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What Makes a New Technology Merit a Venture Investment?
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By Matthew Strozier, WSJ Pro
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Good day. We are restarting our weekly reader question today with a topic well-suited for the start of a new year when market predictions abound: How do you know it is time to bet on a startup pushing a new technology?
WSJ Pro’s Steven Rosenbush wrote this week about how venture capitalist Vinod Khosla decided to invest in OpenAI in 2019, well before the startup’s wildly successful launch of ChatGPT helped spark a wave of venture investment in artificial intelligence. Rosenbush explains that Khosla focused on how quickly OpenAI's technology was advancing, as well as AI's broader acceleration. (Check out this episode of WSJ's Tech News Briefing podcast to learn more.)
We would like to hear from other venture investors: What questions do you ask when deciding to invest? How do you determine whether a startup’s technology, along with its product or service, has a good shot at breaking through the noise and becoming a hit? Please email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.
Programming note: The Pro VC newsletter won’t be published Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll be back Tuesday.
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And now on to the news...
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Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight just after 2 a.m. ET on Thursday. PHOTO: GREGG NEWTON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Up and away. Jeff Bezos’ space company launched its massive new rocket for the first time, aiming to advance the Amazon founder’s lifelong space-exploration ambitions. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket blasted off Thursday from a launchpad near Cape Canaveral, Fla., with flames pouring out from its booster. Liftoff marked a years-in-the-making milestone for Bezos and a step toward catching up to rival space entrepreneur Elon Musk, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Launching New Glenn will help Blue Origin try to catch up with Musk’s SpaceX. Though Blue Origin was founded two years before SpaceX, Musk’s company has raced ahead to become the world’s dominant rocket launcher.
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“There’s room for lots of winners,” Bezos said. “SpaceX is going to be successful, Blue Origin is going to be successful and there’s some company out there right now that hasn’t even been founded yet that is also going to be successful.”
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320+
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The height, in feet, of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
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Google’s Resolution for 2025: Catch Up to ChatGPT
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently told employees he believes the company’s Gemini AI technology has surpassed the capabilities of competitors and he wants the chatbot built on it to be used by 500 million people by the end of 2025, WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Google hasn’t said how many people currently use Gemini, but market leader ChatGPT has about 300 million weekly users. The Gemini app was the 54th most downloaded free app on iPhones Wednesday. ChatGPT was No. 4.
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Former Binance.US CEO Raises Over $20 Million for New Company
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Brian Shroder, the former chief executive of crypto exchange Binance’s U.S. arm, said Thursday he has raised more than $20 million for his new company 1Money, WSJ reports. The seed capital will help 1Money launch a stablecoin payments network, which is powered by distributed-ledger technology and exclusively focuses on stablecoin payments. More than two dozen venture-capital firms participated in the fundraising, including F-Prime, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments; Galaxy Ventures; Kraken Ventures; and Tribe Capital.
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Funds
Sigma Capital, an early-stage Web3-focused investor based in Dubai and Singapore, launched a $100 million fund.
People
Greycroft appointed Ashley Valentine as the firm’s first chief people officer, and promoted Melissa Brandow to chief compliance officer. Valentine was previously executive director of human capital at Rockwood Capital. Before joining Greycroft in 2023, Brandow was a principal at KKR.
Iconiq Growth promoted Tengbo Li to general partner, and Mariano Payano and Sruthi Ramaswami to partner. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Li held roles at JMI Equity and McKinsey & Co.
Empathy, a startup offering bereavement, estate management and legacy planning support, added Sophie Ruddock as chief operating officer and Cindy Goodrich as chief marketing officer. Ruddock was previously COO at Multiverse. Goodrich was most recently chief brand officer and CMO at BetterUp.
Deals
London-listed investment company Petershill Partners sold the majority of its stake in venture capital firm General Catalyst for a total consideration of $726 million, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
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Stoke Space, an on-demand space transportation provider based in Kent, Wash., secured $260 million in Series C financing from investors including Glade Brook Capital Partners, Woven Capital and Point72 Ventures.
Synthesia, a London-based video communications platform, closed a $180 million Series D round led by New Enterprise Associates.
Loft Orbital, a San Francisco-based space infrastructure startup, scored $170 million in Series C funding led by Tikehau Capital.
Neura Robotics, a Germany-based cognitive robotics startup, fetched €120 million in Series B funding. Lingotto Investment Management, which is wholly-owned by Exor, led the round. Vsquared Ventures and several others also participated in the investment.
Netradyne, a San Diego-based fleet safety and video telematics technology provider, closed a $90 million Series D round led by Point72 Private Investments.
Eve, a San Francisco-based legaltech startup, landed $47 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Prophecy, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based data startup, added $47 million in Series B extension funding led by Smith Point Capital.
Shippeo, a Paris- and Chicago-based provider of real-time multimodal transportation visibility, snagged a $30 million strategic funding round. Woven Capital led the investment, with Principal Prashant Bothra joining the company’s board.
Qbiq, a Tel Aviv-headquartered AI startup focused on automating architectural planning, completed a $16 million Series A round. Insight Partners led the investment, with Managing Director Liad Agmon joining the board.
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Here is our weekly roundup of stories from across WSJ Pro that we think you'll find useful.
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Venture capital, known for making longshot bets on groundbreaking tech, is now buying up stakes in a more button-down sector of the economy: accounting.
Businesses are starting to link their artificial intelligence initiatives with paring back hiring plans, or so-called cost avoidance, in an effort to justify investing in the technology.
New York and California forced companies to remove so-called forever chemicals from apparel. It hasn’t been smooth.
For overseas debtors looking to file for bankruptcy in the U.S., “basically a dollar is enough” to show a business presence.
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Shou Chew is expected to sit among the president-elect’s high-profile guests at the inauguration. PHOTO: ALYSSA SCHUKAR FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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