AI Dreams, Data Nightmares

You're not struggling alone!

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Lucila Sarquis & Arturo Pardo
January 23, 2024

While dragons 🐉 may remain the stuff of legends, unicorns 🦄 are not only real but thriving. In the US, their numbers surged from 39 in 2013 to an impressive 532 in 2023, spanning a wide array of sectors. Intrigued? Dive into Cowboy Ventures' comprehensive study on the subject.

In the current landscape, private equity and startups might find themselves swiping right, initiating a necessary dialogue as exit strategies become increasingly complex.

Moreover, if integrating AI into your startup is proving challenging, you're not alone—77% of respondents in a recent study share the sentiment 🤖

Last but certainly not least, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for curated, no-BS, actionable videos! 🎥

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Six bullets of updates

  1. 📄 Equity funding for minority startups faces legal hurdles, yet BIPOC founders nabbed only 1.1% of VC funding in 2022.

  2. 🪙 Terraform Labs files for Chapter 11 in Delaware amid a $40B crypto collapse and pending SEC litigation.

  3. 👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏽 Despite women holding C-level roles, only 1% own Swedish-listed tech firms. Feminvest aims to change this with a $9.5M fund.

  4. 🚗 Bankrupt EV startup Lordstown's ousted founder, Steve Burns, reboots with LandX Motors, a new venture.

  5. 🇮🇳 General Catalyst eyes the Indian startup market with potential Venture Highway acquisition, planning a $500M investment.

  6. 📚 EdTech start-ups are gearing up for a boom in 2024, fueled by advancements in AI and a growing need for re-education.

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Startup crossroads: decoding the path to liquidity

The anticipation surrounding the return of the IPO market in 2024 is tempered with skepticism. As startups accumulate substantial but illiquid wealth in the private sector, the imperative for an exit strategy becomes more pronounced.

🦄 While the number of unicorns in the U.S. has surged 14-fold in the past year (from 39 in 2013 to 532 in 2023), their journey to public trading has waned, with only a meager 7% successfully finding an exit.

This presents a challenging crossroads for startups. The silver lining? Unexplored exit avenues may clear their paths this year. However, these exits could come at painful discounts.

🆘 As the IPO market remains elusive, the private equity sphere emerges as a potential savior for liquidity-seeking startups. Although this may not be the fairytale ending many envisioned, sometimes you have to work with what you have.

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These companies just raised money

  1. 🕹️ Gaming startup Build a Rocket Boy nabs $110M for community platform Everywhere and user-generated content tools, Arcadia.

  2. 🗣️ AI voice cloning startup ElevenLabs receives $80M Series B, reaching a $1B valuation despite facing criticism and abuse allegations. 

  3. 💻 Digital Onboarding, a SaaS that swaps paper for pixels in bank comms, landed $58M to boost customer retention rates.

  4. 🔋International Battery Company bags $35M to produce EV batteries for India's booming electric vehicle market.

  5. 🖼️ Graphic design AI startup Recraft secures $12M in Series A to enhance its brand-centric design tools.

  6. 🚧 Construction fintech startup Briq welcomes $8M in flat-valuation extension round; with plans to expand into non-English markets.

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AI dreams, data nightmares: the path to implementation

Loving something is not enough to assimilate it right away. This is what retailers are experiencing with artificial intelligence, according to a study by Forrester Research. While they intend to use it to enhance operations and increase revenue, the lack of data management practices and technical expertise for proper implementation hinders optimal adoption.

Some data from the study indicates that 77% of respondents believe their organizations struggle to gather actionable insights. Meanwhile, 67% report being unable to collect usable data for their needs. Additionally, 58% find it challenging to invest in artificial intelligence technologies.

The study surveyed 205 businesses, interviewing decision-makers in the company's technology sector. Can you relate to their struggles?

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A Cap Table Template

Understanding stock, preferred stock, convertible notes, angel investing, venture capital, and other fundraising instruments can be truly overwhelming. This cap table template will help you plan and keep track of your equity and avoid a mistake that can cost you millions of dollars.

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What does the internet know about us?

We think of ourselves as the customers of all these products we use daily, but the truth is that we’re not a customer… We've become the products for the first time in humanity’s history. Companies and governments are willing to pay good money for people’s data.

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