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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