18: Arbor, TechTree & KORIS
Happy Wednesday and welcome to
!It's been quite a week, with plenty of noteworthy events to keep us all on our toes. From the chaos at Silicon Valley Bank to the excitement surrounding the Oscars and OpenAI's new GPT-4 launch, we've had a lot to keep up with.
Speaking of OpenAI's GPT-4, with the ability to process both image and text inputs and generate high-quality text outputs, it's sure to be a game-changer in the world of artificial intelligence and language processing.
As for the SVB situation, there are plenty of experts weighing in, but we've found a couple of particularly interesting reads on the topic that we recommend checking out:
Silicon Valley Bank Failure: Initial Post-Mortem Analysis: Richard J. Parsons, Seeking Alpha
The real story behind the Silicon Valley Bank debacle, Robert Reich
But enough about that - let's shift our focus to some exciting startups that caught our attention this week!
Startup spotlight
1.
Startup name: Arbor (2022, US)
Arbor is a platform that provides an end-to-end solution for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Its real-time, integrated DEI analytics, reporting, and benchmarking features are designed to bridge the gap between intentions and actions and drive meaningful change.
The importance of DEI has always been significant, but in 2020, the world witnessed unprecedented events such as racial injustice and a global pandemic that had a disproportionate impact on diverse groups. Change was no longer optional, but imperative.
Studies have shown that DEI is good for businesses' bottom lines. Companies with more gender, racial, and ethnic diversity among their leadership teams are more innovative and profitable than their less-diverse counterparts. According to McKinsey, businesses worldwide spent $7.5bn on DEI in 2020, a number that is expected to double to $15.4bn by 2026.
Founder(s) background: Kelly Zhou - ex-VP @ Insight Partners (led social impact arm); Veronica Ma - ex-Growth Strategy @ Subject, Investment Associate @ Insight Partners
Backed by (public source): Wisdom Ventures
Gigs: Software Engineer (+2 yrs), Growth and Community Manager (+1 yrs)
...
2.
Startup name: TechTree (2019, UK)
TechTree is building a socio-economic network for tech people. The goal is to create an environment in which people can not only assist each other through content, mentoring, events, and more, but also unlock the value of their network, knowledge, and data, turning it into a meaningful source of income.
One of TechTree's initial focuses has been on hiring bounties. Through this program, companies can fund bounties that reward users for referring qualified candidates for job openings. This has already led to over $500,000 in payouts to TechTree users.
However, hiring bounties are just the beginning. TechTree envisions a wide range of bounties that can be funded by companies and used to fuel the community. These could include speaker bounties, patronage bounties, mentoring bounties, Q&A bounties, bug bounties, and more.
Founder(s) background: Pawel Tomczuk (CEO) - Advisor, Investor & Mentor, ex-Founding Partner MSL Poland; Stanislas de Roquemaurel Galitzine (CTO) - ex-CEO @ VOLYA, CTO @ Beepings, Data Scientist @ Mosaic Ventures; Laurence Sangarde-Brown (CRO) - ex-Head of Partnerships & Growth @ Jobbio
Backed by (public source): Frontline Ventures, Vitruvius Ventures, Startup Wise Guys & PFR Ventures
...
3.
Startup name: KORIS (2022, US)
KORIS is a platform that enables the creation of Decentralized Autonomous Companies (DACs)1. A DAC is an infrastructure that assists in the management and operation of blockchain-based businesses. Unlike current DAO platforms (which are focused on collective decision-making and operation), KORIS provides specialized tools focused on improving the efficiency of business operations. These include task management, community management, and payment management.
KORIS is specifically designed for web3 founders, core members, contributors, and job seekers, as well as web2 companies looking to build web3 communities and companies.
Founder(s) background: Pavel Sinelnikov (CEO) - ex-Integrations Lead @ Metis; Chelsea Kubo (COO) - ex-Head of Marketing @ Metis; Chris Cassar (CTO) - 2x Founder (Versadex & Obi), PhD Researcher in Human Factors Engineering Design & XR Software Engineering
Backed by (public source): Incubated by the MetisDAO Foundation
Funding highlights
Adept AI, a machine learning lab focused on “general intelligence,” raised $350mm in a Series B round co-led by General Catalyst and Spark Capital, valuing the company at least $1bn.
Medwing, a healthcare recruitment marketplace, raised €44mm in a Series C round with contributions from Northzone, Cathay Innovation, Cherry Ventures, Quadrille Capital, Atlantic Labs, and Hambro Perks. Interestingly, Silicon Valley Bank's venture capital arm, SVB Capital, also participated in the round. Yes, you read it right - the bank that has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently.
One Impression, an Indian influencer marketing platform operating in multiple markets, raised $10mm in a Series A round led by South Korean gaming company Krafton.
HealthPlix, an Indian startup offering a platform for doctors to record patient data digitally, raised $22mm in a Series C round led by Avataar Venture Partners and SIG Venture Capital.
Mitiga, a cloud security firm offering a subscription-based service for cloud and SaaS attacks, raised $45mm in a Series A round led by ClearSky Security, valuing the company at over $100mm.
That's it for the week! We'll be back in your inbox next Tuesday!
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DAC is just a more specific application of a DAO, but they both have their differences.
