Dear friends,

It’s been a busy 2022 and looks to be a bigger and better 2023. Below is our portfolio and firm update to close out the last year and share our excitement for the future.

—Avalanche VC

Weekly Wrap - January 13th

Another week, another episode. This week Katelyn & Eric discuss Knowlegment plus AI and AR/VR.

Thank you to all the founders for the appreciation and excitement for the video. We are excited to incorporate all your feedback as we improve every week.

Key Links:

Year End Letter to Investors

In the spirit of building in public we are happy to share the non-confidential parts of our annual letter to our investors.

Early Stage Boards: Ask us anything

We are hosting an event on early stage boards and governance for founders in our portfolio and ecosystem. Register for the virtual event here.

News from AVC portfolio companies

Prof Jim came out of stealth with a feature in Forbes: ‘Startup Uses AI To Turn Textbooks Into Gen-Z Friendly Videos’. They’ve recently won the 2023 BIG Innovation Award. Check out a product demo below.
Benny Boas, CEO of Upright Education, recaps their stellar 2022. Highlights include 12 partnerships with colleges and universities nationwide and an average student satisfaction score of 9 out of 10 for all programs.
Continuum has been posting Twitter threads on their progress in 2022.
Whalesync published their 2022 Year in Review.
The Social Institute reflects on Social Media Trends Impacting Students. The Social Institute (TSI) is the leader in understanding student experiences and creator of #WinAtSocial, a gamified, online learning platform that equips students, educators, and families to navigate social experiences in healthy ways.
Anurupa Ganguly, founder and CEO of Prisms of Reality, is featured in the 2022 Economist Impact World Ahead annual issue, talking about the power of Prisms’ unique immersive learning model for improving learning outcomes in mathematics.
Catalina Kaiyoorawongs, co-founder and CEO of LoanSense, was featured by National Mortgage Professional. She explains how LoanSense works: “They connect their student loan accounts, and we basically act as a ‘Turbo Tax’ for student loans and roll all the paperwork through the U.S. Department of Education.”
Sparkwise has been on fire with some awesome advice and content to develop world-class teams and leaders. Follow them on LinkedIn for a consistent stream of insight.
OpenAxis continues to publish interesting charts on their weekly newsletter Data Storytelling with OpenAxis
Lilly and Atomic aim to give everyday Americans an easier and more affordable way to save for retirement and announce their partnership.
Colfax Selby, co-founder and CEO of GitPOAP, announced the launch of Custom GitPOAPs. Custom GitPOAPs allow you to recognize any sort of contribution or accomplishment, not just code updates. They come in the form of verified, blockchain-based badges (POAPs) and they can be awarded to any set of users.
Ross Murray-Jones, CEO of Rand Gallery and Zest Capital, shares the success of the Rand NFT marketplace within the Algorand ecosystem.

ross.algo @rossmurrayjones

@RandGallery is about to close out its second-best month ever with 66% market share #LFG

AVC Online Thoughts

Obviously The Future is our blog where we publish analysis and insight on the massive trends we are excited about investing behind.

Skills, Skills Skills, a massive shift in how learners, educators, and employers think about skills is just beginning.
Efficacious Edutainment, an emerging consumer category of learning products using best-in-class technology to help people learn skills, knowledge, and values.

Katelyn in conversation with Mat Sherman on the SeedScout podcast. Also, below.

Katelyn was featured in Business Insiders Best Predictions for the Top EdTech Trends in 2023

Dalglish wrote two essays:

On Scalable Leadership: When unlocking hypergrowth takes an inside job
On Suffering: Field notes on compassion for the awakening leader

What we’ve been reading:

Learn:

Earn:

The Emerging Degree Reset and Skill Disruption report from Burning Glass
HR Technology 2023: What’s Hot? What’s Not? by Josh Bersin

Venture Capital/Investing:

VC Firms Are Getting Stingier with Startups: Tribe Capital’s struggles show why. This article makes a case for greater diligence and board governance roles.
The End of “Industrial” Seed VC (and a return to the cottage industry it always was). Twitter post from Sam Lessin.
sam lessin 🏴‍☠️ @lessin
The End of “Industrial” Seed VC… (and return to the cottage industry it always was)
4:07 PM ∙ Jan 4, 2023
444Likes64Retweets

Thank you.

Looking forward to more building and growing in 2023.

Happy New Year. Please always be in touch.

As always,

Katelyn, Dalglish, Eric, & Arvind

Avalanche VC: Year End Review & Weekly Wrap