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Venture Capital News
Medium
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Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, March 17, 2025
- Microsoft is developing AI reasoning models to compete with OpenAI.
- French publishers and authors sue Meta over copyright works used in AI training.
- Suki AI aims to be invisible as it is implemented across various domains.
- Gemini Robotics brings AI into the physical world, automating logistics processes.
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TechCrunch
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New $5M deep tech fund aims to lure founders from universities
- Critical Venture Partners, founded by a trio of recent graduates from the University of Pennsylvania, aims to invest in young founders to solve global problems.
- The firm has raised a $5 million fund, with check sizes ranging between $50,000 and $250,000, and a quarter of the fund reserved for follow-on investments.
- Limited partners include Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, Beyond Meat board chair, and Bain Capital partner.
- To attract fresh talent, Critical Venture Partners is partnering with Yope to launch a $100,000 startup competition.
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Medium
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Investing in Macrocyclic Peptide Discovery
- Therapeutic peptides have broad applications in areas like oncology, inflammation, and infection.
- Traditional linear peptides face limitations like poor stability and low membrane permeability.
- Cyclization of peptides leads to macrocyclic peptides (MCP) which offer improved binding, specificity, and stability.
- MCPs have unique advantages over small molecule drugs and large biologics, such as higher specificity and stability.
- MCP discovery involves synthesizing unique libraries, screening for activity, and optimizing hit compounds.
- Display technologies like mRNA and phage display are commonly used in MCP discovery, but they have limitations in library diversity.
- Startups focusing on diverse library generation, advanced screening, and computational discovery are key players in the MCP discovery field.
- Big pharma firms have a high interest in MCPs, with significant deals being made with MCP discovery companies.
- The peptide therapeutics market is expected to reach $100+ billion by 2033, with MCPs representing a significant portion of this market.
- MCP discovery startups have exit opportunities through acquisitions or IPOs, as evidenced by acquisitions like Ra Pharmaceuticals by UCB Pharma.
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Medium
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The UK’s Venture Capital Schemes: A Deep Dive into EIS, SEIS, and VCTs
- The UK's Venture Capital Schemes have channeled nearly £27 billion into 52,000 startups.
- VCT fundraising reached £882 million in the 2023/24 tax year, while EIS facilitated £1.658 billion and SEIS £175 million in 2020/21.
- SEIS is designed for very early-stage businesses, while EIS targets medium-sized companies ready to scale.
- Despite regional disparities, these schemes play a vital role in bridging the funding gap for early-stage businesses in the UK.
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Pymnts
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Exclusive: Citi Ventures Partner on Emerging AI Trends in FinTech
- Citi Ventures, as Citi's venture capital arm, focuses on startups aligned with the banking giant's strategy and observes AI advancements.
- Jelena Zec, a partner at Citi Ventures, highlighted emerging AI trends in FinTech and the fund's investment criteria.
- Citi Ventures invests in seed to Series C rounds with checks ranging from $2 million to $15 million.
- Emerging trends include AI in compliance, content generation, wealth adviser engagement, AI payment agents, and hyper-personalization.
- Norm AI streamlines compliance for SEC-regulated entities using generative AI, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
- Writer enables AI-powered content generation tailored to a brand's voice, ensuring compliance and consistency.
- Jump uses generative AI to enhance wealth advisors' efficiency by automating note-taking and client data management.
- AI agents like Skyfire initiate payments with stablecoins, offering speed and 24/7 availability in financial transactions.
- Companies like OfferFit leverage AI for hyper-personalization, conducting real-time individualized A/B testing at scale.
- AI is revolutionizing FinTech by optimizing compliance procedures, content generation, wealth management, payment systems, and customer personalization.
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Saastr
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Top 10 Unexpected Learnings from Scaling Wiz From $0 to The First $100M ARR with founding CRO Colin Jones and Sam Blond
- Colin Jones, the first Chief Revenue Officer at Wiz, joined the company when it was near zero revenue and played a crucial role in scaling it from $0 to $100M ARR in just two years.
- Wiz embraced radical transparency in growth planning, setting ambitious targets and expanding headcount rapidly to meet market demand.
- The company leveraged a distributed team model as an advantage, allowing them to tap into global talent pools and enhance communication patterns.
- Wiz faced the challenge of managing high demand, with full calendars of demos, shifting their focus to scaling the sales team quickly to capture market opportunity.
- Calendar density became a key growth indicator for Wiz, showcasing market interest and operational limitations, leading to strategic resource reallocation.
- The founders of Wiz remained customer-facing daily, maintaining customer engagement to align product development with market needs.
- Wiz achieved remarkable per-employee productivity while scaling, maintaining a 1:1 ratio of headcount to revenue growth.
- The company implemented milestone-based planning every 60 days, allowing for real-time adjustments based on market conditions.
- Wiz proactively over-invested in sales operations early on, ensuring the scalability without compromising quality or customer experience.
- Wiz transitioned to a fully partner-led model, aligning with customer preferences and diversifying pipeline sources.
- Building trust through admitting pricing mistakes was a key strategy for Wiz, strengthening customer relationships and establishing long-term partnerships.
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Medium
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If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them!
- Alphabet, Google's parent company, has announced its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz.
- This acquisition highlights the strategic importance of targeted acquisitions in high-demand sectors like cybersecurity.
- The trend of startups being buyers in US startup acquisitions has been growing.
- Being prepared and flexible in planning can lead to startup success in a competitive market.
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Medium
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Entrepreneurial Success with AAK Tele-Science: Empowering Innovators with Data and Technology
- Access to capital is a primary hurdle for startups. AAK Tele-Science provides real-time funding insights and due diligence automation to connect entrepreneurs with the right investors.
- AAK Tele-Science offers profile-building tools to help entrepreneurs showcase expertise, connect with investors, and gain brand recognition and credibility.
- The platform provides AI-driven analytics, real-time financial tracking, and predictive insights to enable strategic decision-making and maximize profitability for entrepreneurs.
- AAK Tele-Science provides intellectual property protection and secure collaboration tools to safeguard innovation and foster effective scaling and partnerships in the business ecosystem.
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Medium
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Announcing our $40M Bread & Butter Ventures Fund IV: Leveraging the Power of Local to Invest…
- Bread and Butter Ventures has announced the close of its $40M Fund IV.
- The fund will be invested in seed stage companies in the fields of food technology, digital health, and enterprise SaaS.
- Bread and Butter Ventures leverages Minnesota's local advantages and strong corporate network to support and select top performing startups.
- The fund has received backing from leading institutional investors and focuses on companies going to market in North America.
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Underscore
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Why We Invested in Orion Security: The AI-powered Data Protection Platform
- Companies face new security challenges in the age of AI and cloud services, rendering traditional defenses ineffective.
- Orion Security offers an AI-powered data protection platform to address modern security gaps.
- Underscore VC has invested in Orion Security's $6 million Seed round along with other partners.
- Orion redefines data protection by focusing on context-aware solutions over traditional rule-based tools.
- Their platform maps data flow within organizations to prevent data exfiltration risks effectively.
- Orion's approach distinguishes between normal activities and potential data breaches to reduce false alerts.
- The team behind Orion combines domain expertise and solution execution to secure enterprise data effectively.
- Orion's founders, Nitay Milner and Yonatan Kreiner, bring valuable experience and a user-friendly approach to their product.
- Orion plans to expand its team and enhance product development to meet the increasing demand for its data protection solution.
- Interested candidates can explore opportunities at Orion, and organizations can benefit from their innovative security approach.
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Saastr
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Could “Block” Be the Death of the AI SDR?
- As an email sender who deals with deliverability, the author has concerns about AI SDRs.
- While people may hesitate to block a human, they have no reservations blocking AI SDRs.
- AI SDRs often send unsolicited emails, making it easier for recipients to block them.
- The author is skeptical about the future of AI SDRs and does not plan to send emails from their own domain.
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Medium
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379
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The best tech leaders try to identify what is really wrong before jumping into problem solving.
- Tech leaders should focus on identifying the root cause of a problem before offering solutions, as founders often seek advice when they are truly stuck and unable to see the real issue.
- Communication and people are crucial aspects to consider when diagnosing problems within a startup, as they are often at the core of many issues.
- Effective communication is multi-layered and requires ownership, intention, smart planning, and adaptability to avoid misunderstandings and promote clarity.
- If a problem does not stem from communication issues, it may be related to the individuals involved not being the right fit for their roles, highlighting the importance of assessing the team's capabilities.
- Startups facing challenges such as fundraising difficulties or lack of commercial traction can benefit from evaluating their communication strategies and team dynamics to pinpoint underlying issues.
- Misdiagnosing problems can lead to wasted time and resources for founders, underscoring the significance of correctly identifying the root cause before implementing solutions.
- Taking the time to analyze and understand the real causes of problems by asking thoughtful questions about communications and team dynamics can ultimately save significant effort and prevent future complications.
- This approach can serve as a valuable framework for founders navigating challenges and striving to build successful companies by addressing fundamental aspects like communication and team alignment.
- For further insights on how founders can prioritize essential factors in their journey, it is recommended to explore additional resources provided.
- Feedback and contributions on effective problem-solving frameworks are welcomed, encouraging collaboration and knowledge-sharing among individuals in the startup ecosystem.
- This article is part of a series dedicated to sharing profound insights on the strategies and principles essential for building and scaling high-performing businesses.
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Medium
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Biggest Venture Capital Firms in the US
- Venture capital firms provide funding to early-stage, high-potential startups in exchange for equity.
- The United States is home to the top venture capital firms due to its thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem.
- Some of the most influential VC firms have been consistently backing unicorn startups, leading to multi-billion-dollar valuations.
- The venture capital landscape is constantly evolving, with new sectors attracting increasing investment.
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Guardian
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Google’s parent to buy cybersecurity group Wiz in biggest ever deal
- Alphabet, the parent company of Google, will acquire cybersecurity group Wiz in a $32bn deal, the largest acquisition in Google's history.
- Wiz, an Israeli startup founded by alumni of the Israeli Intelligence Corps' Unit 8200, offers a cloud cybersecurity platform that scans data for security risks.
- Despite turning down Alphabet's $23bn bid last summer, Wiz decided to accept the current offer in order to focus on growth and expand its customer base.
- Analysts believe that Google's acquisition of Wiz will help the company in the competitive cloud services market and strengthen its presence in the cybersecurity space.
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Saastr
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Mastering Growth in the AI Era: How to Stand Out, Acquire Customers, and Raise VC Dollars with B Capital, Zetta, and Glasswing
- Three top VCs, B Capital, Glasswing Ventures, and Zetta Venture Partners, discussed AI trends at SaaStr Annual.
- Key areas of AI funding include vertical-specific applications, enterprise AI governance tools, and AI developer productivity tools.
- Startups are advised to focus on employee-facing tools first for successful AI adoption.
- Companies deploying AI without specific business outcomes often struggle with implementation.
- Successful AI companies must have substantial tech depth and a clear path to production use cases.
- AI founders should focus on solving specific problems rather than selling the concept of AI itself.
- To build a durable AI business, companies should develop applications with stickiness and resilience.
- AI excels in summarization, content generation, and voice/image recognition, but struggles with complex planning.
- Creating a data moat and focusing on governance are crucial for success in the AI space.
- Investor skepticism is rising for 'AI-washing' startups, general-purpose AI assistants, and undifferentiated LLM fine-tuning businesses.
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