🕶️ 2024: A breakthrough year for robotics startups

Six bullets of updates

1. 👤Character.AI lets users chat with avatars over calls, enhancing engagement with virtual personalities.

2. 🔑 Building world-class teams means matching personalities to tasks; a system of pioneers, settlers, and city-builders can help.

3. 🔋 Batteries could revolutionize cold shipping, with Artyc's Medstow Micro leading the charge in temperature-sensitive transport.

4. 🧑‍⚕️ SoftBank and Tempus form an AI healthcare joint venture in Japan, with $600M in initial funding.

5. ⚡ Orby is developing AI agents for enterprises to boost efficiency, raising $16.5M to expand their platform.

6. 🥔 Plant-based startup launches liquid egg product made from potato protein.

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2024 sees a boom in robotics startups

2024 shows promising growth for robotics startup funding, amassing over $4.2B. Key areas include workplace robots, with companies like Bright Machines and Collaborative Robotics raising significant rounds to enhance factory automation and cobot solutions.

Humanoid and surgical robotics are also drawing significant investments. Figure secured $675M for general-purpose humanoids, while MMI raised $110M for robotic-assisted microsurgical technology. Execution remains critical as startups strive to deliver scalable and affordable solutions. 

The real challenge lies in execution. Can today’s funded startups deliver on their visions with robotics technologies that are effective, scalable, and affordable? Read more. 

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. How to close a Funding Round (it’s not just the pitch deck) | July 2 | Webinar

2. Crash Course in Financial Modeling | July 10 | Webinar

3. Financial Modeling Bootcamp | July 22 | Bootcamp  

4. SaaStock: Dublin | August 14 | Conference

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These companies just raised money

1. 🔹 Backed by Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank, DTCP raises $450M to bolster its growth and early-stage funds.

2. 🏗️ Austin-based IronSpring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial sector, eyeing a new revolution.

3. 🗄️ Onehouse raises $35M to enhance data lakehouse tech, empowering AI companies with efficient data management. 

4. 💨 Dust secures $16M to enhance enterprise AI assistants by integrating them with internal business data.

5. 🗣️ Synthflow secures $7.4M to enhance its no-code AI voice assistance platform, already nearing 1,000 SME users.

6. 🇨🇱 Chilean fintech Retorna raises $1.2M to expand its remittance services, having processed over $25M since 2018.

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AI shakes up M&A and IPO markets

M&A activity in the startup ecosystem is seeing a lift, led by AI giants like OpenAI, which recently acquired Rockset and Multi. Despite these moves, overall deal numbers remain low compared to previous years.

AI IPOs are also gaining traction, with Cerebras Systems confidentially filing for an IPO. Nvidia's recent success underscores the growing investor interest in AI technology. Public investors are increasingly intrigued by the potential of AI-driven companies to deliver significant returns. 

If major AI companies like OpenAI and Nvidia, which is eyeing cloud services, begin acquiring startups and more startups go public, investors might finally see the long-awaited returns. Read more!

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Why you should NEVER make an MBA your co-founder?

Discover why the traditional belief that a business major is the key to startup success may not hold, especially in today’s ever-changing tech landscape.

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