AI agents and agents in AI 🤔
Jun 20, 2024
Kaley Ubellacker
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$6.7M
Total Amount Raised
8
Total Funding Rounds
$842k
Average Dollars per Round
$2.8M-$8.4M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
Shopping for Startups
Are acquisitions becoming an acquired taste? Well, not according to recent figures from Carta. M&A activity reached an all-time high in Q1 2022 but has seen a dip in recent quarters. However, Q1 2024 experienced a slight increase in total acquired startups and reached closer levels to Q1 2023. Only time will tell if this is part of a long-term rise in M&A activity, but the trend looks promising.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Recent research progress shows that light-based optical computers could help with the AI energy crisis and lower the energy cost 1,000 times.
According to industry executives and investors at Money20/20, a global fintech event held in Amsterdam, the sector has hit bottom.
Just one month after leaving the company, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has launched a new company, Safe SuperIntelligence Inc. (SSI).
For the less rushed reader …
BRIGHT IDEAS: AI is demanding too much power. But don’t plan the coup just yet, because there might be another solution. Recent research progress shows that light-based optical computers could help with the AI energy crisis and lower the energy cost 1,000 times. AI’s need for power doubles every three months, according to one estimate from Nick Harris, founder and CEO of the computing-hardware company Lightmatter. Instead of electrons, optical computing uses packets of light to process information. The first boost of confidence came in 2017 from a team at MIT that successfully built an optical neural network on a silicon chip. Optical computing has since made significant advancements; the most recent was an ONN that can sort out different transmissions. However, it’s still far from replacing traditional electronic chips. There’s no need for Nvidia to sweat yet, but I’d hold onto your chips.
FOUNDERS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUNDS: Is fintech finished with funding? According to industry executives and investors at Money20/20, a global fintech event held in Amsterdam, the sector has hit bottom. Fintech funding peaked in 2021 at $238.9 billion, but 2022 revealed a sharp drop at a measly $164.1 billion. 2023 dropped even more to $113.7 billion. With the market correction, investors are doubling down on companies with proven business models and use cases. However, AI and crypto are still on the hype list for fintech, as the AI craze continues and crypto seems to have rounded the coin-er. While it was acknowledged that some companies are experiencing massive growth, funding remains either hard to come by or being offered at lower prices than before. It might be time for fintech founders to cash in the spare bitcoins hiding under their mattresses.
KARMA IS A NEW COMPANY: Ilya Sutskever is bouncing back from his breakup. Just one month after leaving the company, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has launched a new company, Safe SuperIntelligence Inc. (SSI). Sutskever is joined by former Y Combinator partner Daniel Goss and previous OpenAI engineer Daniel Levy. Back in the day (1 month ago), Sutskever was integral to OpenAI’s safety efforts, known for his take last year predicting that AI will achieve intelligence superior to humans soon, and it won’t necessarily be benevolent. As he moves on to build his current startup, his goal is simple: create a safe and powerful AI system. Unlike OpenAI’s early days, SSI will be a for-profit company, likely to rake in heaps of capital sometime soon. Can Sutskever make safe superintelligence cool, or will it be like riding a Harley with a bike helmet?
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
Artificial Intelligence
Zeta Labs - Getting down and digitalThe Problem: ChatGPT can answer your questions, but it can’t help you make a restaurant reservation or set up a recruitment pipeline.The Tech: An AI agent that can provide assistance on complex tasks involving web automation, interaction, and direct communication.Recently Raised: $2.9 million in funding led by Daniel Gross, former head of AI at Y Combinator, and Nat Friedman, former Github CEO.Also Note: Zeta Labs developed a proprietary web-interaction model, AWA-1 (Autonomous Web Agent-1), delivering an 89% task completion success rate.
Proofs - Secret agents on the appThe Problem: Building an app can be lengthy and monotonous, costing more time and money than necessary.The Tech: AI agents that automate app building processes, directed at API-first companies to increase sales conversion rates.Recently Raised: $2.6 million in funding led by Earlybird Digital East Fund.Also Note: The company will use the funding for product development and preparing a go-to-market strategy.
Outro🚪
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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
