Welcome to Startups Weekly, your go-to source for the week’s most compelling developments in the startup world. This week, the post-Thanksgiving period delivered a wealth of announcements, with several funding rounds generating particularly positive buzz.
Notable Startup Stories
This week brought interesting news, including salary insights, the launch of new companies, and announcements from Y Combinator’s latest graduates.
Former Google employees have created their own startup, following in the footsteps of AI pioneer François Chollet. Also, Kruze Consulting, specializing in venture-backed startups, shared insights on employee salaries, confirming that the Bay Area continues to command higher pay for very senior engineers. They can enter seed startups with salaries ranging from $180,000 to $235,000, compared to $160,000 to $210,000 in other areas.
Fitness startup Ladder grabbed attention by drawing parallels between its strength-training app and Peloton’s new Strength+ app for marketing purposes and advertising itself.
In other news, Y Combinator’s Fall 2024 class of startups held its Demo Day in person.
Significant Fundraises This Week
Several startups working on major challenges announced significant funding rounds. One that stood out was a rumored protein popcorn brand.
Heirloom Carbon secured $150 million in Series B funding to expand its carbon-capture technology. Cleerly, a cardiovascular imaging startup employing AI for early coronary artery disease detection, raised a $106 million Series C extension round. Orakl Oncology, a French lab that combines data and biology to create new cancer drugs, raised almost €15 million, including nondilutive funding. FireDome, named after Israel’s ‘Iron Dome,’ raised a $3 million pre-seed round to use projectiles filled with fire retardants to stop wildfires. According to an SEC filing, Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner aim to raise $10 million for Khloud, a rumored protein popcorn startup.
Venture Capital and Fund News
Former NBA player Omri Casspi launched a $60 million fund called Swish Ventures, focusing on cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. Dutch investment group Prosus anticipates five potential IPOs from its Indian portfolio over the next 18 months, which would represent a considerable portion of the 20 Indian startups scheduled to go public in 2025. French venture capital firm Daphni, collaborated with partners to launch Time4, a fund targeting €100 million to invest in entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds with impactful projects.
Finally, Voyager Ventures investment director Leonardo Banchik and other climate tech investors expressed cautious optimism about policy changes being considered by the second Trump administration. Some policies might benefit those in climate tech, according to TechCrunch.
