Q2 Newsletter: Shifting Left
Following a great week in Pittsburgh with Instinct Robotics and the CMU community, we’re gearing up for tech weeks in Seattle, SF, and LA.
With early stage valuations at historic highs, fundraising is now too often an exercise in mimetic desire. The challenge for large seed startups is that there is a very limited number of top-quartile Series A slots.
The question we ask ourselves is: A few years from now, which of these trend lines will have retrospectively been obviously durable vs. dislocated? And moreover, how should that hindsight knowledge impact the way we invest today?
In this environment, we’ve shifted further left, focusing most of our time on pre-seed and inception (i.e., F&F / angel rounds). At the inception stage, we love the fun mashup of thesis sparring, sales coaching, and helping founders focus on the “big, if true” questions.
Building from zero is a long game, but seeing our founders reach breakout velocity makes it all worthwhile. Here are a few recent highlights:
Portfolio Updates
Thatch announced their $108M Series C at a $1B valuation (backed by The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, a16z, and more). Thatch enables companies to give employees a tax-free budget to buy their own medical plan and pay for health services. They have grown to over 5,000 customers (including CoFound).
Parakeet Health announced its national partnership with QualDerm Partners to deploy enterprise-scale AI for patient access and scheduling across 160 practices in 17 states.
Friday Harbor announced the expansion of its AI pre-underwriting platform to support complex Non-QM loans, specifically bank-statement and jumbo products. The updated platform automatically calculates qualifying income and evaluates loan files against investor-specific guidelines.
Community Events
🍹 Seattle | Rooftop Tech Drinks | Thursday, 9/24
CoFound and Bonfire are hosting an intimate rooftop happy hour for our favorite founders and co-investors. [RSVP]
🎤 Seattle | Unfiltered: VC AMA | Thursday, 9/24
AI House welcomes Jordan Wan for an AMA on how VCs are evaluating investments in the current market. [RSVP]
☕️ Los Angeles | Tech Week Breakfast | Monday, 10/12
CoFound and Fika are co-hosting a private breakfast to kick off LA Tech Week. Join us for coffee and pastries. [RSVP]
