Brain correction tech, UK government investing in chips, video-messaging re-trending, Google going driverless, and many more...
What's Up Tech? #152
Welcome to our 152nd newsletter. It was written with 🖤 by Niklas Kronewiter and Justine Pelisson.
Fundraisings from last week with Agomab Therapeutics, AstronauTx, and Upvest
News from last week with Loom’s acquisition, the launch of a UK chip incubator, Google’s investment in Oxa, and the European Commission’s list of critical tech
Internships & Job offers of the week
Enjoy the read! 🌞
🧑🔬 Agomab Therapeutics raised $100M to further the development of fibrosis-focused pipeline (🇧🇪)
Agomab Therapeutics, a Belgian biotech startup specialized in regenerative pathway modulators and ‘growth factor’ biology for fibrotic indications (looking at the deposition of fibrous connective tissues that usually happen in a post-injury response but which can lead to organ failure when growth factors miscommunicate and are not well modulated - ie, out of control in the actions they encourage the body to take…), just announced its series C round. 🧪
This latest funding will support the company’s clinical phase 2 of its lead candidate as well as fund the development of additional anti-fibrotic and regenerative therapies.🔬
Agomab Raises $100 Million Series C to Advance Fibrosis-focused Pipeline
🧠 AstronauTx raised £48M to explore new Alzheimer’s treatments (🇬🇧)
Still in the biotech industry, UCL spinout AstronauTx specialized on Alzheimer’s disease research, has just raised £48M. The startup has been working on pathological proteins that tend to accumulate in the brain of neurodegenerative diseases and lead to built-up toxins, disrupting network function and accelerating cognitive decline.👎
AstronauTx’s mission is to “correct disrupted brain physiology to treat neurodegenerative diseases” through the development of small-molecule therapeutics which directly target disrupted clearance mechanisms in the brain in order to enhance neural support (& to improve the brain health and overall neurophysiological function).🎯
🤑 Upvest raised €30M to make investing more accessible in Europe (🇩🇪)
Berlin-based Fintech Upvest , known to help clients “build investment experiences users will love”, has just closed a €30M funding round. It also announced a key partnership with BlackRock (who participated as an investor) to empower wealth managers, banks and other actors in the finance ecosystem to develop more modern investment experiences.💳
📹 Atlassian to acquire Loom for $975M
Remember the pandemic times when everything went digital, including working (famously becoming « work from home »)? And when the future of work was estimated to happen entirely cloud-based? That was the time when video messaging service Loom was a unicorn-superstar! 🦄
Despite Loom’s much lower current valuation, Atlassian (the development and collaboration software giant) has found potential in partnering with the startup to accelerate on asynchronous AI-driven video capabilities for improved global collaboration. And it is paying an almost unicorn-price for it! With still an iridescent customer base, Loom was laying off 14% of its workforce last June: Atlassian will have work to do…🙃
💾 Accelerating on chip production: the ChipStart Initative (🇬🇧)
The UK government just launched a £1.3M incubating program called ChipStart - a two-year pilot program already supporting 12 promising seeds - targeted at chip-producing startups in order to accelerate the sovereign production of semiconductor chips for several use cases (brain implants, quantum computing, AI models,…). 🥳
The program is part of the National Semiconductor Strategy to boost the UK’s semiconductor industry, and will be delivered by the renowned startup accelerator SiliconCatalyst.UK. 🎉
🚘 Google invests in British Driverless Car Oxa
Tech giant Google has just announced taking a 3.5% stake in British startup Oxa, specialized in developing softwares for self-driving vehicles. 💻
This isn’t Google’s first investment in driving technologies, as it had already launched its own autonomous driving company Waymo, confirming the GAFAM’s commitment to shaping the future of safe transportation. 🙏
📑 Increased awareness towards China: AI, quantum, semiconductors and biotech on EU's list of critical tech
While a few years ago the law of the highest bidder still applied, Europe is now arming itself for tougher times in geopolitics - accelerated by Ukraine’s war and global supply chain problems hitting some countries extremely hard. ❌
The European Commission has published a list of ten critical technologies that will be targeted by policymakers to prevent intellectual property theft. Four of them, advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum and some biotech (vaccines, genome sequencing and synthetic biology) are considered particulary sensitive. Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market denied the list has been drafted particularly to protect the EU against China...😳
Startups researching in these respective fields should experience increased traction…😏
Commission Recommends Carrying out Risk Assessments on Four Critical Technology Areas
Internships
VC Analyst Intern Energy Sector - EXERGON (Paris)
VC Analyst Intern - BGV(Paris)
Visiting ESG Analyst - FoodLabs (Berlin)
Visiting Investment Analyst - UNIQA Ventures (Vienna)
Jobs
Investment Analyst - Flashpoint (Remote)
Investment Manager - Nauta Capital (Barcelona)
Finance Associate - Redalpine Venture Partners (Zurich)
👉 If you’d like to discover more offers, you can check our job board just here or fill this form to submit a new one.
You can also read more about baby vc on our website and follow our updates on LinkedIn, or directly reach out to us at hello@baby-vc.co! 🤝
Have a wonderful week and see you next Tuesday!
The whole baby vc crew 🖤