AI sets sail on a fancy, new partnership ⛵
Necessary Nuggets
Happy Wednesday! If you’re new here, welcome to Necessary Nuggets, your one-stop pre-seed shop. We deliver updates from Necessary Ventures and helpful tidbits on our little corner of the world. Every edition is also on our blog.
Jobortunities 🚨
✨NEW FEATURED ROLE✨
Necessary Ventures: If you love this newsletter, we think you might like investing in what the world needs too. We have full-time and part-time opportunities to think early stage and have an impact on solving founders’ problems..
| Investor |
Taro: Taro increases access to healthcare while reducing costs and physician burnout via direct primary care based health insurance.
| Product Engineer |
Forage: Create a unified API that helps low-income Americans buy online groceries. It’s Stripe, but for Electronic Benefits Transfer.
| Senior Backend Engineer | | VP/Director of Engineering |
Reach out with any questions! All 164 open job postings are listed here.
Market Stirrings 🚩
The stage hop from pre-seed to seed shows some promise. Since Q1 2023, seed valuations have steadily climbed from a median $11.6 million to $13.3 million for Q1 2024. There’s still some ground to cover to catch up to the peak in Q2 2022 of $14.5 million, but the growth is there. Despite the difficult fundraising environment, valuations are holding up.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Researchers devised a way to use innovative paper tests, called paper analytical devices, to monitor personal health and environmental safety.
VC funds raised only $9.3 billion in Q1, on pace to be the lowest capital raised since 2013 and a 54% drop from last year.
Google and Nvidia are partnering to bring their startup accelerators together, combining Google for Startups Cloud Program and Nvidia’s Inception.
For the less rushed reader …
GETTING PAPER: Researchers at Tufts wrote an entire paper about paper. Researchers devised a way to use innovative paper tests, called paper analytical devices, to monitor personal health and environmental safety. No more need for Doctor Google and WebMD-induced panic attacks; the tests can be administered easily and cheaply at home with a simple finger prick. The paper analytical device is engineered with stealthy channels and collection zones that measure out the necessary volumes of blood to dry for later analysis. The devices can be used on more than just blood – Tufts researchers also see potential for measuring lactate in sweat and bacterial contamination in water. Talk about putting blood, sweat, and tears into your work.
DEAL OR NO DEAL: VC dealmaking and LP commitments are following the age-old tale of the tortoise and the hare, except neither can quite reach the finish line without the other. VC funds raised only $9.3 billion in Q1, on pace to be the lowest capital raised since 2013 and a 54% drop from last year. Less capital is flowing in from limited partners, as they’ve seen modest cash distributions from investments in VC funds and expressed caution until IPOs pick back up. With that being said, dry powder remains high even though fundraising spirits might be low. The struggle story isn’t true for everyone either, especially sector by sector. As one example, DCVC dropped the target for its first climate-focused fund, DCVC Climate Select, from $500 million to $300 million after experiencing firsthand the capital raising environment, but it’s now headed towards a welcome surprise of $400 million. VCs may be hard-pressed to stick to the hotspots, like climate investing and AI, if they want to cross the finish line.
HOWDY, PARTNER: A star is born: Googvidia (or Nvigle?). Google and Nvidia are partnering to bring their startup accelerators together, combining Google for Startups Cloud Program and Nvidia’s Inception. It’s a fairground for founders, and members from one program will be eligible for benefits from the other. Startups in Inception can crack the $350k Google jackpot, which they’ve typically offered to AI-first companies in their program, and startups in Google’s program can gain additional technological expertise through Nvidia. This could be groundbreaking for early-stage startups that tend to struggle with high costs tied to AI technologies and expertise-related barriers. Emerging companies from the programs will also receive fast-tracked onboarding to Google Marketplace. If money and power opens doors, Google and Nvidia just opened a door factory.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Notable pre-seed raises in …
fintech
Protiv - Pay to play
The Problem: The construction and services industries are bogged down by deadlines and limited incentives.
The Tech: An integrated, pay-for-performance platform that links budgets, goals, and timelines to worker incentives.
Recently Raised: $2.4 million in funding led by Lightbank and Las Olas Venture Capital, with participation from Parameter Ventures and Early Light Ventures.
Also Note: Protiv is based in NYC and has acquired customers from small landscaping companies to midsize contractors and large construction companies.
artificial intelligence
Arch0 - Better off in the clouds
The Problem: Cloud security is complex and requires more accessible solutions.
The Tech: An automated platform that embeds proactive security across the software development lifecycle, delivering comprehensive insights on every security incident.
Recently Raised: $1.25 million in funding led by Leo Capital.
Also Note: The startup caters to medium-sized enterprises and companies.
Outro🚪
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