Investor Winter, Potato Eggs, 1 Min Funding, Intimate Body Wash, Kevin Costner, Mammoth Meatballs, Fenway Candles, and ER Capacity

We spend a lot of time reading during the week in addition to speaking with startup experts in order to stay on top of our game. I was going to write about the investor winter today. Talk about the impact of revenue downturns and layoffs in almost all industries as well as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the related collateral damage and how it has affected startup funding.?

But since Crunchbase has done such a great job in their article?How Early-Stage Startups Can Survive and Prepare for the Investor Winter?that I decided to share theirs instead.

Investment money is still out there, but you have to have a tight pitch to get investor attention. During the first few months of 2023, investors spent 2.5 min per pitch deck, the shortest amount of time in the past 5 years.?

We work on pitch decks and investor decks every week. We're happy to sign an NDA and review your if you want another set of eyes on it.?

Founder Spotlight:?Sembly AI

Want to know what it is really like to start a company? In our Founder Spotlight series we have candid conversations with real founders about the good, bad and ugly of getting your hands dirty and building a business.

Meet Gil Makleff, founder and CEO of Sembly AI. Sembly AI is a SaaS platform that helps make meetings more effective by?turning them into shareable summaries complete with notes and follow ups.?Read Gil's Founder Spotlight?to hear his insights and what it is like to be a serial entrepreneur.

Funding news from the startup world?last?week:

• Autio,?a?location-based audio entertainment app?co-founded by actor Kevin Costner, raised $6M in a round led by iHeartMedia. The stories, which range from 2-4 minutes, give listeners informational tidbits about their surroundings, including points of interest they might not have known about.?
• PoLoPo, a molecular farming startup with a proprietary technology to?grow vegan egg whites inside of potatoes, raised a $1.75M Pre-seed round. They are offering a sustainable, cruelty-free way to obtain animal proteins and going after the?$27B egg protein market.
• Florence, a startup with a healthcare platform to?increase clinical capacity in emergency rooms?while modernizing the patient experience, raised a $20M Seed round. VC funds from Google and Salesforce led the round. Florence lets patients track and accelerate their journey via smartphone, update clinical information, control prescriptions, initiate self-discharge and more.?
• Startup Perplexity AI, which makes a?conversational search engine powered by AI, raised $26M.?They are one of a growing wave of startups seeking to use AI to loosen Google’s hold on online search.?The ChatGPT-style interface responds to text and voice with real-time information and links to sources.
• Luna, a?microbiome-balancing body care brand for the most intimate female body parts, raised $3.7M. The raise will be used to?fund its US market entry, which has just kicked off with its launch at leading beauty retailer Sephora.?They will also have a platform to provide educational resources for women on how to care for their intimate bits and a 24/7 live chat function with medical experts.

Meanwhile, in?Other News...

• Seed Checks?launched last month - founders can apply using a one-minute form that only asks for a deck, memo and region
• Cultured meat startup Vow made?wooly mammoth meatballs?
• AdAge gathered the?top Women's History Month 2023 campaigns
• Tory Burch Foundation launched a?tool to?help women founders find capital

FUN FIND OF THE WEEK

I'm from Boston and a huge Red Sox fan. I also love the candle brand Homesick. Imagine my excitement when they just announced their Fenway Park candle.?Go Sox!