A heavy introduction here this month: the Tulsa Race Massacre occurred 100 years ago today, where a violent white supremacist mob raided, firebombed, and destroyed the thriving Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And looking back one year ago, along with the startling (and ongoing) rise in anti-Asian attacks over the past year, it is plain to see how we continue to grapple with race in American society. There are a few bright spots (slowly) emerging in the venture community, such as Sequoia partnering with BLCK VC and more firms including diversity riders. Still, we must recognize the damage of our past as well as endeavor to change ourselves today for a better future - or we will find ourselves poorer as a society. I invite you to find a moment of silence to reflect on these events (and others that come to mind) and recommit yourself to healing those who are different from yourself.
In the rest of this newsletter, I will highlight some of our progress at AVX, highlight a few (digital) events from around the network, and suggest some think pieces and podcasts to consume.
Three upcoming deadlines for emerging ventures in the AVX community:
With our updated interface, you can see all ventures here: AVX Feed
Conversation Statistics
We are up to 12,580 total connections and conversations on the AVX network - 572 more over the last month (over 5% month over month growth!). We are currently tracking 22 potential match negotiations and another 126 with multi-month long discussions heading toward possible matches. We have now actively connected 568 different ventures (out of 1670+ examined) with 1353 different entrepreneurs and investors (out of a pool of 3100+)
Top Digital Events
Jun 2: Advancing the Geospatial Mission: A Conversation with NGA Leadership How is the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency evolving its relationships with industry and academia to help solve the challenges it faces in keeping the nation secure? Featured speakers include: Vice Admiral Robert Sharp, Director, NGA, Susan Pollmann, NGA West Executive & N2W Program Director, and Dr. Stacy Gee Hollins, Dean of the Anheuser-Busch School of Business
Jun 8: It's Not Failure, It's Intentional Iteration with Prof. Jeffrey Karp How does an academic physician become a serial entrepreneur? Jeffrey Karp is a physician entrepreneur and researcher, with a long list of publications, awards and honors. Hear the story of how Dr. Karp’s multiple grant funding rejections lead to his first company, Skintifique, and understand how Dr. Karp intentionally guided his lab members to think about “translation” from day 1.
Jun 10: The Wave Summit A free virtual event spotlighting and supporting women in bio. Just like the wave at a baseball game, we’ll come together at The Wave Summit to create electric energy and build momentum for change. We invite women, men, and all allies to join us as we spotlight and support women founders in bio. The Wave Summit is open to all women and allies — founders, leaders, graduate students, undergrads — anyone who is interested in supporting women founders in bio.
Jun 22: IndieBio New York Demo Day 2021 The IndieBio New York Class Two founders started their companies in the midst of a global pandemic, determined to advance their technologies and business models in our post-COVID world. IndieBio NY is proud to present the advancements these companies have made in our Demo Day.
DIGITAL EVENTS
Some Thought Pieces
Seems like Super Founders was a hit with the AVX community! Wait, you didn't manage to finish it yet? Well, Ali Tamaseb 'sits down' with Christine Winoto at UCSF Rosenman Institute to discuss further about what makes a super founder. Looking to go a little deeper, but don't feel like an expert yet? First Round Review interviews Irving Fain for 6 lessons in launching and growing Bowery Farming. Looking for more media for your ears?
Check out the short course by Axios. Wait, looking to have a few deeper dives? Well, check out these two Substacks as great resources to dive in: Climate Tech VC and Healing the Earth with Technology by Jonathan Burbaum. Or take a listen of this interview with MIT Prof. Donald Sadoway - founder of Ambri, Boston Metal, Avanti Battery, and Sadoway Labs. And while you're at it, you can also dive into The SOSV Climate Tech 100 for a look at the climate tech ventures coming out of the SOSV ecosystem. And while mulling all of this, it might be good to check in with Jigar Shah, who is now Director of the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, along with $40 Billion in available loan capacity.
We also have some exciting news for new research campuses. On the East Coast, Harvard's new Science and Engineering Complex may look like a massive cheese-grater, it's another leap in reducing building energy needs. And out West, Google has unveiled their Quantum AI Campus in Santa Barbara, where Google will bring together their quantum data center, fabrication facility, and cutting-edge research in their hunt to build a useful, error-corrected quantum computer for the world. (Though one hopes it doesn't unfold like the mini-series Devs)
Closing out, I want to quickly draw your eyes toward a recent Science Editorial by Sangeeta Bhatia, Nancy Hopkins, and Susan Hockfield on expanding the opportunity in biotech ventures for women. Prof. Bhatia will be speaking at The Wave Summit on Jun 10 (did you register?) and the authors included a shout out for WUSTL's and OUP's Equalize (Sept 22). While on the topic of OUP, they recently continued the conversation with Jun Axup and Ashok Kamal about angel, fellowship, and accelerator funding for research ventures. And in emerging funding for ventures, Matt Krisiloff has published a short piece centered on equity for scientists starting companies.
As always, thank you for reading – Hamdi