This month at January Ventures: Turing Biosystems named startup to watch, Bank of America announces investment in January Ventures and other funds, our founder survey featured on NBC News, and more!
We’ve got loads to celebrate this month! Check out our portfolio news, food for thought, and more below.
Highlights:
January Ventures portfolio company Helios AI featured in INC on how AI will help make better business decisions. Helios, an AI-powered agricultural supply chain management tool, was heralded as an example of how AI can help mitigate disruptions in your supply chain and ability to do business. Congrats to Francisco Martin-Rayo, Eden Canlilar, and the entire Helios Team.
January Ventures portfolio company Turing Biosystems, an interpretable hybrid AI platform that applies prior biological knowledge to patients and clinical data to select, optimize, and design therapies, was named one of 11 drug discovery startups to watch by Sifted! The list, chosen by investors from venture capital firms, highlights startups helping to speed up the development of new drugs. Well done to Adam Amara, Rémy Boutonnet, and the Turing Biosystems Team!
Jen Neundorfer appeared on NBC News to discuss findings from the January Ventures 5th Annual Founder Sentiment Report. Jen discussed that founder optimism overall is at a five year high, but the divide between male and female founder optimism is wider than ever. You can watch the full segment here and read the full research report here.
We also discussed the findings on the Venture Daily Podcast and enjoyed hosting an event to discuss the report findings in partnership with Fidelity for Startups, Gunderson, and HSBC Innovation Banking. We shared takeaways and had an invigorating discussion about potential solutions.
Bank of America announced that they surpassed $500M in investments in minority- and women-led funds, including January Ventures. In addition to investing in diverse fund managers, Bank of America’s mission is also backing diverse entrepreneurs and strengthening communities.
Bank of America also launched a new portal listing its investments, showcasing an interactive map, fund profiles, and filter capabilities highlighting the impressive scale and impact of the endeavor. January Ventures is pleased to be in great company; other funds include BBG Ventures, Serena Ventures, Collide Capital, Cake Ventures, Concrete Rose, F7 Ventures, and more.
Beyond the Cap Table: January Ventures’ Podcast
Have you heard the big news? Beyond the Cap Table, our podcast aimed at demystifying venture, is BACK! We’ve had an incredible line up of guests so far and there’s much more to come. Each week, we speak to founders, funders, and other game changes who are building new networks and enabling the new establishment in the startup and venture world.
Episodes drop every Tuesday, and you can catch up on this season’s amazing conversations below:
Roxanne Petraeus, CEO of Ethena, on transitioning from the military to tech, turning customers into evangelists, and building a company culture that matters.
Shannon O’Leary from the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation on how diversity drives top decile returns, what makes managers stand out in diligence, and how to land institutional LPs.
Claude Grunitzky on building Equity Alliance, shifting culture in venture capital, and cultivating an authentic network.
Sonia Kastner of Pano AI on forging new founder archetypes, the massive opportunity for climate tech, and her creative secret to early hiring.
You can follow, rate, and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!
In the news:
🎤 Ntropy’s CEO and co-founder, Naré Vardanyan, joined The Fintech Series podcast to discuss her journey to entrepreneurship, from growing up in war-torn Armenia and working on financial inclusion and poverty reduction at the United Nations, to investing in early-stage AI and machine-learning startups.
🌳 Treefera, an AI-enabled provider of forestry data and analytics, has entered into a strategic partnership with Carbonplace and other industry leaders to ensure that buyers and sellers of carbon credits will have end-to-end access to high-quality credits and insights.
🌍 Planet FWD launched the first end-to-end climate solution for the food & beverage industry. The AI-powered decarbonization platform enables food and beverage companies to measure and dramatically reduce their climate impact with new levels of speed, ease, and accuracy.
📰 “...The biggest opportunity of the current weight loss craze has been how the public has shifted from viewing obesity as a lifestyle choice to a disease.” Jennifer was quoted in an article discussing the rise of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy in Pitchbook.
Food for thought:
📝 Ada Ventures released a first-of-a-kind report examining where £6.6bn of Limited Partner Capital has been invested in the UK over the last six years.
⚙️ Why your pitch deck needs to be machine-readable via TechCrunch.
Where we were:
💰 At SOCAP, Jennifer spoke on a panel with Ashley Hopkinson, Casey Shultz, and Claude Grunitzky to discuss how assessing DEI as part of the due diligence process drives their portfolios.
🖥 Jennifer also spoke at the Startup Grind Startup Summit 2023 VC Panel: Truths of Today’s Fundraising Climate. You can watch the full panel here.
🗽 Maren Bannon attended the Equal Ventures Emerging Manager Circle Summit in New York City, whichtackled questions like: What is really happening in VC right now? How do you build a firm, not a fund?
📈 Jennifer spoke at the RAISE Global Summit in San Francisco about taking companies from zero to one.
🎤 Maren spoke on a panel at the Sifted Summit in London about the AI revolution in healthcare.
🌍 Maren joined the Bessemer Venture Partners Seed Summit in London, which included discussions on the state of VC, opportunities in AI, firm building and much more!
🎉 On Women's Entrepreneurship Day, Jennifer presented to findings of the 5th Annual January Ventures Early Stage Founder Report at the Northeastern University’s Women Who Empower Summit.