Spring 2024 Community Update
New PortCos, Portfolio News, Reading & Writing, Mentions in the Press
Dear Friends of Avalanche,
We are excited to share recent insights and progress from across our community. In this edition, we are proud to share two Series A announcements, two new investments, traction across the portfolio, and a slew of thought leadership.
As always, please reach out if you are a founder working on an early-stage company that is transforming how people learn, earn, or own.
Welcome, Ednition and CyberNut!
We invested in three companies this spring: Ednition, CyberNut, and one in stealth.
Ednition announces $1.35M funding round to build EdTech’s next-gen rostering and data interoperability platform. Ednition was founded by Mick Hewitt and Doug Weber, serial entrepreneurs who sold their last company to Instructure.
“Companies are grappling with how to meaningfully integrate AI-powered solutions into their products. We believe that seamless data flow in the edtech ecosystem is a precondition for AI to move from experimental and theoretical to truly transformational in the space. Unlocking data flows empowers edtech to harness AI’s power and actualize whole-child, learner-centered education.” - Mick & Doug
CyberNut emerges with a K-12 security awareness training solution. CyberNut built an AI-powered, gamified tool to train teachers, faculty, staff, and students to recognize and report phishing attacks. CyberNut was founded by Oliver Page, who founded NutKase while in high school, and Adil Altaf, a life-long technologist and software engineer.
“With a collective vision, we have shaped CyberNut to be a bastion against cyber threats, equipping schools with intelligent, engaging, and adaptive security training tools. It's our goal to ensure that educational institutions can focus on what they do best — educating the next generation — without the looming threat of digital dangers.” - Oliver & Adil
Portfolio News - Three AVC Companies Raise Series A
We have had three portfolio companies raise competitive Series A financings. The two public announcements are below:
🚀Acclinate raised a $7M Series A led by Cencora Ventures to accelerate health equity. Acclinate is focused on driving diversity in clinical trials with a unique community engagement platform trusted by top pharmaceutical clients. We are proud pre-seed investors and supportive of Del & Tiffany’s massive vision for clinical research equity and education.
🚀Odyssey Education raised a $10M Series A led by Tusk Ventures with participation from a16z and Bling Capital (Seed Investors) to help states implement school choice programs. TechCrunch article here. We’re proud to be the earliest believer and first check into Odyssey and Joe Connor. The avalanche of alternative education is just getting started.
Portfolio News
🌟Humanly published their white paper What Does Equitable AI For Hiring Look Like: the risks and what you can do about them.
Humanly also recently acquired Teamable! 🎉 This strategic move enhances their ability to source, attract, screen, schedule, and convert candidates at scale, revolutionizing the recruiting landscape.
🌟Genus AI generated campaigns are in the top 1% across all Meta for the hospitality sector.
🌟Sparkwise launched ‘Learning Unbound’—a new content series dissecting cutting-edge technologies and strategies that impact how humans learn and grow. Subscribe here.
🌟Bojangles Taps Bikky's Customer Analytics for the Next Step in its Digital Transformation.🎉
Abhinav Kapur, CEO and Co-Founder of Bikky said "We founded Bikky on the belief that restaurants deserve the same access to data as the largest, most sophisticated businesses in the world. This announcement marks another step forward in achieving that mission. I'm proud to say 'It's Bo Time!'"
🌟Prisms of Reality launched real-time teacher feedback.
Check out Prisms in action in Kelly's Classroom: George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science.
🌟Pencil Spaces was named a finalist in seven categories for the prestigious EdTech Digest EdTech Awards 2024!
🌟FIRST Delivery CEO Andrew Nakkache shares his takeaways from the Food on Demand conference.
🌟Boundless Life now offers six destinations for families to live and learn around the world. Check them out here!
Arvind, our Entrepreneur-in-Residence, launches Astra's Storytellers for the Future Camp!
Astra's Storytellers for the Future is designed to empower the next generation of leaders through a deep dive into the art of storytelling, the science of persuasion, and the innovative world of AI.
If you are in the Raleigh area, then sign up your 11-15 year old’s here.
Thinking, Writing, & Speaking
AI is ushering edtech into a new era. Three investors share what they're most excited about in the space—published in Business Insider. Katelyn discussed our thesis that AI will create opportunities to drive systematic change across legacy education structures.
The Future is Freelance: Insight for Founders—Katelyn on the Work and Revolution podcast with Debbie Goodman.
Dalglish was interviewed on Venture Visionaries with Thomas Igeme. He discussed his coaching practice and the art of becoming.
Katelyn was interviewed about Investing Pre-Avalanche on the 10x Podcast.
Conferences and Meet Ups - ASU-GSV 2024
Katelyn teamed up with Daniel Lim of Limmytalks to set out an interview concept for founders. Limmy wrote up his reflections here.
Eric was out in force repping our latest investment in Ednition!
Obviously The Future - The Podcast
The Bull Case for Elite Universities with Matthew Rascoff.
We discuss the state of elite universities with Matthew Rascoff, the Vice Provost for Digital Education at Stanford University.
Matthew is one of the most innovative administrators in the industry and a leader who puts ideas into action. He is pioneering new digital models to bring credit-bearing Stanford classes to lower-income high schools across the US.
What we’ve been reading:
Learn:
EdTech Market Update - Oppenheimer, May 2024. This is the most comprehensive institutional report on the public and private education technology market.
How Bluey Became a $2 Billion Smash Hit—With an Uncertain Future.
Earn:
The Death of Deloitte: AI-Enabled Services Are Opening a Whole New Market from Emergence Ventures. We wrote in Obviously the Future in 2020 about the rise of technology-enabled services.
16 Changes to the Way Enterprises Are Building and Buying Generative AI - A bunch of good market analysis from an a16z Report. Not shocking: Enterprise AI spending is going up dramatically, but the nuances are important.
The SignalFire State of Talent Report: 2023 Tech Employee Trends.
Own:
Entrepreneurship, Startups, and Business Formation Are Booming Across the U.S. Applications for new businesses, the number of startups, and the total number of businesses have skyrocketed across U.S. states and counties since 2021.
Consumer Report Trends 2024 from Forerunner Ventures. It's worth a browse of this 200-page behemoth. It’s the first time I’ve seen a generalist investor pick up on the potential impact of Education Savings Accounts.
Venture Capital and Investing:
State of Pre-Seed Q1 2024 from Carta
The Investment Office Playbook—What Managers Don’t See.
Big Winners and Bold Concentration: Unveiling the Secret Portfolio Returns of Leading Venture Funds. Analysis from Primary Ventures.
Thank you.
Please always be in touch.
P.S. Check out our new and improved website!