Poolside Secures $500M in Series B Funding- Grapevine

- Safe Superintelligence (SSI), co-founded by Ilya Sutskever, has secured $1 billion in funding.
- The funds will be used to acquire computing power and hire top talent.
- SSI is valued at $5 billion and has 10 employees split between Palo Alto and Tel Aviv.
- Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global.
- Sutskever aims to develop safe AI systems that surpass human capabilities. 

 Source: [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-co-founder-sutskevers-new-safety-focused-ai-startup-ssi-raises-1-billion-2024-09-04/)

OpenAI Co-founder Sutskever's New AI Startup SSI Raises $1 Billion

In other unrelated news, Nvidia order book grew by $800 million.

Program Manager

- Vahan aims to enhance its AI recruitment tech, supporting eight major Indian languages like Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada.
- The funds will also help Vahan expand into manufacturing, logistics, and retail, offering loans and upskilling services.
- Founded in 2016 by Madhav Krishna, Vahan uses AI and WhatsApp API to automate blue-collar hiring.
- The $10 Mn Series B round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and others.
- Vahan plans to increase monthly placements to 100,000 by next year, with a long-term goal of creating opportunities for a billion people. 

 Source: [Inc42](https://inc42.com/buzz/vahan-nets-10-mn-to-bolster-its-ai-play-for-blue-collar-workforce/)

Vahan Nets $10 Mn To Bolster Its AI Play For Blue-Collar Workforce

- Skild AI, an AI robotics startup, has secured $300 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank, and Jeff Bezos through Bezos Expeditions.
- The funds will be used to scale the business model, expand training datasets, and support hiring in AI, robotics, engineering, operations, and security teams.
- Co-founded by former Carnegie Mellon University professors Abhinav Gupta and Deepak Pathak in 2023, Skild AI builds AI-powered brains for robots and is now valued at $1.5 billion.
- Skild AI's model is trained on significantly more data points than competitors and is designed for general-purpose use in various robots and scenarios.
- The startup's team includes experts from Meta, Tesla, NVIDIA, Amazon, Google, and top universities, aiming to bring a GPT-3 moment to the world of robotics.

Skild AI Raises $300M in Series A Funding Led by Lightspeed, SoftBank, and Jeff Bezos

- AI customer service startup **Neuron7** has raised an oversubscribed **$44 million Series B** round led by Keith Block's venture firm, Smith Point Capital.
- Unlike other AI startups, Neuron7 focuses on complex service and repair operations, with clients like **NCR Atleos, Medtronic, and Lexmark**.
- The company uses open source language models to predict the likely cause of a problem and guide technicians through the repair process.
- Despite competition, Neuron7 has partnered with major players like **Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft, and ServiceNow**.
- With this funding, the company's valuation has increased by **5x** since its last round, and Keith Block will join as a board member.

Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/15/how-customer-service-ai-startup-neuron7-convinced-keith-block-to-invest/)

AI Startup Neuron7 Raises $44M in Oversubscribed Series B Round

- Investors are making an unprecedented bet on OpenAI, valuing the company at $150bn.
- Thrive Capital has already invested at least $1bn, with Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft in talks to join.
- Despite the scale, some top investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital are sitting out.
- OpenAI's revenues have surged to $3.6bn annually, but it still burns through over $5bn a year.
- The company faces fierce competition from Google and Meta, and must manage its transition from a start-up to a corporate giant. 

 Source: [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/a8f9bd05-0999-415d-af86-c73e79ad5733)

Investors Bet Big on OpenAI's $6bn Funding Round

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- Sarvam AI - $41M (Lightspeed and Peak XV) 
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Apple acquires DarwinAI

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OpenAI raises fund at 90 billion dollar valuation. Becomes 3rd most valued private startup after Byte dance and SpaceX

Software Engineer

- AI search engine **Perplexity** is reportedly in talks to raise around **$500 million** at an **$8 billion** valuation.
- This would more than double its previous valuation of $3 billion from a fundraising round with **SoftBank**.
- Perplexity currently handles about **15 million queries** daily and generates approximately **$50 million** in annualized revenue.
- Despite accusations of unauthorized web scraping and plagiarism, CEO **Aravind Srinivas** insists on working with publishers.
- The fundraising talks follow **OpenAI's** recent $6.6 billion round at a $157 billion valuation.

Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/20/perplexity-is-reportedly-looking-to-fundraise-at-an-8b-valuation/)

AI Search Engine Perplexity Seeks $500M Funding at $8B Valuation

- AI chipmaker **Cerebras** has filed for an IPO, aiming to challenge industry giant **Nvidia**.
- The Silicon Valley-based company reported a revenue of **$136 million** in the first half of 2024, a significant increase from $8.6 million the previous year.
- Cerebras' chip is **56 times larger** than common AI chips, potentially offering faster data processing.
- CEO **Andrew Feldman** expressed confidence in taking significant market share from Nvidia.
- The company's IPO could break the drought of AI companies going public, amidst growing demand for AI products.

Source: [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/technology/cerebras-ai-chips-ipo.html)

AI Chipmaker Cerebras Files for IPO, Aims to Challenge Nvidia

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Another bubble

Software Developer

Been spending way too much time on Grapevine lately - absolutely loving it @Micheal_Scott!

Posted the Prosus report takeaways yday - lots of you DMed asking questions. Then I saw NewsAnchor break down the entire Prosus Annual Report - great stuff.

I was an Associate at one of the largest VC funds in India, so I enjoy going through new reports and summarising them - found my notes from Bain's India Venture Capital Report 2024. Thought of sharing the unedited summary that I shared with the Partners at the fund, have a bunch of these - can share more if of value to any of you here (ofc removing the confidential parts)

Notes:
1/ India's maintaining its gravitational pull despite the global funding crunch. Sure, overall funding nosedived 63% to $9.6B, but we're still the #2 destination in Asia-Pacific. Might not necessarily be a crash, it's a necessary course correction.
2/ Early-stage investing is showing remarkable resilience. Seed deals now comprise 70% of all deals, up from 60%, with average check sizes holding steady at $1.4M. Smart money is quietly positioning itself for the next wave of innovation.
3/ The tech-only playbook is being rewritten. While consumer tech, fintech, and SaaS still command 60% of funding, traditional sectors like BFSI are gaining ground, with average deal sizes jumping from $8M to $15M. We're witnessing the birth of tech-enabled, not just tech-centric, growth stories.
4/ The unicorn factory has hit pause, with only 2 new billion-dollar valuations vs. 23 in 2022. Mega-rounds ($100M+) plummeted from 48 to 15. This isn't a drought; it's a return to fundamentals. The era of grow-now-profit-later is firmly behind us.
5/ Generative AI isn't just hype; it's reshaping the landscape. Funding exploded from $15M to $250M, with 80% flowing to existing companies integrating AI. India's quickly becoming a laboratory for practical AI applications, not just speculative moonshots.
6/ Electric mobility is rewiring itself. While overall funding dipped slightly to $600M+, charging infrastructure investment surged 50%. The real opportunity isn't just in vehicles; it's in building out the entire EV ecosystem.
7/ Exits are defying gravity, leaping 1.7x to $6.6B. Public market sales led the charge at 55%, even as IPOs cooled. LPs are getting liquidity, and the secondary market is proving surprisingly robust. There's still appetite for quality assets.
8/ PE is no longer just watching from the sidelines. These players doubled their share to 25% of investments, going toe-to-toe with traditional VCs. The lines between growth equity and venture capital are blurring, and it's changing the game for late-stage rounds.
9/ We're watching natural selection in real-time. Yes, 35,000+ startups shuttered and 20,000+ layoffs hit the headlines. But companies like Groww and Indifi turned profitable. This isn't a bubble bursting; it's an ecosystem strengthening its foundations.
10/ Domestic VCs are coming of age. While overall fund-raising halved to $4B, homegrown VCs led 90%+ of raises. They're not just following; they're specializing, with thematic funds like Omnivore's $150M agritech vehicle. The ecosystem is bootstrapping its own future.
11/ Regulation isn't just tightening; it's evolving. Angel Tax expanded and lending norms got stricter, but we're also seeing innovative policies like UPI for foreign travelers. India's crafting a uniquely balanced approach to fostering innovation while maintaining stability.

Topics we can discuss during our standup:
1/ Can India produce global tech giants if it's primarily adopting rather than pioneering in areas like AI? How do we enable this?
2/ How will the shift towards profitability impact India's ability to foster truly disruptive innovations? Implications for us, how should we be evaluating deals differently?
3/ With domestic VCs leading the charge, how will this change India's startup narrative on the global stage?
4/ Is this maturation setting the stage for more resilient, globally competitive Indian startups, or are we risking our innovation edge? How do we look at thesis driven investing v/s fomo investing?

Link to Bain's report - https://www.bain.com/insights/india-venture-capital-report-2024/

P.S. Do note that this is 6+ months old - data points mostly look diff now but sharing it anyways. Will post more as and when I get time :)

My notes on Bain's 2024 VC report as a VC Associate

Investor

I'm thrilled to share our latest developments in our startup:
 We launched our prototype and it's gaining momentum! Our previous product, currently in stealth mode, has remarkable insights. 
However, the GPU usage costs have skyrocketed.

 Our new goal? To build an AI platform that serves as a cost-effective hub for training AI models. No one's tackling this issue, so we are the first ones to solve this issue. We already have some ties with the microchip manufacturer.

 Here's the thing: While we've been self-funded until now, we're now exploring seed funding. But there's a catch – we're cautious about accelerators and VCs. I have seen them undervalue my mate's company and prioritize quick revenue over steady growth.

So how should we go about it ?

I'll drop an example post for much clearer problem statement.

Exploring Seed Funding Options for Our AI Innovation

I know this is quite a sensitive topic but I'd rather face the truth.

A couple of months ago, I was less worried, but now looking at the pace of development in IDEs and tools to help with software development, coding has been made much much simpler. 

Do you really think AI will take away jobs?

Will AI take away coding jobs?

Most AI startups

Perplexity raises $73.6M from the likes of some big names like Jeff Bezos, Naval, Balaji, NVIDIA. 
Just last month Mistral raised more than $400M in its second funding. AI based startups are the future I guess?

https://twitter.com/AravSrinivas/status/1742918329797574709?t=MtMOF8D3AX6GodNE13pNBw&s=19

Perplexity raises $73.6M at $520M valuation

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Customer Support - Rasa ($70M)

List of  AI startups who raised funds in just 2024 focused on automating a particular white collar job

- OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has raised $6.6 billion in a funding round led by Thrive Capital, increasing its valuation to $157 billion.
- The funding will be used to expand AI research, increase compute capacity, and develop tools to solve complex problems.
- OpenAI has reportedly spent around $7 billion on model training and $1.5 billion on staffing.
- The company's revenue is projected to reach $100 billion by 2029, but it faces stiff competition from other AI startups.
- OpenAI is considering a shift from nonprofit to for-profit governance to attract more investments.

Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/02/openai-raises-6-6b-and-is-now-valued-at-157b/)

AI Coding Startup Poolside Secures $500M in Series B Funding

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