🕶️ AI investments for all: the SPV trend

Six bullets of updates

1. 💪📈 Europe's female VC partners are rising at 350, but only 16% of general partners. 

2. ₿ President Biden vetoes a bill to overturn the SEC's approach to crypto custody, impacting the $2T industry.

3. 🏆 100k tonnes of edible food is wasted annually in the UK. A food tech award aims to fix that.

4. 🗑️ Binit aims to revolutionize waste management using AI to enhance trash sorting and recycling efficiency.

5. 💳 Neobank Monzo reports its first entire pre-tax profit and prepares for EU expansion with a new Dublin hub.

6. 🤖 Cloudera acquires Verta, enhancing its data platform with AI capabilities, after raising $1B and going public.

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SPVs: a new avenue for AI investments

VCs leverage SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) to offload shares of high-demand AI firms like Anthropic and xAI to smaller investors. This trend is reshaping the traditional approach to AI investments, making it accessible to a broader range of stakeholders.

The SPV market is becoming increasingly dynamic, providing liquidity options for VCs and investment opportunities for those previously sidelined. It’s an emerging shift as a notable evolution in venture capital strategies.

However, although SPVs can be a viable method for purchasing shares of sought-after companies that are otherwise inaccessible to investors, some caution that they carry significant risk. Unlike venture funds, SPV backers do not receive direct company information. Read more!

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. SaaStr Europa (London) | June 4-5 | Conference

2. South Summit: Madrid | June 5-7 | Summit

3. Crash Course in Financial Modeling | June 18 | Course

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

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These companies just raised money

1. 🤝 VC firm Accel secures $650M to boost European early-stage startups, signaling robust growth potential.

2. 💶 Creandum closes new $545M fund to back early-stage startups in Europe and the US.

3. 🔐 Belgium's Aikido secures $17M Series A for its no-nonsense security platform tailored for developers.

4. 💵 SiFi raises $10M in seed funding to revolutionize financial inclusion with its AI-powered micro-lending platform.

5. 🧾 Chilean pay tech Koywe acquires Facto for an undisclosed amount, aiming to launch a new invoicing standard in the US.

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Unity to green: David Helgason's climate crusade

Unity co-founder David Helgason shifted from game engines to climate tech, launching Transition Ventures in 2021 to back sustainable solutions. With partners including Y Combinator and Atomico alumni, the fund targets disruptive companies like Electricity Maps and FabricNano.

Transition Ventures' diverse portfolio spans synthetic biology to renewable energy marketplaces. While Helgason's venture capital journey faced fundraising challenges due to market shifts, the focus remains on scalable climate solutions. Transition Labs leverages Iceland's unique attributes to aid climate tech startups. Read more.

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The truth of how Bill Gates "swindled" Apple