AI 🤝 Stem Cells
Necessary Nuggets
Happy Thursday! For those new here, welcome to Necessary Nuggets. We deliver exciting updates from Necessary Ventures and some helpful tidbits on the tech world to you bimonthly. If you can’t get enough of the newsletters, don’t worry! You can access every edition on our blog — perfect for when you can’t wait for the new edition and are dying to read more or just need a midnight snack. As I’m sure many of you know, it’s been a hectic week in tech. Buckle up, and read for a ride.
JOBORTUNITIES 🚨
Taro: No fuss healthcare. Patients get help without the stress. Taro increases access to healthcare while reducing costs and physician burnout.
| Product engineer |
Arc Boats: Electrify watercraft. Build the Tesla of boats. Arc boats’ aim is both sustainability and high performance.
Moov: A marketplace for used semiconductor equipment. Over $3.7 billion in total value of equipment.
| Senior Full Stack Software Engineer |
Reach out with any questions! All 187 open job postings are listed here.
GOOD READS đź“–
Our favorite stories in…
There’s a hot new climate technology in town, and let’s hope it’s at least one brick short of a full load. Heavy industries need to generate heat. Enter heat batteries. One technology implements an insulated steel container to transfer heat through a stack of bricks, where heat can be trapped for days of use.
Last Saturday was Earth Day – or in Nvidia’s case, Earth D(AI)y. Nvidia released an article on how AI is accelerating progress towards climate goals.
Save a tree, and eat an insect. The agriculture sector is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. The population is growing, and we need more sustainable sources of protein to accommodate it. Also, alternative protein has a variety of usage cases across pet food, aquafeed, and food for humans.
Duolingo incorporated roleplay. It introduced the “Roleplay” feature as part of a max subscription tier. The feature provides a built-in AI chatbot powered by GPT-4, where users can practice real-world conversations.
Is THE Green Lantern following a green lantern? Ryan Reynolds announced his investment in Nuvei, a global payments technology company.
Samsung Electronics unveiled a new digital health platform for wearable devices. Samsung recognizes smartphones and wearables as the key to revolutionizing healthcare research.
Reach Capital, a leading edtech investor, made firm history with a $215 million raise for its fourth fund. The raise comes during a time where we’ve seen a strong pullback in new edtech deals. Congrats to the team!
ChatGPT is a liar and a thief. What will life look like when AI replaces your job?
No one likes a moocher. Reddit demands AI models start paying for precious human data.
Britain let go of the wheel – in style. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E just became the first self-driving system approved in the UK.
StartUp, GlowUp 🔥
Our favorite startup stories …
Skarper - Bike better
The Tech: A patented clip-on unit that makes any bike an e-bike
Recently raised: $4.9 million in seed funding from the Starry Group and Mobilitech Capital
Also note: Skarper already has hundreds of distribution requests from around the world and a large waiting list of customers.
Context: The largest lender in Egypt for the unbanked
The tech: An ecommerce ecosystem for consumers, merchants, and enterprises
The raise: $260 million at a $1 billion valuation in early February
Its edge: The only fintech unicorn born in Q1 2023
Clear Street - Save the old stuff for antique shops
The Tech: Modern infrastructure to replace outdated models used in capital markets
Recently Raised: $270 million in Series B funding at a $2 billion valuation
Also Note: Its business model is two-pronged, including charging a fee for transactions as well as financing public market securities. Also, Clear Street has a customer base of 200 institutional sized investors and hundreds of smaller trading entities.
Cortical Labs - Tonight’s special: DishBrain
The Tech: Human stem cells that power AI models
Recently Raised: $10 million led by Horizons Ventures
Also Note: The tech is so powerful because stem cells generalize information better and use less energy. Even Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels was intrigued after seeing the lab.
Cortica - We should care more about kids
The Tech: Hybrid care programs for children with neurodiverse conditions
Recently Raised: $75 million in post-seed financing
Also Note: Cortica acquired Springtide Child Development, a multisite practice serving children with developmental delays
VintaBio - An overlooked supply chain issue
The Problem: A bottleneck in life-saving therapies
The Tech: Developing and manufacturing viral vectors for use in cell and gene therapies
Recently Raised: $64 million in funding led by Silicon Valley's Decheng Capital
Also Note: VintaBio emerged from stealth with a newly appointed CEO and a custom-built manufacturing facility.
Innovamat - Goodbye times tables
The Problem: Teaching math is hard. Learning math is hard
The Tech: A new math curriculum based on understanding, not rote memorization
Recently Raised: $21 million in Series A funding led by Reach Capital
Also Note: Innovamat’s product is well-received by consumers. Dr. Hollyce Schoepp, K-12 Supervisor in NJ, remarked, “Innovamat has brought the fun of learning math to our students and the joy of teaching math to our teachers. It’s been a win-win.”
Outro
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