Newsletter: VC Breakfast Club

/espresso

• BeZero and NatureMetrics secure $57M to fight biodiversity loss.

• RocketPhone, Oh, and TalentMapper raise funds for AI ventures.

• UK startups raised $17B in 2024, leading Europe's $51B total.

/raising (?)

Are you raising? Join our monthly pitch Zoom: Founders, pitch here. VCs, RSVP here.

/deals

London-based BeZero Carbon raised $32M in Series C funding led by GenZero, with backing from Japan Airlines, Translink Capital, and others, to expand its carbon ratings coverage and compliance markets.

NatureMetrics has secured $25M in Series B funding to scale its biodiversity monitoring technology, with backing from 2150, Just Climate, BNP Paribas, and others.

💊 London-based RocketPhone.ai, an AI-native voice platform, raised £8.6M in non-VC funding to fuel innovations, including a video analysis tool. The startup appointed Oxford AI expert Professor Michael Wooldridge to its advisory board.

London-based NSFW AI startup Oh raised £3.7M in seed funding led by Tangent, Kosmos Ventures, and others. Its platform, OhChat, enables immersive AI-driven conversations and allows users to create and monetize digital characters as NFTs.

London-based TalentMapper raised £2M from Mercia Ventures and Haatch to expand its AI-driven career development platform. Designed for companies with 250+ employees, the startup achieved £700K ARR in 18 months.

Manchester-based startup Arcube, founded by University of Manchester grads Prithveesh and Harvey, raised £1.2M co-led by Fuel Ventures and Oxford Capital Partners. Their platform, trialed by Etihad Airways, generated £1.3M from 1,300 passengers.

Cambridge-based Darktrace has acquired London startup Cado Security, specializing in cloud data forensics. London-based Freetrade, a commission-free trading fintech, has been acquired by IG Group for €189M. Europe's startup funding reached $51B in 2024, led by the UK at $17B, with healthcare, fintech, and AI dominating investments.

/funds

University-affiliated VC funds are booming, with 92% of Russell Group universities supporting spinouts with a university-affiliated venture fund. Oxford Science Enterprises (£850M+) and Cambridge Innovation Capital (£600M) lead the charge. Investment in spinouts soared to £1.75B in 2023, underscoring academia's growing role in producing unicorns.

The University of Glasgow has launched the Innovation Cluster Development Fund, offering £25K-£50K grants to support spin-outs and ventures. Learn more here.

/tech

• Oxford-based Quantum Dice, founded in 2020, has upturned cybersecurity with its Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG), producing truly random numbers 8x faster than competitors. Backed by $2M pre-seed funding and a $2.09M Innovate UK grant, the startup partners with BT Group and SpeQtral.

• Brian Mullins, CEO of Oxford AI spinout Mind Foundry, reflects on his journey from California to Oxford, raising $44M across funding rounds, and navigating challenges with passion and persistence.

/flywheel

• Richard Branson and Simon Squibb are ready to hear your big ideas! Starting January 17, the "Elevator of Dreams" at Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch invites entrepreneurs to pitch their ventures via a video doorbell for global exposure and mentoring opportunities.

• Fetch.ai has announced a $10M accelerator program to support startups specializing in AI agents, quantum computing, and high-performance technology. Operating through its Innovation Lab, with a hub in London, the program offers funding, mentorship, and access to Fetch.ai’s proprietary technologies.

• The UK government unveiled its AI Opportunities Action Plan, aiming to position Britain as a global AI exporter through initiatives like AI Growth Zones, public-private partnerships, and a national data library.

• UK AI startup registrations hit record highs in Q4 2024, with over 500 new companies formed—a 22% quarterly rise.

📸 @techbrunch.

Every week I play with Midjourney to reimagine a tech story from the week.

This week it’s TikTok going dark in the US. TikTok is officially inaccessible in the U.S. due to a federal ban. President-elect Trump has suggested a potential 90-day reprieve, while alternatives like Lemon8 gain traction as users seek new platforms.

Rumors circulated that Elon Musk might buy the US arm of the company.

• Caption this in comments?