Sirius Matters: VC Funds, Apple, and Recycling Robots
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.
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Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$10.1M
Total Amount Raised
7
Total Funding Rounds
$1.4M
Average Dollars per Round
$4.8M-$7.2M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
Looking into the future
It’s still a hard knock life for startups in search of VC funding. Compared to the first half of last year, PitchBook found that more VCs (~10% compared to ~5% last year) have no plans to raise another fund, signifying a decent pullback on future fundraising plans.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Day One Ventures announced its third fund with $150 million to back early-stage startups focusing on areas such as AI, fintech, climate, and future of work.
Apple found an unlikely partner in OpenAI for its new and long-awaited Apple Intelligence, an AI overhaul launching in beta form this fall for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Glacier is one early-stage climate tech startup in the spotlight and is creating AI-enabled robots to help companies sort trash and reduce landfill waste.
For the less rushed reader …
DAY 1 FOCUSED ON DAY 10B: The earlier the risk, the more long-lived the success -- maybe not for rambunctious kids on a playground, but that's certainly the motto for Day One Ventures. Day One Ventures announced its third fund with $150 million to back early-stage startups focusing on areas such as AI, fintech, climate, and future of work. Day One has backed eight unicorns across its three funds, including Superhuman and DuckDuckGo as just two examples, and has had 22 exits. What's the firm's edge? A unique approach to venture by providing public relations expertise for its portfolio companies. The firm is now adding a focus on "Future of Human" which it has translated to a deeper integration of art and culture. One such investment that might fall into that category is Cradle Healthcare, a company developing tech to cryogenically freeze bodies. The irony there is that Day One seems like a firm that's anything but frozen in time.
THINGS ARE GETTING SIRIUS: Although Apple is far past its founding days, the company continues to accelerate and take on new Jobs. Apple found an unlikely partner in OpenAI for its new and long-awaited Apple Intelligence, an AI overhaul launching in beta form this fall for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple put aside its ego and sought outside AI models to incorporate into its software, starting with ChatGPT. Even Siri is getting a fresh generative AI upgrade and will now decide whether a query might benefit from accessing ChatGPT. The company's new AI strategy will focus on privacy and security, which some feel is at odds with OpenAI's experimental approach to technology. Simultaneously with the drop, Apple officially became the first brand to cross $1 trillion in brand value. One X thread pokes at how this deal might impact the startup landscape, killing off those trying to make their break in generative AI. Will Apple be taking a bite of the action or hounding the whole pie?
ROBO-RECYCLING: There's a glacier-sized gap in the recycling industry that one up-and-coming startup is rushing to fill. Glacier is one early-stage climate tech startup in the spotlight and is creating AI-enabled robots to help companies sort trash and reduce landfill waste. Founded by Rebecca Hu, a former Bain consultant, and Areeb Malik, a former Meta software engineer, Glacier robots use an AI vision system to find recyclable items frequently missed by human detectors. According to the startup's estimates, just one robot helps keep more than 10 million items out of landfills. That's a big deal given that the current recycling rate in the US is around 32%, and the goal is to reach at least 50% by 2030. Glacier also received a massive vote of confidence in March when it became the second woman-led climate tech company to receive support from Amazon. Despite their job, Glacier's robots are certainly not trashy and won't be living in those landfills anytime soon.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Notable pre-seed raises in …
healthtech
Loop Health - 60-second healthcare
The Problem: Many college students struggle with depression, yet it’s difficult to measure relevant health data and signal when it’s time to see a therapist.
The Tech: An app that uses computer vision and gamification technology to measure health data and entice college students to use the program daily.
Recently Raised: $120k in funding led by undisclosed investors
Also Note: The app can measure heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, and stress index, in just a 40-60 second face scan.
artificial intelligence
Alinia AI - Rapid safety for rapid (AI)doption
The Problem: Generative AI spending is expected to hit $143 billion by 2027, but rapid adoption poses significant challenges, especially for safe deployment.
The Tech: An AI-powered platform that uses an integral AI governance approach ranging from evaluation and real-time monitoring to cutting-edge optimization techniques.
Recently Raised: $2.4 million in funding led by Speedinvest and Precursor.
Also Note: The round included angel investments from the founders of Hugging Face and GitHub.
Outro🚪
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