The Flowlie Times #55
Best guide on deal multiples, hiring an executive assistant, AI staff engineers, and more
Welcome to The Flowlie Times!
Investor Pipeline - big update!
Two weeks ago we released Investor Pipeline feature - a way for you to keep track of your fundraising process in an organized and fully customizable way.
Today we are presenting the first major update to the Investor Pipeline feature: priority tracking, relationship mapping, updated UI, simplified workflows, and more.
Watch the video below to learn more!
Articles we enjoyed:
1️⃣ This Deep Dive serves as your guide to exploring Deal Multiples. It offers information on three types of valuation multiples: public companies, VC rounds, and exit rounds, each discussed in detail. You will find multiples categorized by stage, sector, country, deal size, and more.
This is the best guide we have seen on deal multiples!
2️⃣ A fund manager’s secret weapon: an Executive Assistant. Key insights:
Broad Scope of EA Tasks: EAs can manage both professional and personal tasks, saving significant time by handling a wide range of responsibilities from scheduling meetings to planning personal events like weddings.
Investment in EA Development: Investing in your EA’s growth through industry-related learning and providing them with more context enables them to be more proactive and productive.
Strategic Delegation: Hiring an EA not only frees up time by delegating mundane tasks but also reduces mental clutter, allowing investors to focus on more strategic, high-value activities.
Enhanced Efficiency with Hybrid Approaches: Using a combination of EA assistance and personal oversight, such as having EAs draft emails or manage scheduling, can balance efficiency with maintaining personal connections.
3️⃣ Generative AI is expected to magnify the risk of deepfakes and other fraud in banking by Deloitte. At the current pace of development, we’ll soon have to rethink how we stay safe and distinguish between what is real and what is not.
Venture announcements that caught our eye:
1️⃣ Greptile, an AI startup founded by recent Georgia Tech graduates, has raised $4M in seed funding to develop an AI-powered code base expert. Their API helps developers understand complex code bases by allowing natural language queries, such as "How does the authentication work in this code base?".
2️⃣ Bem has secured $3.7M in seed funding to automate the conversion of unstructured data for engineering teams, making it easier to handle formats like invoices and emails. Founded by Antonio Bustamante and Upal Saha, the company offers an API that transforms any data into a specified structure, aiming to save engineers time and effort. Investors include Uncork Capital, Lookout’s founder Kevin Mahaffey, Roar Ventures, and angel investors such as Garry Tan from Y Combinator.
3️⃣ Paris-based AI startup Mistral has secured a €468M equity funding round, totaling €600M including debt, at a €5.8B valuation. The round was led by DST Global and General Catalyst, following a €385M Series A just six months prior. Mistral, known for its multilingual large language models, aims to compete with US tech giants like OpenAI. The magnitude of the raises in AI companies building foundational models shows how costly it is to train new and improved models.
Have a great week,
Mike from Flowlie