A funding-filled week: Early-stage stats, DOE digging
Oct 30, 2024
Kaley Ubellacker
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$22.9M
Total Amount Raised
11
Total Funding Rounds
$2.1M
Average Dollars per Round
$10.4M-$20.8M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
FUNDING LANDSCAPE
Early-stage funding is alive and well. Pre-seed rounds are especially bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with median valuations around $11M and typical raises at $1.2M. Seed rounds are making a comeback, averaging $3.7M raised at a $14.8M pre-money valuation, reminiscent of 2021's high numbers despite a dip in deal volume.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
This week, the DOE finalized a monster $2.26 billion loan for Lithium Americas to build Thacker Pass, a Nevada lithium mine.
Mindful Venture Capital closed $5 million for its first fund, focusing on Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A startups.
Bay Area startup MDC is developing an innovative approach to minimally invasive surgery.
For the less rushed reader …
MINERAL MATTER: The DOE is mining its own business with a new push for critical minerals. This week, the DOE finalized a monster $2.26 billion loan for Lithium Americas to build Thacker Pass, a Nevada lithium mine. This milestone marks one of the U.S.’ largest mining investments. The agreement is supplemented by a joint venture with General Motors who will acquire 38% asset-level ownership. Having a steady supply of lithium is crucial to the production of electrical vehicles, especially with the U.S.’ efforts to reduce reliance on materials from China. Construction on the mine started last year and is expected to be completed later this decade. The team is going to need a dump truck full of pick-axes; that’s no Li.
MINDFUL OVER MATTER: So cutesy, so demure, so Mindful. Mindful Venture Capital closed $5 million for its first fund, focusing on Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A startups. Mindful Venture Capital invests across a wide range of industries, with previous investments in healthtech, fintech, edtech, legaltech, and SaaS. Mindful is on the lookout for innovative startups that advance the health and performance of humans, machines, and environments. Within its first two years, the firm made 15 investments in 11 companies, seeing 70% progress beyond proof-of-concept and 25% progress to Series A. With its first fund, Mindful aims to invest 90% in the U.S. and 10% elsewhere. The firm is successfully putting its mind to creating a whole new category of “mindful technologies.”
ADDRESSING A DESPERATE NEEDLE: Robots are the peanut butter to MRI’s jelly. Fresh off a big win at SOSV’s HAX accelerator and $1.2 million in pre-seed funding, Bay Area startup MDC is developing an innovative approach to minimally invasive surgery. Currently, surgeons waste precious time getting patients into MRI machines, then advancing needles one centimeter at a time. MDC’s solution is a robotic system that operates inside the MRI without the typical electric motors or metals that can interfere with imaging. Drawing from research at Johns Hopkins and Stanford, founder Sam Frishman developed a water-powered system that allows surgeons to control the needle with unparalleled dexterity. Are robot-controlled surgeries your jam?
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
Climate Tech
Turnover Labs - A clean chemical romance. Turnover Labs raised $1.4 million co-led by Pace Ventures and GC Ventures. Turnover Labs is on a mission to decarbonize the chemical manufacturing industry using proprietary electrolysis technology from Columbia University that converts “dirty CO2” into valuable chemicals.
Fintech
Borderless.xyz - Moving dollars in every area code. Borderless.xyz raised $3 million led by Amity Ventures. Borderless.xyz is developing a payment infrastructure for global transactions, whether that’s stablecoins, real world assets, or fiat currencies.
SaaS
Move AI - They like to move it, move it. Move AI raised $1.4 million led by MIT machine learning expert Anmol Madan. Move AI is creating AI-powered software to make moving seamless and stress-free. It acts as a logistics expert that scans and automatically identifies your home items.
Qpoint - Eliminating data traffic jams. Qpoint raised $4 million led by Mango Capital. Qpoint is developing a platform that provides ops teams visibility and control over their applications' external dependencies.
Transportation
Yelo - College kids with cars. Yelo raised $700k led by PivotNorth Capital. Yelo is creating stronger college communities with the “first social ride network,” giving student drivers the wheel to help classmates get from point A to point B.
Outro🚪
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