Jinpei Li

Exciting to see startups aiming to use AI to discover chemicals, materials, drugs, etc. Semi companies have taken notice: AMD is investing in and Cadence is acquiring them. Semi/EDA companies have broken out by becoming critical path, whether it’s through critical software, packaging, IP, design kits from foundries, or user communities. Aside from just making it easy to make new materials, these “AI for making X” companies also need to articulate a vision as to how they can establish monopolistic positions in their industries.

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Friends, Q2 was a quarter of progress and learning for us at HawkTower, where we invest in early-stage startups applying breakthrough computing technologies to maximize California's natural resource markets. Our focus is on technology-enabled interventions (e.g., AI-enabled geospatial radars for lithium-ion batteries in the waste stream) for critical, market-level imperatives (e.g., disaster prevention) that can drive rapid commercial adoption (e.g., placed on every recycling truck in the world). Our current investment priorities are: - Agricultural productivity and efficiency - Biomanufacturing - Labor and mobility automation - Waste stream optimization and decarbonization - Disaster prevention and management Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to: Milestones and Investments: - In late April, we officially launched our fund, filing with the SEC. Yay. - By June, we completed our first fund close ahead of schedule, with backing from family offices, foundations, high-net-worth individuals, and organizations aligned with California's future. - Our portfolio now includes three early-stage investments (Farm-ng, Agriful Software, and Nexstera Tech). Strategic Partnerships: - We believe that startups operating closer to their customers and resources, especially in agriculture and biomanufacturing, have a strategic advantage. For instance, the Salinas Valley, a major agricultural hub, is less than an hour from Silicon Valley and serves as a center of thought leadership in the convergence of agriculture and AI (from Western Growers, Taylor Farms, and others). - Similarly, the North San Joaquin Valley is emerging as a biotech and agtech innovation hub, and we are proud to support BEAM Circular, a startup hub for the circular bioeconomy. Key Relationships: - Karen Warner, CEO of BEAM Circular, joined HawkTower as a strategic advisor. - Jackie Cruz, Ed. D. Cruz, Hartnell College’s VP of Advancement, advises on Salinas Valley and workforce development. - Ben Palone from Western Growers, with his technical background in agriculture, became a trusted advisor. - Matthew Hoffman from Driscoll's Global R&D team provides insights on global agriculture, product positioning, and investment strategy. - We collaborated with Monterey Bay DART for workforce development and automation in agtech. - Dominic Milano and the Milano Technical Group from Merced collaborated on key initiatives and advised us on investments. - HawkTower is participating in Santa Cruz Works's accelerator cohort as a mentor and advisor. Thank you Doug Erickson. - We published an overview of entrepreneurship across the UC system with input from across the University of California system. Moving into the fall, we remain deeply committed to supporting founders shaping California's future natural resource markets. Stay tuned and be in touch! : ) Db

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From Crypto Ice Age to AI Inferno- Gartner Curves or Extreme Weather Conditions Precipitated by VC? A few thoughts I've been reflecting on recently on learnings from being through many crypto cycles I can apply to this moment in AI investing... https://lnkd.in/d6KSM3EN

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#ProjectForABillion Today, in our regular column, I want to talk about the Cariloop project, which raised $20 million in a Series C round this spring. The lead investor was ABS Capital, which is also known for its investments in PowerReviews (recently exited) and LabConnect. But let's get back to the project in the Mental Health category. By the way, if psychologists ever asked me how to get rich and build a capitalized business, I would recommend working in their specialty and creating projects for corporations in the psychological and mental health category. In 2023, $435.2 billion was directed to this industry (this includes all project investments, not just venture capital). While there are still some managers in Russia (and elsewhere) who don't believe that a depressed employee who sleeps poorly, is torn between caring for children, and walks on the parapet at night is unlikely to create high results and a sustainable team, managers of almost all large corporations around the world are paying just as much attention to mental health as to physical health. Maybe these naive people are indeed investing half a trillion dollars so that employees can more efficiently scold their parents and school teachers? I've heard that silly version too. Cariloop is a platform where each employee is assigned a Care Coach with whom they can share or, in light cases, delegate the search for solutions to problems (although the platform indicates various types of problems, medical issues are most often mentioned in examples) not only for the user but also for their family members: children or even parents. A Care Coach can help navigate the healthcare system, provide educational support (about diseases, care methods), emotional support, and, if needed, legal or financial assistance. Special emphasis is placed on the fact that health coaches interact with each other and exchange information (how they do this without violating confidentiality, I will clarify later). I will not dwell in detail on the business efficiency claimed by the startup. It is clear that there are very beautiful infographics and analytics on the website about how much employee efficiency and, consequently, business efficiency improve when interacting with such a service solution. Check it if you want. I am skeptical about trying to measure the impact of employees' psychological health on business in numbers. However, evaluating the results of a business managed by psychologically unhealthy employees in numbers is much easier. We can start from there. *This is not an investment recommendation. **This is not a project the author has invested in (yep, it's required now). ***This is not a project I've been studying in detail for 10 years; it's just my subjective assessment of one of the most interesting projects that raised a round in the reporting period.

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Sanctuary AI ranks 4th globally for patent holdings on general-purpose #robotics technology and dexterous manipulation technology, only behind NVIDIA, Alphabet and Hyundai. In this Bloomberg Tech Disruptors podcast, co-founder and CTPO, Olivia Norton, discusses how her company is leading the charge, despite being an emerging #startup in a field of tech giants. A great listen for anyone interested in learning how the future of #humanoid robotics is taking shape today! #ThriveVentureFund #FutureIsNow BDC BDC Capital (Canada)

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How do macro factors drive crypto markets? From Gemini, a report covers the framework and metrics to consider this relationship

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What Dave McClure is building resonates well what we are doing with our Siena Secondary Fund. Although one focuses on fund stakes and the other company positions, the journey is the same - need to educate the market about what is #VC #secondary and how to benefit from it...

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Excited for DCVC portfolio co Alta Resource Technologies to emerge from stealth! The design space of biology is many orders of magnitude larger than inorganic chemistry, and Alta uses it to massively reduce the cost of extracting rare earth metals. https://lnkd.in/g_q5UwRF

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Excited to join industry leaders in LA to explore the future of non-traditional investments. I’ll be speaking at the Private Wealth Southern California Forum, hosted by Markets Group, on 12 November. Together, we’ll discuss how innovations in alternative assets are reshaping the investment landscape. Thank you to Markets Group for providing the platform to explore these transformative developments. #PrivateEquity #Innovation #Technology #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #Investing #Finance #Alternatives #Startups #Speaker

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This is just incredible. Neal Ghosh's demonstration of how #VentureIQ takes deeply technical and complicated content across a range of industrial use cases and ages/stages through an AI-generated conversational podcast (a la #notebookLM) is really mind-blowing. Check out his post, below, and if you haven't seen VentureIQ, yet, let's get you set up to learn more. You can visit VentureIQ.ai or DM any of us over here to book a demo!

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Check out our Mangusta Capital Vertical AI breakdown below!

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✨ Breaking: Magnetar Announces New Fund.- Magnetar Magnetar AI Ventures Fund LP, launched on August 26, 2024, is a $235 million venture capital fund focused on early-to-growth stage AI startups. The fund uniquely addresses challenges faced by AI startups in accessing compute resources by offering compute in exchange for equity. The strategy is designed to accelerate the development of generative AI technologies and enable startups to secure critical contracts. Magnetar aims to leverage its resources to provide the compute power necessary to support innovation in the AI sector. https://lnkd.in/dRwmTnCy Please share to let other #Founders know For the ❤️ of Startups #Fusion42 #Startups #Venturecapital

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We need more women leaders in venture capital.

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Tiger Research Inc. Report on MANTRA TL;DR - The Real World Asset (RWA) market is growing rapidly, with predictions of reaching US$16 trillion by 2030, but faces regulatory challenges that need to be addressed to achieve full market potential. - MANTRA is pioneering compliance and innovation in RWA tokenization by implementing regulatory mechanisms at the protocol level through MANTRA Chain with its 'MANTRA compliance' feature. - MANTRA is actively building its ecosystem through self-developed platforms, strategic partnerships, and a US$500 million asset tokenization deal with MAG Group, positioning itself to potentially set the standard in the RWA market. Shorooq Partners https://lnkd.in/dG-px-ba

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🌟Innovative VC Firm Overcomes Exits Drought with Secondary Sales🌟 ⛵Navigating a challenging landscape where exits are scarce, Santa Barbara Venture Partners (SBVP) has pioneered a novel approach to sustain its growth and attract investors for its second fund: secondary sales. Instead of waiting for traditional exits like IPOs or acquisitions, SBVP opted to sell shares of its portfolio companies, demonstrating its ability to generate returns for investors and stand out in a competitive market. 🎤According to Dan Engel, founder and managing partner of SBVP, these secondary transactions have been a game-changer, sparking investor interest and bolstering the firm's credibility. By leveraging its recent successes, including a lucrative stake in sports-betting company DraftKings Inc.' acquisition of digital lottery app Jackpocket, SBVP seized the opportunity to return profits to its limited partners (LPs) and pave the way for its second fund. 💡Engel highlighted the challenges faced by young VC firms in raising subsequent funds, particularly amid a downturn in exit activity and heightened investor scrutiny. With traditional exit routes becoming increasingly elusive, the pressure is on for firms to demonstrate tangible returns and establish a track record of success. ✨"For us, secondary sales have been a game-changer. They've helped us return profits to our LPs and attract investors for our second fund," said Dan Engel. 💰For SBVP, the decision to pursue secondary sales was driven by the need to provide liquidity to LPs and validate its investment thesis in the eyes of prospective investors. By strategically offloading portions of its holdings in high-performing portfolio companies like Bark Technologies and Rad AI, SBVP not only generated substantial returns but also bolstered investor confidence in its ability to deliver results. ⚠Despite the complexities and potential stigma associated with early share sales, Engel emphasized the importance of prioritizing investor returns and seizing opportunities to unlock value for stakeholders. With a focus on profitability and transparency, SBVP remains committed to its mission of delivering sustainable growth and maximizing returns for its LPs. 🔍 "Returning profits to our investors is our top priority. By strategically selling shares, we're proving our commitment to delivering results and driving value for our stakeholders," added Engel. As SBVP continues to explore secondary transactions and expand its investor base, the firm stands as a testament to innovation and resilience in the face of market challenges. 🚀 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VCInnovation #SecondarySalesSuccess #InvestorReturns #ValueCreation 

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I find it hard to believe that with millions of EVs entering the market and the proliferation of AI compute that PGE is actually going to have excess capacity in 2040 without any additional generation from 3rd parties. I am also curious if there are enough transmission lines and if PGE views that as someone else’s problem. Maybe they are planning on AI and ACTUAL figuring it all out! https://lnkd.in/gybsMmaw

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