Advanced robotics offers what is perhaps the most exciting near term investment opportunity that I learnt about at Singularity University last week. Let me illustrate with an example. It is now possible to measure someone for a very high quality custom bike frame, and then have robots cut the steel tubes and then weld them to produce a finished product in under an hour. Even better, it can be done in store in front of the customer. You could ride home with a video of your new bike being made with you in it. Saul Griffith from Otherlab gave us this example.
Aileen Lee has a really good post up on TechCrunch, in which she analyzes the number of companies that have been started since 2003 that have gone on to be worth $1bn or more.
This is a very useful exercise in the VC business since it is these big wins that produce the vast majority of returns in the business. I am not sure it is that is worthwhile exercise for entrepreneurs since you can bypass the VC business entirely, keep all or most of your company, and sell it for $20mm and have a big personal and financial success.
The AlwaysOn X Fund finished down 1.0% last week, the NASDAQ was down 0.5%, and the S&P 500 was up 0.1%. Year to date, the AO X Fund is up 67.6%, the NASDAQ is up 29.9%, and the S&P 500 is up 23.5%.
Silver Spring Networks had another strong quarter, with 83% revenue growth and 11% billings growth. SSNI now has 17.5 million cumulative networks, up 17% in the third quarter. SSNI finished the week up 11.4%.
AlwaysOn is proud to announce its seventh annual OnHollywood 100, representing the top companies that are disrupting the establishment and creating viable business models for the digital entertainment marketplace. The AlwaysOn editorial team, along with partners in the venture capital and investment community and entertainment industry experts across the globe, went out into the entrepreneurial ecosystem to find the top 100 private companies in digital entertainment that are continuing to innovate an increasingly digital Hollywood and disrupt an entrenched legacy institution.
What if we could increase productivity and stave the capital flight by helping Life Sciences startups build their companies more efficiently?
We’re going to test this hypothesis by teaching a Lean LaunchPad class for Life Sciences and Health Care (therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and digital health) this October at UCSF with a team of veteran venture capitalists.
Part 1 of this post described the issues in the drug discovery. Part 2 covered medical devices and digital health. This post describes what we’re going to do about it. And why you ought to take this class.
This year, the AlwaysOn editorial team has identified 50 digital entertainment companies to watch during the coming year. Representing a wide range of sectors—advertising, marketing, consumer services, gaming, mobile, and more—these up-and-comers have solid, early-stage backing and the potential to hit $200 million in revenue during the next few years, indicating substantial returns for their inventors and rapid revenue growth in the short-term.
The AlwaysOn Power Players in Digital Entertainment list honors the most influential people in the banking, venture capital, legal, and accounting world who support technology entrepreneurs that are bringing massive technology breakthroughs to the digital entertainment world. These individuals and their firms are the infrastructure workhorses behind the ideas that make the Global Siliconn Valley an incubator for success, creating strong companies that are building forward-thinking, indispensable products.
