Innovations at the Edge and Flexible Living

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Welcome to the 36th edition of our newsletter, where we feature the most exciting early-stage startups, job openings, and valuable resources, all in a single newsletter.

Now, let's delve right into what's in store for this week.

Sponsored by Masterworks

Billionaires wanted it, but 54,578 everyday investors got it first… and profited

When incredibly rare and valuable assets come up for sale, it's typically the wealthiest people that end up taking home an amazing investment. But not always…

One platform is taking on the billionaires at their own game, buying up and fractionalizing some of history’s most prized blue-chip artworks for its investors.

It's called Masterworks. Their nearly $1 billion collection includes works by greats like Banksy, Picasso, and Basquiat, all of which are collectively owned by everyday investors. When Masterworks sells a painting – like the 16 it's already sold – investors reap their portion of the  profits.

Offerings can sell out in minutes, but The Rundown Tech readers can skip the waitlist to join with this exclusive link.1

Startups to watch

Mycelial

TL;DR: Modern data infrastructure for AI at the Edge.

Mycelial is a platform that connects applications seamlessly, whether they're offline or online, and bridges the gap between the edge, on-device, and the cloud. It allows developers to efficiently and securely move data within and across distributed applications, eliminating the need to write complex communication logic or manage the underlying infrastructure.

The Mycelial team refers to their creation as "Edge Native" because it is meticulously designed to address the specific challenges encountered at the edge of computing.

In numerous domains, applications such as computer vision, predictive maintenance, and autonomous navigation offer significant opportunities to automate challenging tasks, improve safety, reliability, and enhance customer experiences. However, a critical challenge arises when these applications need to run on devices that may be disconnected from the internet for part or all of their operational lifespan.

In such scenarios, where real-world edge devices cannot rely on cloud-hosted AI infrastructure, we require systems that can:

1. Collect sensory data locally.

2. Integrate data from other edge assets and cloud data sources.

3. Transmit data to other edge assets and cloud data sources when connectivity is available, while also caching data for later transmission when no connection is present.

Mycelial addresses the challenges in data synchronization and prioritization, especially in adverse or disconnected environments, through two primary methods:

a. Data Muling: Mycelial can configure devices as "Data Mules" to relay data to their intended destinations, even when direct communication is not possible. This adaptable approach allows data to traverse different communication protocols.

b. AI-Powered Data Prioritization: Mycelial leverages AI models to determine the priority of data transmission based on the significance of the information. For example, in an emergency situation, a drone can prioritize sending images of a specific vehicle over less critical data.

By providing these capabilities, Mycelial empowers edge devices to process data and make decisions locally, leading to increased efficiency, reduced latency, and enhanced data privacy. It also enables the deployment of edge AI applications across a wide range of industries, from energy forecasting to predictive maintenance and healthcare.2

Founded: 2021, US

Founders: Michael Tanenbaum (CEO) - ex- Principal Solutions Engineer @ Arrikto; Perry Wilson (CSO)

Industry: Infrastructure

Funding: $3.8M (Seed)

Investors: Crane Venture Partners

Orca

TL;DR: Ditch your 12-month lease and live flexibly.

In today's interconnected world, the fusion of remote work and travel has created exciting opportunities for those seeking adventure. The digital nomadic lifestyle seamlessly combines freedom, flexibility, and exploration.

Imagine the prospect of waking up in a new and captivating city every few months, fully immersing yourself in diverse cultures, all while continuing to earn a living from your laptop. The appeal is undeniable, right?

However, when you consider the logistics of a 3-6 month stay in places like Japan or Singapore, a primary challenge that often arises is finding suitable accommodation as a local resident. Conventional options, such as overpriced and inadequately equipped Airbnb listings, typically fall short in terms of offering prime locations and essential amenities like fully-equipped kitchens.

That's where Orca comes in. Orca conducts comprehensive research to curate the finest listings, alleviating your concerns about the neighborhood, value, or the availability of remote work amenities. They collaborate directly with property managers to offer their members the lowest direct rates, free from additional fees. To access these benefits, simply purchase the Orca Pass, available in both annual and quarterly options, at a cost of $99 per quarter, with no extra fees. With no requirement for 12-month leases, you gain access to fully furnished month-to-month accommodations in your dream destinations.

Founded: 2022, US

Founders: Devan Sood (CEO) - ex-Growth @ Duffl (YC'W20), Realtime; Aniket H. (CTO) - ex-Engineer @ Mojo Vision, Microsoft

Industry: Consumer—Travel, Leisure and Tourism

Funding: N/A

Investors: N/A

Which early-stage startup should we feature next? Send us a reply. (Criteria: Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A startups)

• Samara, a venture by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, raised $41M in a Series A funding round led by Thrive Capital, with contributions from 8VC, General Catalyst, and others, including Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk.

• Opal Camera secured $17M in Series A funding, with Founders Fund and Kindred Ventures leading the round. They offer a high-quality webcam with DSLR capabilities and augmented reality effects.

• Ctrl Alt, a London-based fintech startup that provides infrastructure for investing in alternative assets, raised $2.7M in Seed funding, led by Forward Partners and Middlegame Ventures.

• Cosmos Innovation, an AI-first company developing next-generation perovskite silicon tandem (PST) solar cell technology, has secured $19.7M in a Series A round. The round was led by Xora Innovation and featured investors such as Two Sigma Ventures and Demis Hassabis.

• Insurtech start-up Kota, which is building a platform for companies to manage employee benefits, has raised €5M in Seed funding. The funding was led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Northzone, Frontline Ventures, and angel investors Job Van Der Voort and Romain Huet.

• Nocturne Labs, the creator of the privacy on-chain accounts protocol Nocturne, has raised $6M in Seed funding. This funding round was co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and other investors.

• Charlie, a neobank for retirees, raised $23M in a Series A investment from TTV Capital, FPV, Better Tomorrow Ventures, and other seed investors. The fintech plans to soon launch a set of anti-fraud tools designed specifically for the 62+ population.

• Google reportedly plans to invest up to $2B in Anthropic, a large language model startup. The deal would include an up-front investment of $500M, with the remainder injected over time. Google initially acquired a 10% stake for $300M in 2022 and participated in a $450M funding round in May. This investment follows Amazon's recent $4B investment in Anthropic, solidifying AWS as the startup's primary cloud provider.

• BP's EV charging business, bp pulse, is acquiring ultra-fast charging hardware units from Tesla for $100M, enabling the expansion of the bp pulse public network in the US and supporting EV fleet customers. This is just the first of many more moves in BP’s $1B commitment to U.S. EV infrastructure.

• SBF claims ‘ I don’t recall’ 100 times in court — then admits his hedge fund had special access to investor money (NYP)

• Gemini is suing its former partner, Genesis, a bankrupt lender, over 60 million GBTC shares (worth $1.6B) that were pledged as collateral (CoinDesk)

• Meta introduces ad-free plans for Instagram, Facebook in Europe (Reuters)

• Amazon rolls out AI-powered image generation to help advertisers deliver a better ad experience for customers

• Peak (early-stage VC investing across SaaS, marketplaces, and platforms) is hiring an Associate in Amsterdam with 2-5 years of experience in VC or as an angel investor.

• M13 (early-stage consumer tech VC) is hiring an Associate in Los Angeles with 3-5 years of experience, typically from an investment bank, consulting firm, technology company, or venture fund.

• Lerer Hippeau (early-stage VC investing across the enterprise and consumer landscapes) is hiring an Analyst in New York.

• Mattermore (AI copilot for sales managers) is hiring a CTO with 4+ years of experience in CTO or Lead Engineering roles at tech startups and a Founding Engineer with 3+ years of experience in full-stack development.

• Grit (focused on solving technical debt) is hiring a Senior/Staff Software Engineer with 4+ years of experience as a software developer.

• Onaroll (employee rewards app that incentivizes productivity and longevity) is hiring a Customer Success Manager with 3-5 years of customer success management experience.

• Mintlify (AI powered documentation writer) is hiring a Software Engineer—Customer with 4+ years of technical experience and a Head of Design with 5+ years of experience in product design.

Interested in any of these jobs? Please reach out for warm intros!

That's a wrap for this week.

Thank you for sticking with us until the finish.

We're open to hearing your suggestions for future newsletter topics, so feel free to share what you're grappling with or what you'd like to see from us in upcoming editions.

Have a great week.

Kenneth ✌️