Flying cars are real ... but there's a catch 👀
Oct 22, 2025
Kaley Ubellacker
Happy Wednesday!
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:
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
VC investment in defense tech is surging, with global deal value already at $7.7 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $10B by year-end, more than double 2024’s total.
The era of personal flying cars is here, thanks to Pivotal's BlackFly, the first ultralight eVTOL aircraft to reach consumers in the U.S.
A veteran team of climate policy experts, many from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, launched the Clean Economy Project to make clean energy the default choice.
For the less rushed reader …
Flying high
With the rumors that Earth has a second moon, it’s no surprise that defense tech is blasting off. VC investment in defense tech is surging, with global deal value already at $7.7 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $10B by year-end, more than double 2024’s total. Deal count is up 11%, driven by structural demand and shorter procurement timelines that increasingly favor VC-backed startups. Additionally, government defense spending continues to rise, reaching $2.7B globally in 2024, the largest annual increase since the Cold War. Median valuations for defense tech startups have jumped from $42.8M in 2024 to $146M in 2025, fueled largely by drone startups, which account for nearly 60% of funding and over a third of deals. While hype has inflated valuations in certain areas, investors stress the boom reflects progress in AI, autonomy, space, energy, and advanced manufacturing, moving defense tech from a niche sector to a mainstream market. When it comes to VC, defense tech is firing on all cylinders.
The sky's the limit
SciFi needs to get a little more creative. The era of personal flying cars is here, thanks to Pivotal's BlackFly, the first ultralight eVTOL aircraft to reach consumers in the U.S. It’s already logged over 1,000 crewed flights and delivered to 13 owners across eight states. It requires no pilot’s license or registration to drive, just a short training comparable to a driver’s license. But there’s a catch: strict regulations exist, like no flying over populated areas, no night flights, and recreation-only use. So as cool as the headline is, its practical applications for commuting or urban air mobility are limited. Beyond recreation, the Air Force is evaluating the BlackFly for unrestricted missions, signaling broader potential in surveillance, special operations, and disaster response. It might not be a Cybertruck, but it’s still reaching new heights.
Watts the big idea?
A new nonprofit has its eye on current affairs. A veteran team of climate policy experts, many from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, launched the Clean Economy Project to make clean energy the default choice. The nonprofit, backed by a multimillion-dollar budget from roughly 10 funders across philanthropy and VC, will lobby, build coalitions, and develop startup-policy connections to advance clean energy deployment. Led by president Aliya Haq and a 10-member team of Breakthrough alumni, CleanEcon focuses on practical areas such as permitting reform, transmission expansion, grid access, and storage pricing, supporting technologies favored by the Energy Department (like nuclear, geothermal, and energy storage). Unlike some climate groups, it emphasizes accelerating clean energy to lower costs rather than slowing fossil fuels. This just might be the power play of the century.
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$21.2M
11
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
NOT BURYING THE LEAD
Lead investors are claiming a larger slice of the pie in early-stage funding, with their share exceeding 70% of seed and Series A rounds in nearly half of deals. That’s a significant jump from 2020, when it occurred in just 34% of rounds. This trend highlights a growing concentration of influence and negotiating power among lead investors in the startup ecosystem.
fintech
Tria - Changing Tria-dition.
Tria raised $12 million including participation from P2 Ventures, Aptos, and other notable investors. Tria is building a self-custodial neobank for humans and AI, making crypto as simple as cash.
SaaS
Soffi - Sofficially the best path from idea to product.
Soffi raised $4.6 million led by Innovation Endeavors. Soffi is creating an AI-powered platform that streamlines enterprise product development, turning ideas into production workflows faster and friction-free.
AI
Attention - Finishing what you started.
Attention raised $1.3 million including participation from Village Global, Liquid 2 Ventures, and notable investors like Silas Alberti, a founding team member of Cognition. Attention is building a desktop AI co-pilot that learns from workflows to anticipate, automate, and execute tasks on its own.
JOBORTUNITIES
| Hardware Test Engineer | - 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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