Archive: startup
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New Pick: A Pizza-Making Robot Grabs a Slice of a Massive Market
By Andy Gordon on July 14, 2022
Robots are just beginning to make their presence felt in modern life. Surgery, prosthetics and warehouses are just some of the areas where robots have found a foothold in recent years. There will be many more. These are early days. But it’s not too early for the industry to find its biggest use cases. All it had to do is ask, “What are the two most ubiquitous products in the U.S.?” The answer is pretty obvious.
New Pick: For This Startup, “Giving Back” Is a Seamless Marketing Strategy
By Andy Gordon on June 27, 2022
A few months ago, a founder pitched me on an interesting idea. It involved drinking and a form of bribery, so naturally I was interested. Her company increased attendance to a business event by sending a bottle of wine to invited participants. She claimed that attendance shot up…
New Pick: An Affordable Super Material With Hundreds of Potential Uses
By Andy Gordon on June 2, 2022
There will never be a “next” Facebook or Google or Airbnb. Companies are a product of a specific time, place, technology know-how and need. It’s as if the universe wills them into existence. Of course, founders play an important role. But there are a lot of…
The Third Time Is Not the Charm for This Startup
By Andy Gordon on May 12, 2022
NowRx will complete its third crowdfunding raise on SeedInvest later this month. We’ve recommended it twice. And it has worked out incredibly well for our members who invested. But the third time is not…
New Pick: A Cheap Robotics Play Boosting the Boba Tea Trend to New Heights
By Andy Gordon on May 5, 2022
Seattle in the early 1990s was booming. And no sector was growing faster than aerospace. But Seattle was also midwifing the birth of a new kind of coffeehouse. Starbucks reimagined the experience of a damn good cup of coffee. It struck a deep and broad chord. Starbucks stores…
Bloomstack Pivots, Seems on Track to Survive and Thrive
By Andy Gordon on April 14, 2022
We recommended Bloomstack last June. We liked founder and CEO Eric Delisle’s idea of combining all the systems and platforms cannabis operators use into a single platform. Not only was it a great idea, but it also seemed to be working. Bloomstack was…
Use These Assets to War-Proof Your Portfolio
By Adam Sharp on March 4, 2022
What a week it’s been. My God. The good news is that I don’t think we’re going to see a direct military conflict between the U.S. and the EU against Russia. And the same for a no-fly zone. It’s too risky. Putin has made…
Startup Insider: Medtech Portfolio Company Changes Name
By Early Investing on February 7, 2022
Heart failure is a massive health problem in the U.S. More than 6 million Americans have it. And it’s one of the most expensive health problems for patients to manage. Early detection is the key for effective treatment. But no company has been able to provide…
New Pick: Invest in the Uber of the Apparel Industry
By Andy Gordon on January 13, 2022
Passenger drones – AKA flying cars – are technological marvels. But science fiction has been promising flying cars for decades. So seeing them become reality now feels right. But apparel startup Sene feels like it’s been ripped from the future. It has made a commercially thriving…
Crowdfunding Challenges the VC Preference for Serial Founders
By KingsCrowd on January 12, 2022
Note from Early Investing Senior Editor Allison Brickell: It takes a lot of work for a startup founder to secure funding. As our own Vin Narayanan wrote back in 2019, “Raising money is hard. It’s a grind. No matter…
Startup Update: Turning Misfortune Into Opportunity
By Andy Gordon on December 30, 2021
We first presented Amsterdam-based Tradefox in 2017 (back when it was called Scrap Connection). We presented the company again in 2019. It provides a business intelligence and trading platform for…
New Pick: A Life Preserver for a Planet Drowning in Plastic
By Andy Gordon on December 20, 2021
We’re drowning in plastics. The problem is monumental and global. It’s threatening to slowly but surely kill the planet. It’s also getting worse. And what’s really worrisome is that the biggest companies in the world can’t figure out how to stop it. They’ve been…
KingsCrowd Is a Very Unique Investment Opportunity
By Andy Gordon on October 28, 2021
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve presented nearly 100 startup investment opportunities to First Stage Investors. All of these companies impressed the hell out of me. But there’s one startup that stands apart from all the rest. It’s the only one I’ve…
Strong Follow-On Deals Have These Features
By Adam Sharp on October 26, 2021
When I first got into startup investing, I was mostly investing in early-stage deals. Valuations usually fell between $3 million-to-$10 million (with a few exceptions of around $40 million). I was focused on trying to find the potential big winners as early as I could. And I definitely…
Illusio’s Future Remains Bright
By Andy Gordon on September 23, 2021
I first presented Illusio to First Stage Investor subscribers in April 2020. It was interesting timing, to say the least. We were finally realizing just how serious COVID-19 was. It certainly affected Illusio… and not in the best of…
Startup Insider: Last Chance to Invest in Genius Juice
By Early Investing on September 9, 2021
Genius Juice — which creates simple and delicious two-ingredient coconut smoothies — is one of the First Stage Investor team’s favorite startups. Andy Gordon presented it to subscribers about four months ago. He summed up Genius Juice’s prospects succinctly…