Techlash: From an SVB low to OpenAI high

Mar 16, 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 …

  • SVB was a climate bank, and now it’s gone. Is the guarantee from Washington enough to keep climate tech startups’ lights on? There’s a big ‘ole hole in the financing market.

  • Airbenders are real. Norwegian company Wind Catching Systems is making wind float by building a windmill grid on the sea.

  • 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. 


  • The cornerstone of the crypto world has turned – well, collapsed. Silvergate bank shut down amid recent industry and regulatory developments and low earnings. The crypto landscape is more uncertain than ever. 

  • There’s untapped potential in voice AI. One day, we’ll all look like we’re talking to ourselves in odd situations – in schools, jobs, and hopefully hospitals. 

  • Brain-computer interfaces are turning up. Stanford researchers developed one that could give the speechless a way to speak again.


Techbits

  • Spotify is keeping it freaky freaky fresh with a new AI DJ feature. Get a personalized playlist AND spoken commentary. 

  • Zipline is showing off. The company revealed next-gen electric delivery drones that dock and recharge on autonomously. 

  • OpenAI released GPT-4, and techies everywhere want to get to the bottom of the mysterious and alluring program. What makes it so much bigger and better? Could there be ... a trillion reasons?

Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥

Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:

  • BlocPower - Self care for wrinkly, old buildings

    • The problem they’re solving: Improve energy consumption and efficiency issues faced by old buildings across the U.S. Fight the climate crisis and improve quality of life.

    • Company size: 51-100 employees

    • Recent raise: $155 million in Series B and debt financing – more than $250 million to date

    • Business process: Use a proprietary algorithm and public data to broker deals between engineering services and customers that have no way to pay for the services. 

    • Gaining Steam: Project to make Ithaca the first net-zero municipality in the US. 6,000 building inventory. Over 5,000 energy projects to date. 

    • Founder highlights: CEO Donnel Baird served as a community organizer in neighborhoods in NY and consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy. 

  • Shifted Energy - A luau party for Mother Earth

    • The problem they’re solving: Keep Hawaii heavenly by building one of the world’s most advanced virtual power plants. Engage frontline communities in climate infrastructure opportunities. 

    • Company size: 1-10 employees

    • Recent raise: $4.3 million seed investment round led by Epic Ventures and Kabor Capital 

    • Business process: A massive fleet of … water heaters. Algorithms predict the amount of electricity needed, providing flexibility and control, and pay out utility bill credits to families. 

    • Gaining Steam: More than 3,000 equipped households in Oahu and Maui. 

    • Founder highlights: CEO Forest Frizzell was prior Director of IT for Hawaii gas.

  • Lightyear - Sunbathing on the hood of your car

    • The problem they’re solving: Power cars with sunshine. 3x less charging than conventional EVs.

    • Company size: 501-1000 employees

    • Recent activity: A great bankruptcy escape

    • Business process: Scalable, grid-independent models. Solar panels on the sun roof and hood.

    • Gaining Steam: Launching Lightyear 2, a more efficient and affordable model of the company’s Lightyear car series

    • Founder highlights: CEO Lex Hoefsloot is a first-time founder fresh out of engineering school at Eindhoven University of Technology.

Bicara Therapeutics - Tumor has it this biotech is making waves

  • Problem they’re solving: Treat pesky solid tumor cancers and improve the therapeutic window

  • Company size: 101-250 employees

  • Business process: Dual-action biologics that elicit a potent anti-tumor response

  • Recent raise: Oversubscribed $108 million Series B round co-led by Red Tree Venture Capital and RA Capital Management

  • Gaining Steam: An ongoing Phase 1/1b clinical trial

  • Founder highlights: CEO Claire Mazumdar led business development and corporate strategy at Rheos Medicines

  • Rapport - In the know in the neuro

    • Problem they’re solving: Target specific neuroanatomical regions for precise treatments with more safety and efficiency compared to current methods

    • Company size: 11-50 employees

    • Business model: Novel receptor-associated proteins (RAPs)

    • Recent raise: $100 million Series A round led by Third Rock Ventures and ARCH Venture Partners

    • Steam: A clinical-stage treatment for drug-resistant seizure disorders

    • Founder highlights: Scientific founders behind the discovery of RAPs and small molecule therapeutics

  • Science - A Fitbit for your brain

    • Problem they’re solving: Treat medical conditions with serious unmet needs through the brain.

    • Company size: Unknown

    • Business process: A brain implant that never actually touches your brain

    • Recent activity: The launch of Science Foundry, a platform to support companies with similar ideas. 

    • Gaining Steam: Named Neuralink’s competitor. Its flagship system Science Eye restores visual input to blind patients. 

    • Founder highlights: CEO founder Max Hodak cofounded Neuralink before leaving in 2021.

  • Pagos - Answer to the PIA (Payment Intelligence Agency)

    • Problem they’re solving: Payment processing is disconnected and getting more complex everyday. Stream and store payments data in one platform

    • Company size: 11-50 employees

    • Business process: A single platform where customers can track and visualize data

    • Recent activity: $34 million Series A round led by Arbor Ventures

    • Gaining Steam: Adobe, Eventbrite, GoFundMe, Peek and Warner Bros Discovery are current clients.

    • Founder highlights: CEO Klas Bäck and founder Albert Drouart held senior leadership positions at Venmo and Paypal. 

  • Glider AI - Hire to a Higher Standard

    • Problem they’re solving: Make hiring fair and opportunities accessible.

    • Company size: 101-250

    • Business process: Upgrade companies’ outdated credentials-first recruiting into remote-centric, skills-based hiring using sophisticated AI screening

    • Recent activity: $10 million Series A funding led by Primera Capital. 

    • Gaining Steam: Over 250,000 questions, 35+ interactive question types, and 500+ competencies

    • Founder highlights: CEO Satish Kumar’s last venture was acquired by Sumeru Equity Partners. 

  • Anthropic - Liar, liar, robot pants on fire? Never again

    • The problem they’re solving: Putting the Lasso of Truth around AI chatbots. No more factually wrong or biased answers.

    • Company size: 51-100 employees

    • Recent raise: $300 million in funding, valuing the company at $4.1 billion – this comes after an investment between $300 and $400 million from Google just four weeks prior.

    • Business process: Meet Claude, a ChatGPT-like AI chatbot

    • Gaining Steam: Claude was born in January

    • Founder highlights: Founders Daniela and Dario Amodei are not only siblings, but also former OpenAI executives (I smell competition)

Outro🚪

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