Yildiz Ventures Newsletter | 01-15 May’24
?? Hi there!
Welcome to Y?ld?z Ventures Newsletter, your bi-weekly roundup of news from the ever-changing world of start-ups!
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???Let's take a look at the highlights of the 01-15 May 2024! ??
?? Online grocery / Food Delivery:?
?? Management Feud at Delivery App Getir Turns Bitter After Exits. Head of strategy exits amid deepening shareholder dispute. Executives at investor Mubadala visited Getir in Turkey- ??
?? Getir'in Varl?k Fonu ile Ortakl?k ??in Gizlilik S?zle?mesi ?mzalad??? ?ddia Edildi- ??
?? Gopuff has expanded its 24/7 grocery service to another city, as it aims to cater to a surge in demand for late-night orders- ??
? Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat are to conduct direct immigration status checks on all UK riders following mounting pressure from ministers to crack down on illegal working in the sector- ??
?? Thai on-demand food delivery company?Line Man Wongnai?is?considering an IPO?on a Thai exchange or in the US in 2025- ??
?? Nigerian startup?Chowdeck, which is backed by?Y Combinator,?raised $2.5 million seed funding?to scale its food delivery service- ??
?? Turkish Startups / VC & CVC News :
?? Spyke Games, oyun geli?tirmeye odaklanan Moon Active ?irketinden yakla??k 50 milyon dolar yat?r?m ald?- ??
?? Paynet, iyzico taraf?ndan 87 milyon dolara sat?n al?nd?- ??
???? Layers HR'dan ?al??an odakl? yapay zeka destekli ?K uygulamas?- ??
????? Yerli giri?im BlindLook ile i? birli?i yapan Trendyol, g?rme engelliler i?in Sesli Rehber ?zelli?ini duyurdu- ??
?? Yapay zeka destekli proje ilerleme takip platformu Arventek, 1.5 milyon dolar de?erleme ile yat?r?m ald?- ??
?? Dijital oyun endüstrisindeki giri?imciler i?in yeni fon: PlayGate GSYF- ??
?? Ulusoy Un, tar?m ve g?da sekt?ründe u?tan uca dijitalle?meyi sa?layan Doktar Teknoloji’ye 15 milyon 732 bin TL yat?r?m yapt?- ??
???? Odeabank’tan dijital d?nü?üm odakl? yeni teknoloji ?irketi: Odeatech- ??
?? Fonksiyonel süper g?da ?irketi Naturiga, 8 milyon TL hedefle ikinci kez kitle fonlama yat?r?m turuna ??kt?- ??
??? Pazarama'dan sat?c?lar?n finansal hizmetlere eri?imini kolayla?t?ran ürün: DijiKolay- ??
? Rekabet Kurumu, Meta'ya 335.7 milyon TL idari para cezas? verdi- ??
?? Global melek yat?r?m a?? Decacorn Angels, Duygu Eren liderli?inde Türkiye’deki faaliyetlerine ba?lad?- ??
???? ?al??an odakl? yeni nesil yan haklar platformu: Luvu- ??
?? Global Startups / VC News :
?? Docusign, announced its agreement to acquire Lexion, a leading provider of AI-powered agreement management software, for?$165 million- ??
?? Cloud security leader?Wiz?has raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation, bringing the company's total funding to $1.9 billion- ??
?? The UK self-driving car technology startup Wayve has secured more than $1bn of investment to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence-powered vehicles- ??
?? Akamai confirms acquisition of Noname, an API security firm for $450M- ??
?? CoreWeave’s $1.1B raise shows the market for alternative clouds is booming- ??
?? Transcarent, the One Place for Health and Care, announced a $126 million Series D investment led by General Catalyst and 7wireVentures at a valuation of $2.2 billion- ??
?? Berlin-based trawa raises €10M to use AI to make buying renewable energy easier for SMEs- ??
???? Sona, a frontline workforce management platform, raises $27.5 million with eyes on US expansion- ??
?? Stonal secures near €100M investment from Aareon for real estate data management- ??
?? Bluejay Therapeutics Raises $182M in Series C Financing- ??
????? E-commerce / Grocery:?
?? Walmart launched a?new private label line, Bettergoods, of approximately 300 products in categories such as frozen food, dairy, snacks, beverages, coffee and chocolate, with a focus on creating culinary experiences, plant based and “made without”- ??
?? Aldi is rolling out a new recyclable butter packaging on two of its own-label butter lines, in a UK supermarket first- ??
领英推荐
?? Asda has refinanced more than ￡3.2bn of debt in a deal that pushes the grocer’s debt burdens into the next decade- ??
???? Tesco Media & Insight Platform has made two key appointments from Amazon and Pinterest in a bid boost its retail media offer- ??
?? ??? Asda is to debut a new dedicated retail media unit in partnership with software company SMG- ??
?? FoodTech / Food Companies
?? Voyage Foods, which says it makes the “most sustainable” chocolate on the market,?secured $55mn Series A+ funding?just two weeks after signing a commercial deal with?Cargill- ??
?? Shiru?launched an?‘Amazon for proteins’, the “world’s first” AI-powered protein discovery platform, allows companies to find & buy sustainable proteins for product development- ??
?? Mars Inc.?launched a?sustainable dairy plan, ‘Moo’ving Dairy Forward,’ to be supported by a $47mn investment over three years & focus on areas such as methane reduction, efficient manure management and sustainable feed production- ??
?? US-based mycelium meat producer?Meati?raised $100mn Series C1 funding, the largest investment in an alternative protein company since its own $150mn Series C round in 2022. It also expanded into 2,000 Kroger stores- ??
?? Ginkgo Bioworks is partnering with GreenLab, a plant biotechnology company that produces proteins in corn, to create brazzein, a sweet-tasting protein, at commercial scale- ??
?? Specialty coffee company?Wakuli?secured €5.2 million Series A funding, having successfully opened six coffee bars in Amsterdam and one in Utrecht in 2023- ??
???? Beyond Meat?unveiled its?eighth straight quarter of YOY revenue decline, with a net loss of $54.4 million on revenues down 18% to $75.6 million in Q1 2024- ??
?? In a new report, the?World Bank?has asked countries to?redirect their subsidies?away from livestock farming and towards low-emission products, including alternative proteins- ??
?? ?? ?? AI / Web3 / Metaverse / Blockchain / Gaming:
?? OpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on May 20th- ??
?? Microsoft’s new Xbox mobile gaming store is launching in July- ??
?? OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users- ??
?? RunPod, the launchpad that empowers developers to deploy custom full-stack AI applications raised $20M in Seed Funding Co-led by Intel Capital and Dell Technologies Capital- ??
?? AI chip startup DEEPX secures $80M Series C at a $529M?valuation- ??
?? AI startup Atlan raises $105 million in funding at $750 million valuation- ??
?? Sustainability:
?? Stockholm-based?Volta Greentech?bagged 32 million SEK?investment to bring cost-efficient and scalable climate solution to agriculture- ??
?? How Aldi is ramping up its sustainability efforts- ??
?? Nescafé has launched the first paper refill pack for its Gold Blend variant which can be easily recycled- ??
?? Worth Reading ?
?? Everything Google Announced at I/O 2024. The company showed off new AI-powered chatbot tools, new search capabilities, and many machine intelligence upgrades for Android- ??
???? A new study from?Sun Genomics?and?Arizona State University?highlights improvements to the gut microbiome and autism spectrum disorder symptoms with the use of?custom probiotics- ??
?? M&S chairman Archie Norman has said that the upmarket retailer will not rely on self-checkouts in the future as they have a “robotic type of feel”- ??
?? Interview: How HelloFresh UK is navigating the rocky road to meal-kit growth- ??
? News from Y?ld?z Ventures’ Portfolio Companies?
?? 500 Emerging Europe portf?y ?irketi, Türk kuruculara sahip a??k kaynak Retool alternatifi Refine, 500 EE’nin de kat?ld??? turda 2.8 milyon dolar yat?r?m ald?- ??
?? 500 Emerging Europe portf?y ?irketi, Ki?iye ?zel ?nleyici sa?l?k platformu sunan Salus, ismini Heltia olarak de?i?tirdi ve Türkiye’nin en kapsaml? dijital sa?l?k uygulamas? olmay? hedefliyor- ??
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