Morning VC Brief丨2025.01.10

Week02 Highlights丨Whatnot, Anthropic, Hippocratic, Fazeshift, Biosphere, Gridware, Collection of 2025 Predictions from Venture Investors

Author

eric gu
January 10, 2025

Morning VC Brief is an expert daily curation of tech and venture news. Feel free to forward; the sign-up is here

00. TL;DR

1/ Livestream shopping app Whatnot raises $265M Series E at $5B

2/ Anthropic in talks to raise $2B at $60B

3/ Healthcare GenAI Startup Hippocratic raises $141M Series B at $1.64B

4/ AI Agent for Accounts Receivable Fazeshift raises $4M Seed

5/ Biomanufacturing Startup Biosphere raises $8.8M Seed

6/ Grid Monitoring Solution Gridware raises $8.8M Seed

Collection of 2025 Predictions from Venture Investors

01. Venture News

1/ Livestream shopping app Whatnot raises $265M Series E at $5B

Whatnot allows users to sell items such as trading cards, comics, and sneakers through live videos. Whatnot also revealed that its annual gross merchandise value (GMV) for livestream sales surpassed $3 billion. This round was led by Greycroft, DST Global and avra with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, a16z, CapitalG, and more. Link

2/ Anthropic in talks to raise $2B at $60B

AI startup Anthropic is near a deal to raise an additional $2 billion at a price that values the company at $60 billion. Venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners is leading the funding round. It would also make the company the fifth most valuable U.S. startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks. Link

3/ Healthcare GenAI Startup Hippocratic raises $141M Series B at $1.64B

Hippocratic is building AI solutions that can handle non-diagnostic patient-facing tasks. In 2024, Hippocratic has signed contracts with 23 health systems and insurers. This round was led by Kleiner Perkins. Link

4/ AI Agent for Accounts Receivable Fazeshift raises $4M Seed

Fazeshift is the comprehensive, AI-driven solution that automates invoicing, cash application, and collections. This round was led by Gradient with participation from Y Combinator, Wayfinder, Pioneer Fund, and more. Link

5/ Biomanufacturing Startup Biosphere raises $8.8M Seed

Biosphere is on a mission to help scale production of new bioproducts. This round was led by Lowercarbon Capital, VXI Capital with participation from Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, and more. Link

6/ Grid Monitoring Solution Gridware raises $8.8M Seed

Gridware collaborate with utility companies to enhance existing grid assets with cutting-edge technology. This innovative approach streamlines monitoring, management and troubleshooting processes, ensuring a more reliable and efficient grid for all. This round was led by Lowercarbon Capital, VXI Capital with participation from Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, and more. Link

02. Worth Reading

Collection of 2025 Predictions from Venture Investors

1/ 25 Predictions for 2025 - from Rex Woodbury - Daybreak Founding Partner

2/ 2024 Year-In-Review + 2025 Predictions - from Janelle Teng - BVP

3/ 2025 Predictions - from Tomasz Tunguz - Theory Ventures

4/ State of AI丨2024 Recap & 2025 Prediction - from VCBrief