A startup is turning 🐔 feathers into cashmere
Dec 18, 2025
Kaley Ubellacker
Happy Wednesday! If you’re new here, welcome to Necessary Nuggets, your one-stop pre-seed shop. We deliver updates from Necessary Ventures and helpful tidbits on our little corner of the world. Every edition is also on our blog.
What's happening at Necessary Ventures:
Portfolio Company Infinite Machine hosted its first delivery event in San Francisco, officially launching the P1 scooter, with deliveries set to ramp up in the coming weeks.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
AI is rapidly evolving from the lab to a potential cyber threat, as researchers and companies warn that future models could autonomously execute sophisticated attacks.
iRobot filed for bankruptcy, and Engadget’s recent article offers some useful context on how even a household-name company can lose its footing.
Early-stage climatetech startup Everbloom is using AI-driven material science to turn textile waste into fibers that can mimic high-end materials like cashmere.
For the less rushed reader …
Go phish
AI is casting a wide neural net, but at what cost? AI is rapidly evolving from the lab to a potential cyber threat, as researchers and companies warn that future models could autonomously execute sophisticated attacks. Recent studies, including Stanford’s Artemis experiment, show that AI already outperforms most human researchers in finding network vulnerabilities. Moreover, companies like Anthropic and OpenAI caution that frontier models will lower the skill and time needed for cybercrime. Lawmakers are taking notice: leaders from Google and Anthropic are testifying this week on how AI reshapes cybersecurity risks and discussing potential restrictions on advanced AI chips. For now, fully autonomous AI attacks need human guidance or workarounds, but that might not be the case for much longer. Maybe AI should hang out with a different crowd, because I wouldn’t say this is exactly model behavior.
Sucked into trouble
Roomba is struggling to turn the corner. iRobot filed for bankruptcy, and Engadget’s recent article offers some useful context on how even a household-name company can lose its footing. iRobot, founded in 1990 by MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks and his students, grew from a research spinoff to an at-home staple, selling over 50 million robots and launching a venture arm in 2015. Its decline appears tied to multiple factors: delayed adoption of LiDAR navigation, rising U.S. tariffs on overseas production, competition from cheaper Chinese alternatives, and regulatory hurdles that blocked Amazon’s $1.7 billion acquisition in 2024. The company will sell its assets to its main supplier, PICEA Robotics, allowing operations and product support to continue, but app-based features and cloud services face uncertainty. iRobot’s downfall raises questions about how timing, global competition, regulatory friction, and clear product differentiation shape the trajectory of tech brands. It sounds like this little vacuum just got swept away.
Spinning a good story
Turning chicken feathers into luxury wear might seem like fowl play, but this startup is certainly doing something right. Early-stage climatetech startup Everbloom is using AI-driven material science to turn textile waste into fibers that can mimic high-end materials like cashmere. The company has already raised over $8 million from investors including Hoxton Ventures and SOSV. Founded by Sim Gulati, now serving as CEO, Everbloom collects keratin-rich waste, from materials like wool, cashmere, and eventually chicken feathers, and uses its proprietary model Braid.AI to optimize chemical formulations and processing so the fibers can be spun on standard textile equipment. The fibers are biodegradable, upcycled, and designed to match the softness and quality of cashmere while reducing costs and environmental impact, making the product both commercially and ecologically attractive. Cashmere? More like cash-more.
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$19.3M
10
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
LEAN, MEAN STARTUP MACHINES
Startup teams are getting leaner. The average headcount at seed-stage startups has fallen 10% year-over-year and 40% since its 2021 peak, while the trend is even more pronounced at later stages. Series B companies saw a 16% drop in team size year-over-year.
fintech
Internet Backyard - Running with the bills.
Internet Backyard raised $4.5 million led by Basis Set Ventures at a $20.5 million pre-money valuation. Internet Backyard is creating billing software that helps data centers and GPU providers track usage and automate invoicing.
healthtech
Origin Therapy - Headstarts instead of headaches.
Origin Therapy raised $2.6 million from Disturbed Ventures. Origin is developing a full-stack platform that handles the admin, billing, and scheduling for pediatric therapists.
AI
Diald AI - Putting the real back in real estate.
Diald AI raised $3.8 million from Feedback Ventures and The Invention Lab. Diald AI is building an AI-powered platform for real estate due diligence and underwriting, turning fragmented data points into memos and viability scores.
JOBORTUNITIES
| VP of Finance | - Copper:
Rethinking the induction stove and making kitchen electrification more accessible than ever. Picture a fossil-free future, without sacrificing aesthetics.
| Full Stack Software Engineer | - OneImaging:
Envisioning the future of transportation beyond cars and into the realm of personal electric vehicles. Its first product, P1, is the ultimate tool for city navigation.
Outro🚪
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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
