The hottest Funding Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

Resetting expectations for VC investing in health tech

Second Opinion • 1729 implied HN points • 19 Oct 23
💼 Business Funding
  1. Not every startup in health tech needs to be backed by venture capital.
  2. Health tech industry may not yield many billion-dollar exits, but there are numerous smaller exits ranging from $40 to $500 million.
  3. Venture capitalists should consider alternative sources of capital like private equity, government grants, family offices, and angel investors for health tech startups.

Some big news about The Mill

The Mill • 1808 implied HN points • 30 Aug 23
💼 Business Funding
  1. The Mill has successfully raised a total of £350,000 in funding from supporters to hire journalists around the country.
  2. The funding will be used for expanding the company and hiring new staff members in different cities.
  3. The success of The Mill's funding round is attributed to the support and belief of paying members and prominent figures in the media industry.

The High Tragedy of the Pandemic

Glenn Loury • 2856 implied HN points • 04 Jul 23
📰 News Funding
  1. The pandemic may have originated from a lab leak due to gain-of-function research.
  2. Fauci and others believed they were doing good by conducting this research, but it had unintended consequences.
  3. Cooperation and transparency from both Chinese and American authorities could have potentially prevented the pandemic from reaching a global scale.

Former Sheldon Adelson deputy is privately chairing Israeli government-backed advocacy group

All-Source Intelligence Fusion • 813 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. Michael Leven, a former executive from Las Vegas Sands, is leading an Israeli advocacy group called ISGAP. He is working alongside a former censor of Israel.
  2. ISGAP is focused on addressing antisemitism and has been linked to lobbying efforts against Qatari funding for U.S. universities.
  3. Leven's family foundation has made donations to pro-Israel organizations and has been involved in legislative campaigns against groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.

Foxtrot Market's comeback?

Snaxshot • 419 implied HN points • 10 May 24
🍲 Food & Drink Funding
  1. Foxtrot Market faced a questionable auction process with potential bidders feeling left in the dark, leading to speculations of a rigged setup.
  2. Brands like Blueprint by Bryan Johnson are stepping into the market with products like supplements and olive oils, potentially shaking up established brands like Athletic Greens.
  3. Various CPG brands are undergoing rebranding and major changes to stay relevant and attract customers, reflecting a rebranding trend in the industry.
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Japan’s Declining Commercial Innovation, Part I

Japan Economy Watch • 179 implied HN points • 05 Jun 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. Japan has experienced a decline in commercial innovation since the 21st century, with its share of important patents decreasing, putting it at risk of falling in global rankings
  2. There is a debate on the reasons behind Japan's innovation decline, with one side focusing on the lack of new breakthroughs in basic science and the other on corporations' inefficiency in utilizing scientific advances
  3. Japan faces challenges in funding and supporting PhD programs, leading to a decrease in the number of PhDs produced, impacting the country's scientific output and innovation potential

Biotech Startup Stats

Rough Diamonds • 20 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
💼 Business Funding
  1. Most biotech startups either fail or lose value after IPO, with only a small share of currently trading firms showing positive long‑term returns; many poorly performing public companies may simply not have failed yet.
  2. Location and company age strongly predict outcomes: firms based in biotech hubs (CA, MA, NY, NJ, PA) do much better, and newer firms are more likely to still be trading due to lifecycle effects.
  3. Scientific focus and pipeline stage matter: biologics (especially antibodies), rare disease and immunology focuses, targets like PD‑1, and IPOing at Phase III are linked to acquisitions or positive returns, while "other" modalities (e.g., formulations, natural products) tend to underperform.

The Sequence Radar #803: Last Week in AI: Anthropic and OpenAI’s Battle for the Long Horizon, Goodfire and LayerLens Push AI Accountability

TheSequence • 28 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. AI is moving from conversational assistants to agentic systems that can plan, act, and self-manage across long time horizons, with new models built to reason over huge contexts and even help in their own development.
  2. Interpretability and accountability are rising to the top of the agenda, as companies build tools to map model internals and run agent-as-a-judge evaluations that verify complex, multi-step behaviors.
  3. A fast-growing ecosystem of research, platforms, hardware moves, and big funding rounds is racing to operationalize and scale verifiable autonomous agents across industries like coding, cloud ops, audio, and healthcare.

Deep Dive on Aleph Alpha - Towards European AI Sovereignty

AI Supremacy • 491 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Aleph Alpha is a German AI startup focusing on AI governance, privacy, and ethics aligning with EU standards.
  2. Aleph Alpha's flagship product, Luminous, offers language models in multiple sizes and is known for its ability to explain outputs.
  3. Aleph Alpha's collaborative and 'sovereignty first' approach sets it apart from US AI companies, emphasizing data privacy and transparency.

HI EVERYONE!

THREE SEVEN MAFIA • 819 implied HN points • 17 Nov 23
🎙 Podcasts Funding
  1. The author is apologizing for a delay in content production.
  2. They are looking for more dedicated people to help with the workflow.
  3. The author is focusing on completing book manuscripts and building their brand.

Snout

next big thing • 23 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
💼 Business Funding
  1. Snout enables vet clinics to offer subscription-style wellness plans that cover routine vaccines, monthly meds, parasite screening, and unlimited telemedicine, making care more affordable and predictable for pet parents and clinics.
  2. The timing is strong because rising vet prices and a drop in visits left many pets without routine care, and Snout is showing product-market fit with millions in ARR, 5x year-over-year growth, and 250+ in-network providers.
  3. Investors are backing growth: Footwork led a $10M Series A and Snout secured a $100M non-dilutive capital line to fund clinic payments, giving the company resources to scale and hire across functions.

The Big Nonprofits Post

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1388 implied HN points • 29 Nov 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. There are many excellent charities to donate to right now, especially those focused on AI safety and existential risks. It can be hard to find good places to give money, but they are out there.
  2. When deciding where to donate, it's important to trust your own judgment and knowledge about what matters. Choose organizations that align with your values and how you believe change can be made.
  3. Consider giving unconditional support to individuals doing valuable work, as this can help them focus on their projects without the stress of constantly needing to prove their worth for funding.

The Sequence Radar #791: The Eastern Surge & The Silicon Valley Shuffle

TheSequence • 42 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Engram shows that offloading static facts to a huge O(1) lookup memory lets neural experts focus on reasoning, and allocating roughly 20–25% of sparse parameters to that memory hits an optimal loss curve.
  2. Chinese labs are rapidly closing the gap with stronger unified multimodal architectures like Baidu’s Ernie 5, and Zhipu’s GLM-Image—trained entirely on Huawei Ascend chips—demonstrates domestic hardware can support SOTA training runs.
  3. Talent is extremely scarce and fiercely contested, evidenced by rapid co-founder departures and rehires, while large bets on non-invasive brain-computer interfaces signal a push to boost human-AI bandwidth beyond typed text.

Celebrating Greek wins

The Greek Analyst • 339 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. Success should be highlighted, embraced, understood, and replicated, especially in a society that tends to focus more on negative news.
  2. Greece is seeing achievements across various sectors, from biotech companies and architectural studios to AI innovation and modern office buildings.
  3. There is a growing trend in Greek startups raising significant funding rounds, indicating a positive trajectory in the tech and business ecosystem.

How to Talk About Valuation Numbers When Investor Ask? | VC Remote Jobs & More

Venture Curator • 479 implied HN points • 04 Jan 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. When discussing valuation with investors, it's important to provide general ranges without giving a specific price to anchor their expectations.
  2. VCs may ask about your past funding to assess fit and potential valuation issues, so it's beneficial to be transparent about your previous funding details.
  3. A delicate balance is required when discussing existing investors participating in a new round to ensure harmony between new and existing investors.

The Sequence Radar #787: Rubin, Raises, and Returns: 2026 Starts Fast

TheSequence • 42 implied HN points • 11 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. AI hardware is moving to rack-scale "AI factories," with companies like NVIDIA and AMD designing integrated systems where chips and CPUs work as a single supercomputing unit. This shifts the unit of compute from individual GPUs to whole racks optimized for large-scale inference and training.
  2. Massive capital rounds are reshaping who can compete in frontier models, as multibillion-dollar raises make training and infrastructure effectively affordable only to hyper-scalers and well-funded entities. That level of spending is turning top labs into utility-like, enterprise infrastructure players.
  3. China’s AI firms proved public markets can reward consumer-facing model strategies, with IPOs like MiniMax and z.AI showing rapid monetization and liquidity. This underscores a growing bifurcation: the West doubling down on heavy infrastructure for AGI, while the East pushes fast consumer exits and application-led growth.

The Sequence Radar #783: Softbank, DeepSeek, MiniMax and The Sequence 2026

TheSequence • 49 implied HN points • 04 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. SoftBank is using massive capital to buy both leading AI model stakes and the physical data center and edge infrastructure that runs them. This vertical integration is blurring the line between model providers and infrastructure owners.
  2. DeepSeek’s new model and the GRPO technique match top-tier reasoning performance while needing far fewer GPU hours. This shows smarter algorithms can close the gap against big-budget competitors.
  3. MiniMax’s planned Hong Kong IPO (~$539M) signals public-market interest in application-layer AI and gives the company capital to compete amid hardware export controls and intense domestic rivalry.

A Rebuttal to a School Choice Legislator

The View from Rural Missouri by Jess Piper • 517 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. School choice arguments often promote a free-market approach to education, but they may not be suitable for all communities.
  2. Rural towns might not have the necessary market conditions for school competition or choice to be effective.
  3. Public school funding issues, particularly in rural areas, are a significant concern and can be exacerbated by privatization schemes.

Maths Olympiad Update

By Reason Alone • 114 implied HN points • 08 Nov 25
🚌 Education Funding
  1. Stripe is now the main sponsor of the Irish Maths Olympiad, helping secure funding for the next three years. This is a huge boost for promoting maths in Ireland.
  2. More training camps and classes for students are being created, which means more young people will have opportunities to excel in maths. This includes new centres for junior maths enrichment across several locations.
  3. Ireland performed exceptionally well in the International Maths Olympiad this year, achieving its best results ever. This shows the positive impact of the recent support and funding.

Update 5/13/23

FOIA Around And Find Out • 589 implied HN points • 14 May 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. The frequency of post updates has decreased due to being busy, but there will be more developments in the next few months.
  2. There are high expectations for the cases brought forward, with potential answers coming from investigations.
  3. There may be fundraising opportunities in the future to support ongoing efforts related to the content discussed.

4 lessons I learned giving 2 million to small businesses

Kenny’s Sub • 259 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. People often feel too scared to ask for what they want, but pushing through that fear can lead to success. It's important to be respectful when following up and seek solutions when faced with a 'no.'
  2. Making mistakes is a part of learning and won't ruin a business if there’s a solid financial backup. It's wise for businesses to have enough savings to cover expenses in tough times.
  3. Prioritizing getting actual customers is more important than focusing on future revenue hopes. It's better to earn money now than gamble on uncertain future profits.

Mantic Monday 4/24/23

Astral Codex Ten • 3923 implied HN points • 25 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Using AI for forecasting future world events is a growing field with potential benefits over human forecasters.
  2. Metaculus has been found to be more accurate than low-information priors and its competitor Manifold Markets, showing the potential of crowdsourcing for predictions.
  3. Exploring AI forecasting through platforms like Polymarket, Metaculus, and Manifold provides insight into trends, such as the interest in prediction markets among sci-tech celebrities.

Netflix Co-founder's 'The Canada Rule' For Building Successful Startups 🧐 | Pre-Money Valuation Growing 💹| VC Remote Jobs

Venture Curator • 239 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
💼 Business Funding
  1. The 'Canada Rule' advises startups to focus on one or two important things rather than chasing every opportunity.
  2. Pre-money valuations in Europe are showing growth across different stages, indicating market resilience.
  3. VCs are using 'Dry Powder' in convertible bridge rounds, showcasing creative financing strategies by founders.

YC Strategy 'Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved' To Raise Funding | Peter Thiel On 'Make A Product A Few Love' | VC Remote Jobs & More

Venture Curator • 439 implied HN points • 15 Nov 23
💼 Business Funding
  1. Y Combinator's strategy for raising funding includes focusing on 'Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved' to impress investors.
  2. Peter Thiel emphasizes the importance of making a product that a few people really love, rather than trying to please a large group at the start.
  3. When seeking venture capital funding, it is crucial to have a clear plan for the amount of money you need, the runway required before the next round, and the milestones you aim to achieve.

Neurotech Notables #7: April 2024

NEUROTECH FUTURES • 119 implied HN points • 30 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Recent neurotech news includes a significant amount of new funding for various companies and startups in the field.
  2. There are notable developments in neuroethics, with mentions of landmark neuroethics work in Colorado and Paris, as well as the implementation guidance for responsible innovation of neurotechnology from OECD.
  3. The post also covers a wide range of commercial activities, regulatory updates, and upcoming events in the neurotech industry, showcasing a vibrant and evolving landscape.

Neurotech Notables #8: May 2024

NEUROTECH FUTURES • 99 implied HN points • 15 May 24
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Commercializing Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) is a long-term endeavor that requires patience and perseverance
  2. Educating the public about neurotechnology involves balancing technical details with ethical considerations
  3. Collaboration and communication among experts in neurotechnology is crucial to advance innovation and ensure human dignity and safety

The Looming Danger to Rural Schools

The View from Rural Missouri by Jess Piper • 378 implied HN points • 01 Dec 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. Rural schools in Missouri are facing a funding crisis, ranking poorly in starting teacher pay and educational funding.
  2. 30% of Missouri schools operate on a 4-day week due to lack of funding, impacting students' academic hours and creating challenges for parents with daycare needs.
  3. Missouri legislators are considering further defunding public education, potentially implementing voucher programs that could divert public tax money to private and religious schools, jeopardizing the future of rural schools.

The Sequence Radar #779: The Inference Wars and China’s AI IPO Race

TheSequence • 35 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. Nvidia licensed Groq’s LPU technology and brought key Groq leaders onboard, consolidating talent and inference IP to reinforce its lead in inference hardware.
  2. Chinese model labs are shipping frontier models: Zhipu’s GLM 4.7 pushes coding and agentic ‘deep thinking,’ while MiniMax’s M2.1 uses linear attention and MoE to enable a massive 4‑million‑token context window at much lower cost.
  3. Zhipu and MiniMax preparing Hong Kong IPOs shows foundation models are moving from VC-funded research to public, revenue-focused companies, and highlights a split where U.S. scaling is driven by capital and hardware consolidation while China focuses on architectural and economic efficiency.

🏎 Aston Martin of Scooters

The Micromobility Newsletter • 432 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
💼 Business Funding
  1. Micromobility Europe showcased innovative micromobility products and concepts, like the Hilo One electric scooter with advanced features.
  2. The industry is seeing collaborations and advancements like Segway's partnership to bring advanced rider assistance systems to their scooters.
  3. There is a growing trend towards sustainable and efficient micromobility solutions, such as universal charging stations and swappable batteries.

Neighbor Tuesday(ish): UNGA

The Friendly Neighbors • 432 implied HN points • 20 Sep 23
🌍 World Politics Funding
  1. Attended discussions on missing populations in Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing healthcare for marginalized groups.
  2. Contrasted experiences at UNGA - one event featuring activists and another with philanthropists, highlighting the need for diverse perspectives.
  3. Advocated for the importance of uniting diverse voices in global health initiatives for comprehensive impact.

Balsa Update and General Thank You

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1881 implied HN points • 12 Dec 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. The focus of the Balsa project is on repealing the Jones Act to make a positive impact.
  2. Another area of interest for Balsa is federal housing reform, aiming to address economic issues and expand policy reform.
  3. Balsa also plans to work on initiatives related to NEPA, aiming to replace current environmental regulations with cost-benefit analysis for development projects.

Odds and Ends (3)

David Friedman’s Substack • 242 implied HN points • 29 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Funding
  1. Columbia University is facing pressure from the federal government, which may affect its funding and independence. The president warns that this could have serious consequences for the school's operations and student support.
  2. Trusting a source of information can be tricky. It’s important to look for evidence that shows someone is honest, like them reporting truth even when it goes against their views.
  3. Consider offering a paid subscription for your writing if readers might appreciate it. However, be careful as it might turn away some current or new readers.

Purpose Disruptors needs disrupting

Thoughts on Writing • 319 implied HN points • 22 Nov 23
💼 Business Funding
  1. The ad industry and climate movement should aim for better collaborations and campaigns that actually make a positive impact.
  2. It's important to critically evaluate the claims and research behind advertising campaigns related to climate change to ensure credibility and effectiveness.
  3. Narratives around climate action in advertising should be aspirational, inclusive, and focus on tangible positive changes rather than guilt or deprivation.

Import AI 334: Better distillation; the UK's AI taskforce; money and AI

Import AI • 399 implied HN points • 10 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Funding
  1. DeepMind developed Generalized Knowledge Distillation to make large models cheaper and more portable without losing performance.
  2. The UK's £100 million Foundation Model Taskforce aims to shape the future of safe AI and will host a global summit on AI.
  3. Significant financial investments in AI, like Databricks acquiring MosaicML for $1.3 billion, indicate growing strategic importance of AI in various sectors.