James Currier

A SAFE and convertible note had a baby and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was the midwife- out popped the D-SAFE! 👶🏽🎉 A new #climatetech funding instrument was announced by Elemental Excelerator last week. One of the company’s main goals is to support smaller, up and coming companies during the awkward “Scale Gap” phase between #VC funding and natural growth. It’s called the #DSAFE (Development Simple Agreement for Future Equity) and it aims to aid the process by giving companies a small amount of cash to overcome initial risks and expenses during the developmental stages of a product launch or company. How does it work? D-SAFE has a redemption clause meaning companies can choose to have their payments offered as a loan or convert to equity at the investor’s discretion. Funders and companies will have clear communication and expectations about where the money is going and how it will be applied to either the company or the projects at hand. Financiers and companies will work together with more #transparency, and that’s a great boon for #startups and VC alike. As of this month, Elemental has already invested using D-SAFE in eight different companies, including Dimensional Energy and Origen — both companies investing in innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to environmental issues! Seems like a win-win on the surface. What do you all think about the D-SAFE? Alfredo Coppola Momoka Ueda Tim Wagner Stephen D. Torres Olya Irzak Natsuho Toyama Noriya Tarutani Shin Ogawa

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A recent monumental milestone for the femtech industry: Flo Health secured $200M in funding, achieving a valuation of over $1 billion as the world's first femtech unicorn. It’s important to acknowledge both the progress and the paradoxes within this achievement. Flo Health, a platform empowering women with vital health insights, was founded by two male cofounders. 🤔 This brings to light a critical discussion about representation and inclusivity in the femtech space. While their contribution is commendable, it underscores the necessity for more female founders and leaders in industries that primarily serve women. As the founder of BAD BITCH EMPIRE dedicated to breaking down barriers for women in business and investing, I see this as a call to action. We need more women at the helm of innovative solutions addressing our unique health needs. It's not just about creating products for women; it's about ensuring these products are driven by the voices and experiences of women themselves. This historic funding round proves that femtech is not only vital but also a lucrative market. Now, let's channel this momentum to elevate more female entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders who can drive the next wave of femtech innovations. #Femtech #WomenInTech #FemaleFounders #InvestInWomen https://lnkd.in/euwbhqVB

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Some VC investors believe that brick and mortar - referring to a physical presence of some kind - should be avoided at all costs. Yet, the track record of clinic and hybrid care businesses in health care indicates otherwise. ==> One Medical (sold for $3.9 billion to Amazon), Oak Street (bought by CVS for $10.6 billion), Lifestance (IPO at $7.5 billion market cap), and PE-backed Premise Health (acquired by OMERS Private Equity for $1.1 billion) If a clinic is indicated as the optimal way to deliver care for that patient population, there are creative ways to build and operate them. Full article below with advice and strategies on how to build and operate hybrid clinics from my teammate Anarghya Vardhana from Maveron, Amir Dan Rubin from OneMedical Group, Steven Eidelman from Modern Animal and more!

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Let's finally get rid off the "VC alphabet song" and redo the system to become more founder friendly. "The benchmarks set by funding stages are often arbitrary and not necessarily aligned with the actual development needs of individual startups." #vc #venturecapital #founder #fundraising #startups #fundingstages #funding #fundingrounds #pitchbook

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3D printing is having a breakout moment, turning its long held promise into a reality that is arriving at pace and at scale. Over the next 5 years: - Consumers will expect customized products at scale - Computers will surpass human creativity and skill in product design - New infrastructure is needed to protect IP if anything can be printed anywhere  - Global supply chains will be meaningfully dismantled as products get printed at their point of sale I sat down with Philip DeSimone, Co-founder of Carbon, the most advanced 3D printing company already operating at scale serving customers in 17 countries ranging from Adidas to Ford. With over 300 patents filed, Carbon has raised $680M from the likes of Sequoia, Temasek, and Google. Check out 5YF Episode #14: 3D printing breakthroughs, AI designed products, mass customization, spare body parts, dismantling global trade, IP piracy, and the future of production w/ Carbon Co-founder Philip DeSimone https://pod.fo/e/234185 #3Dprinting

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Should you sell your practice to a VC-Backed MSO Startup? tldr: - new VC-backed startups are forming MSOs to roll up independent practices - The pitch is physicians receive early liquidity from the roll up and are granted ESOP shares that can be used for retirement - Problem is the use of ESOPs with independent practices is not a new concept and has been used with large group practices since the 70's - ESOPs do not grant full ownership and in order for the shares to be valuable for retirement, the practice needs to run the same if not better post roll up - With VC-backed startups being primarily operated by non-physicians with zero clinical or medical practice experience, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low making the entire concept high risk However, there is a viable path for continued ownership + liquidity for independent practices. Check out the article to learn more. ⤵ https://lnkd.in/gmGvTYwP

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Great article from PitchBook on why domain expertise amongst VCs matters. TL;DR -- in verticals like healthcare, having investors with high amount of domain expertise can result in up to 40% higher odds of achieving an IPO, 20% higher chance of being acquired and 30% higher chance of an overall successful exit. Importantly, the marginal value of having investors with domain expertise varies by sector and stage, and is not uniform, so your mileage may vary, and generalist investors still have a very important role to play in the venture ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/dXpi8gzm Curious to hear from founders: Do you have examples of seeing specialist investors be helpful in unique ways that you can share? Or alternatively, do you have an experience with a generalist investor who has been more helpful than the specialists?

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The most talked about AI x Medical startup Abridge is working to rescue doctors from the never-ending admin grind (which causes burnout and less patient face-time). Abridge's AI listens to patient visits and generates precise medical notes, slashing the clerical workload. Now, doctors can focus on what truly matters: patient care. Major health systems like Yale and Emory are already on board and raving, calling it "life-changing" and "magical." 🔷 A big reason --> Payback of the scribe tool is easy to measure. It supports 14 languages including Haitian Creole, Brazilian Portuguese, and Punjabi. An ongoing criticism of generative AI is that it still has few substantive business applications. This seems to quash that. Question: is a dedicated medical LLM needed to be successful in the space? Or will the huge foundational models (GPT-4o, Google, and Meta) ingest a plethora of medical notes and kill the competition with performance? We're dealing with a fast and furious pace, and today's edge may not be relevant tomorrow. Competitors include Microsoft-owned Nuance Healthcare , Ambience Healthcare, Nabla and Suki. I'm excited to continue to see this field revolutionized. 🌟 #AI #MedTech #Abridge #HealthTech

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Friends, Q2 was a quarter of progress and learning for us at HawkTower, where we invest in early-stage startups applying breakthrough computing technologies to maximize California's natural resource markets. Our focus is on technology-enabled interventions (e.g., AI-enabled geospatial radars for lithium-ion batteries in the waste stream) for critical, market-level imperatives (e.g., disaster prevention) that can drive rapid commercial adoption (e.g., placed on every recycling truck in the world). Our current investment priorities are: - Agricultural productivity and efficiency - Biomanufacturing - Labor and mobility automation - Waste stream optimization and decarbonization - Disaster prevention and management Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to: Milestones and Investments: - In late April, we officially launched our fund, filing with the SEC. Yay. - By June, we completed our first fund close ahead of schedule, with backing from family offices, foundations, high-net-worth individuals, and organizations aligned with California's future. - Our portfolio now includes three early-stage investments (Farm-ng, Agriful Software, and Nexstera Tech). Strategic Partnerships: - We believe that startups operating closer to their customers and resources, especially in agriculture and biomanufacturing, have a strategic advantage. For instance, the Salinas Valley, a major agricultural hub, is less than an hour from Silicon Valley and serves as a center of thought leadership in the convergence of agriculture and AI (from Western Growers, Taylor Farms, and others). - Similarly, the North San Joaquin Valley is emerging as a biotech and agtech innovation hub, and we are proud to support BEAM Circular, a startup hub for the circular bioeconomy. Key Relationships: - Karen Warner, CEO of BEAM Circular, joined HawkTower as a strategic advisor. - Jackie Cruz, Ed. D. Cruz, Hartnell College’s VP of Advancement, advises on Salinas Valley and workforce development. - Ben Palone from Western Growers, with his technical background in agriculture, became a trusted advisor. - Matthew Hoffman from Driscoll's Global R&D team provides insights on global agriculture, product positioning, and investment strategy. - We collaborated with Monterey Bay DART for workforce development and automation in agtech. - Dominic Milano and the Milano Technical Group from Merced collaborated on key initiatives and advised us on investments. - HawkTower is participating in Santa Cruz Works's accelerator cohort as a mentor and advisor. Thank you Doug Erickson. - We published an overview of entrepreneurship across the UC system with input from across the University of California system. Moving into the fall, we remain deeply committed to supporting founders shaping California's future natural resource markets. Stay tuned and be in touch! : ) Db

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I’m excited to share this one! Redactive has raised a $11.5M seed round -- their mission is to become the trusted GenAI engineer for enterprise teams. Blackbird co-led this round alongside Felicis with participation from Atlassian Ventures and Zapier. Andrew, Alexander and Lucas are working to solve an urgent problem hidden in plain sight – empowering GenAI applications to meet their promise of "magic" in an enterprise setting. GenAI applications are only as useful as the data that they have access to, and for most enterprises, the most valuable data is sensitive and permissioned. We all want a chatbot (“ChatGPT for…”) at work that can search the data that we share in private Slack conversations or store in private folders on Sharepoint but first, we need to trust that our data will be kept safe – from prying eyes and accidental disclosure to others in the organisation who should not see it. Redactive keeps your sensitive data safe, giving developers the trust to connect it to GenAI applications and build products that you will love. Here's to the next decade. https://lnkd.in/gPuEAFvW

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A little late, even though this process started in July.... Excited to share our latest investment in Heads Together Health!! We met Steve DeVrieze in October last year, and we think they are poised for impressive growth! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ecYcqqkn #earlystagestartup #earlystageinvesting #VCinvestment #ncstartups #nctechstartups

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Awesome report from Rock Health (in the comments) about H124 digital health funding. 📈 Despite broader economic challenges, the digital health sector, including mental health, has shown resilience, raising $5.7B across 266 deals. There is a strong Series A pipeline, tapering off of unlabeled funding rounds and 3 public exits in Q2 2024 indicating a revival in the exit market and a return to more sustainable funding patterns​. Key insights about the mental health market: 🧠 Mental health continues to be the leading clinical indication in digital health funding, securing $682 million in H1 2024. This consistent top ranking highlights the ongoing investor interest and the market's recognition of the critical need for mental health solutions. 🤖 The focus on mental health is driven by a combination of increased awareness, the rising demand for accessible mental health services, and the integration of tech solutions...🙄 In fact, AI has become a significant factor in digital health investments, with 34% of the total sector funding going to AI-startups. This trend is also reflected in mental health, where AI is being utilised to enhance diagnosis, personalise treatment plans, and provide scalable, efficient care solutions. Let's go!

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Another edition of VCs Doing Work: Slauson & Co. 🎉Congrats to raising $100M for your second fund continuing your mission to make a difference!🎉 Wait... What and who is Slauson and Co? Slauson & Co. is a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments, founded by Austin Clements and Ajay Relan. The firm's mission centers on economic inclusion and democratizing access to entrepreneurship for underrepresented founders. Slauson & Co. primarily invests in: Preseed and seed SMB Tech (tools supporting small and medium businesses) Consumer technology The firm typically writes checks between $500,000 and $2 million, aiming to lead most rounds. Since its launch in 2020, Slauson & Co. has made significant strides: Raised a $75 million Fund I, exceeding its initial $50 million target Backed 38 companies, with a majority led by people of color and at least half by women Recently closed a $100 million Fund II, demonstrating continued investor interest in their inclusive approach The firm has garnered support from prominent investors and organizations, including: PayPal Ron Conway (veteran technology investor) Ashton Kutcher will.i.am True Capital Management Alpaca VC Slauson & Co. is just getting started! If you think you have a startup that fits their thesis and stage, reach out! #diversity #inclusion #venturecapital #consumer #smb Brittany Crockett #longla #losangeles #celebration #vcsdoingwork

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I want to invest in 2-3 more startups this year! What I'm interested in: 1️⃣ Startups building true AI-first interfaces that revolutionize how humans interact with computers 2️⃣ Autonomous Business Partners - AI co-workers that work alongside teams I’m investing €100K-€500k. I recently wrote down my thoughts on these two concepts: From command lines in the 70s to mouse-driven GUIs, touchscreens, and now LLMs, we’ve made tech more intuitive and seamless. LLMs let us state intents and get results, moving towards brain-computer interfaces. https://lnkd.in/dacBvMSz A transformative application of AI I see happening in the coming years will be Autonomous Business Partners. Imagine every department in a company having its own AI-powered work partner, seamlessly integrated and handling a bulk of daily operations. https://lnkd.in/d7h9YWqg

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What do you do when a radical new technology puts your main product right in the crosshairs of disruption? Listen to David Okuniev — co-founder of Typeform | Ask awesomely — discuss the challenges of innovation within existing structures. David shared a game-changing insight: Radical innovation is really, really difficult to do inside your own product. He emphasized the need to break free from the constraints of familiarity and embrace change from outside the box. Henrik Werdelin and I have both seen our fair share of this in our respective careers. What struck us most was how David leveraged structure to overcome the innovator’s dilemma. By creating a culture of experimentation and providing space for bold ideas, he propelled Typeform beyond incremental improvements. What other hacks have you seen or employed to help your organization overcome the innovator’s dilemma? Share your stories below! 👇 And if you want to dive deeper into our conversation, click the link in the comments to catch the full podcast episode!

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Looking forward to discussing how changing demographics and culture norms are affecting investment opportunities in longevity, health and well-being at The Care Summit today Alongside Cake Ventures' Monique Woodard, Ziegler's Dan Hermann, Oak HC/FT's Billy Deitch and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jennifer Edwards, we’ll dive into the trends shaping how we are investing in the space: - Last year marked one of the most significant social and economic moments in modern times: The number of older adults—those aged 50 and over- surpassed the number of children under the age of 15 for the first time. - In 2020 the 50 plus population contributed $45 trillion to global GDP, or 34% of the total. That equates to about 3x the revenue of the world’s 100 highest- earning companies in 2020. - The U.S. population grew by 24.5 million from 2010 to 2022, and Hispanics accounted for 53% of this increase – a greater share than any other racial or ethnic group. - Women around the world and across all ages drive 64% of consumer spending

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Attention, climate tech founders! Here is a session about pitch decks for you.

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