The Flowlie Times #56
The Series A Crunch or the Seedpocalypse of 2024; new mega rounds; round analysis on Flowlie; and more...
Welcome to The Flowlie Times!
NEW: Round Analysis
We have recently expanded the Round Analysis functionality.
You can now get more in-depth explanations of dilution and revenue multiples for your current raise allowing you to benchmark your raise and ensure you are raising at fair terms. Just click “Show Round Analysis” in your Round Manager.
Articles we enjoyed:
1️⃣ The Series A Crunch or the Seedpocalypse of 2024
Whenever there are “too many” of fundraises of one type, the next round becomes the hardest to raise.
In 2024, the Series A crunch has returned. Software companies that have achieved the previous era’s milestone, $1m or more in ARR, face a challenging Series A market. Why is this happening again?
2️⃣ Death, Taxes, and AI: How Generative AI Will Change Accounting by a16z, providing a great overview over how the field with change including:
jobs to be done;
adoption strategies;
the current state of the market.
Much improved coding performance;
Artifacts: “when a user asks Claude to generate content like code snippets, text documents, or website designs, these Artifacts appear in a dedicated window alongside their conversation”;
Improved machine vision: “Claude 3.5 Sonnet can also accurately transcribe text from imperfect images—a core capability for retail, logistics, and financial services, where AI may glean more insights from an image, graphic, or illustration than from text alone.”
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Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Yet another mega round after a $200M Series E last year. Zepto, a Mumbai-based quick commerce startup, has raised $665 million in a Series F round, boosting its valuation to $3.6 billion. The company, known for its rapid delivery of groceries and electronics in urban India, aims to expand its network of "dark stores" to over 700 by March 2025.
2️⃣ Who said CRMs are dead? Day.ai is launching a new AI-powered CRM. Created by former HubSpot leaders, Day.ai automatically captures, organizes, and analyzes conversations from emails and meetings. Backed by a $4M seed round led by Sequoia Capital.
3️⃣ Another “larger-than-usual” round. HeyGen, an AI video generation platform, has raised $60 million in a Series A funding round led by Benchmark. The company, which simplifies video production for businesses, allows users to create and localize studio-quality videos without traditional production costs. HeyGen has grown its ARR from $1M to over $35M in just over a year and is now valued at over $500M.
Have a great week,
Mike from Flowlie