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SemperVirens Launches Accelerator for the AI Age
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. SemperVirens Venture Capital is jumping into the startup accelerator business, but with a twist.
Rather than following the traditional accelerator model of helping entrepreneurs start companies, San Francisco-based SemperVirens said it will help them scale their young startups. Startups in pre-seed through Series A are eligible for the program.
SemperVirens General Partner Allison Baum Gates said an abundance of cost-effective opportunities at the early stages motivated the firm to launch the accelerator. Artificial intelligence is allowing entrepreneurs to start companies, but getting them off the ground is challenging, she said.
“For AI-native founders, it’s now possible to build, launch and grow with far less capital than before—reducing the need for early funding,” Baum Gates said. “AI has significantly reduced the barrier to entry for founding a company, and many are generating early traction quickly.”
SemperVirens said it will provide funding and help startups sharpen their go-to-market processes by honing their distribution strategy and connecting them to potential buyers in sectors including health, finance and future of work.
Participants will have access to its network of over 200 executives and dozens of large-scale distribution partners, including logistics-services provider Sequoia and health insurers Cigna, MetLife and Guardian, SemperVirens said.
In March, SemperVirens closed $177 million across two new funds, including $141 million for early-stage startups and $36 million for growth-stage investments in its top-performing companies.
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And now on to the news...
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Taylor Swift PHOTO: JENNIFER GAUTHIER/REUTERS
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AI licensing rights for music. Major music companies are negotiating licensing deals with two startups that could set a new precedent for how songs are used and artists are paid for remixes generated by artificial intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reports. Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Group want to be compensated by startups Suno and Udio when music by artists they represent is used to train generative AI models and produce new music, according to people familiar with the
talks.
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The companies represent some of the most popular artists, such as Taylor Swift, Drake and Ed Sheeran.
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Datasite Acquires Private-Markets Intelligence Company Grata
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Datasite, a private equity-backed company that caters to dealmakers, has acquired private markets-focused Grata for more than $200 million to help give customers an edge in transactions, WSJ Pro reports. CapVest, Datasite’s private-equity owner, has pledged $500 million to help the Minneapolis-based company leverage new technologies such as “agentic AI,” the latest artificial-intelligence development that seeks to deliver autonomous AI agents that can automate some tasks without human intervention.
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The $500 million commitment includes the acquisition of New York City-based Grata and buying out early backers such as Craft Ventures, Bling Capital and Touchdown Ventures.
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Snowflake to Buy Crunchy Data for $250 Million
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Snowflake has agreed to acquire database startup Crunchy Data, aiming to win over customers seeking to build their own artificial-intelligence agents, WSJ reports. The deal is valued at roughly $250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. Crunchy Data is a cloud-based database platform that helps large businesses and government agencies use PostgreSQL without needing to manage the infrastructure themselves. PostgreSQL is a popular open-source, relational database that dates to the late 1980s.
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TAE Technologies, a fusion energy company, said it has raised more than $150 million in its latest financing from Google and other investors, exceeding its initial target. TAE says it is developing the cleanest, safest and most economical approach to commercial fusion power. TAE, which said it has the option to raise additional capital through this round, said it has secured more than $1.3 billion in equity since inception in 1998.
Creatify, a San Francisco-based AI video advertising platform, secured $15.5 million in Series A financing co-led by WndrCo and Kindred Ventures. Jeffrey Katzenberg, founding partner at WndrCo, will join the company’s board.
Context, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI-native office suite, was seeded with an $11 million investment led by Lux Capital.
Freeplay, a Boulder, Colo.-based startup that helps AI teams build products and agents, raised a $5.6 million seed round led by Renegade Partners. This brings Freeplay’s total amount raised to $8.9 million.
Unbound, a San Francisco-based startup helping enterprises adopt generative AI tools securely and responsibly across their organizations, picked up a $4 million seed investment led by Race Capital.
Spott, a San Francisco-based operating platform for recruitment agencies, picked up a $3.2 million investment led by Base10 Partners.
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PHOTO: JOHN G MABANGLO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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