Black mirror reality? One startup wants to clone people

Necessary Nuggets

Happy Tech Tuesday! If you’re new here, welcome to Necessary Nuggets. We deliver exciting updates from Necessary Ventures and some helpful tidbits on the tech world to you bimonthly. Every edition is also on our blog. 

Jobortunities 🚨

Taro: Taro increases access to healthcare while reducing costs and physician burnout via direct primary care based health insurance. 

🚨✨FEATURED✨🚨 Taro has a full-time, remote or hybrid opening for an experienced individual to lead aspects of its network. This is a tremendous opportunity for an eager professional to grow in healthtech and drive operations at an early stage company.

| Network |

Arc Boats: Electrify watercraft. Build the Tesla of boats. Arc’s aim is both sustainability and high performance. 

| Full Stack Software Engineer |

Forage: Create a unified API that helps low-income Americans buy online groceries. It’s Stripe, but for Electronic Benefits Transfer.

| Backend Engineer |


Reach out with any questions! All 129 open job postings are listed here.

Good Reads 📖

For the rushed reader …

  • The world’s largest floating offshore wind farm officially opened its doors off the coast of Norway. 

  • The UN released its first-ever global stocktake, a critical report looking at the steps countries have taken to make progress on climate action.

  • VR tech is proving to be a valuable player in healthcare, from 3D surgery simulations to pain treatment.

  • Fintech companies thrived while interest rates dropped to all-time lows; now, they’re confronted with unsustainable business models with rates at generational highs. 

  • Local Law 18 is throwing hands – and strict regulation — at Airbnb, forcing all short-term rental hosts in NY to register with the city.

For the less rushed reader …

Feeling winded? Nor-way, me too. The world’s largest floating offshore wind farm officially opened its doors off the coast of – guess where – Norway. The facility, called Hywind Tampen, is expected to cover 35% of annual electricity demand across five energy platforms. This high energy output is a natural advantage of floating wind turbines, which can take advantage of wind resources in far deeper waters than fixed-bottom types. Some might say it’s pretty cool; I think it’s electric. 

Here’s an exercise you’re going to want to do, because the United Nations HIIT the nail on the head. The UN released its first-ever global stocktake, a critical report looking at the steps countries have taken to make progress on climate action. News flash: we scored a big, fat F on our midterm. The report confirmed the world is not on track to meet its goals, and only a transformational change will be enough to get back on track. The UN also called for an urgent need to close information gaps, including research on which climate impacts are reversible and irreversible. So, what’s the exercise? Ambition, accountability, and acceleration, according to UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell. The message is clear: hurry the big, fat F up.

Would you be comfortable with your surgeon staying up all night before a big surgery to play video games? Does it change your mind if the game is a virtual reality simulation of the surgery they’re due to perform? VR tech is proving to be a valuable player in healthcare, from 3D surgery simulations to pain treatment. VR is becoming a fixture in medical schools and residency programs. Pain is both a physical and emotional brain response, and VR is being used to dampen signals in the brain to relieve pain. Meta also released an article this week with its take on extended reality applications in the real world. If the virtual world is such bliss, no wonder people are signing up for the blue pill. 

As spooky season draws near (sorry to remind you that summer is, in fact, ending), fintech is haunted like no other. Fintech companies thrived when interest rates dropped to all-time lows; now, they’re confronted with unsustainable business models with rates at generational highs. Startups that based their main source of revenue on interchange fees are in a pickle. By nature of that business model, their revenue is capped as a fixed percentage of customer transactions, but their borrowing costs are spiraling out of control as interest rates rise. Fintech startups need an interchange exchange — they must adapt more flexible business models that do the limbo rather than exist in limbo.

  • Will Airbnb disappear into thin air? The Big Apple is fed up with short-term rentals. Local Law 18 is throwing hands – and strict regulation — at Airbnb, forcing all short-term rental hosts in NY to register with the city, and only those who live and stay present with their renter can qualify. The law came into effect last Tuesday and represents a growing, global resistance to short-term rentals. Dallas, Quebec, Memphis, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and a growing list of cities have imposed licenses and limits on rentals. While it’s true that short-term rentals can price out locals from their own neighborhoods, they also provide a way for people (especially New Yorkers) to make ends meet by leasing their place when they’re out of town. Hope you saved your hotel travel points.

StartUp, GlowUp 🔥

Notable startup updates in …

Climatetech

  • Open Cosmos - Tidy up your space

    • The Problem: Satellites are a critical way to communicate and gain information about the earth, but they also pollute space.

    • The Tech: Sustainable, low-earth orbit satellites, end-to-end data management, and space data for the good guys.

    • Recently Raised: $50 million in Series B funding led by ETF Partners, Trill Impact, and A&G.

    • Also Note: The startup works with major space agencies as well as companies like Amazon, prioritizing those who want to be good actors in their domain.

  • Redwood Materials - Copping more copper

    • The Problem: Most battery materials are sourced or produced in China, which poses global trade and geopolitical risks in the EV industry.

    • The Tech: Factories that recycle batteries and refine materials, turning them into shiny, new toys (well, copper foil cathodes and anodes).

    • Recently Raised: $1 billion in Series D funding led by Goldman Sachs, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, and other unnamed funds

    • Also Note: The company was founded by former Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel. Panasonic will be Redwood’s first customer as part of an existing partnership.

Healthtech

  • Scala Biodesign - Protein shake

    • The Problem: Predicting protein behavior is slower than molasses and entirely trial and error; AI can make it faster and give better guesses.

    • The Tech: A computational system that swaps individual molecules to expedite engineering and improve proteins.

    • Recently Raised: $5.5 million in Seed funding led by TLV Partners.

    • Also Note: The company spun out from research done at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv.

FINTECH

  • Firstcard - College kids deserve credit

    • The Problem: 29% percent of Gen Zers don’t have a credit score (or don’t know if they do).

    • The Tech: A suite of financial products to help domestic and international college students build better credit.

    • Recently Raised: $4.7 million in seed funding from the AngelList Early Stage Quant Fund, CyberAgent Capital, East Venture, and Japanese soccer player Keisuke Honda.

    • Also Note: The company’s product pipeline is extensive, including a community for college students, financial aid and student loans, and an AI-powered financial advisor.

EDTECH

  • Ello - Read between the lines

    • The Problem: Children’s reading literacy is falling behind – in 2021, children in the U.S. were about 30% behind that of a typical year.

    • The Tech: An AI-reading coach subscription for kids from kindergarten through Grade 3 that delivers books every month and listens to children read.

    • Recently Raised: $15 million in Series A funding led by Goodwater Capital.

    • Also Note: As part of the program, reading experts and-select books for each child based on their interests.

TECHBITS

  • Delphi - Black mirror comes to life

    • The Problem: When you die, you don’t exist. What if you could be stored virtually?

    • The Tech: An AI chatbot that mimics your personality as closely as possible, based on as little as 4 documents.

    • Recently Raised: $2.7 million in Seed funding led by Keith Rabois, CEO of OpenStore and general partner at Founders Fund.

    • Also Note: Founders Fund is the infamous venture firm founded by controversial Peter Thiel, founder of intelligence software company Palantir.

Outro

Feel free to reply to this email with all questions, feedback, or comments. We’ll be iterating and curating the NVTC newsletter according to your interests. 

Some last matters of business: 

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  • Sign up here if you’re interested in co-investing with Necessary.

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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

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San Francisco, California

Kaley UbellackerComment