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Venture Capital News
Medium
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How AI is Powering the Future of Material Science: From Lab to Real-World Breakthroughs
- The use of AI in material discovery has revolutionized the way researchers predict the properties of materials and scaled their innovative capabilities.
- AI is crucial to accelerate discovery, address global challenges, and optimize manufacturing in industries such as energy storage, sustainable manufacturing, and carbon capture.
- Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are some of the AI-driven technologies used to analyze massive data sets, identify patterns, and predict material behavior.
- Both Physics AI and Physical AI tackle different aspects of material discovery, enhancing our understanding of complex scientific phenomena.
- A challenge in applying AI to material science is the scarcity of scientific data and the need for inductive bias to counteract the need for data.
- Diffusion models and generative AI models are two exciting developments in AI for material science.
- The slow pace of innovation in material science limits AI-driven breakthroughs from achieving broad commercial success due to the high cost and complexity of scaling new materials from laboratory experiments to full-scale production.
- GPU costs have dropped, which is beneficial for fields like material science that rely on vast datasets and advanced simulations that require significant computational power.
- Collaboration between startups, corporates, and investors will play a crucial role in overcoming the challenges of scaling and commercialization and unlocking unprecedented innovations.
- Hitachi Ventures and KOMPAS VC are optimistic about the possibilities and look forward to close collaboration between startups and corporates driving the materials discovery development further.
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Saastr
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The State of SaaS Go-to-Market with Theory Ventures General Partner Tomasz Tunguz
- Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, shares nine observations from a Go-To-Market survey. #1: Founders are more positive despite the sales cycle length being a big driver of optimism or negativity, which creates a much harder capital markets environment.
- #2: Half of all respondents saw a sales cycle increase, especially in the mid-market which is the hardest place to be across all of software right now as CFO's tighten budgets and eliminate discretionary budget at the mid-manager level.
- #3: The number of months required to recoup the cost of customer acquisition has increased by 12% and quotas have moved in step with them.
- #4: There was a 10% increase in sales-qualified conversions and a 40% increase in sales-qualified conversions for the top third of businesses as buyer scrutiny has increased.
- #5: Companies using AI had no difference in performance when looking at bookings or their lead conversion rate.
- #6: There was no noticeable impact on overall growth rate change as a function of using AI.
- #7: The perceived efficiency gain from AI is yet to be confirmed by data.
- #8: There has been a broad shift toward usage-based pricing or seat-based pricing for SaaS companies.
- #9: Combo pricing strategy of a base platform fee plus a usage-based component plus value, drives the market today and increases net dollar retention by 6 percentage points.
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Medium
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4
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AI Agents: The Next Frontier in Automation?
- Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are poised to revolutionize industries by enabling more sophisticated, autonomous decision-making and task execution.
- Unlike traditional AI models, AI agents are designed to act, carry out multi-step tasks, integrate with systems, and interact with other agents.
- AI agents have transformative potential across sectors, offering automation of workflows, cost reductions, enhanced productivity, and new business models.
- As AI agents advance, technological innovations like enhanced reasoning and text-to-action capabilities are converging.
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Pv-Magazine
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432
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BP completes takeover of Lightsource business
- Oil and gas giant BP has completed its takeover of Lightsource BP, acquiring the remaining 50.03% stake in the onshore renewables developer.
- Lightsource BP will continue to operate as a standalone business and retain its independent brand under BP's ownership.
- BP consolidated Lightsource BP's finance debt and eliminated an existing guarantee, and may bring a strategic partner into the business in the future.
- Lightsource BP has a 62 GW project development pipeline and significant projects worldwide, including a 560 MW solar plant in Greece.
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VC Cafe
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Weekly #FIRGUN Newsletter – October 25 2024
- Firgun is an informal modern Hebrew term and concept which describes genuine, unselfish delight or pride in the accomplishment of the other person.
- It’s been a slower news week in Israeli startups due to the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
- Anthropic upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet and plans to release its next big AI model by December.
- OpenAI introduced “Voice mode”, published a paper on the new continuous-time consistency model (sCM) that increases AI capabilities by 50 times, and plans to release its next big model, codename: Orion by December.
- General Catalyst raised a new $8 billion venture fund, the largest amount by a US VC firm in more than two years.
- Google released SynthID Text, which allows developers to watermark and detect text generated by AI models. The company also introduced MusicFX DJ and Music AI Sandbox, a suite of experimental music tools which can streamline creation.
- Runway launched Act-One, Ideogram released new Canvas photo editing software, OpenAI launched Voice mode, Perplexity released Reasoning Mode and Genmo released open source AI video Mochi 1.
- Congrats to Tomer Shussman and team OneStep raised a $36M series B, Roey Dor and team Obligo secured a $35M series C, Or Shoshani and team Stream.Security raised a $30M series B, Omer Slavin and team BiltOn raised $15M series A, as well as Raz Zohar and team Mave raised their $2 pre-seed funding for AI assistant.
- Gili Raanan and team Cyberstarts raised their fourth $60M fund to invest in seed stage Israeli cybersecurity startups.
- Former CEO of Sodastream offered Gazans $100,000 for every live hostage released.
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Medium
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The dawn of the AI-native Founder
- Technological progress is accelerating, with AI tools and automation reshaping the business world.
- AI-native founders are leveraging AI internally to build their companies, democratizing entrepreneurship.
- Being an AI-native founder means having a strategic mindset and utilizing AI capabilities for leaner and faster organization building.
- This trend presents exceptional opportunities for founders and investors in the next decade.
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Medium
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Empowering Decision-Makers: Leveraging Expert Insights for Strategic Investments
- Chalanas provides access to senior industry experts for strategic decision-making.
- Engaging with external experts ensures unbiased validation of internal biases and investment hypotheses.
- Chalanas offers specific, niche insights tailored to clients' industries and needs.
- Seeking expert-driven information is crucial for confident and informed decision-making.
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Medium
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How to Enjoy the ROI of Investing in Staff Training and Development programs!
- Investing in staff training and development programs can lead to long-term benefits and substantial rewards.
- Effective facilitation of training programs can help employees reduce errors, increase productivity, and improve organizational efficiency.
- Industry-specific training content can enhance innovative and creative abilities, customer satisfaction, sales processes, negotiation skills, and effective communication.
- Training programs are available for employees at all levels, from entry-level to senior executive positions.
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Medium
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353
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Gojo & Company closes USD 233m in Series F equity finance & debt finance
- Gojo & Company has closed a Series F financing round, raising USD 233 million in equity and debt financing.
- The funds will be used to strengthen the company's financial foundation, support the growth of its group companies in India and Tajikistan, and invest in financial service providers in Asia and Africa.
- Gojo has diversified its debt financing methods and optimized funding costs, including securing syndicated term loans and raising capital through venture debt funds and straight bonds.
- The company has also executed social loans and term loans for its group companies in India, further expanding its global reach and risk diversification.
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Medium
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297
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Pyrolysis vs. Plastic Recycling: Which is More Sustainable
- Plastic recycling involves collecting, sorting, cleaning, and processing plastic waste into new products or raw materials.
- Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process that decomposes plastic waste at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, converting it into liquid fuels, gases, and char.
- Plastic recycling is more sustainable than pyrolysis due to lower energy consumption, circularity and waste reduction, lower emissions and environmental impact, scalability and infrastructure, and economic and social benefits.
- Investment in infrastructure, awareness campaigns, and policy interventions can maximize the potential of plastic recycling, contributing to a more sustainable future.
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TechCrunch
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Lumen Orbit closed one of the biggest rounds from Y Combinator’s last cohort
- Lumen Orbit has closed an oversubscribed, eight-figure seed round of over $10 million.
- The startup aims to build a network of data centers in space to train large AI models.
- Lumen Orbit plans to launch its demonstrator satellite in 2025 in partnership with Nvidia’s Inception program.
- The company faces competition from other companies, like Lonestar Data Holdings, in solving the potential data center crisis.
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Medium
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240
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Why Do We Spend So Much Time Asking Customers What They Want When They Rarely Know?
- Customers often don’t know what they want until they see it, but many companies -and even investors - spend an extraordinary amount of time and money asking them,
- Misplaced focus is nothing new and history is full of examples where customer feedback would have led companies astray.
- Early-stage investing follows a similar trend and it’s doubtful that a company like Google would get funded in today’s venture capital climate.
- Venture capitalists love asking founders, “What problem are you solving?” but that often limits the scope of thinking to marginal innovation.
- All of this begs the question of whether a company that truly changes the world could come from the 90% of investment that goes into marginal innovation.
- Incremental improvements are important, but transformative innovation is where real disruption happens.
- The challenge for investors, marketers, and entrepreneurs isn’t just to answer the right questions - it’s to dare to ask the questions no one else has seen yet.
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TechBullion
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How Venture Capital Helped Silicon Valley Succeeda
- Venture capital is a type of funding that has played a significant role in making Silicon Valley what it is today.
- In exchange for their money, venture capitalists get a piece of the company and bet that the company will succeed and make them a lot of money in return.
- Venture capital in Silicon Valley started in the 1950s and it was sparked by two main factors: Stanford University and the military-industrial complex.
- Fairchild Semiconductor was one of the first tech companies in the area that got funding from a venture capitalist named Arthur Rock.
- Venture capitalists started pouring more money into the region as they saw the potential in tech, creating a cycle of investment and success that continues today.
- Venture capital has helped Silicon Valley entrepreneurs take big risks, create jobs, and drive innovation.
- Many of the technologies we use every day like smartphones, cloud computing, and social media were backed by venture capital.
- Silicon Valley’s venture capital success has inspired other regions to create their own startup ecosystems.
- New funding models like crowdfunding and angel investing are giving startups more options to raise money.
- Venture capitalists are shifting their focus to socially responsible startups that work on solving big problems like climate change and inequality.
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Medium
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223
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Real Talk with Olivia Griffian
- Olivia provided feedback to entrepreneurs on their pitches during a Real Talk session.
- Top six tips for improving pitches and captivating investors were shared:
- 1. Differentiate clearly by showcasing what makes the company unique.
- 2. Make it easy for investors to say yes by presenting clear business models and go-to-market strategies.
- 3. Focus on energy and passion to stand out and convey authenticity.
- 4. Highlight traction, revenue models, and scalability.
- 5. Leverage partnerships and connections for a broader support system.
- 6. Tell a compelling story that connects personal experience to the venture.
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