NVTC Newsletter No. 1
Sep 6, 2022
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.
Welcome to the NVTC weekly newsletter! It’s another Tech Tuesday with NVTC. Here you’ll find recent updates from the tech world, insightful articles related to startups and highlights from NV portfolio companies.
THIS WEEK’S FEATURES ⚡
🗓️ UPCOMING EVENT – NVTC will be having its first ever happy hour in NYC this Friday 9/9. See below for event details.
⭐ Farmers Business Network – A startup dedicated to connection and informed data analytics in the family farmer community.
⭐ Climate Tech – EV innovation and advancements in California wine country.
⭐ A Not So Public Affair – SeatGeek and its decision to ditch its IPO.
⭐ Space and Sea – Starlink Maritime Services is teaming up with Royal Caribbean.
⭐ The AI That’s Everywhere – OpenAI reduces prices for GPT-3.
MEET-UP EVENT 🥂
Necessary Ventures is hosting an in-person event this Friday September 9th at Tara Rose in New York City. Come by for Happy Hour from 4 to 6pm and join members of the NVTC community, including Necessary Ventures founder, Neil Devani. We will also be joined by founders, LPs, and other investors. We look forward to meeting you and putting a face to a (virtual) name!RSVP and details here.
STARTUP HIGHLIGHT 🎢
The picture of the lonely, sun-hardened farmer is changing. Farmers Business Network is uniting family farmers everywhere. Think LinkedIn, but better – and just for farmers!
Farmers Business Network connects thousands of farmers to a centralized, data-sharing platform. There, they have access to findings from thousands of fellow farmers. This enables more informed decisions on seeds and agronomics. At heart, every farmer is an entrepreneur, leading demanding and complex businesses. FBN offers cutting-edge data-analytics and unlocks new production potential for these entrepreneurs.
FBN recently partnered with ADM to expand platform access to 55,000 new growers from ADM’s network. Talk about growing like a weed! What's the cherry on top? Using FBN's technology, farmers can collect and calculate verifiable production data. This lays important groundwork for farmers’ participation in sustainability markets. Check out their website to learn more!
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
NEWS & ARTICLES 📖
Royal Caribbean will equip all its ships with Starlink internet
OpenAI is reducing the price of the GPT-3 API — here’s why it matters
For the less rushed reader …
A New Approach to Car Batteries Is About to Transform EVs
Soon, you’ll be able to use a digital collectibles toolkit on Instagram to create NFTS and sell them within Instagram or off the platform. This is a capability already offered on many NFT marketplaces, so it’s a natural transition for Meta. It already allows users in over 100 different countries to showcase their NFTs, functionality\ which will be further enhanced in the coming months.
California winemakers are using A.I. to combat climate change challenges
It’s hard to picture a drone as the ideal grape farmer, but predictive modeling A.I. is changing that for winemakers in California wine country. Volatile weather patterns have led farmers to seek out AI-driven tech to resolve challenges in production, distribution, capital, and sustainability.
SeatGeek raises $238 million privately after ditching going public via SPAC
Increased volatility in public markets led SeatGeek to abandon its IPO plans. The company terminated an SPAC (special-purpose acquisition company) to raise more funds privately. In its recent Series E funding round, the company raised $238 million and currently stands at a valuation of $1 billion.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
REDDIT HIGHLIGHT 📈
On that note, here’s an interesting Reddit post where a user challenged GPT-3 to get a little philosophical.
Yikes. Someone better warn Kellogg’s that its cereal stock is in danger.
What do you think about GPT-3’s “there is no spoon?” How would you want an AI to respond to this user’s question?
Here’s one more interesting trending Reddit post:
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!
