Jun 4, 2025
Kaley Ubellacker
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$28.4M
13
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
A SAASY QUARTER IN PRE-SEED
In Q1 2025, pre-seed investments continued their decline, but some industries stood out from the pack. Leading the charge was SaaS, which claimed the top spot for both capital raised and number of deals, securing $333 million across 470 transactions. SaaS accounted for 37% of total pre-seed funding, dominating the landscape. Notably, hardware climbed the ranks to capture the third highest amount of capital, signaling growing investor interest.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Hugging Face launched two new humanoid bots: HopeJR, a full-size robot with 66 degrees of movement, and Reachy Mini, a desktop companion built for AI experimentation.
A new peer-reviewed study warns that AI could consume nearly half of global data center electricity by the end of 2025, overtaking Bitcoin’s once-notorious energy use.
Heatmap sat down with longtime climate tech investor and At One Ventures founder Tom Chi to understand why he avoids investing in DAC.
For the less rushed reader …
Open robot arms
Hugging Face is proving size doesn’t matter with its latest announcement. Hugging Face launched two new humanoid bots: HopeJR, a full-size robot with 66 degrees of movement, and Reachy Mini, a desktop companion built for AI experimentation. Both are part of the company’s broader effort to make robotics more accessible and transparent; HopeJR is expected to cost around $3,000, and Reachy Mini just $250-$300. By making these robots affordable, programmable, and fully open source, the company is challenging the dominance of closed, black-box systems in the field and empowering developers, researchers, and hobbyists to innovate without gatekeepers. The release builds on Hugging Face’s 2024 acquisition of Pollen Robotics and its growing LeRobot platform, which offers open AI models and tools for building robotics systems. With this humanoid push, Hugging Face might have to change its name to something more like Hugging Whole Body.
Watts the damage?
AI’s carbon footprint is scaling even faster than the hype. A new peer-reviewed study warns that AI could consume nearly half of global data center electricity by the end of 2025, overtaking Bitcoin’s once-notorious energy use. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and Nvidia race to build ever-larger models, they’ve stayed silent on the true power cost. Researcher Alex de Vries-Gao traced the surge to AI chip production—Nvidia alone used nearly half of TSMC’s packaging capacity in 2023 and 2024, with more expansion ahead. Unlike Bitcoin, AI’s emissions are buried in black-box infrastructure and vague earnings calls. Is AI on a power trip?
The juice that isn't worth the squeeze
When it comes to direct air capture (DAC), critics call it a load of hot air. Heatmap sat down with longtime climate tech investor and At One Ventures founder Tom Chi to understand why he avoids investing in DAC. With carbon capture tax credits now on the chopping block and DAC venture funding down 60% year-over-year, his skepticism is gaining traction. Chi points to a fundamental flaw: pulling CO2 from ambient air is like “sucking carbon through a soda straw,” making the process energy-intensive and inefficient. Instead, he champions nature-based solutions like mangrove restoration, bee vaccines, and oceanic carbon sinks. While some question how measurable these approaches are, Chi argues their sheer scale trumps uncertainty. For him, engineered carbon removal like DAC is costly and barely moves the needle, so why include it in the climate solution portfolio at all? When it comes to investing, it seems the verdict is fully DAC-ided.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
edtech
Besample - Ample samples.
Besample raised $1.1 million led by Gutter Capital. Besample is creating a platform for collecting high-quality behavioral data from underrepresented regions, helping researchers break out of the Western-centric “WEIRD” bubble.
fintech
Velocity - High roller's stable.
Velocity raised $10 million led by Activant Capital. Velocity is building a blockchain-based platform to issue and manage stablecoins, aiming to transform the future of crypto finance.
AI
Rumi Labs - Rumi-nating on next-gen streaming.
Rumi Labs raised $4.7 million co-led by a16z crypto CSX and EV3. Rumi Labs is creating a decentralized platform that transforms passive media consumption into interactive, “watch-to-earn” experiences, analyzing content in real-time to train AI agents.
Outro🚪
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