Startups Weekly Recap

This week in startups was marked by a mix of positive and negative news. Mercury, a digital banking startup, raised $300 million in primary and secondary funding, more than doubling its valuation to $3.5 billion post-money. Island, a company that makes enterprise browsers, secured $250 million in a Series E led by Coatue, valuing the Dallas-based startup at $4.85 billion.

Meanwhile, Rivian spun out a new micromobility startup called Also, which received $105 million from Eclipse Ventures. The company aims to build small EVs, with a flagship product going into production next year for consumers in the U.S. and Europe. Other startups, such as n8n, Mendel, and Arcade, also received significant funding.

However, not all startups had a successful week. Plenty, a vertical farming company, filed for bankruptcy after raising nearly $1 billion in funding from investors. Block, a fintech startup co-founded by Jack Dorsey, laid off 931 people, according to a leaked email. Cerebras Systems' IPO was delayed again due to ongoing national security review.

Additionally, there were rumors of potential acquisitions, with Nvidia reportedly nearing a deal to acquire Lepton AI, and FuriosaAI rejecting an $800 million acquisition offer from Meta.