Boom or Bust?

VCs Debate on AI Investment Viability, Softbank Spinoff VC Looks to Raise $250 Million, and a Startup Looks to Break Into the Breakfast Market.

Welcome Shareholders,   

In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we'll cover how venture investors remain skeptical about AI startups despite the potential gains, a SoftBank Spinoff VC is looking to raise money to fund growth startups in Latin America, and a Startup looks to Create Breakfast Innovation with its new Funding. 

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today 👏

  • Skeptical Venture Investors are caught between the excitement of AI and the possibility of a bubble similar to that witnessed over the last year from their crypto investments. 

The Venture industry is continuing to pour money into generative AI applications, including Large Language Models (LLMs) as well as text-to-picture models. Several companies have invested large sums in AI startups, including Microsoft's $10 billion investment in OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz's $200 million investment in Character.ai, Google's $300 million investment in Anthropic, and Inflection AI's plan to raise up to $675 million from investors, having already secured $225 million.

Despite the potential of AI, many VCs are hesitant due to both the high valuations and the substantial capital required for building "foundation models" - machine-learning systems that rely on massive amounts of data and computing power. Some investors are comparing the recent advancements in generative AI with that of a moonshot since they require an enormous amount of capital and computing resources, which only those with nation-state-level wealth can replicate.

Who's Raising?

  • A year after spinning out of SoftBank's investment arm, Latin American investment firm Uphold Ventures could raise a $250 million fund. 

Founded by Rodrigo Baer and Marco Camhaji, Uphold Ventures primarily focuses on making investments in early stage startups. Since leaving SoftBank, the duo has invested in 17 startups, with only two not being in the early-stage space. However, filings show that the new fund will be geared toward making investments in growth-stage startups.

The Latin American region has witnessed a decline late-stage Funding, with volumes plummeting by 93% in Q3 2022 from the previous year. Furthermore, only three of the 290 investors focused on late-stage rounds in 2021 were active in Q3 2022 which presents an opportunity for Upload Ventures to capitalize on .

Startup of the Day

  • Oats Overnight, a manufacturer of spoon-free, high-protein oatmeal, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round with investors including Singh Capital Partners, BFG Partners, Impatient Ventures, Watchfire Ventures, and others.

Founded in 2016, Oats overnight has developed a high protein product that is prepared by combining a pack of the company's product with 8 oz of milk or a milk substitute in the company's custom BlenderBottle, which is then shaken and refrigerated overnight before being shaken again in the morning for consumption.

Oats Overnight involves consumers in the R&D process by directly communicating with them to determine which flavors to introduce; this process involves sharing a new flavor pre-launch each month with their 100,000+ active subscribers, and three months later, the most popular flavors are introduced to the market, of which the company now offers over 35 varieties. Oats Overnight will use its Series A funding to construct an 85,000-square-foot facility in Phoenix for its 250 employees and expand its sales team with a new VP of Sales.

Memes and Other Things

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