The IT factor 🖥️
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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✨NEW FEATURED ROLE✨
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Market Stirrings đźš©
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$16.3M
Total Amount Raised
10
Total Funding Rounds
$1.6M
Average Dollars per Round
$5.4M-$16.3M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
MORE EXPERIENCE MEANS MORE CAPITAL
Experienced firms are taking the biggest piece of the VC pie. So far in 2024, experienced VC firms have raised 10% more of all VC capital compared to last year. Painting a broad stroke of the picture, the percent raised by emerging firms has been gradually declining since 2019.
Good Reads đź“–
For the rushed reader …
CrowdStrike lived up to its name this past week with mass outages that begged companies to rethink their IT systems and their approach to process problems.
Rivian opened a trendy new charging station in Yosemite, while Ford shifted gears at its Canada facility from manufacturing a future EV to building larger, gasoline-powered versions of its flagship pickup truck.
Menlo Ventures and Anthropic are joining forces on a $100 million venture fund to invest in pre-seed, seed, and Series A artificial intelligence startups.
For the less rushed reader …
CROWDED HEADLINES: That's one order of scrambled IT, coming right up. CrowdStrike lived up to its name this past week with mass outages that begged companies to rethink their IT systems and their approach to process problems. Consolidation was CrowdStrike's primary value proposition, but now, companies are taking a second look at their reliance on one system. At a higher level, it served as a wake-up call for automation, putting more pressure on the digital transformation to first review the infrastructure in place and ensure that it's functioning properly. This is especially poignant in recent times as more companies rush to integrate generative AI. What are the risks of automation in a world where basic functions are more fragile than we thought?
EV ENVIRONMENT: It's been as busy a week as EVer in EV land, for better or for worse. Rivian opened a trendy new charging station in Yosemite, while Ford shifted gears at its Canada facility from manufacturing a future EV to building larger, gasoline-powered versions of its flagship pickup truck. Where Ford may be dropping the ball, Rivian is doubling down on its new facility. Rivian is layering in a backyard bougie experience at the station, where customers can lounge at a small library, refill their waters, grab "free" coffee, or make their own trail mix. Rivian sees national parks like Yosemite as the perfect opportunity to capitalize on high foot traffic. On the tails side of the coin, Ford seems to be retreating after a hard 2023, in which it reported a nearly $4.7 billion loss on its EV business. Although that business appears to be sidelined for now, can it really af-Ford to sideline EVs forever?
NOT A CLAUDE IN THE SKY: Amid all the AI buzz, Anthropic is Claude-ing its way back into the spotlight. Menlo Ventures and Anthropic are joining forces on a $100 million venture fund to invest in pre-seed, seed, and Series A artificial intelligence startups. Fondly named "The Anthology Fund," checks will start at $100k and will provide $25k in Anthropic credits to employ their models. Menlo Ventures is one of the largest investors in Anthropic, and the firm is leveraging that relationship to discover the next cohort of futuristic AI-startups. Earlier this year, Anthropic was valued at $15 billion after closing a $750 million round led by Menlo. The element symbol for gold should have been Ai instead of Au.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Check out details on the pre-seed raises from the past week:
edtech
Making Space - Building blocks from education to employment.
Making Space raised $2 million led by Beta Boom on July 16. Making Space is creating a learning and talent acquisition platform to help disabled people on their path from accessing free education to establishing themselves in their career.
fintech
Truvius- Making returns on crypto less cryptic.
Truvius raised $3.2 million led by Galaxy Ventures on July 18. Truvius is playing to portfolio management’s long lifetime with a crypto investment platform that enables individuals and institutions to invest in a diversified portfolio of digital assets.
manufacturing
Solideon - Give robots the hard jobs.
Solideon raised $5 million led by 8090 Industries on July 17. Solideon is on a mission to revolutionize manufacturing, using advanced robotics that can autonomously manufacture, assemble, and post-process entire structures in a matter of days.
artificial intelligence
CaseBlink - AI puts on its lawyer hat.
CaseBlink raised $1.1 million from (ERA) Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Colopl Next, Switch Ventures, and Tower Research Capital, LLC. Based in New York City, CaseBlink is putting genAI to work in the legal tech space with a tool that helps organize documents, enabling immigration lawyers to focus on more important strategic work.
Echo Chunk - It’s more than chess a game.
Echo Chunk raised $1.4 million from a16z Speedrun, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, and Roblox Corp's AI head Stef Corazza. Described by founder Sami Ramly as “a collaboration between humans and AI,” game developer Echo Chunk just launched Echo Chess, a viral daily game inspired by chess and where you become the various pieces.
Signify - Putting the A and I in compliance.
Signify raised $2.1 million led by FUSE on July 19. IT, AI, and Compliance pros came together to build a system that helps manufacturers bring products to the market safer and faster.
Outro🚪
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