Good morning everyone,
This is Flowlie newsletter with insights on VC & PE: from operations, tech, and tax matters to trends, notable guides, and news on recent capital raises. We hope you enjoy it and find some value!
AI applications in the workplace and VC
Both Microsoft and Google planned massive product launches in their product suites thus inheriting an enormous distribution. For example, here is a recent product release for Google Workplace.
The question now is whether AI startups built on unbundling those suites will survive. How to create enough differentiation to gain sustainable market share?
"The AI Startup Litmus Test" provides guidance for this and similar questions. The article by NFX is evaluating the potential success of AI startups. It emphasizes the importance of building a strong business proposition beyond AI, defining operational design domains for correctness, and differentiating AI pipelines through optimization and additional layers.
As for applications of AI in VC, read “Data Driven VC Landscape 2023”. Why apply AI in your deal screening process? Well:
Enhance efficiency by saving time and improving output quality,
Improves effectiveness in deal screening and reduces the risk of missing out on high-potential investments,
Reduce gender bias and promote more equitable investment decisions.
Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Orby AI has raised $4.5 million in Seed funding led by Pear VC and New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Wing VC. Orby AI aims to democratize the use of Generative AI by automating repetitive tasks and plans to use the funding to expand the team and continue research and development. The company's AI platform offers an end-to-end experience, automating mundane tasks by identifying repetitive work steps and generating code without the need for coding.
2️⃣ AudioShake has raised $2.7 million in a seed funding round, bringing its total fundraising to over $5 million. AudioShake uses AI technology to deconstruct music tracks into stems for remixing and other applications. Its customers include major recording companies and publishers.
3️⃣ OpenEnvoy, a provider of accounts payable (AP) automation solutions, has secured $15 million in Series A funding to expand its platform. The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to digitize invoices, automate reconciliation, and eliminate billing errors. OpenEnvoy aims to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of AP processes while improving the visibility and transparency of payments.
Flowlie news 🎉
Improve Fit parameter (for both investors and founders). We renamed & improved computation based on our product learnings from V1. It is now using more parameters and is even more accurate!
As always, feel free to email us with any questions,
Mike from Flowlie