It's time for a vibe check for vibe coding
Sep 4, 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
Portfolio company Circularity Fuels deployed its first commercial reactor and successfully converted raw dairy farm biogas into syngas, the key building block in sustainable jet fuel.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
A recent MIT report found that 95% of AI pilot projects fail, but it’s not time for investors to be spooked yet.
Vibe coding (using tools to build apps in plain English) has become a trendy startup category, but security risks are more heightened than ever.
In Q2 2025, clean tech manufacturing cancellations outpaced new commitments, with $5 billion in projects scrapped versus $4 billion announced, driven largely by battery factory cuts.
For the less rushed reader …
Go with the workflow
The AI ROI-llercoaster continues. A recent MIT report found that 95% of AI pilot projects fail, but it’s not time for investors to be spooked yet. The real lesson for founders is less about the technology and more about adoption: the failures are driven not by inadequate AI models, but by organizations’ inability to integrate them effectively into workflows, build the necessary expertise, or deploy them in areas where they can generate real ROI. The study also found that startups and companies that buy AI solutions rather than build them in-house tend to succeed more. According to the report, the path to capturing AI’s value lies in smart implementation and workflow redesign, rather than chasing the latest model or in-house engineering glory. It’s best to leave the DIY projects to HGTV.
Hack to the future
Coding can be a breach. Vibe coding (using tools to build apps in plain English) has become a trendy startup category, but security risks are more heightened than ever. While vibe coding enables founders to ship products faster than ever, it’s also led to more security incidents, from Tea exposing 130,000+ user accounts to Replit leaving gaps in a customer project. Startups are facing a tradeoff of speed versus safety. Early-stage teams often spend 10x more on shipping than security, and pre-seed or seed startups typically lack the budget to hire dedicated security engineers. Still, investors are pouring capital into the space: Swedish startup Loveable is reportedly evaluating new offers at a $4B valuation, while Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, is doubling its valuation every eight weeks. Veteran VCs liken vibe coding to the early internet or the rise of personal computers: highly transformative but inherently risky. It doesn’t sound like vibe coding passes the vibe check.
Watts the deal?
U.S. clean tech manufacturing is running on low battery mode. In Q2 2025, clean tech manufacturing cancellations outpaced new commitments, with $5 billion in projects scrapped versus $4 billion announced, driven largely by battery factory cuts. The pullback follows the GOP’s reconciliation bill, which rolled back key incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act that had previously fueled a surge in domestic clean tech investments. Overall, actual clean tech manufacturing spending fell 15%, reflecting a broader slowdown in U.S. factory investments. The sector experienced the first back-to-back quarterly declines since 2020, highlighting the fragility of the recent boom that peaked just two years ago. Are climate tech dreams EV-aporating?
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$1.2M
6
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
SOUTHERN COMFORT
While California and the West Coast still dominate U.S. venture capital with 51.7% of funding (Q1 2023–Q1 2025), the South is a strong contender, capturing 17.5%. Investors may be looking to growing hubs like Austin, Atlanta, and Miami, where costs are lower, talent pools are expanding, and regional incentives are boosting early-stage innovation.
SaaS
ThreatCaptain - Smooth sale-ing.
ThreatCaptain raised $750k from Founderville.VC. ThreatCaptain is building a platform that turns complex cybersecurity risks into clear financial impact reports, helping MSPs close more deals by speaking the CFO’s language.
healthtech
Lumaegis - Thinking outside the RadBox.
Lumaegis raised $200k. Lumaegis is building the RadBox, a first-of-its-kind LED sterilizer that delivers faster, cheaper, and more efficient sterilization for dental and medical practices.
AI
Airwork AI - Putting the hire in higher standards.
Airwork AI raised $225k. Airwork AI is building an AI-powered hiring platform that helps startups quickly source, assess, and hire pre-vetted global tech talent.
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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