A (scary) clever millionaire AI agent, Google keeps its App Store monopoly (for now), Perplexity AI sued over "content kleptocracy" + new open deals!
Ups, downs, shocks and hot new deals.
Welcome to Issue #46 of Startup Deal Desk!
Here’s what you can expect in today’s edition:
An example of how rich (and scary) autonomous AI agents can become, the Google vs Epic Games legal battle continues, and yet another case of an AI startup being sued for theft.
The sad, sad funding world of fintech, private equity investors flock to evergreen funds, and a whole lot of global debt.
3 new open deals:
🛍️SKU IQ, 💸Chisos Capital and 💰Right Side Capital Management
and much more.
Keep reading to see the latest deals, news and trends 👇.
And don’t forget to subscribe!
Truth Terminal: The first millionaire AI agent - The creator of the Infinite Backrooms project, Andy Ayrey, deployed two LLM bots in an eternal conversation. The autonomous AI agent started generating content on X under the name Terminal of Truths. Posts led to the launch of its own GOAT memecoin, and a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen sent it $50K-worth of bitcoin. Of course, donations came flooding in and GOAT’s market cap peaked at quarter mil. However, this raises serious economic, legal, regulatory and ethical concerns. As tech improves, AI agents will only become better at executing tasks independently. Add blockchain tech into the mix and things could become terrifying super quick. Speaking of terrifying, the agent created its own religion and now plays God.
Judge lets Google keep its monopoly in the Android app store - Sadly, Google gets a small win in its legal battle with Epic Games. Judge James Donato pressed pause on Google’s deadline (November 1st) to alter its Play Store rules after the company appealed the verdict. The temporary administrative stay only pushes back the clock, but if the Ninth Circuit grants a longer stay too, it could genuinely let Google off the hook till it gets through appeal.
Content kleptocracy: The fancy new term for ‘theft’ - Content kleptocracy, content piracy, AI-enabled content theft. Whatever you want to call it, Perplexity AI is getting sued for it. News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post filed a lawsuit on Monday stating copyright violations of its original content. This is not the first time Perplexity has come under fire for the same reasons. You’d think they would learn after Forbes called them out this summer. The New York Times even sent them a cease and desist just last week.
A sobering quarter for FinTech - Global fintech funding declined by 25% from Q2’24, to $7.3B. Total deals also dropped 16% QoQ to 753 – their lowest quarterly level since 2017. On the bright side, average deal size remained stable at $12.7M, and WealthTech funding increased by 67%, thanks to two $100M+ mega-rounds.
Evergreen funds and perpetual capital on the rise - Private wealth presents a $450T opportunity, but regulations on closed-end funds have hindered access for individual investors. Enter evergreen funds – letting money move in and out more freely, which appeals to private wealth investors and their advisors.
Dept, dept, dept. As in, $100T+ dept - The International Monetary Fund published a grim report last Tuesday, stating that the world's total public debt is set to top $100T this year and reach 100% of global GDP by 2030. Did we mention debt?
Chisos Capital: Funding the next generation of promising individuals - a structured finance company investing in high-income potential entrepreneurs, athletes and creators/influencers. Offers a unique investment structure through a mix of debt and equity. They’ve deployed ~$2.5M in capital across 70 investments, with nearly $700K processed in income share repayments in the last 3.5 years. Currently seeking commitments for their $5M raise – $3M remaining with a $2M interim raise close.
Book a meeting with the Founder and discover more about Chisos here.
Right Side Capital Management: Pre-VC tech investments at scale - a venture capital fund targeting tech startups at the Pre-VC stage. With over 2000 tech startups in their diverse portfolio, the company is one of the biggest institutional investors at this stage. Portfolio companies have driven major returns, most prominent being Trading View’s partial exit that drove a 355x return, and Digital Ocean’s IPO, driving a 253x return. Now raising $100M for their Fund VI.
Meet the Founders and learn more about Right Side Capital Management here.
SKU IQ: Bringing brick-and-mortar inventory to digital channels - an omni-channel retail SaaS that helps SMBs sync inventory and reporting between their Point-of-Sale and e-commerce platforms. Ranked as the Best Value and Easiest to Use platform in 2023 and was featured in Forbes as a solution for consolidating data. With 1000s of customers and its latest partnership with TikTok Shop, the company is now raising $6M in convertible notes.
Connect with the Founder and find out more about SKU IQ here.
The biggest banks flaunt their better-than-expected Q3 earnings - Combined investment banking fees at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase were $6.5B, a 27% rise from a year earlier and a slight increase from the last quarter. Combined trading revenue also climbed to $23.4B, a 6% increase from a year earlier and a 2% decrease sequentially.
Is crypto officially making a comeback? - Looking to advance its crypto ambitions, Stripe has finalized a deal to buy stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1B. The startup previously said it aspired to become the blockchain version of Stripe and judging by the deal figures, crypto could make a swift comeback, and stay for good.
Why work for an AI company when you can build your own - Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is reportedly fundraising upwards to $100M for a new AI startup just one month after leaving the company. Talk about beating them at their own game.
Photonic computing startup Lightmatter raised $400M - The company’s $400M Series D round, led by T. Rowe Price Associates, values the company at $4.4B – making them by far the largest photonics company.
Fintech Splitero secures $300M in strategic partnership - Splitero, the fintech company that provides homeowners better options to access their home equity, has announced a $300M strategic investment from funds managed by Antarctica Capital.
Brain drug developer Seaport raises another $225M - When it debuted in April, Seaport had $100M in Series A funding that got buy-in from prominent biotech backers like Arch Venture Partners, Sofinnova Investments and Third Rock Ventures.
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Until next time!