Sebastian Mourra

A lot of investors have been asking me what the major industries are in the Venture Miami Built in Miami Startup Program. Here's the industry breakdown across 214 new South Florida startups. TLDR: The South Florida startups are pretty diverse across industries. Here's the largest categories in order: - 16.2% AI & Machine Learning - 14.2% EdTech - 12.2% Healthcare - 8.5% Marketing & Sales Tech - 8.1% FinTech - 7.4% Sustainability - 6.1% Travel & Hospitality - 6.1% E-Commerce The smallest category: Cybersecurity at 1.2% There's an additional 50 startups that didn't complete the survey in time but we'll get that info updated by Demo Day June 20th. #BuiltinMiami

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Today's Boring Biz (# 98): Pirate Ship Party Boat Tour - $4.0M Revenue - $3.5M Cashflow - $2.9M Ask Price - 0.8x Multiple - Baja California (Mexico) Note: We do not represent this deal, highlighting for informational purposes only for viewers What does the company do? 1. Pirate ship party tours 2. Themed entertainment experiences 3. Alcohol + merchandise sales Investment highlights 1. Exclusive liquor license to sell off dock 2. Equipment: 2x large ships + 1x speed boat 3. Seller ran similar business 1990 - 2013, longtime operator Investment risks/concerns 1. Owner dependency risk 2. Vulnerability to Mexico tourism laws 3. Owner health issues/ fire sale #SMB #ETA #finance #Cashflow #investing #search #searchfund #privateequity #microprivateequity #smallbusiness #venturecapital #vc #entrepreneur #business #businessowner #pirate #ship #party #boat #mexico Disclaimer: Hypothetical and illustrative only. Please do your own research (DYOR) or work with tax and legal professionals before making a decision. This video are intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice, nor should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security by SMB PE LLC or any third party.

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AI coding startup Poolside raises $500M from eBay, Nvidia, and others Poolside, the AI-powered software dev platform, has raised half a billion dollars in new capital. The cash came in the form of a Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures, which also had participation from a who’s who of Big Tech firms, including eBay (via eBay Ventures) and Nvidia. It brings Poolside’s total raised to $626 million; Bloomberg reports that the startup’s valuation now sits at $3 billion. Encouraged by the adoption trend, VCs are pouring massive sums of cash into AI coding startups. Generative AI coding firm Magic landed $320 million in August — the same day GitHub Copilot competitor Codeium closed a $150 million fundraising round. Earlier in August, Cognition, best known for its viral coding assistant Devin, secured $175 million at a $2 billion valuation. Polaris Market Research projects that the AI coding tools market could be worth $27 billion by 2032. My Take The significant investment in Poolside underscores the growing confidence in AI's transformative potential within software development. This momentum signals a paradigm shift where AI may soon surpass human capabilities in coding, reshaping how software is built globally. Credit: tech crunch

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💰📈 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 $𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗠 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 $𝟭𝗕 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Black Forest Labs, a generative AI startup, is reportedly raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation, according to multiple sources. Co-founded by the engineers behind Stability AI, the company emerged from stealth two months ago with $31 million in funding and has since garnered attention from investors. Its text-to-image (TTI) model, Flux.1, is already being used by Elon Musk’s company "X.ai", in the AI model "Grok", a chatbot known for producing audacious images. Investors are particularly drawn to Black Forest Labs due to its founding team, which includes experts in image diffusion models, positioning the startup as a strong contender in the AI space. The company, based in Freiburg, Germany, is expected to launch more features and new models soon, including a state-of-the-art text-to-video (TTV) tool. Though it has yet to confirm its latest investors, sources indicate "Lightspeed" may be involved in the upcoming round. ➜ Check the news at: https://lnkd.in/d4TmqMfb ➜ Vendorvise's official Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ebK2KQ2C 🤖 If you enjoy reading my posts about AI and tech news, hit the like button and share with your friends to support my content! #ai #artificialintelligence #ainews #aipowered #news #blog #techcrunch #blackforestlabs #aiimages #grok #x #aimodel #nofilter #100million #1billion #valuation #investment #funding #startup #generativeai #aitech #technology #content #socialmedia #future #new #business #techtrends #innovation #launch #success #markets #people #industry

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Understanding AppLovin In the latest episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I present a long-form analysis of AppLovin's business and its significant recent growth. But understanding AppLovin the company is fundamentally predicated on understanding the market in which it operates, mobile games advertising, and the direct response digital advertising landscape more broadly. And so the podcast is structured in three parts: - Understanding direct response advertising - Understanding mobile gaming advertising - Understanding AppLovin’s growth Link below.

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Create Health Ventures Launches Inaugural $21M Fund for Early-Stage Digital Health Startups  Create Health Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage digital health companies, has closed its debut fund, raising $21 million, surpassing its initial target. Launched in 2024, Create Health Ventures is based in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL. The firm focuses on technologies that enhance healthcare access, improve patient experiences, and deliver value across payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies. *Its primary focus includes:   1. Payer-Facing Technologies: Solutions that improve member experiences, enable seamless data and workflow integration, and scale technology across geographies.   2. Clinical Trial Enablement: Tools to help pharmaceutical companies recruit and retain participants for late-stage clinical trials as demand increases. *Founders and Approach:   Create Health Ventures was co-founded by Emma Cartmell and Amit Aysola, healthcare veterans with over 45 years of combined experience. They bring operational expertise, regulatory insight, and an extensive network to portfolio companies. The firm exclusively invests in startups led by healthcare industry founders, leveraging its unique value-added platform for scaling businesses.  *The platform includes: - Business development support   - Access to executive coaches   - Connections to healthcare leaders   - Cross-selling opportunities among portfolio companies  *Key Quotes by GPs:  - Emma Cartmell: “Founders from the healthcare industry understand the challenges and opportunities to improve patient outcomes. Supporting them is the most impactful way we can positively transform healthcare.”   - Amit Aysola: “Payers and pharmaceutical companies are driving demand for connected, scalable solutions, and we are investing in companies to meet these needs.”  *Investments and Impact:  The firm has made five investments so far and partners with foundations, impact investors, and strategic healthcare veterans to mentor portfolio companies.  *Portfolio CEO Feedback:   - Dr. Chip Grant (Watershed Health): “Create Health Ventures has been invaluable in scaling operations and fundraising.”   - Shara Cohen (Carallel): “They are the most collaborative and active investor team I’ve worked with.”   - Neil Batlivala (Pair Team): “They’ve helped us manage growth and reach underserved communities.” If you are experiencing difficulties in raising fresh capital and would require warm introductions to new LPs, contact G+QUANT     ▶ Please use G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks, or send your inquiry directly to [email protected] #VentureCapital #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #Startups #ClinicalTrials #PatientCare #HealthTech #HealthEquity #CreateHealthVentures

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Highlighting: "Meta has been investing tens of billions of dollars each year in its Reality Labs AR/VR division. Since breaking out Reality Labs' finances in public filings in Q4 2020 the company has spent over $50 billion on the division. Taking into account the total spending since acquiring Oculus in 2014, that figure could be close to $100 billion." (UploadVR) ----- According to The Information, Meta Reality Labs is a mess of conflicting initiatives, spending, losses, and pumping out hardware fast. Can this continue? The Quest 1 is deprecated as of 2024. The Quest 2 is still outselling the Quest 3. All four Quests (1,2, Pro, 3) were price subsidized money losing XR devices that cost Facebook/Oculus/Meta more to make than consumers were charged. This process of price subsidization coupled with scheduling hardware output that isn't a console generation nor is it a mobile annualization is messy. It will confuse developers while building consumer expectations to wait for cheaper devices at the low end of these half generations. Quest Release schedule according to The Information: Quest 1: Launched May 21, 2019. Quest 2: Launched October 13, 2020. Quest Pro: Launched October 25, 2022. Quest 3: Launched October 10, 2023. Quest 3S: Autumn 2024? Quest 4: Autumn 2026? Quest 4S: Autumn 2026? Quest Pro 2: Autumn 2027? Remember The Quest 2 is vastly outselling the Quest 3. What do VR developers develop for? Quest 2 with several millions or Quest 3 with a million? What happens when 3S, 4, 4S, and Pro 2, are added to the mix? This feels like platform fragmentation. It's too many in too short a time period. And doing devices every other year or every year only works for mobile with tens to hundreds of millions sold. How do you cut spending when you are losing money on every single piece of hardware as it sells? Selling more loses more. I mean, if Apple or Google wanted to screw with Meta what would be the best way? Buy 1 million Quest 3's and put them in a landfill. And make Meta loses $1 billion ($1000 loss per unit). Then rinse and repeat. How is that hardware planning sustainable? ----- TheInformation: "Reality Comes to Meta Reality Labs" (July 18, 2024) TheInformation: https://lnkd.in/g8qGbAqw ----- UploadVR: Meta's AR/VR Hardware Teams Must Reportedly Cut Spending By 20%" (David Heaney) (July 18, 2024) "Meta's AR/VR hardware teams have been told to cut spending by 20% by 2026, The Information reports. The report comes from The Information's Wayne Ma and Kalley Huang. More than 50% of Reality Labs spending is on the research and development of AR glasses, a product line which Meta has yet to launch. The rest of the spending is on Quest headsets and the Horizon software platform, which are both still relatively early technologies far from maturity." UploadVR: https://lnkd.in/gcqnrZmn ----- UploadVR: "Meta Reportedly Plans Two Quest 4 Variants For 2026, Then Quest Pro 2 In 2027" UploadVR: https://lnkd.in/gVVcRvjF #xr #vr #ar #mr #meta #oculus

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What Is a Venture Studio Why are Studios on the rise (60% IRR, 33% Faster Exits, Etc…) What are some notable Studio Startups (Snowflake → $43B, Slack → ???, Etc…) How are they different from other support systems (Accelerators, Incubators, Venture Capital, PE firms) All wrapped in 1 post P.S. The Venture Studio model can significantly  reduce the risks associated with entrepreneurship (This information is backed by data) Leave a reaction so more investors, founders, and  operators can learn about the studio model as well And follow me (Matthew) for daily studio insights

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Congratulations to Roland Reynolds and the team at Industry Ventures on the raise of its latest $900M hybrid fund (split three ways, 40% backing VC funds, 40% directly investing in promising Series B startups from their existing partnerships, and 20% acquiring stakes in emerging investment firms from other LPs looking to exit). Read more from Marina Temkin, CFA at TechCrunch below. #VC #venturecapital #fundraising #startups #investing #news #technews #startupnews

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Cleanup in Aisle 3, 'web3' that is. 'web3' projects continue to implode because that is what they do. Zynga gets tired of 'web3' and divests of 'sugartown', its 'web3' NFT gamification. Sensing it was going nowhere, Zynga gave it away. The same will happen with 'gen' AI projects in a couple years. ----- GameIndustryBiz: "Zynga exits web3 project Sugartown. The mobile company has sold all its assets to new firm D20" Zynga has pulled out of its web3 project Sugartown, and sold it to a new company called D20. The move was announced by the latter on social media, saying it had "acquired all products and assets under Sugartown from Zynga." D20 was co-founded by Matt Wolf (previously VP of web3 gaming at Zynga) and Tommy Ngo (former general manager for web3 at Zynga). As noted by Pocket Gamer, a staff member mentioned on social media that "D20 is fully comprised of [sic] the members of the ex-Zynga web3 team." Zynga announced Sugartown in 2023, its first title since embracing NFTs and appointing Wolf in 2021. That was before the firm was acquired by Take Two, in January 2022." GameIndustryBiz: https://lnkd.in/g_E9fdG9 ----- This is hilarious... ----- "Sugartown @visitsugartown The future is now. Welcome to @D20_Labs Led by our founders, @mwolf and @tommyngo, we have acquired all products and assets under Sugartown from Zynga. This is an historical moment that has been in process for months. We are excited to explore a world of unlimited possibilities." 12:40 PM · Aug 30, 2024·108.1K Views Twitter: https://lnkd.in/g--6DbDy ----- "Grail.eth @graildoteth Aug 31 Your entire gaming thesis was "We are Zynga". Without Zynga, what are you exactly? You've built nothing lasting here outside of the "Zynga" narrative." Twitter: https://lnkd.in/gUNuJb4w ----- GameDeveloper: "Zynga sells web3 game Sugartown to D20 Labs D20 Labs is made up of Zynga's former web3 staff, and plans to develop Sugartown and other projects into 'the future of rewarded play.'" "Mobile publisher Zynga has wiped its hands of its web3 game, Sugartown. Over the weekend, it revealed it sold "all products and assets" of the title to web3 developer D20 Labs. Zynga first revealed Sugartown last year, joining several studios at the time (like Sega and Square Enix) in adopting web3 and blockchain for games. The developer was the first major mobile studio to make a web3 game, and pitched it as a future leader in "trust, transparency and accessibility" for the genre. "It's unclear what spurred Zynga to sell off Sugartown and its web3 department, or if it still has any web3 interest at all. Many studios who previously put their back behind the technology have since cooled on it." GameDeveloper: https://lnkd.in/eWsYnhGj ----- #web3 #web3isajoke #web3isdead #schmetaverse #zynga #nfts #nonfts #cryptocurrency #ponzi #scam #gameindustry #p2e_is_p2w

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Matterport is being acquired by CoStar Group for $5.50 per share, half in cash and half in CoStar shares. "Matterport’s stock was trading below $2 per share before the transaction was disclosed." I'm very happy for the Matterport founders Matt Bell and David Gausebeck who were pioneers in 3D reality capture and SLAM. Simon Heinen and me started working on SLAM and 3D reconstruction at the same time. Also, NavVis got started at the same time btw. Back in the days, the goal was to create great Augemented Riality experiences, but all three teams landed in construction and real estate where we could create cash flow. NanVis and Matterport went down the road to use the Kinect scanners, Simon and I believed in mobile devices aka smartphones. The rest is history... Back to the business side of things. Matterport was at around the IPO day at nearly $25 and later got up to over $27. All the people who bought at that time are loosing out big time. BIG TIME. I guess mostly retail investors or your pension fund. I bought some Matterport sahres around $5.80 and some for $4.20 over all that was the range I thought the real value was. I had hoped they would get some innovation going or build something new. But in the past years nothing big happened. Not sure where all the money went... Anyway, Matterport is a great start-up story with I guess many pivots and ups and downs. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what CoStar Group will do with the company. It could be great, when they focus with product management on their strength and core market: real estate. here is a link if you want to read more: https://lnkd.in/dWY78mHM #realitycapture #3D #slam #augmentedreality #contech FARO Building Insights aka HoloBuilder

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