Meet the startup raising funds to take on Nvidia | Equity Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Morgan Stanley atwork visit morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free transaction Readiness assessment [Music] Today hello and welcome back to equity The Tech runch podcast where we unpack The numbers and the Nuance behind the Headlines today is January 3 1st 2024 this is Alex and welcome back to Our Wednesday show this is where we dig Into the critical startup Adventure Capital stories from the week thus far Now as a reminder this is our new format Comments and feedback of course to Equity POD at teen.com if you want we've Heard from some of you we appreciate the Notes we are always looking to make this Show better for you now on the podcast Today we have new raises from Plex and Rebellions and Nile layoffs at a solar Startup and then three bits of venture Capital news that I know you want to Hear all right let's [Music] Go starting off media streamer Plex has Raised New Capital now this company Began Life as a media organization Startup but has morphed over the years To become a One-Stop shop for all your Media including critically ad supported Streaming which now accounts for much of Its Revenue growth this round techer Thought was actually going to be a a

Little bit bigger but I'll just say this In the current market raising $40 Million is nothing to sneeze at now on The investor side this is an inside Round so we're talking existing series C Investors actually this is plex's series C3 if you're counting but it did see Intercap and cliner Perkin once again in The mix so if Plex has evolved what is It today well Plex users can watch free Ad supported shows and movies listen to Music stream live TV channels or their Own media and also find new stuff to Watch all pretty standard but people Love free recently the company has also Been developing social features so that Way Plex users can opt in track what They View and then share that with Friends the result of all that work is Growth plex's ad supported streaming has Been helping it grow its revenue and Though the company did have layoffs last Year leading to about a cut of 20% of Its staff plex's ad Revenue grew by 45% In 2023 that's the growth business and Its overall operations screw by 30% last Year engagement and usage are also up at The company and Keith Valerie the CEO Says plx is still on track to be Profitable by the end of 2024 or early Next year cool I love it streaming is Great but you don't have computers Without chips and that's what I want to Talk about next rebellions a South

Korean fabulous AI chip startup that Recently closed $124 million in a series B round of funding to develop its third AI chip called Rebel the startup though Of course with a round this large it's a Bit hard to call it a startup will also Use the new capital which was raised in An over subscribed round to ramp up Production of its data center Focus chip Adam the series B values the Three-year-old company at approximately $658 million and the company has now Raised about 210 million since it was Born back in 2020 but it was not a Venture capital group that led this Massive investment no it was KT the South Korean Telecom giant who you may Know from the world of Esports but it Wasn't alone tomask Pavilion capital and The Korea Development Bank participated Along with new investors including Corala capital and DG dawa Ventures yep That's a lot of names but you have to Add a lot of checks together to get all The way up into the nine figures now a Question why focus on chips Nvidia is Already doing pretty well as you might Have heard but data processing and Related high costs continue to be major Issues when it comes to AI applications So essentially the scramble continues in Search for Innovative breakthroughs to Lower those costs and improve the Overall Tech and that's probably why

Investors are backing rebellions even Though we have seen an explosion of Chip Focused companies around the world Especially in China the startup has Something kind of up its sleeve you may Recall that last October rebellions Announced that it would develop its Newest re chip in partnership with Samsung who you definitely have heard of So essentially it's building on a Relationship it forged around its atom Chips and Samsung and rebellions are Aiming to finish the development of Rebel the AI chip by the end of this Year and to start mass production next Year and of course you guessed it this Upcoming chip will focus on generative AI flipping the switch from Hardware to Software I have a question for you does SAS need a new data system system well That's the driving idea behind NY a Startup that aims to create a new data System with serverless postgress at its Core now what does that mean well Tech Wunch writes that it means that NY is Building a data solution with built in Support for multi- tendency as a core Primitive now I know what that means at A surface level but if I go too far into It I'm going to make a fool of myself But it doesn't matter because investors Seem to be pretty excited with what Nile Is building because the company just Raised an $ 11.6 million seed round LED

By benchmarks Eric vishria co-founder at Nile Gwyn chiro told techwrench that Every quote SAS product in the world is Multi-tenant so everyone needs to handle Multi-tenant data this is when the whole Idea behind Nile kind of made sense to Me if we're all going to use SAS Products and we don't want our data Mixed together it's going to need to be Multi-tenant and we all use software AO There should be a system to actually do That so what's the current situation Well shapira argues that companies keep Building the same Tech to handle Multi-tenant data from scratch again That just sounds ridiculous like who Needs to reinvent the wheel at every Single company anyways the company's bet On postgress is in fact due to that Being the direction that Nile sees the Tech Market moving with its co-founders Saying that it is quote going to become The Linux of databases Nile seed round Multi-tenant data I love it is your Company planning to go public or conduct A shareholder like liquidity program Within the next 18 to 24 months did you Know that proactively planning for your Next private company liquidity event or IPO can help you maintain greater Control over timelines and outcomes Morgan Stanley at work believes that When you have the right technology and Systems in place working in harmony

Leading up to a transaction you can Prepare and execute with more accuracy And ease visit Morgan Stanley.com assessment to connect with Their issuer strategy and Excellence Team for a free assessment to to find Out if your company is transaction ready Again that's morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free assessment Today and to round us out Aurora solar Has laid off 20% of its staff of about 500 people Tech runch has learned this Comes despite record growth last year in The Solar world according to our own Tim Desant but the company which provides Software to help solar installers manage Their sales project design and Installation process has missed its Growth targets for the past year According to a source even more Monday's Layoffs follow a smaller cut of about 20 People last November now Aurora solar Has raised more than a half billion Dollars so it's far from a small company Hence these layoffs being pretty big News what's driving here well the gist Appears to be that regulatory changes Are indeed impacting the solar Market in The US which is putting pressure on Smaller installers which represent a Good piece of Aurora's total customer Base from startups raising money to Venture capital funds raising themselves I have three Venture nuggets for you

This morning first up is giant Ventures A UK based VC that has made a habit of Investing on both sides of the Atlantic Is launching two new funds that are Worth a combined $250 million or if you Want to sound fancy a quar billion its Previous fund total 100 billion so this Is quite a lot more capital over there At Giant we like to see it it's good to Know that Europe is not going to be Bereft of fresh funds this Year number two techcrunch's Mike Butcher writes that Poland's startup Scene is really clicking along evidenced In part by Poland's Smo or smok Ventures Closing its second fund now it's only Worth $25 million so it's not the Largest fund we're going to see but Building in Poland is not as expensive As Silicon Valley so the new capital Pool could could have more impact than Its Topline dollar figure implies and we Love to see smaller firms all around the World ensuring that local scenes don't Have to go all the way to California Just to raise a couple Bucks and finally ubiquity Ventures is The latest firm to raise Capital it just Secured 75 million in capital commits For its third fund so shout out to seil Nagaraj I hope I got that right who is The solo GP at ubiquity he started the Firm back in 2017 Closed a debut fund of 30 mil back in 18

And then in 51 million back in 2020 for Its second fund so this is a solo GP Raising a third fund and the largest of Their funds to date it's nice to see a Solo GP doing well out there given that We have heard it's a very tough market For them to raise so ubiquity 10 [Music] Points and that is our show for this Lovely Wednesday morning we have to Leave it there but I have some good news For for you we will be back in your ears On Thursday we have an interview coming Up with a startup founder and former Venture capitalist talking about the Nature of innovation in technology and Essentially why the Apple Vision Pro has A real shot at success I know it sounds A little weird but tune in it's going to Be fun and then of course Friday we have Our round table and news Roundup so We'll see you there if you need even More Equity though in between now and Then we are Equity pod over on X and Threads or if you're into short form Social media we are Tech runch pods over On on Tik Tok my name is Alex I Appreciate you hugs Goodbye Equity is hosted by myself Editorinchief of Tech runch Plus Alex Wilhelm and Tech runch senior reporter Mary an azto we are produced by Teresa Loans solo with editing by Kell Bryce Durban is our illustrator and a big

Thank you to the audience development Team and Henry pavet who manages Tech Wrench audio products thank you so much For listening and we'll talk to you next Time