Valuations going up; Upside Foods going down?
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✨
Nevoya: First fully-electric trucking fleet in the United States, helping truckers trade gas-guzzling for environment-protecting. Get involved and tackle unsolved problems in the trucking industry.
Taro: Taro increases access to healthcare while reducing costs and physician burnout via direct primary care based health insurance.
| Product Engineer |
Reach out with any questions! All 132 open job postings are listed here.
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$6.6M
Total Amount Raised
7
Total Funding Rounds
$938k
Average Dollars per Round
$3.1M-$9.4M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
SOWING NEW SEEDS
Deal volume is down, but pre-money valuations are bouncing back, largely driven by AI, especially for early-stage rounds. Priced seed round valuations are slightly up compared to Q1 2022, the only stage in the positive on a relative basis.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Scientists at Oxford University developed a revolutionary material to generate solar electricity without the need for silicon-based solar panels.
Techstars is floundering, laying off 17% of its workforce and ending its $80 million Advancing Cities fund at the end of this year.
Upside Foods and the Institute of Justice are challenging Florida’s ban on cultivated meat, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional in three different ways.
For the less rushed reader …
SHOCKING RESULTS: Research shows solar panels might be better off as frying pans. Scientists at Oxford University developed a revolutionary material to generate solar electricity without the need for silicon-based solar panels. The new light-absorbing material is thin enough and flexible enough to be used on the surface of buildings and common objects, like backpacks and cars. The material delivers over 27% energy efficiency, which beats the output of today’s solar panels at about 22% energy efficiency. While the global average cost of solar electricity has dropped 90% since 2010, this breakthrough is a major step in continuing to reduce the cost. No one is saying “so long” to solar anytime soon.
SEEING STARS: Will Techstars be able to s-tech the landing? Techstars is floundering, laying off 17% of its workforce and ending its $80 million Advancing Cities fund at the end of this year. Backed by J.P. Morgan, Advancing Cities was used to develop nine accelerators with a mission to advance equitable access to funding for diverse founders. The accelerators launched nationwide in cities like Oakland, New York, and Miami. Techstars co-founder and CEO David Cohen expressed that the company unfortunately fell victim to overgrowth, building a staff to support thousands of annual new investments. That level is tough to reach in the current market – Techstars reported only investing in around 700 new startups a year. The company could certainly use a wishing techstar right now.
UPSIDE DOWN: Upside Foods is meating its maker in court. Upside Foods and the Institute of Justice are challenging Florida’s ban on cultivated meat, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional in three different ways. According to Upside Foods and IJ, the ban violates the Supremacy Clause (giving federal law priority over state law) and two provisions in the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act. Lab-grown meat is an important disruptor of the meat industry’s business model, known to be one of the largest contributors to global warming. Upside Foods is just one startup in this space, having raised $608 million to date. Eyes are glued on this case, both humans and animals alike.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Check out details on the pre-seed raises from the past week:
climatetech
Climatize - Putting pennies in the climate piggy bank.
Climatize raised $1.75 million led by Myriad Venture Partners. Climatize created a platform for people to invest in climate projects starting with as little as $5 – a much better use than a Starbucks coffee.
fintech
Finly Club - A one-card wallet.
Finly Club raised $220k led by Plug and Play and Sequoia Capital. Finly Club built a one-card system that aggregates all of a consumer’s credit cards and automatically reroutes transactions to the card that saves the most money.
artificial intelligence
Identity Matrix - Turning clicks into consumers.
Identity Matrix raised $400k at a $2.4 million pre-money valuation led by Startup Ignition Ventures. Identity Matrix is deanonymizing website traffic and providing companies access to hundreds of untapped leads.
MyPlanKeeper - AI with eyes on your future bank account.
MyPlanKeeper raised $25k at a $6 million pre-money valuation. MyPlanKeeper is developing a generative-AI-powered platform that integrates with top financial and health platforms to help individuals and advisors create strategic financial plans.
Scamnetic - Scamming fakes from the top.
Scamnetic raised $1.4 million from Roo Partners, Ruxton Ventures, and SaaS Ventures. Scamnetic is building an AI-powered scam detector to weed out deepfakes across both video and audio channels.
Outro🚪
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