Techlash: From an SVB low to OpenAI high

• 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)