How to give sustainability a chemical kick
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.
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Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$8.1M
Total Amount Raised
10
Total Funding Rounds
$810.5k
Average Dollars per Round
$2.7M-$8.1M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
DEAL ACTIVITY LOOKING SAAS
With all the AI hype, where does SaaS deal activity sit? Based on PitchBook data, it appears to be on pace to exceed deal value for both 2022 and 2023. However, deal count still remains low compared to both years, signaling more money is flowing into SaaS but not necessarily across more deals and companies.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Multiple sources say OpenAI is currently in talks with investors to raise a round that would value it over $100 billion.
Early-stage venture capital firm SparkLabs has lit up the VC world with $50 million in fresh cash.
Oxylus Energy is on a mission to perfect green methanol, a chemical that could decarbonize a range of industries like shipping and aviation.
For the less rushed reader …
ALL EYES ON OPENAI: OpenAI is still chit-chatting and so is everyone else. Multiple sources say OpenAI is currently in talks with investors to raise a round that would value it over $100 billion. That valuation would be substantially higher than that of any other AI startup to date. The round is rumored to be led by Thrive Capital with an investment of $1 billion, and current investor Microsoft is also reportedly participating in the round. The news follows a big announcement last week that OpenAI will soon release a prototype of SearchGPT, a faster and more transparent search engine, so OpenAI can talk the talk AND search the search. In a time when investors are clearly eager to get a bite of the OpenAI-ction, it will be interesting to see who gets to join the $100 billion club.
SPARKING F(AI)RE: A fund recently closed to give startups a spark of hope. Early-stage venture capital firm SparkLabs has lit up the VC world with $50 million in fresh cash. The new fund, called the AIM AI Fund, will allocate 35% to supporting SparkLabs' accelerator participants in Saudi Arabia, and the remaining 65% will be used to invest in the best AI startups regardless of location. The fund aims to invest in 50-70 companies total. Already well-known in the industry, SparkLabs first hit the spotlight with its successful investments in OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, to name a few. What company will be the next one to light up SparkLabs' resume?
REACTING TO THE ENVIRONMENT: Mad scientists have new test tube babies. Launched last year out of a Yale chemistry lab, Oxylus Energy is on a mission to perfect green methanol, a chemical that could decarbonize a range of industries like shipping and aviation. Using today's processes, creating green methanol is expensive and involves multiple steps, one of which includes sourcing green hydrogen which accounts for 16% of the total cost. What makes Oxylus' technology so cutting edge is that it bypasses the need for green hydrogen by using a cobalt-based catalyst to facilitate the chemical reaction. The methanol produced by Oxylus' reaction can be manipulated to make chemicals like formaldehyde and acetic acid; with additional refining, it can be used to make sustainable aviation fuel. The startup recently raised its first round of $4.5 million led by Toyota Ventures and Azolla Ventures. Good thing these founders decided to pay attention in chemistry class.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Check out details on the pre-seed raises from the past week:
healthtech
Electrokare - Electrolyte monitoring gets an electric lift.
Electrokare raised $140k from iVenture Accelerator and Techstars Physical Health. Leaning on SmartWatch EKG functions, Electrokare is building software that monitors electrolyte levels in your body.
EDTECH
AnswersAI - Making education more like vacation.
AnswersAI raised $1.5 million. AnswersAI developed a platform to ease the academic burden on students in diverse educational settings, offering features such as AI-powered tutors and “modes” that can distill lecture notes and interpret messy handwriting.
fintech
Halo Ai - Say Halo to a new third-party sheriff.
Halo Ai raised pre-seed funding from Rebellion Ventures. Halo Ai is building an AI-powered platform to improve how fintech companies onboard third-party vendors, manage risk, and meet compliance standards.
artificial intelligence
Agency AI - Putting eyes on the agents.
Agency AI raised $2.6 million led by 645 Ventures and Afore Capital. AgencyAI created AgentOps.ai, an industry-leading platform to manage data on AI agents, ensuring observability and compliance. The platform integrates with leading AI frameworks, such as Cohere and CrewOn.
Katara - Working less hours on the clock.
Katara raised $400k in a combined pre-seed and seed round totaling $2.6million and co-led by Diagram Ventures and Sparkle Ventures. Katara is building an AI-driven platform aimed at developers to offload repetitive and fragmented workflows.
ProhostAI - Hostess with the mostess.
ProhostAI raised $1.5 million from Data Tech Fund, Pear VC, and Y Combinator. ProhostAI is building an AI-powered operating system for vacation rental homes to make a “pro-host” out of anyone.
Pryzm - Uncomplicating government contracts.
Pryzm raised $2 million led by Amplify.LA and XYZ Venture Capital. Pryzm is developing software that helps businesses secure more government contracts and offers tools to assist throughout the process.
Outro🚪
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