Charts on Venture Capital, some VC robotics articles, and startup failure advice
3 charts: The US has more startups than VCs can support
By?Rosie Bradbury April 15, 2024 on Pitchbook
2024 may well become the year of the bootstrapped founder.
The startup “mass extinction event” that doomsayers have predicted for two years is likely to ramp up in 2024. New founders facing a brutal funding environment may instead opt to bootstrap their growth.
Over 55,000 VC-backed companies are operating in the US right now, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor . Many of them are aggressively competing for funding in a slow dealmaking landscape.
At the same time, over 2,000 VC firms effectively halted making new investments in startups in the first nine months of 2023. Approximately 3,200 startups failed in 2023, and there’s even a burgeoning industry dedicated to helping founders wind down their companies .
Data on capital availability, seed deals and exits all point to one conclusion: The US has too many startups
Read more (and explore the interactive charts) on Pitchbook
State of Pre-Seed: Q1 2024 [carta, Peter Walker]
The Big Book of Venture Capital - Q1 2024 update [Rohit Yadav]
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What else is happening in the robotics funding neighborhood?
AI Investors Turn Their Attention—And Deep Pockets—To Robotics
By Stephanie Palazzolo Apr 23, 2024 via The Information
If you’re anything like me, you may have found your jaw dropping at our scoop this morning that Skild, a young startup building an AI-powered brain for robots, is raising nearly $300 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management and other investors at a whopping $1.5 billion valuation despite the fact that it has yet to generate any revenue.
Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that Skild isn’t alone. There’s been a recent smattering of high-profile (and expensive) funding rounds for nascent startups, like Physical Intelligence, Figure and 1X Technologies, that hope to bring artificial intelligence to the physical world through robotics. It looks like Lux Capital cofounder and managing partner Josh Wolfe, whose firm invested in Physical Intelligence, was especially prescient with his prediction earlier this month that robotics would soon become the new hotspot for VCs.
Read more at The Information - paywalled but this link gives free access for a while.
Venture FOMO Hits Robotics, as Young Startup Gets $1.5 Billion Valuation
By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati 23 April 2024 via The Information
Venture investors are paying a hefty premium to back robotics startups harnessing artificial intelligence, hoping one of them can become the robotics version of OpenAI.
Read more at The Information - paywalled but this link gives free access for a while
Lessons learned the hard way: Robotics
Carving out a path to scale robotics quickly
By Sam Smith-Eppsteiner Published in Innovation Endeavors Mar 25, 2024
We’re robotics nerds. We envision an abundant future in which robots augment human capabilities and effort — think about this as AI for real-world tasks. Autonomous package delivery, full assembly of your Peloton bike, or even automated construction of a home.
Read more at Innovation Endeavors on Medium
The autonomous robotics future is around the corner
A world where robots can learn, act, and help humans autonomously has been years in the making.
By Alex Ferrara, Aditya Nidmarti, Bhavik Nagda and Madeline Shue at Bessemer Venture Partners
领英推荐
In the last several years, we've seen the very early adoption of autonomous robots––robots that can perceive their surroundings and act without human input. Autonomous robotics is still a niche field, but we believe that its emergence will expand the entire robotics market in the coming years as it enables higher-value use cases.
Read more at Bessemer Venture Partners
How first-time founders fail
Lessons from the founders of Supabase, Mailgun, and Teleport
By Andy Vandervell on Product Hog
Here are some “trust me bro” truth bombs for you:1
Therefore, if you want to learn how first-time founders fail and avoid their mistakes, it's best to ask the ones who found success after their first startup(s) failed.
So, I did. Here's what they said….. Read more at: Product Hog
Robotics News:
Serve Robotics goes public with ad plan: What do ads on robots mean? - Brad Templeton in Forbes
NSF and USDA join forces to boost innovation in agricultural robotics - NIFA
Radical thinks the time has come for solar-powered, high-altitude autonomous aircraft - TechCrunch
Gulf money is flooding into European startups — these are the most active investors - Sifted EU
DARPA unleashes 20-foot autonomous robo-tank with glowing green eyes - TechSpot
or DARPA conducts RACER Heavy Platform vehicle autonomous tests - Army Technology
In the first Autonomous Racing League race, the struggle was real: Move slow and be things that break. - The Verge
Take a ride inside Ehang’s fully autonomous, two-seater air taxi - CNBC
Humanoid robots are learning to fall well - Brian Heater in TechCrunch
China’s S1 humanoid robot impresses with its ‘human-like speed and precision’ - Interesting Engineering
Forcen closes funding to develop ‘superhuman’ robotic manipulation - The Robot Report
Tiny robotics nerve cuffs promise breakthrough in neurocare - Neuroscience News
Senators urge NHTSA to regulate autonomous vehicles - LLNow
GM unveils plans for autonomous driving unit Cruise relaunch after hiatus, expects $1.7B in expenses - Benzinga
Autonomous driving startup Pony files with Chinese securities regulator for US listing - CnEVPost
Silicon Valley Update: The Road to Autonomy – A Journey Through the Streets of San Francisco - CBS News
These pranksters exposed a hole in Waymo’s autonomous driving system - The Street
Robotics Events:
May 6-9 - Automate - Chicago, IL
TBC June 13-14 - SVR/IEEE Startup Workshop - Menlo Park, CA (SVR Investor Summit in October)
June 17-20 - Collision - Toronto CA
Some more upcoming academic robotics conferences:
Adding the industry conferences next issue :)
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6 个月Comprehensive as usual. Thanks Andra, I need to refill my coffee.