If you could live forever, would you?
Jan 4, 2023
Kaley Ubellacker
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
NV Portfolio Highlight 🎢
Did you know aluminum and steel production accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions? Now, can you picture a world without aluminum and steel? Magrathea can, and it’s building a world where structural metal doesn’t require mining – the culprit of carbon-intensive metal production.
Magrathea is literally making waves. Instead of focusing on heavy metals like aluminum and steel, Magrathea uses seawater brine to produce magnesium. Magnesium is 1.5x lighter than aluminum, 3x lighter than steel, and faster and cheaper to machine. Many companies (think Audi, Volkswagen, Ford) are already turning to magnesium for new structures, and Magrathea gives the first sustainable way to get it.
Founded in March this year, Magrathea has already raised $2 million in financing. Although it’s still in early-stage development, the company has the potential to turn the metals industry on its head. The metal magnesium market was valued at $4.35 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7% from 2021 to 2031.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
For the less rushed reader …
A Drug to Treat Aging May Not Be a Pipe Dream
What if you didn’t have to grow up? 2023 will see new approaches to the biology of senescence – the process of deterioration with age. Aging is currently responsible for two-thirds of deaths thanks to medical advancements. Scientists are investigating ways to remove aged cells to slow down the process.
Micromobility in limbo: Takeaways from Paris and LA
It doesn’t seem like shared scooters will replace cars as the dominant transportation method in cities any time soon. Despite the already expensive cost of riding scooters, companies still struggle to achieve profitability. Paris and LA are two examples of cities that leaned into e-scooter adoption to no avail: Paris may ban its 15,000 shared scooters, and the number of permitted scooter operators in LA may be limited.
How Kindle novelists are using ChatGPT
Amazon Kindle’s platform is known for speedy publishing thanks to AI. But what does widespread AI usage mean for fiction? Welcoming ChatGPT to the writing world also welcomed a host of fears surrounding creativity and plagiarism. This article discusses the question of control in collaborative writing with an AI in an interview with AI-assisted detective novelist Jennifer Lepp.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
STARTUPS TO WATCH 🔥
Amid the funding slump, some companies still finessed one last round before the close of 2022.
Aerones is building a robotics system to scrub and inspect wind turbines. This past month, it raised $38.9 million in Series A funding and aims to raise at least $2.5 million more.
Money View is an Indian fintech company developing personalized credit and financial management solutions. It raised $75 million in a new Series E funding round led by Apis Partners to scale its core credit business and build more products.
Inclusively is helping companies recruit employees with disabilities. The startup raised $4.3 million in a convertible note round, a significantly large raise considering the company has raised a total of $6.9 million in funding over 5 rounds including this one.
Hyphen Group is a fintech platform that analyzes and compares financial products in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. It raised $22 million in a funding round led by PCCW. The announcement followed news that CEO Sam Allen is stepping down.
REDDIT HIGHLIGHT 📈
It wouldn’t be right to welcome the new year without properly recapping 2022. This Reddit clip wraps up the year well – and definitely makes you feel ready to bid 2022 farewell.
It’s worth noting that loss is shown as a total value rather than percentage, which would be a better representation for comparison. However, it’s still a solid graphic to demonstrate just how severely tech was hit this year, especially the big tech titans like Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla.
Outro🚪
Have any questions, feedback, or comments? Just reply here. We iterate and curate the newsletter according to your interests!
Some last matters of business:
If you’re a technologist (engineer or product manager / designer with a technical background) join us on the NVTC LinkedIn group if you haven’t. We’d love to have you!
Sign up here if you’re interested in co-investing with Necessary.
If you’re a startup founder, we’d love to help where we can! Brex provides full-stack finance solutions for startups. Sign up via Necessary and get bonus points.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
