#8 JMoon Newsletter - June 2024
Jasmeet Singh
Physical AI: Emerging VC, Founder @ JMoon | Startup Alchemist | Dating Coach
Highlights (1 June to 30 June)
While much of the market is struggling to return capital back to LPs , newer, smaller fund managers have multiple paths to exit with strong performance. So increasingly picky LPs are choosing to back new managers and why micro VCs (<$50M AUM) are giving better returns than bigger VCs https://medium.com/@exitfund/why-smart-founders-are-turning-to-micro-vc-funds-b0ec254d4c84
Many VCs are starting to develop the strategy I came up 4 years ago when I decided to create the AI behind Smarter Angel with a small team from the R&D team of JMoon Technologies Pvt. Ltd. by building their own versions of it https://news.crunchbase.com/seed/645-ventures-software-ai-holiday-okike
From June to July the GPT I created using last 5 years of dedicated research and 20 years of personal insights has gotten incredibly good at answering LP questions for the VC firm I’m starting, almost as if I was the one answering them. It answers all questions about VC and I would love to have some investors / LPs from my network test it out and give me feedback. Fill https://jmoon.vc/chatform if you’d like to take it for a spin.
What is Physical AI
The future is coming! Our brains will be cloud-connected, workplaces will be virtual, and robots will do our chores. Here's a glimpse of what's coming :
Humanoid robots are booming! Companies are making big strides in this area, with some robots like Boston Dynamics' Atlas showing amazing agility and precision. These advancements could revolutionize industries and our daily lives: https://www.diamandis.com/blog/abundance-44-atlas-humanoid-robot
Self-driving cars are coming! Imagine cheap, on-demand rides that free up your time and transform cities. We'll explore how this tech, along with flying cars and delivery robots, will change our lives: https://www.diamandis.com/blog/abundance-46-birth-of-robotaxis
Founders Fundraising in my network
Den Burenok from Testlum.com
Eldric Guenif from Diagnoz
Valdis Sprogis from GetIVA.ai
Satyaveer Paul from Joobly
Rachel Osnos from Fotostax.com
Physical AI Research, Startups, and Market
Robotics market forecast to grow at 16.6% CAGR from 2024 to 2031: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robotics-market-forecast-grow-16-130000086.html AI Robots market is expected to grow at a CAGR 21.5% till 2031 driven by a surge in demand for Better Human Machine Collaboration: https://www.barchart.com/story/news/26596586/ai-robots-market-is-expected-to-grow-at-a-cagr-215-till-2031-driven-by-a-surge-in-demand-for-better-human-machine-collaboration Logistics Expansion Drives $135.68 billion by 2031 Warehouse Automation Boom: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robotics-market-logistics-expansion-drives-144500958.html
Venture Lab released its 2023 report: https://www.venturelab.ca/news/venturelabs-annual-review-2023
World's fastest humanoid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ve7_K85mk
Open AI is restarting its Robotics Research Group to work on Physical AI: https://www.therobotreport.com/openai-is-restarting-its-robotics-research-group/
Scientists in Japan give robots a fleshy face and a smile: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/science/japan-robots-human-face.html
Startups coming in at Fast Forward U at JHU https://ventures.jhu.edu/news/pava-center-announces-2024-presidents-venture-fellowship-and-innovation-entrepreneurship-challenge-winners/
Robotics Startups On The Rise In 2024 https://news.crunchbase.com/robotics/humanoid-startup-venture-ai-2024-figure/
Figure being deployed at BMW https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2024/07/07/openai-powered-humanoid-robot-fills-spot-at-bmw-assembly-plant/
Artificial skin being developed for robots: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00335-7
Open-Television for robot Teleop https://www.therobotreport.com/mit-uc-san-diego-researchers-create-open-television-immersive-teleoperation/ This will probably be used in the early days of humanoids coming into retail spaces near you
Recent research suggests that children's affinity for robots could lead to innovation in education: https://nypost.com/2024/05/31/lifestyle/children-prefer-to-learn-from-robots-rather-than-adults/ Children are more inclined to trust machines than adults and may, as a result, learn better from bots, according to recent research.
Amazon opens new robotics fulfilment centre in Calgary: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-opens-robotics-fulfilment-centre-100555933.html
Robotics reshaping manufacturing and the Future of Work: https://technologymagazine.com/articles/robotics-reshaping-manufacturing-and-the-future-of-work
The government will make investments from the National Reconstruction Fund, the Industry Growth Program and a clean energy fund to encourage growth of a local robotics and automation industry to rival Germany and Japan’s: https://www.afr.com/technology/inflection-point-in-history-government-unveils-robotics-plan-20240524-p5jghy
The International Federation of Robotics reports strong robotics demand across all major segments of U.S. manufacturing in 2023: https://www.automationworld.com/factory/robotics/news/55042756/robot-investment-surges-in-us
Security Robots to replace humans: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/4-wheel-security-robot-about-replace-human-security-guards
Robots for food manufacturing: https://www.therobotreport.com/the-inside-scoop-on-food-manufacturing-with-chef-robotics/
Soft actuator tech breakthrough: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1046550
NVIDIA Robotics Adopted by Industry Leaders for Development of Tens of Millions of AI-Powered Autonomous Machines: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/robotics-industry-development-ai-autonomous-machines
New energy source powers Subsea Robots indefinitely: https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/new-energy-source-powers-subsea-robots-indefinitely/
Using AI and Robots to Advance Science: https://www.hpcwire.com/2024/06/04/using-ai-and-robots-to-advance-science/
Generative AI takes robots a step closer to general purpose: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/12/generative-ai-takes-robots-a-step-closer-to-general-purpose/
A new large-scale simulation platform to train robots on everyday tasks: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-06-large-scale-simulation-platform-robots.html
Electronic skin could give robots a sense of touch: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0j39jxb/electronic-skin-could-give-robots-a-sense-of-touch
At the intersection of robotics and machine learning https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2024/06/at-the-intersection-of-robotics-and-machine-learning.html Marco Hutter, a pioneer in mobile robotics, has been awarded this year’s R?ssler Prize, the most highly endowed research award at ETH Zurich
Robotics Australia Group is building a sustainable robotics industry: https://www.therobotreport.com/building-sustainable-robotics-industry-australia-role-robotics-australia-group/
Physical AI and Venture Capital Funding
Mitsubishi Electric increased stake in Realtime Robotics to support expanded use of motion-planning technology https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mitsubishi-electric-increase-stake-realtime-021000044.html
Investors Can't Get Enough of AI Robotics Deals Right Now. VCs are betting that robotics is one space where startups can still have an edge against OpenAI: https://www.newcomer.co/p/why-investors-cant-get-enough-of
TSMC-backed Matter Venture Partners targets chip, robotics, other hardware startups: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Startups/TSMC-backed-U.S.-fund-targets-chip-robotics-other-hardware-startups Wen H. Hsieh, Ph.D.
Warehouse Robotic solutions provider 'Floatic' secures $3.8 Million Pre-Series A Bridge round: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/warehouse-robotic-solutions-provider-floatic-secures-3-8-million-pre-series-a-bridge-fund-round-302170488.html
We are currently in the second hype cycle around Robotics in the last 15 years. Last one was in 2014-2017 when a lot of VCs lost money and a lot of scams were created. Things like https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/12/robotics-startup-synapse-ceo-exaggerated-gm-claims.html will continue to happen for a while so it is imperative that investors learn to cut through the hype or lose investments https://www.inverse.com/tech/tesla-optimus-humanoid-robots-unitree-figure-chatgpt
NATO targets AI, robots and space tech in $1.1 billion fund: https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/nato-targets-ai-robots-space-tech-11-billion-fund-2024-06-18/
GrayMatter Robotics raises $45M to automate tricky manufacturing operations: https://siliconangle.com/2024/06/20/graymatter-robotics-raises-45m-automate-tricky-manufacturing-operations/
10 VC-backed digital twins startups that have raised the most capital from investors: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/top-digital-twins-startups-capital-raised
Figure raises $70 million to build humanoid robots: https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/news/ai-startup-figure-raises-70-100341609.html
AI-Focused Manufacturing Startup Bright Machines raises $106 Million, from Nvidia https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-06-25/ai-focused-manufacturing-startup-raises-106-million-from-nvidia-and-others
Robotics investments are gaining speed after post-pandemic slowdown: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/27/robotics-investments-are-gaining-speed-after-post-pandemic-slowdown/
scaling digital transformation and innovation partnerships to 9-10 figures
4 个月It's a great write up, happy to see IVA AI in the list