It's Race Week

Could also name this "AI funding week"

February 29, 2024

Since last post we’ve seen 3 acquisitions, 1 company going public, 15 fundraising rounds, 10 people moves & promotions, 13 roles, 2 new firm launches, 9 articles, 1 national anthem (probably), and 7 newly added events. A lot of Formula 1 in this week’s newsletter as well - it is race week after all.

M&A

Go Public

Webull (digital brokerage) announced a deal to go public through a merger with SK Growth Opportunities (SPAC). In the proposed deal, the combined company will be listed on the Nasdaq at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $7.3B.

Data in Formula 1

Drive To Survive Season 6 dropped last Friday on Netflix. If you are like me, you finished the series by Monday morning. There were a bunch of solid data references and quotes I want to share in the event you aren’t already convinced to watch…

  • “Our sport is a data-driven sport, but data don’t make decisions, it’s people that do.” - Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

  • “Data for me is the foundation of Formula 1. There’s no human judgement involved, you’ve got to get your foundations right in data. When you get that right, that’s how you move forward.” - James Vowles, Team Principal of Williams Racing.

  • “In this sport you need to get the balance right between data and then your instinct as a leader.” - Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

  • “In Formula 1 times change very very quickly. So today’s team principal is having to deal with big data, big tech.” - Claire Williams, Former Team Principal of Williams Racing.

  • “Data drives what you're trying to do. So you're just running a million simulations trying to predict whats gonna happen.” - James Vowles, Team Principal of Williams Racing.

  • “I ate a lot of chipotle yesterday.” - Guenther Steiner, Former Team Principal of Haas Formula One.

Fundraising

  • Apica (data management and observability) raised a round led by Riverside Acceleration Capital.

  • b.well (FHIR-enabled healthcare data interoperability) raised $40M in a Series A led by Leavitt Equity Partners.

  • Codified (data governance) raised $4M in a Seed round led by Madrona and Vine Ventures.

  • Crisp (CPG and retail data) raised $50M in a Series B extension

  • Finpilot (investment research AI copilot) raised $4M in a Seed round led by Madrona.

  • Glean (AI assistant) raised $200M in a Series D at a $2.2B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

  • HuLoop (intelligent automation) raised $5M in a Seed round led by Moneta Ventures.

  • Mistral AI (GenAI models) raised €15M from Microsoft.

  • mTab (market research and survey data platform) raised $15M in growth credit financing from Kayne Anderson Growth Capital.

  • Myko AI (conversational AI for sales data) raised $2.7M in a Seed round led by Khosla Ventures.

  • Reveleer (healthcare data & analytics) raised $65M in a round led by Hercules Capital.

  • Synadia (open source connective technology) raised $25M in a Series B led by Forgepoint Capital.

  • United Fintech (financial platform and digital transformation) received strategic investments from BNP Paribas and Citi.

  • Unseenlabs (maritime surveillance and intelligence) raised €85M in a round.

  • Xevant (PBM & healthcare analytics) received a follow-on investment from HCAP Partners and Tech Council Ventures.

People Moves, Promotions, and Appointments

New Firm Launches

Ascendance Asset Management is a new multi-strategy hedge fund with a focus on integrating AI into the investment process. The firm is founded by Robert Kim, former CIO at AllianceBernstein - Arya Partners. Josh Adam, Co-Founder of Accrete AI, joined as the firm’s Director of Research and Head of AI. More info can be found in this article from Bradley Saacks.

The Financial Times Group launched FT Ventures, a new corporate venture arm to invest in high-growth innovative companies operating in the global information industry.

FT Ventures seeks to back ambitious founders who want to shape the future of the world’s information industry, and aims to do so by investing in businesses operating in the areas of media, data, intelligence or their underlying technologies.

Who’s Hiring

*salaries only listed where provided by the company. See links for specific salary details.

What I’m Reading

What I’m Listening To

Upcoming Events

*new events added since last newsletter

Just For Fun

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Views here are the author’s own and not of any employers or companies. The author may be compensated for pieces in this newsletter.