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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - North America and Israel, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌎️

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Let's delve into the core sections of our weekly newsletter:

• 📰 Important News

• 💸 Top Funding Rounds

• 💰️ Notable Exits

• 🏦 About Investors

• 📋️ Curated Lists

• 📈 Deep Dive Bites

• 🎙️ Expert Insights

• 🤝 Diversity Spotlight

• 🚀 Startup Of the Week

• 💼 Investor of the Week

• 🤑 Opportunity Radar

📰 Important News

• The UK’s CMA has cleared Alphabet's investment in Anthropic, concluding it doesn't meet investigation criteria under merger rules.

• Google.org launched a $20 million fund to support researchers using AI for scientific breakthroughs in fields aiming to drive innovation and collaboration.

• Earnin, a fintech offering payday loans, is facing a lawsuit from the District of Columbia Attorney General for allegedly deceptive practices.

• Gary Wang, former CTO of FTX, avoided prison time after cooperating with federal authorities and testifying against Sam Bankman-Fried during his trial.

• Iconiq Capital has purchased $100 million in employee shares from Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based FinTech company valued at $5 billion.

💸 Top Funding Rounds

• Elon Musk's AI startup xAI raised $5 billion in a funding round, doubling its valuation to $50 billion.

• Anthropic expanded its partnership with AWS, securing a $4 billion investment, and making AWS its primary cloud and training partner.

• Crusoe Energy, a startup providing data centers for AI companies, is raising $818 million, with $686 million already secured.

• LogicMonitor raised $800 million, bringing its valuation to $2.4 billion, to expand its AI-powered data center monitoring tools.

• Cyera raised $300 million in Series D funding, bringing its valuation to $3 billion, to expand its AI-driven data security platform.

💰️ Notable Exits

• Salesforce finalized its $1.9 billion cash acquisition of Israeli cloud backup company Own.

• Cybersecurity unicorn Wiz acquired Israeli company Dazz for an estimated $450 million to enhance its AI-driven vulnerability remediation platform.

• Helen of Troy is acquiring the nail care brand Olive & June for $240 million, including $225 million in cash.

• Robinhood is acquiring TradePMR, a custodial and portfolio management platform for RIAs, to enhance its wealth management services.

• Front has acquired Idiomatic to enhance its customer service platform by providing actionable insights from customer conversations.

🏦 About Investors

• Bain Capital raised $9 billion for its second Global Special Situations Fund, positioning itself as one of the largest investors in the sector.

• Bling Capital raised $270 million for its fourth fund, with half allocated to an opportunity fund for follow-on investments.

• Initiate Ventures launched a $45 million healthcare-focused fund combining early-stage investments and internal startup incubation.

• Illumen Capital raised a $32.75 million Catalyst Fund to support first-time fund managers and early-stage founders from underrepresented communities.

• Sequoia Capital marked up its 2020 U.S. Venture XVII fund by 25% despite no exits, driven by the growth of AI investments.

📋️ Curated Lists

Discover Michigan's dynamic venture capital landscape, where firms like Annox Capital, Arboretum Ventures, and Ludlow Ventures are spearheading innovation across healthcare, technology, and consumer services. From Detroit to Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, these firms are not only funding groundbreaking startups but also offering strategic guidance and fostering successful exits. Delve into the full article for a closer look at the leaders, portfolios, and transformative power driving the state's innovation.

🚀 Startup Of the Week

Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆

xAI

Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, has raised $5 billion in its latest funding round, propelling its valuation to $50 billion, up from $24 billion earlier this year. The investment will enable xAI to acquire 100,000 Nvidia chips to bolster its AI model training capabilities. The company, founded to rival OpenAI, continues to develop advanced generative AI models using cutting-edge Nvidia hardware. Musk’s growing influence in the AI sector contrasts with his vocal criticisms of OpenAI, which he co-founded but later distanced himself from.

💼 Investor of the Week

Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆

Bling Capital

Ben Ling’s Bling Capital has raised $270 million for its fourth flagship fund, continuing its reputation as a leading seed-stage venture capital firm. About half of this amount is dedicated to an opportunity fund to make follow-on investments in promising startups. Founded in 2018 by Ling, a former general partner at Khosla Ventures and an experienced angel investor, Bling has already backed 170 companies, including successful ventures like Rippling and Vise. The firm’s unique advantage lies in its "Product Council," a network of tech leaders from companies such as Notion, OpenAI, and Stripe, who provide strategic advice to Bling’s portfolio companies. With Ling’s background from roles at Google, YouTube, and Facebook, Bling Capital has helped nurture 19 unicorns and is positioning itself for continued success in the seed investment space.

🤑 Opportunity Radar

Call for Applications: Llama 3.1 Impact Grants

Meta's Llama 3.1 Impact Grants application deadline has been extended to December 1, 2024, at 11:59 PM PT, offering organizations a chance to secure funding of up to $500,000. The program supports innovative projects leveraging Llama 3.1 or 3.2 to address global challenges in areas like economic development, science and innovation, public services, and education. Participating organizations must demonstrate technical feasibility, impactful solutions, and a robust business plan. Whether enhancing multilingual AI capabilities or creating tools to lower barriers for developers, this grant aims to foster groundbreaking applications with social impact.