PreIPO INTELLI™ Weekly Insights | Series 32
Friday, May 12, 2023 | Volume 1 Series 32 | Q1 2023 Unicorn Births, Brickmark-PreIPO Partnership, and Funding Round Updates!
🕑☕️ Good afternoon to all! Once again, it's time for the INTELLI™ Newsletter to bring you the latest news and updates for the week. We have a special feature on Unicorn Births for Q1 of 2023, Info on Brickmark and PreIPO’s new partnership and updates on recent funding rounds.
🦄 Unicorn Births Q1 2023 - AI gains 4 unicorns
According to CBInsights Global venture funding declined by 13% in Q1 2023, with a total of $58.6 billion raised. This represents a slower rate of decline compared to the previous quarters. Deal activity also fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, with 7,024 deals closed, marking a 12% decline and the lowest tally since Q2 2020. Most regions experienced double-digit declines in funding during Q1 2023, except for the US, which only saw a 1% drop.
Late-stage companies faced challenges in raising new rounds, with the median deal size for late-stage rounds dropping by 45% to $15 million. Early-stage rounds remained more stable with a median deal size of $2.2 million. Late-stage rounds accounted for a smaller share of overall deals, while early-stage rounds dominated.
However, despite these challenges, the AI sector seems to be an exception, as four out of the 13 new unicorns in Q1 were AI companies. The success of OpenAI's ChatGPT and the race among tech giants to upgrade their AI capabilities are contributing to the growth of AI-related companies, suggesting more AI unicorns may emerge in the future.
The four AI companies that achieved unicorn status in Q1 2023 were:
Anthropic: A US-based AI model developer and research outfit, valued at $4.4 billion.
Adept: A US-based startup specializing in training AI for enterprise software, valued at $1 billion.
Character.ai: A US-based AI chatbot developer, valued at $1 billion.
DeepL: A Germany-based AI-powered language translator, valued at $1 billion.
📰 BrickMark partners with PreIPO
BrickMark Group AG, a global leader in real estate asset tokenization, has announced a strategic partnership with PreIPO Corporation, a prominent platform for investing in private companies pre-IPO. The collaboration aims to offer accredited investors expanded access to tokenized real estate investments worldwide. By combining BrickMark's expertise in real estate tokenization with PreIPO.com's established platform, accredited investors will have the opportunity to easily diversify their portfolios by investing in tokenized real estate alongside private companies. The partnership seeks to simplify the investment process and provide a seamless experience for accredited investors, ultimately revolutionizing access to real estate assets and high-growth private companies.
🔥 INTELLI™ Featured Deals 🔥
This week, we wanted to highlight a few deals that INTELLI™ is tracking.
Runway - $100 Million Series D
Runway, a generative AI startup that recently raised $100 million in funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Runway specializes in providing a platform for users to create and deploy interactive experiences powered by AI. The substantial investment and high valuation indicate investor confidence in Runway's technology and its potential for growth in the AI industry. The funding will enable the startup to expand its operations, enhance its platform, and continue delivering innovative AI-powered experiences to its users.
Mavenir - $100 Million Private Equity
Mavenir, a telecom services company, has successfully secured $100 million in funding. The company's objective is to further integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its cloud-based automated network technology. With this substantial investment, Mavenir aims to enhance its telecom services by leveraging AI capabilities. By incorporating AI into their network infrastructure, Mavenir strives to optimize performance, increase automation, and provide improved services to their customers. This funding round underscores the increasing significance of AI in the telecommunications industry and highlights Mavenir's commitment to leveraging this technology for advancing their network technologies.
Pinecone - $100 Million Series B
Pinecone, a startup specializing in vector databases, has successfully raised $100 million in funding, resulting in a valuation of $750 million. The company offers an advanced and scalable database solution for managing high-dimensional vector data. The significant investment and valuation highlight the increasing market demand for vector databases and validate Pinecone's pioneering technology. This funding will empower Pinecone to advance its product, expand its business operations, and effectively cater to the growing needs of industries relying on vector database solutions.
As always, stay tuned for more updates and insights from the team at INTELLI™.