Which startup loves copper and just raised $491M?

Top News

• Android forced open: The final ruling in the Epic v. Google suit — which Mountain View lost, recall — will change the face of Android for at least three years. Domestically, Google will be required to “distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play,” The Verge reports. Google will also no longer be allowed to demand that apps use Google Play Billing, among other items. Google has already declared that it will appeal.

• US VCs fund EU military tech: What is worth nearly $500 million and captured 65% of European defense tech funding this year? You guessed it - according to the FT reporting Dealroom data, the answer is U.S. investors. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is cracking European governmental wallets, which could help drive business to startups looking to help re-arm democracy.

• $491M for KoBold Metals: KoBold uses AI to “sift through enormous amounts of data in a quest to find mineral deposits that can help drive the energy transition,” TechCrunch’s Tim De Chant reports, and the company’s huge copper find seems also to be helping it find gold. Investors have funnelled nearly $500 million into the company, filings indicate, and the round could close at an even higher dollar-figure.

Snyk and Nym Join the TWiST500

We have two new TWiST500 companies! Today during a live news taping, I proposed, and Jason accepted, both Snyk and Nym.

Snyk is a super interesting cybersecurity unicorn, one that is worth over $7 billion on the private markets and is said to be considering an IPO. A look at its recently-disclosed financials — my notes here — show a startup scaling its revenue more deeply into the nine-figure range while curtailing its costs and quickly reducing its losses.

Of course, looking at 2023 data this late into 2024 means that we’re parsing an out-of-date image. But if the heavily venture-backed startup can keep the growth up while continuing to reduce its burn, it could be a 2025 IPO candidate par excellence.

And then there’s Nym. Sourced originally by my TWiST500 newsletter co-author Erika Remigio — follow her on Twitter here — I instantly fell in love with the company. It works in the medical coding space, which is growing, and wants to apply AI to a burdensome process that consumes too much human energy. As someone with a spouse in the medical world, I am cheering from the sidelines for Nym to automate one slice of what appears to be an unnecessary complexity of our healthcare system. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2020: Databricks’ Naveen Rao joins Alex to discuss the company's acquisition of Mosaic ML, regulatory challenges, and the future of open-source AI, emphasizing model orchestration and enterprise automation. The conversation also touches on AI strategies, data governance, and competition among tech incumbents. In another Jam with JCal, Elliot Easterling of Bonbon highlights the company's platform, gamification strategies, privacy considerations, and growth plans, focusing on user engagement and market expansion.

E2019: Jason and Alex begin by discussing the ILA strike and its impact on global ports, followed by an analysis of how technology is increasing efficiency in port operations. They explore the relationship between labor, supply chain vulnerabilities, and unions, digging into the future of port automation and union demands. They also cover startup opportunities in port automation, broader societal impacts of labor changes, and the role of technology in reshaping employment. The show finishes it off with venture capital trends, including CRV's $275M return, IPO market conditions, and OpenAI’s mega-round funding.

E2018: Another throwback to LIQUIDITY Summit 2024. Ben Choi discussed the Fund of Funds strategy, while Michael Downing focused on the challenges and opportunities for emerging manager funds. Then, Monique Woodard walked us through raising her first fund, navigating investor types, and the importance of building relationships for subsequent funds. She also explored strategies for identifying ideal LPs and leveraging a fund’s unique strengths for future growth.

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