Early-stage funding is still in the red. In 2024, early-stage dollars fell 14% from 2020 and 52% from 2021, while growth & late-stage funding rebounded. Is this the start of a slow recovery or a new normal? #VC #Startups #Funding

A climatetech and fintech startup walk into a bar ... This week, Addis Energy (addisenergy.com) raised $4.3M to produce ammonia cleanly. Mesta Payment Network raised $2M to build a hybrid fiat-stablecoin payments platform that’s already processed $12M post-launch. #PreSeed #VC

AI & fintech are eating up early 2025 funding with 60%+ of capital raised this month. The surprise? Manufacturing is punching above its weight, grabbing 10%+ of the pie. Industrial resurgence or short-lived trend? #VentureCapital #PreSeed #AI #Fintech #Manufacturing

Curing diseases and streamlining business deals never seemed so easy. Top pre-seed raises this week: PGxAI ($1.3M) is bringing AI-driven precision medicine to pharmacogenetics. Franzy ($1.2M @ $10M pre) is making franchising 4x faster with AI-powered deal sourcing. #VC

January’s biggest pre-seed raise was not in AI – it was in climatetech. The number 1 fundraising spot goes to Addis Energy with a fresh $4.25M to produce clean ammonia through underground drilling. Check out what they’re up to: addisenergy.com #PreSeed #VC #MIT

Early-stage startup valuations are dispersing according to PitchBook: 👉Top decile valuations are up $50M+ YoY, hitting record highs 👉Median valuations are climbing slower, widening the gap between top-funded startups and the rest Is it a market of extremes? #VC #Fundraising

California keeps the VC 👑 in 2024. Nearly 50% of all venture dollars went West in 2024, while New York captured just over 10%. Is the gap closing, or is the West Coast still the best coast for venture capital? #VC #Startups #Tech

$15M between these 2 companies this week at the pre-seed stage: Everstar ($4M) - AI-powered platform simplifying nuclear licensing & compliance. Altius ︽🟧⬛️ ($11M) - Modular execution stack making blockchains more interoperable. #Startups #VC #ClimateTech #Blockchain

The numbers don’t lie: seed is the new series A. Since 2020, median seed round sizes have grown 53% (30% inflation-adjusted). Later-stage rounds have stagnated or shrunk. A couple reasons for the shift: AI-driven cost efficiency + the rise of "seed-strapping" #Startups #VC

Law and pet care are getting an AI overhaul. Tandem (tandem.vet) raised $10M to build an AI op. system for vet care incl. telehealth, mobile clinics & more. WilsonAI raised $1.7M to launch the first AI paralegal, streamlining legal workflows. #VC #PreSeed #AI

$40M pre-seed valuations - no cap. Hardware startups led the charge in 2024, hitting $40M+ caps for rounds over $1M. Crypto and biotech weren’t far behind. Are we entering a new era of high-stakes, high-reward investing? More in necessary.vc/newsletter #preseed #hardware

From the ocean floor to the top of your feed. In #PreSeed this week: Orpheus Ocean raised $2.8M – Deep-sea exploration powered by autonomous tech. Copley.com raised $4.8M – Content strategies built on science, not guesswork. AI insights for marketing.

Startups are running leaner than ever. Early-stage fintech, consumer tech, and SaaS companies are cutting headcounts, but SaaS has seen the biggest drop across all stages. The mantra? Build more with less. Is this the new normal? Read more: necessary.vc/newsletter #VC #SaaS

Seed startups are hitting a funding wall. Only 17% of companies that raised in 2022 have secured a Series A, below historical norms. Why? - Investors are pickier - Profitability > growth - Market uncertainty Execution is more important than ever. #VC #startups

Pre-seed used to sprint out of the gate every Q1, but not this year. 2025 opened with the lowest Q1 deal volume since 2021, a sharp drop from the frenzied early-stage days. Maybe stealth deals can shift the picture? More here: necessary.vc/newsletter #Startup #VC

Q1 2025 pre-seed capital dipped vs Q1 2024 Investors are tightening up. Are inflation, market volatility, and tariff drama to blame, or is capital shifting to later-stage startups? Read more in our newsletter: necessary.vc/newsletter #Startup #VC #Preseed

April was rough for early-stage funding - down 50% YoY and even 12% below April 2021, a former low point. Stealth rounds may still surface, but the data suggests one of the slowest months in recent VC history. #PreSeed #VC

$14.7M went to two pre-seed startups rethinking money & media: 💸 Velocity raised $10M to make stablecoins usable at scale 📺 Rumi raised $4.7M to turn passive video watching into rewards and AI insights Sign up for future insights: necessary.vc/newsletter #PreSeed