Good day everyone,
This is the 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!
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Happy 4th of July to everyone celebrating!
Articles we enjoyed:
1️⃣ The evolution of internet applications has progressed from websites to mobile apps, and now we are entering a new phase of web interaction with AI agents. They allow access to human knowledge and computers through natural language queries, opening up opportunities for personal assistants, therapists, content creation, and more. This shift is expected to significantly increase productivity and potentially create over $5 trillion in new market capitalization. Read more here.
2️⃣ A wonderful article on what due diligence looks like for pre-seed companies. Covers the following:
Founders and Key People
Equity Ownership
Corporate Structure
Finances and Expenses
3️⃣ To close it out, an interesting use case for chatbots. Roger Anderson, a California resident, has developed a system using chatbots and AI to waste the time of telemarketers and scammers who call his landline. His creation, "Whitey" Whitebeard, engages in conversations with telemarketers, using AI-generated responses to stall and frustrate them. Anderson's call-deflection system, called Jolly Roger, has garnered thousands of customers who pay for the service, and he sees potential in OpenAI's ChatGPT software to enhance his time-wasting bots.
Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Artificial intelligence startup Inflection AI, led by CEO Mustafa Suleyman, has raised $1.3 billion (as a 1-year old company) in funding just two months after launching its first chatbot, Pi. The funding will be used to expand computing capabilities, develop Pi further, and pursue partnerships, while Inflection's close ties with Microsoft and Nvidia are expected to deepen.
2️⃣ AI and rocks. GeologicAI is a company established in 2013 that utilizes AI-enabled core scanning robots and software to revolutionize resource exploration. By analyzing rock samples with advanced machine vision and AI, GeologicAI offers faster and more accurate results, contributing to key mineral discovery and recovery for a clean energy economy. It raised $20m Series A.
3️⃣ Revcast, the first startup to emerge from venture studio 24 and Up, has closed a $3 million seed round led by CRV. Revcast aims to provide a central and transparent hub for revenue operations (RevOps), helping organizations build and actively manage revenue plans, improve predictability, and deliver insights faster. The software integrates with CRM and HR systems to track sales team staffing, performance against projections, and onboarding ramp times.
Flowlie news 🎉
No major updates this week, but as always, you are welcome to check out Flowlie. We help investors with Deal Screening & Deal Management and founders with Deck Sharing & Fundraising Analytics.
As always, feel free to email us with any questions,
Mike from Flowlie