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This week is also the last “real” week of 2024, so it's likely full of news. It's another way for us to say goodbye for now and see you again in 2025.
The most interesting startup stories of the week
This week brought some M&As; It also includes some reminders that it's always worth taking a closer look at things, whether they're promising LPs or brilliant announcements.
The Holy City There are more than 20 VC firms, most of which invest in defense technology; Signed the clean city certification.By not taking money from America's geopolitical adversaries like China and Russia, they have proven to themselves that they don't have it.
Notes: AI inflation distorts aggregated VC data. digging deeper; The fundraising landscape It's very different for non-AI startups.Tribeca Venture Partners co-founder Brian Hirsch told TechCrunch that many who have raised Series A in the past 18 months are likely to face challenges in raising Series B funding.
Points to note: Nuclear startup Oklo, backed by Sam Altman, signed on. Large but non-binding agreement with data center operator Switch. The deal also won approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after its previous application in 2022 was rejected.
AI Productivity: Grammatically. Acquiring productivity startup Coda. to expand its scope. In an unusual move, Coda CEO and co-founder Shishir Mehrotra will become the new CEO of Grammarly, replacing Rahul Roy-Chewdhury, who will continue to hold the role of chief advisor.
Informed Answers: Confused Carbon obtained.A Seattle-based startup that connects LLMs to external data before generating a solution. This could help Perplexity tap into “internal databases, cloud storage or document archives,” the company said.
This week's most interesting fundraisers
There have been a lot of deal announcements this week as startups rush to reveal their latest fundraising news ahead of the holidays.
Mammoth pre-IPO round: data bricks Collected $10 billion. One of the biggest rounds in VC history. Mammoth Series J may be its last fundraising round before its highly anticipated IPO. But even though its CEO can't make a decision for 2025, It will also be in 2026.He said.
Africa's newest unicorn Grown by South African fintech Tyme Group. $250 million Series D round. Led by Nu Holdings, the parent company of Latin American fintech Nubank, Tyme is valued at $1.5 billion.
Ring Manufacturer: Finnish wearable startup Oura has grown up. $200 million in Series D funding It is valued at $5.2 billion. It includes partnerships from Fidelity Management and glucose device maker Dexcom; Oura recently entered into a partnership..
Traveling again: Hostaway, a Canadian travel startup that makes software for vacation rental operators; It earned $365 million. The value is 925 million. The turnaround will be led by General Atlantic, which will double the company's growth rate.
Acceleration for accessibility: Evanced, which helps companies comply with online accessibility requirements; It raised a Series C round of $55 million. Expanding to Europe, where the new rules will come into effect in June.
Quick Fund: Secure AI startup Decart, based in San Francisco but with operations in Israel. $32 million in new funding Two months after going stealth, it was worth $500 million.
earn money Agave Games is the Turkish startup behind the super fun mobile game Find the Cat. Raised $18 million in Series A funding. It will be used to build its team and work on upcoming titles.
This week's most interesting VC and funding news
Pendulum swing: Marcy Venture Partners, Jay-Z's VC firm, has teamed up with Pendulum Opportunities. To form MarcyPen Capital PartnersIt has $900 million in assets under management.
Behind the scenes Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton announced her. Move on to the advisory role.; 360 Venture Collective is “acquiring a significant stake in the management organization of Backstage” and will join the co-managed operator providing capital to the company, which has faced criticism in the past. struggles;.
Vote of Confidence: G2 Venture Partners, an investment arm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; $750 million for the third fund This would confirm LP's desire for his thesis.
last but not least
We'll leave you with a list. The 51 most disruptive startups of 2024 – A collective effort with contributions from many members of the TechCrunch team. Read on and have a happy holiday!