AI 🤝 Stem Cells

Apr 25, 2023

Kaley Ubellacker

Market Stirrings 🚩

Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:

Total Amount Raised

Total Funding Rounds

Average Dollars per Round

Estimated Valuation Range

Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.

Good Reads 📖

For the rushed reader …

Our favorite stories in…

For the less rushed reader …

  • There’s a hot new climate technology in town, and let’s hope it’s at least one brick short of a full load. Heavy industries need to generate heat. Enter heat batteries. One technology implements an insulated steel container to transfer heat through a stack of bricks, where heat can be trapped for days of use.

  • Last Saturday was Earth Day – or in Nvidia’s case, Earth D(AI)y. Nvidia released an article on how AI is accelerating progress towards climate goals. 

  • Save a tree, and eat an insect. The agriculture sector is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. The population is growing, and we need more sustainable sources of protein to accommodate it. Also, alternative protein has a variety of usage cases across pet food, aquafeed, and food for humans.

  • Duolingo incorporated roleplay. It introduced the “Roleplay” feature as part of a max subscription tier. The feature provides a built-in AI chatbot powered by GPT-4, where users can practice real-world conversations. 

  • Is THE Green Lantern following a green lantern? Ryan Reynolds announced his investment in Nuvei, a global payments technology company.

  • Samsung Electronics unveiled a new digital health platform for wearable devices. Samsung recognizes smartphones and wearables as the key to revolutionizing healthcare research.


Reach Capital, a leading edtech investor, made firm history with a $215 million raise for its fourth fund. The raise comes during a time where we’ve seen a strong pullback in new edtech deals. Congrats to the team!

techbits

  • ChatGPT is a liar and a thief. What will life look like when AI replaces your job?

  • No one likes a moocher. Reddit demands AI models start paying for precious human data. 

  • Britain let go of the wheel – in style. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E just became the first self-driving system approved in the UK.

Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥

Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:

  • Skarper - Bike better

    • The Tech: A patented clip-on unit that makes any bike an e-bike 

    • Recently raised: $4.9 million in seed funding from the Starry Group and Mobilitech Capital

    • Also note: Skarper already has hundreds of distribution requests from around the world and a large waiting list of customers.

  • MNT Halan - A rare unicorn

    • Context: The largest lender in Egypt for the unbanked

    • The tech: An ecommerce ecosystem for consumers, merchants, and enterprises

    • The raise: $260 million at a $1 billion valuation in early February

    • Its edge: The only fintech unicorn born in Q1 2023

  • Clear Street - Save the old stuff for antique shops

    • The Tech: Modern infrastructure to replace outdated models used in capital markets

    • Recently Raised: $270 million in Series B funding at a $2 billion valuation

    • Also Note: Its business model is two-pronged, including charging a fee for transactions as well as financing public market securities. Also, Clear Street has a customer base of 200 institutional sized investors and hundreds of smaller trading entities.

  • Cortical Labs - Tonight’s special: DishBrain

    • The Tech: Human stem cells that power AI models

    • Recently Raised: $10 million led by Horizons Ventures 

    • Also Note: The tech is so powerful because stem cells generalize information better and use less energy. Even Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels was intrigued after seeing the lab.

  • Cortica - We should care more about kids

    • The Tech: Hybrid care programs for children with neurodiverse conditions

    • Recently Raised: $75 million in post-seed financing

    • Also Note: Cortica acquired Springtide Child Development, a multisite practice serving children with developmental delays

  • VintaBio - An overlooked supply chain issue

    • The Problem: A bottleneck in life-saving therapies

    • The Tech: Developing and manufacturing viral vectors for use in cell and gene therapies

    • Recently Raised: $64 million in funding led by Silicon Valley's Decheng Capital

    • Also Note: VintaBio emerged from stealth with a newly appointed CEO and a custom-built manufacturing facility.

  • Innovamat - Goodbye times tables 

    • The Problem: Teaching math is hard. Learning math is hard

    • The Tech: A new math curriculum based on understanding, not rote memorization

    • Recently Raised: $21 million in Series A funding led by Reach Capital

    • Also Note: Innovamat’s product is well-received by consumers. Dr. Hollyce Schoepp, K-12 Supervisor in NJ, remarked, “Innovamat has brought the fun of learning math to our students and the joy of teaching math to our teachers. It’s been a win-win.” 

Outro🚪

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