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A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders
Power in Numbers
September 06, 2024
Welcome to PIN’d - our weekly newsletter where we pin (lol, bear with us) the most important tech/startup news of the week for aspiring angels, vc’s, startup investors, founders, etc. Expect a new weekly roundup from us every Friday morning!
If you’re receiving this, it’s because you’ve signed up for our waitlist and/or for newsletter updates.
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📰 This week’s best news
Neko Health, a Swedish startup co-founded by Daniel Ek of Spotify, is expanding its preventative healthcare services to the UK. The company conducts a series of scans and tests that generate “millions” of data points to assess an individual's health status across various cardiovascular, metabolic, and other conditions.
Nashville-based venture capitalist Nichole Wischoff has secured $50 million for her third fund, Wischoff Ventures. The fund will focus on investing in early-stage startups in fintech, logistics, and manufacturing sectors. Wischoff is known for her hands-on approach and ability to provide operational support to portfolio companies.
Andreessen Horowitz decided to close its satellite office in Miami Beach after only two years. This decision comes amidst a decline in the city's venture investments and entrepreneurial activity. The closure marks a setback for a16z's plans to establish a more distributed presence.
Salesforce announced it would buy Own Company, a provider of data protection and management solutions, for $1.9 billion in cash to accelerate growth of its data security and privacy products.
Family offices are expected to add more than $2 trillion in assets by 2030, as an increase in wealth concentration and a revolution in wealth management drive rapid growth in new family offices.
💰 Funding announcement highlights
Blitzy, an AI-driven platform automating processes like data entry, document processing, and decision-making in industries such as finance, insurance, and real estate, raised a $4.4 million round. Link Ventures, Bessemer, Flybridge, NFX, Picus, and Asymmetric were part of the investors.
Entalpic, a generative AI platform designed to discover new catalysts that improve chemical reactions in an environmentally sustainable manner, raised a $9.4 million seed round. Breega, Felicis, and Cathay Innovation invested in the deal.
Flex, a startup enabling businesses to accept HSA and FSA payments directly on e-commerce platforms like Shopify, raised a $3.2 million seed round. Y Combinator, SV Angel, Precursor, and Liquid 2 Ventures were part of the investors.
Paradigm, a startup using AI agents to search the web and automate the filling of spreadsheet cells, processing up to 500 cells per minute, raised a $2 million seed round. Y Combinator, Soma Capital, and Pioneer Fund participated in the deal.
Revefi, a startup automating tasks such as monitoring data quality, controlling cloud data costs, and optimizing system performance, raised a $20 million Series A. Icon Ventures was the main investor with Mayfield, GTM Capital, and StepStone Group also taking part.
📚 Interesting reads of the week
In case you’re not part of the Founder Mode cult yet, Paul Graham’s latest essay went viral this past week. It discusses the concept of “founder mode” versus “manager mode” for running companies. He argues that conventional wisdom often favors manager mode, but founder mode can be more effective for scaling startups.
The best part of Twitter/X this week has been the endless stream of founder mode memes. Keep ‘em coming ya’ll!
A small but vocal group is forming new funds and taking new approaches to counter the swell of money into venture capital in recent years.
In the latest episode of the Startup Ideas Podcast with Greg Isenberg, founder Cody Schneider shared five AI startup ideas that he finds both brilliant and terrifying. These range from an AI-powered "type beats" factory to an AI influencer service.
Keith Rabois is a little concerned about the long-term viability of many AI startups. He argues that while AI has immense potential, many current use cases are merely sustaining innovations. Rabois warns that entrepreneurs may struggle to succeed in this competitive landscape, especially if established incumbents can capitalize on AI advancements.
a16z Games SPEEDRUN is now accepting applications for its fourth cohort, SR004. The 12-week program will begin in January 2025 and culminate in a Demo Day during GDC week. a16z Games will invest $750K in each selected company.
Palantir's CTO, Shyam Sankar, has a new initiative to support defense tech startups. The program, called First Breakfast, provides startups with software tools and guidance to navigate the government approval process and secure defense contracts. This initiative is part of Palantir's broader mission to bolster the US defense industry.
💪Tech mafia of the week
Highlights:
💰 Most money raised: Letgo
🤑 Total money raised by the OLX Mafia: $1 billion
Weekly tech mafia leaderboard
The OLX alumni network has built some amazing companies, so we took a look at the top companies.
The OLX Mafia takes the 50th spot, with 16 companies founded and $1 billion raised.
PS: Are you an OLX employee/alum interested in getting your community together to invest in the community (and earn carry/other benefits along the way)? Or are you a member of another community that you think would make for an amazing startup investment community?
Learn more about us and sign up for the waitlist here.
📌 PIN tweet of the week
.@benln, former Head of Community at Notion, is a prominent figure in the tech and startup community space.
He is a superstar when it comes to building and scaling communities.
He is currently building next play and is an active angel investor, backing early-stage companies.… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— PIN (@getpinxyz)
3:20 PM • Sep 3, 2024
💼 Who’s hiring in VC?
Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.
MicroVentures is looking for a VC Analyst.
Struck Capital is looking for an Investor.
SlowVentures is looking for an Associate.
a16z is looking for a Communications Partner.
PivotalVentures is looking for a Senior Director.
📠 Fun fact of the week
About 90% of startup founders are over the age of 30 when they launch their companies. In fact, according to research from MIT, the average age of a successful startup founder is around 45 years old.
Want to learn more about investing in startups with your community through PIN’s platform? Simply reply to this email.
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