Seed valuations on the up & up ⬆️
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✨
Magrathea: A climate tech startup making waves by making carbon neutral magnesium metal from seawater and brine.
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.
Reach out with any questions! All 143 open job postings are listed here.
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$20.3M
Total Amount Raised
20
Total Funding Rounds
$1.0M
Average Dollars per Round
$5.1M-$10.2M
Estimated Valuation Range
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
PLANTING NEW SEEDS
Median seed pre-money valuations have continued to increase over the past couple quarters, showing a strong upwards trend since Q1 2020. In fact, Q3 pre-money valuations sat at a median of $15.0 million, which surpassed the peak in Q2 2022 of $14.3 million. That’s certainly a bright spot for early stage.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
People are thinking about humanoid robots more than ever, as players continue to enter the space, like Figure, Boston Dynamics, Amazon, and, potentially, Nvidia.
Check Warner, co-founder of Diversity VC and Partner at Ada Ventures, argues in Forbes that VCs should consider childcare as a strategic investment.
A new device in Europe used to assist with suicide may take on an AI-powered decision-making role, currently handled by medical professionals.
For the less rushed reader …
DOING THE ROBOT: Elon Musk hired a different kind of cocktail waitress for Tesla’s Robotaxi Day: the Optimus humanoid robot. With all the attention on Optimus at the Robotaxi Day party, people are thinking about humanoid robots more than ever, as players continue to enter the space, like Figure, Boston Dynamics, Amazon, and, potentially, Nvidia. The hype is there – humanoid robots could take over tedious tasks like factory work, without having to rebuild the wheel for automations and fancy conveyor belts. Goldman Sachs released a report in February estimating that the total addressable market could reach $38 billion by 2035, a significant increase from the previous $6 billion projection. However, the headwinds are strong, with critics questioning the software limitations, Tesla using humans to teleoperate the robots, and whether the robots have the best form factor for industry’s dangerous tasks.
BABY ON THE BOARD: Who says a stop at the daycare has to be bad for business? Check Warner, co-founder of Diversity VC and Partner at Ada Ventures, argues in Forbes that VCs should consider childcare as a strategic investment. The data suggests that the industry currently biases against parents, especially mothers. In the same vein, founders and investors alike are afraid to announce when they’ve chosen to expand their families, and there’s a perceived “motherhood penalty.” In 2023, less than 2% of VC funding was awarded to women-founded startups across Europe and the US. However, research suggests becoming a parent enhances multiple leadership qualities, like empathy, creativity, determination, and resolve. Ada Ventures became the first VC in Europe to offer parent founders support towards the cost of childcare. Previously, founders’ mental health has been a top conversation for VCs. Perhaps other VCs will take inspiration from Ada Ventures’ message: “grow your life alongside your business.”
A POD FOR THE END: Has far is too far for AI? A new device in Europe used to assist with suicide may take on an AI-powered decision-making role, currently handled by medical professionals. The suicide pod, named Sarco after the ancient sarcophagus, was used for the first time last month on an American woman, led by the Swiss assisted suicide group The Last Resort. The argument is that the machine allows people to have full agency to initiate the process of dying. Its inventor Philip Nitschke wants to bring the pod to the next level by taking the assessment process out of medical professionals’ hands using AI that interprets three simple questions: “Who are you? Where are you? Do you know if you press this button, you will die?” The controversial pod tech is already under investigation, as police raided the inventor’s office last week. For something that looks so much like a space capsule, maybe space is a good backup plan.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Check out details on the pre-seed raises from the past week:
CLIMATE tech
Terran Robotics - Dirty minds.
Terran Robotics raised funding led by SOSV. Terran Robotics is developing AI-powered robots that turn dirt into energy efficient and affordable homes with lower embodied CO2.
health tech
Astrix Health - No unprotected AI in healthcare.
Astrix Health raised $500k from Y Combinator. Astrix Health is paving the way for safe LLM applications in healthcare by creating a toolkit that helps developers test and monitor the LLMs they’ve built.
fintech
FutureMoney - Every family can be rich.
FutureMoney raised $2.5 million with participation from a long list of investors, including Serac Ventures, Hustle Fund, Capacity Capital, and Harvest Ventures, among others. FutureMoney is building a platform that guides families and children into the world of investing and, eventually, generational wealth.
ClaimSorted - Insuring a claim to fame.
ClaimSorted raised $3 million led by Firstminute Capital. ClaimSorted is building an AI-driven platform to speed up insurance claims and make them more accurate, eliminating reliance on third-party agencies.
SaaS
Testcode - Stop running from the technical debt collector.
Testcode raised $200k from Elev X!. Testcode.ai is developing software that automates software quality assurance, enabling unit test generation, mutation testing, and refactoring in a couple clicks.
Skail - A suite life without emails.
Skail raised $25k. Skail is creating a digital clone that integrates seamlessly into your online life and handles all email communications for you.
Singulate - Targeted marketing you might actually like.
Singulate raised $2.3 million led by Bowery Capital. Singulate is building a next-era platform for email marketing, leveraging generative AI for improved segmentation and personalization in large-scale campaigns.
AppShip - Ship happens; don't stress your CRM.
AppShip raised $200k from ElevX!. AppShip is developing software that will eliminate your CRM implementation headaches, using AI to fully automate custom implementations.
Outro🚪
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