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Ocean Intelligence & Spatial Design

March 01, 2024

Hey — It's Kenneth.

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Startup Spotlight

🌊 Wairo

What? Developing ocean weather intelligence tools for the entire blue economy. These tools, utilizing cutting-edge AI, aid businesses, governments, and ocean users in making informed decisions regarding constantly changing ocean weather conditions.

Why? The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that the blue economy could double in size from US$1.5 trillion in global value added in 2010 to US$3 trillion by 2030. Maritime shipping, fisheries and aquaculture, coastal and marine tourism, water desalination, undersea cabling, oil and gas, ecosystem conservation, and other activities conducted on or under the sea all offer diverse business opportunities.

However, the unpredictable nature of ocean weather poses a significant challenge for sea-based activities. Extreme weather conditions result in the loss of millions of dollars in goods and thousands of lives annually. This challenge arises from two interconnected issues:

  1. Unpredictable ocean weather: The ocean, being an incredibly harsh environment, is a significant reason why collecting ocean weather data has historically been challenging and expensive. Examples of its harshness include strong winds, deep water, corrosion, hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones.

  2. Severe lack of ocean weather data: There is a significant deficit in ocean weather data compared to land-based observations. While technology advancements are closing this gap, it remains considerable. Ocean sensing technologies, including buoys, weather ships, drifters/floaters, remote sensing (satellites, radar, lidar), and autonomous vessels, play a pivotal role in data collection1. This data isn't just crucial for blue economy industries; it holds immense value for society and scientific research.

Unsurprisingly, AI is now entering the realm of weather forecasting as well.

In essence, the success of the blue economy hinges on access to comprehensive ocean data and information. Moreover, broader terrestrial industries also stand to benefit significantly from improved ocean weather forecasting, as the ocean profoundly influences global weather patterns. Without this crucial data, we would be left navigating through uncertainty, facing greater risks in various industries, and likely experiencing more unexpected surprises during our leisure activities.

Founded: 2023 in Los Angeles, US

By: Jarrah Orphin (CEO) - ex-Control Engineer at Bombora; Emanuel Ramirez (CTO) - ex-Senior Software Engineer at AiFi Inc.

Funding: N/A

Investors: N/A

What? A collaborative, web-based spatial design tool that requires no coding. It utilizes AI-augmented features to empower users to unleash their creativity, replacing traditional game engines. With cross-device collaboration support, distributed teams can work together seamlessly from within headsets or via the web.

Why? Like it or not, the Vision Pro headset is Apple’s biggest innovation in years, making waves in the high-end VR space. It's more than just a headset; it introduces spatial design technology, fundamentally changing how we engage with digital content. However, Apple isn't alone in this arena; rivals like the upcoming Samsung XR headset and the Meta Quest Pro 2, set to launch in 2025, along with Sony’s 'spatial' VR headset, are also in the game. Hardware advancements have accelerated, but the software patterns we’ve accumulated over the past several decades need to be rethought.

Who knows? By 2030, we might find ourselves spending more time in the metaverse than in the real world. Higher education, job training, meetings, and workplace gatherings could increasingly happen in virtual 3D settings. Businesses and governments will likely lean on the metaverse for sharing information, services, and collaboration like never before. We can even expect brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to emerge, allowing us to track, record, and share human thoughts. With these XR capabilities, we might actually experience moments and memories from someone else’s life.

Founded: 2021 in Los Angeles, US

By: Skylar Thomas - Shipped several narrative XR experiences for Oculus, Xbox, and Google while at Ayzenberg and Baobab Studios; Jean-Daniel LeRoy - Created AR Playdates, an augmented reality play table to connect families over Covid

Funding: N/A

Venture Deals

  • Figure, a Sunnyvale, CA-based AI robotics company developing autonomous general purpose humanoid robots, raised $675 million in Series B funding, at a $2.6 billion valuation. The round saw participation from Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest.

  • Glean, a Palo Alto, CA-based AI-powered work assistant, raised $200 million in Series D funding. Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Sequoia Capital, Coatue, ICONIQ Growth, IVP, Capital One Ventures, and others.

  • Eigenlayer, a Seattle, WA-based crypto startup developing an Ethereum re-staking protocol, raised $100 million in Series B funding from a16z crypto.

  • Ideogram, a Toronto, Canada-based startup developing AI image generation technology, raised $80 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with participation from Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Pear VC, and SV Angel.

  • Intenseye, a NYC-based provider of AI-powered workplace solutions, raised $64 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Insight Partners, PointNine, and Air Street Capital.

  • Lapse, a London, UK-based photo-sharing app, raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Greylock and DST Global Partners, along with GV, Octopus Ventures, and others.

  • Range Energy, a Mountain View, CA-based producer of electric-powered commercial trailers, raised $23.5 million in funding. Trousdale Ventures led the round and was joined by Up.Partners, R7, and Yamaha Motor Ventures.

  • Heyflow, a Hamburg, Germany-based no-code platform empowering marketers to create interactive website experiences that drive conversions, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Singular led the round.

  • NLX, a NYC-based provider of an end-to-end enterprise AI platform for powering customer experiences, secured $12 million in Series A funding. Cercano led the round and was joined by Thayer Ventures, IAG Capital Partners, Tech Square Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and HL Ventures.

  • Gradial, a Seattle, WA-based AI platform for marketing operations and content management, raised $5.4 million in Seed funding. Madrona Ventures led the round and was joined by General Advance, Outsiders Fund, and Space Capital.

  • Myko AI, a Miami, FL-based conversational AI for sales and revenue teams, raised $2.7 million in Seed funding from Khosla Ventures, ZeroKnowledge Ventures, DayDream Ventures, and others.

  • Sonichem, an East Midlands, UK-based startup that converts low-value forestry into renewable biochemicals, raised £1.2 million in pre-Series A funding from ACF Investors and others.

Funds

  • EQT, a Stockholm, Sweden-based private equity firm, raised €22 billion for its tenth fund focused on companies in the healthcare, technology, and tech-enabled services sectors.

  • Fathom Fund, a Houston, TX-based venture capital fund, raised $100 million for its first fund focused on companies in advanced computing, materials science, and other critical infrastructure industries.

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Elsewhere

  • Reliance Industries and Walt Disney have merged their India TV and streaming assets, forming an $8.5 billion entertainment giant with 120 TV channels, streaming platforms, and cricket rights. Reliance will inject $1.4 billion, holding over a 63% stake, while Disney owns the rest.

    • The merger valued Disney's India business at $3 billion, lower than its 2019 valuation of $15 billion.

    • Disney faced challenges in India, including user exodus and financial strain from cricket rights payments. (WSJ)

  • Stripe permits employees to cash out $1 billion of stock at a 30% higher valuation, valuing the company at $65 billion, up from $50 billion last year but down from the peak of $95 billion in 2021. Investors, including Goldman Sachs and Sequoia Capital, will buy employee shares. (Bloomberg)

  • Apple cancels "Project Titan," its electric car project, after a decade, potentially cutting hundreds of jobs. Some employees will shift to AI projects, while others will have 90 days to find a reassignment to other roles inside the company, or they will be let go. (TechCrunch)

  • Cox Enterprises is acquiring OpenGov, a 12-year-old, venture-backed company, for $1.8 billion. OpenGov specializes in providing software solutions for cities and state agencies and boasts approximately 1,900 customers spanning all 50 states. (WSJ)

  • Mistral AI launches Mistral Large, a closed-source large language model rivaling GPT-4, and has struck a partnership with Microsoft. As part of the partnership, Microsoft is investing €15 million, converting into equity in Mistral’s next funding round. Mistral AI is valued at $2 billion after the recent funding round in December 2023 (raised €385 million).

  • Thrasio, a company that raised billions to buy up Amazon merchants, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It raised $2 billion from investors and was in talks for a $10 billion SPAC valuation.

Who's Hiring

  1. Tatem—Smart email built for speed: Full Stack Software Engineer (Remote)

  2. Yendou—CRM for R&D teams in the life sciences industry: Founding Software Engineer (Berlin)

  3. Curri—Logistics platform for the industrial supply chain: Strategy & Planning Associate (US)

  4. Martian—Building a safer alternative to the transformer architecture: Founding ML Engineer (SF)

  5. Truewind—AI-powered bookkeeping and finance software for startups: Founding Full-Stack Engineer (SF)

  6. Decagon—Enterprise-grade generative AI for customer support: Founding Account Executive (SF), Founding Engineer (SF)

  7. Whalesync—Simplifying two-way data sync between key business tools like HubSpot and Airtable: Full-Stack Software Engineer (SF)

Appreciate you taking the time to read.

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Catch you next Thursday — Kenneth

P.S. Interested in sponsoring next week's issue? Shoot me an email.