Binny Bansal

Earlier this year, Jensen Huang - Founder / CEO of Nvidia - opined the following when asked where he thought the next amazing revolution was going to come from: - (Text transcribed verbatim) ***************** "This is going to be flat out one of the biggest ones ever, and I told you I was going to tell you, and I'm going to tell you. There's no question that digital biology is going to be it. For the very first time in our history, in human history, biology has the opportunity to be engineering, not science. When something becomes engineering, not science, it becomes less sporadic and exponentially improving. It can compound on the benefits of the previous years, and every company's contributions, every research's contributions, compound on each other. For the very first time, we know how to represent biology, understand the language of biology. We can represent the language of chemistry. It's never happened before. And now we're going to have incredible tools that bring the world of biology, which is very chaotic and constantly changing, and very diverse and complex, and bring it into the world of computer science. And that is going to be profound. And so if you happen to love this intersection, I think it's going to be rich with opportunities. It's going to be a giant industry." ***************** Now if you take this thesis and apply it to the world of #ClinicalDevelopment / #ClinDev in #LifeSciences, the opportunities to leverage #AI cuts across: * optimizing trial design * patient recruitment and retention * data analysis and prediction And the impact on the speed, cost, and efficacy of new therapeutics will be profound. And so I am really looking forward to joining some of the best minds in the intersection of AI and Life Sciences including Adam Petrich, MD | Arnaub Chatterjee | Prof Ava Amini from MSFT | Charbel Haber from Moderna | Fred Martin | Ittai Harel | Thaminda Ramanayake | Jasmine LaCoursiere | Gaurav Singal, MD former Chief Data Officer from Foundation Medicine | Orr Inbar | Sean Hilscher | Thorsten Wirkes from Bertlessman at the world's first AI Summit focused on clinical development in Boston on May 30th. Together we hope to demystify the role of AI in Clinical Development, discuss the risks and regulatory issues surrounding this field, and real-world applications and success stories, and the venture capital investment happening in this area. Apply to join us on May 30th - https://qhsummit24.com/

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Looking at this graph highlights how insane 2019 to 2022 was.

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Rob's goals 30th sept 2024 Hours: 39.5 Goals last week: continue interviewing shortlisting candidates for athena (ongoing) continue studying a16z, sequoia, founders fund investments: focused on studying series A investments in SE Asia. Studied ~50 continue studying deep tech: biotech, nuclear and engineering rewrote athena curriculum, current studying points listed in 5: athena-dot-vc/blog/startup-curriculum Monday - contactout meetings and goal review tuesday - file trademark, rewrite athena curriculum wednesday - rewrite athena curriculum, read about JPAL MIT poverty research thursday - rewrite athena curriculum, finances for contactout friday - interview founders, review founder submissions Learnings: rewrote athena-dot-vc/blog/startup-curriculum to include build your own university degree with chatgpt and links to deep tech resources lots of good learnings from povertyactionlab-dot-org/policy-insights by MIT Nobel prize winning economists. From microfinance to chlorine tablets, to better seeds for farmers Studied series A investments in asia. Mostly fintech and marketplaces etc. No SaaS companies targeting the region (saas targeting global market only) Smart glasses are a really cool new market, e.g the meta rayban glasses with camera, mic, and AI assistant that can see what you see. next week: continue interviewing shortlisting candidates for athena continue studying series A funded investments continue studying deep tech: biotech, nuclear and engineering #athena_vc

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the biggest difference between San Francisco & Singapore for me is this. whether it's the population of experienced, ambitious series A-B founders that's low (they leave to SF/London for better network effects once they reach this level) or if they exist but the chance of meeting them is low because they're too busy to spend time with people outside of their team/customers/family (or they rather meet up other founders at their level or higher in private dinners) is worth being looked into. but regardless, this takes a massive toll on knowledge/wisdom transfer in an ecosystem. that's bad because startups are peak knowledge economy and insights and short cuts make all the difference in both life and death of startups, as well as in the rate at which they can grow and generate and capture value. singapore is way ahead of most countries. most countries don't even have that critical mass of early stage startups, or a critical mass of exited tech builders/investors. but this curve will create negative network affects, if not dealt with. not just singapore, any country that wants a healthy ecosystem for startups or any other important thing (scientific research etc.) needs a healthy knowledge/wisdom transfer pipeline. can't miss a few layers in between and expect the system to produce great output. Btw I think San Francisco is absolutely lucky to have the knowledge transfer pipeline that it has. It's not necessarily designed or intentionally set up. and I don't think it's sustainable either (smart people leaving their countries to go 1 place can be exciting for a few decades but then causes their home countries to get worse and worse, which makes the world worse and worse. no city can become/stay great if the world around it is burning). but this problem wont get solved by itself because humans have a natural tendency to hang out with people at their level of competence/consciousness or higher. elitism reinforces elitism. LearningLoop.com's global mission since day 1 has been, not to disrupt elitism, but to capture the wisdom of the elite, present it at different levels of abstraction to people who seek it but can't get it; because of their location, wealth, level competence, etc. make 1 billion elites we've started with 1 knowledge space that is startups. so at this scale, we define success as making sure San Francisco's startup network and knowledge/wisdom pipeline and discourse not just available but accessible globally. availability = being able to see/read/hear about it vs accessibility = being able to participate in it and get value from it. P.S: we're hosting an event in singapore this wednesday, if you're a founder you should drop by. the RSVP list looks amazing and you'll love the people and conversation. link in comments

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June 5 2024 - 10 Notable Articles To Read Article: ByteDance Seeks to Raise up to $800 million for Car Marketplace Unit Takeaway: This move is part of a broader strategy to streamline operations and divest from businesses that are no longer considered central to its core focus. Source: The Information Link: https://lnkd.in/d3drquza Article: Moldova to get USD 85m of US funds to add battery storage Takeaway: The US government has committed to investing in Moldova's energy sector to support the deployment of large-scale battery energy storage capacity. Source: Renewables Now Ltd Link: https://lnkd.in/dCtTue5M Article: How Billionaires Bought 70% of Detroit’s Offices and Transformed the City Takeaway: Dan Gilbert, the Fords and Ilitches have taken over much of the city, filling buildings with workers and luring young residents back. Source: Bloomberg Link: https://lnkd.in/daJpfxcr Article: Hong Kong Says 11 Crypto Exchanges Are Closer to Getting Permits Takeaway: Securities regulator lists applicants ‘deemed to be licensed’ and city hopes a digital-asset hub will help to burnish its allure. Source: Bloomberg News Link: https://lnkd.in/dqsGUAde Article: Databricks to Buy Data-Management Startup Tabular in Bid for AI Clients Takeaway: The deal is aimed at helping the data company gather more of enterprises’ private data as it seeks to outpace rivals in capturing AI business. Source: The Wall Street Journal Link: https://lnkd.in/ds5Yuy6C Article: Intel Corporation announced new AI chips to challenge Nvidia's dominance Takeaway: The company says the chips will deliver better performance for less money than its rivals. Source: Quartz Link: https://lnkd.in/dc7Pee2z Article: US farmers opt for soy to limit losses as all crop prices slump Takeaway: Planting more soybeans amid weak demand from importers and domestic processors will only drive prices lower, further inflate already historically large global supplies, and diminish U.S. farm incomes. Source: Reuters Link: https://lnkd.in/d9ddNwgv Article: Storyblok secures $80M for its CMS software Takeaway: The new funding will further boost Storyblok’s growth in the US and Europe, allowing the company to realize its vision of creating the first comprehensive end-to-end content platform. Source: Tech.eu Link: https://lnkd.in/d-gM_NCk Article: London hospitals declare critical incident after cyber attack Takeaway: A critical incident occurred following a cyber attack on a laboratory services provider, resulting in the cancellation of operations and other procedures. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/db9apvwV Article: Elliott Investment Management L.P. rebuilds stake in SoftBank and pushes for buybacks Takeaway: A US activist investor wants the share price to reflect the $180 billion value of the Japanese tech conglomerate's investments. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/d8Mt9-PV #news #business #research

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David Yi (Ethos VC) a.k.a "The VC who hates most VCs" on his Personal Journey and Perspective on Growth:  "As an eight-time founder with two exits, I've seen the landscape from multiple angles. It's not about being a hero but about building a team, learning, and evolving. Whether it's in education or tech, the journey is about adapting and finding your path, not just in Korea but globally." https://lnkd.in/gVduV3MQ #startupswithseoul Chang (CK) Kim

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SoftBank Sells Off Vision Fund Assets as Son Pivots to AI, Chips Masayoshi Son turns away from aggressive style of venture capital investing, leaving the fund’s reduced staff to focus on exits SoftBank Group Corp.’s flagship Vision Fund has quietly sold off or written down billions of dollars’ worth of its publicly-listed holdings in recent years, a sign of founder Masayoshi Son’s shift away from the venture capital deals that were once an obsession and toward strategic investments in semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Since the end of 2021, the world’s biggest startup fund has seen its US-listed portfolio shrink by almost $29 billion, as it sold down stakes in companies such as Coupang Inc., DoorDash Inc. and Grab Holdings Ltd. and share prices fell, regulatory filings show. That figure doesn’t include the sale of the Vision Fund’s stake in chip designer Arm Holdings Plc back to SoftBank last year. https://lnkd.in/dJX_aA4X By Min-Jeong Lee

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第3弾は、Y CombinatorのWebサイトで「Healthcare」で分類されている、メンタルヘルス×モニタリング（1社）、企業の医療費削減（1社）、在宅介護支援（1社）、カップル向けAI恋愛アプリ（1社）について、スタートアップについてそれぞれまとめました。ぜひnoteをご覧ください。 ブログ記事はこちら（Here is the blog post）↓ https://lnkd.in/gT-RcVVJ *Although the articles are in Japanese, please feel free to contact me in English if you are interested in the content. I would like to introduce companies from the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch. Part 3 summarizes each of the startups categorized under "Healthcare": One in Mental health x monitoring, One in Reducing corporate healthcare costs, one in Home care support, and one in AI relationship app for couples.

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Some things that could be done in Singapore: 1. Curated dinners with startups and VC Folks 2 Singapore Tech and Startups Week - Host various side events 3. Walk and Talks 4. Conferences, 1 Day events 5. A space for builders to co work out of or a hacker house here on the weekends Who’s building or trying in any of these areas? Feel free to DM me if you are building in any of the above areas Or comment on this post

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June 16 2024 – 5 Notable Articles To Read Article: OpenAI’s Japanese Rival Gets $1B Valuation From Silicon Valley Investors Takeaway: New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Lux Capital, and Khosla Ventures are jointly spearheading a new funding round for Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based developer of large-language models. Established last year by former members of Google's DeepMind, Sakana aims to secure approximately $100M in this latest round of financing. Source: The Information Link: https://lnkd.in/dg7ZnFrJ Article: Pharma Investing Is All About Service Now. The Patent Cliff Era Is Ending. Takeaway: Advanced therapies and personalized medicines are rapidly emerging at the forefront of healthcare. Also referred to as precision medicine, this field enables healthcare providers to prescribe specific treatments tailored to each patient based on their unique genetic makeup and other factors. Source: Barron's Link: https://lnkd.in/d7j5Z9dQ Article: Pakistan rice exports hit record following Indian sales ban Takeaway: Pakistan is exporting record amounts of rice to global markets, capitalizing on trade restrictions implemented by India last year. Rice exports surged to $3.6B over the period, compared to $2B from July to May 2022-23. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/dGGyJGzx Article: Saudi regulator proposes new funds rules on debt Takeaway: The draft aims to enable public fund managers to invest in a broader array of debt instrument issuers by lifting certain restrictions imposed by current regulations. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/dru_7bnM Article: Edmond de Rothschild launches Saudi infra debt fund Takeaway: Rothschild has partnered with SNB Capital, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's largest investment bank, to establish an infrastructure debt fund platform. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/dR6Zi5kw #news #business #research

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Investors need to hold founders accountable to the deliverables they promised. In this case, Wei Zhuang (Lenard) Tan needs to eat pickled fish. He made a post some time back about promising to eat a spoonful of Surströmming 🤢 (pickled fish) if Ailytics won the “Most Liked Startup award” at the ConTech Summit. And since VCs never forget… We know Wei Zhuang to be a man of his word, and sponsored the Surströmming (ikr, perpetuating the impression of VCs being big spenders 🤭).  After our monthly meeting, we gathered at our patio to watch him deliver on that promise. Needless to say it was a lot of fun, mostly for the bystanders. (including his co-founder Prateek Manocha) We’re happy when founders make good progress - milestones are worth celebrating. Or in this case, inducing a forfeit for. Enjoy the video. Any suggestions on the next odd thing we should feed him next?

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What's next for AI agentic workflows? Andrew Ng founder of DeepLearning.AI and AI Fund, has a super interesting take on what's next for AI agentic workflows and their potential to significantly propel AI advancements—perhaps even surpassing the impact of the forthcoming generation of foundational models. What's in? - AI agents: Iterative, agentic workflows enhance performance. - Reflective agents: Self-assessment improves code quality iteratively. - Multi-agent collaboration: Diverse agents boost complex program generation. - Fast token generation: Rapid token output crucial for iterative workflows. - AGI journey: Agent workflows propel progress in AI development. View it here: https://lnkd.in/dYu6daYr. --- To explore more: I created a "How to with AI agents" series for decision-makers exploring AI agents’ capacity to revolutionize how we work, live, and interact with technology: https://lnkd.in/dkTZ5RVj. Where I ask questions like: - How do we perform better with AI agents? - How do we better target the underserved? - How do we democratize AI? - Does a higher level of automation in AI mean less human control? For more, follow Wild Intelligence.

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Most discussion sessions intended for founders suck because the content is not practical/operational enough, there’s too many people in the room, or worse, someone’s trying to sell you something. Next Friday, I am hosting the inaugural Founder Salon in Singapore at the Lightspeed Southeast Asia office for 10 founder/CEOs or CHROs that is definitely none of that. Sunil Setlur (former Gojek CHRO) and I will be jamming on topics like: 🏗 Tradeoffs between functional and business unit-oriented organization structures 💵 How to design compensation strategies for teams 🌵 Several more thorny subjects on organization building These were all informed by the debates we’ve had at Gojek and learnings from the multitude of painful mistakes we’ve made - I'm creating a forum that I wish I had back when I was building. If you are a founder/CEO or CHRO, please apply here:

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It's interesting that Tech in Asia released an article today on VC secondaries (which was republished with permission from The Realistic Optimist) talking about the emergence of VC secondaries as a crucial yet underused mechanism for the Tech ecosystem. Given my fond memories of my Private Equity days, let's talk a bit about Secondaries. 🔍 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? In simple terms, it's when shareholders of a company sell their stock to another investor, or a fund investor sells their LP ownership stake to another fund investor. 🔄 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 1. LP Secondaries: Most common type of Secondaries, where an existing LP's ownership in a PE/VC fund is bought by another LP. 2. GP Secondaries: A fund sponsor sells one or more assets from a fund it manages to a new fund, often managed by the same sponsor and capitalized by secondary buyers. 💡 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥? If they could sell, they would (𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴). In this current market where liquidity is scarce, exiting at a marked-up MOIC/IRR (𝘪.𝘦. 2021-22 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯) is challenging. In a LP Secondary scenario, a LP may decide to reduce their exposure to a certain geography due to a variety of reasons (𝘦.𝘨. 𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨). In a GP Secondary scenario, more often than not, the fund projects that the portfolio companies require a bit more time (𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦) to realize the potential returns. 💰 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐁𝐮𝐲 𝐚 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲? Similar to other asset classes investment rationale, a Secondary investor may be able to acquire a good asset (𝘪.𝘦. 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴) at a deeply discounted price, resulting in a respectable return in a much shorter timespan (𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 1.5-2𝘹 𝘔𝘖𝘐𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 16-25% 𝘐𝘙𝘙 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 2-3 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴), relative to a typical 10-year fund life. In our inherently inefficient market, Secondaries can provide a crucial capital bridge to support the tech ecosystem and capital markets. Unfortunately, these transactions are still rare in Southeast Asia. #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #Secondaries #Startups #TechEcosystem #SouthEastAsia

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What do you do when you find founders who have deep experience in a traditional domain like construction tech and have spent years honing their insights in the domain. Combine that with Co-founders experience being founding engineers of giants like Rippling and spent time on building banking and fintech infrastructure at companies like Niyo. We at Neon love working with such domain experts who come together to startup. Construction tech is a domain that deserves founders like Merlin to disrupt it. As I say it can’t get better that this founding team. Read more about Neon’s portfolio Merlin and our founders Sneha, Siddhartha and Ayantika here: https://lnkd.in/g4m9su-e

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I did a gig on Generative AI for PCMA and we used Snapsight AI from Gevme. It worked well https://lnkd.in/gFihSTc3 As the use of generative AI grows, there is a pressing need for organizations to provide proper training and establish guidelines to ensure its effective and ethical use."Those who use it, I enjoy using it. I like it. I'm better equipped to support my team. The nature of my work or study has improved... What are people worried about? Misuse of information, creation of malicious content, legal risks, factual errors, lack of accountability."This is a takeaway from the session "Keynote: Peter Williams + Hands-on Session" at "PCMA APAC Labs Melbourne"Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/gNgVjXEa

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Open Source or Not? Calvin Tan and I debate this often. Our 1.5 Pints "born in Singapore" LLM was trained right here on this island. And we keep thinking if we should open source it as we develop it further. Meta has the option to light up few billion dollars to build open source LLMs. But as a startup, when is it the right time to open source our work? Especially when you're funding your growth with revenues, the choice is a difficult one to make. Zuckerberg's views (worth reading) on open source movement in AI offer some compelling points, and I think I fully agree with it. Llama and Mixtral are amazing models that are now in the rearview mirror of much larger closed models, and in some use cases even beat them fair and square. Especially, on the question of data privacy open source models have a massive advantage - your data stays with you. No encryption, no data travel, no issues with geo fencing or sovereignty - your data is on your infrastructure. The writeup resonates with some concerns our clients had highlighted to us — their worry that their client data (PII info), company confidential information, and strategic data cannot go on closed models via APIs. Encrypted or not - it seems they are just not ok. 3 points that stood out for me: Privacy: Organizations can run open-source AI models on their own infrastructure, which means they can keep their sensitive data secure without sending it to third-party providers. This is particularly important for organizations handling sensitive or classified information. Data Control: With open-source AI, organizations have full control over their data. They can train, fine-tune, and distill models using their own datasets without the risk of data exposure to closed model providers. This control helps maintain data privacy and integrity. Cost Efficiency: With the right stack and strategy, organization can save 30-40% compared to using closed models. This is because Open-source AI models are significantly more cost-effective to run at scale, compared to closed models. Vendor Dependency: What started with "one model to rule them all" view, has very soon settled into "we need the right LLM for the task" - organisations are using a combination of closed and open source models to 'orchestrate' the flows (some using Pints.ai) #CostEfficiency #Innovation #AI #MachineLearning #TechInnovation #AIForEveryone #FutureOfAI #DataControl #SecureAI #AffordableAI #AICommunity

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It can be said louder but not clearer: this is why SEA is a more attractive market in theory than in practice 🎯 Refining the strategies for specific personas and segments is the key Thanks, Arun Poojari for sharing

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For Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem to be self-sustaining, we need some big changes. There are a few key elements I believe can unlock tremendous opportunity in the region. To name a few: ✅ Deep, varied capital stack - Sufficient capital at various stages from angels to growth capital. ✅ Diverse investors - Knowledgeable investors focusing on various industries and models. ✅ Exits infrastructure - Mechanisms for exits from IPOs to M&A. ✅ Strong founders - Awareness of the nuances of SEA and conviction to depart from “tried and tested” models adapted from matured markets like the US With these in place, it will accelerate interest and success for investors and founders alike. That said, I believe our core approach needs to change. Over the last decade, SEAsia has greatly matured. And with any nascent upstart, it’s applied what’s worked elsewhere... Focusing heavily on growth-at-all-cost and other US-inspired strategies. To the surprise of most, the results have not been the most encouraging as a result of this. On hindsight, the pitfalls were clear: - Unrealistic early-stage valuations. - Chasing very large outcomes in a fragmented market. - Applying US playbooks that don't fit our market. Startups will follow suit to match criteria that VCs set. It’s how the game works. With the current market downturn, it’s a good opportunity to reset and intentionally chart our own course for the region. Investors and founders that know how to meander this market with it’s unique strengths / market dynamics in mind, will succeed. As investors and long-time believers in this region ourselves at Tin Men Capital , We believe in working together to develop the ecosystem. Southeast Asia is still learning to walk before it begins to run. Venture capital is a team sport, and together, we can build a stronger, self-sustaining space for startups to thrive. Let's pull in the same direction and make it happen. 💪

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