DeckRobot: Revolutionizing PowerPoint Presentations with AI
Kia Ora friends!
Fund update
While the funding environment for growth stage startups has surely deteriorated and caused plenty of large valley funds to issue warnings (Sequoia: Adapting to endure), we have seen quality early stage companies, especially in New Zealand, continuing to raise successfully. Valuations are tempered, which is great for VC funds like us but the funding landscape is nowhere as calamitous as painted for late stage valley startups that were overdue for correction.
We tend to agree with our friend Venktesh Shukla’s LinkedIn post “Sky is Not Falling,” and advise our portfolio companies to continue to raise money and find product-market fit. Several are busy doing exactly that:
🚀 Seachange, the hydrofoiling electric ferry startup, is raising a $18M Series-A round led by a marquee investor.
🚀 Pyper Vision, the fog-dispersal-by-drone startup, is extending their NZD 4M round to NZD 5M due to investor demand.
🚀 Sahha, the predictive mental-health API startup, is raising their NZD 2M round and finding good interest.
🚀 DeckRobot, featured below, is raising a $2M Series A that is about to close.
We plan on continuing to invest through the cycle and supporting our portfolio companies as they grow. Our LP’s should expect the next capital call in July.
Startup of the month: DeckRobot
DeckRobot takes the tedious task of designing and formatting PowerPoint presentations and applies AI to create beautiful and consistent looking decks. It uses AI to re-configure any presentation in one-click so it becomes compliant to the corporate brand and fits the size/ format consistently. Their business customers love this capability and save up to 80% time making and remaking presentations.
We love the passion of their founder Tony Urban, a former McKinsey consultant, who has built an amazing business selling to all the major management consulting firms (they spent far too much time on decks!). Originally based in Kiev, Ukraine he showed tremendous tenacity and resourcefulness getting his staff out of Ukraine and relocating to other European countries without missing a beat on business building. This is one of our proud non-NZ bets and we are happy to introduce them to our LP’s as they raise the next round.
NZVC sponsors M2 Summit of Kiwi innovators
Held on the 12th of May in Auckland, the M2 Summit partnering with NZVC was a live event featuring keynote speeches and interviews with 10 innovators from a range of different sectors who are working to impact the world in their fields. From animal protein-producing plants to stratospheric earth observation, to cutting edge VR, to ending power poverty this event is a celebration of what is possible from the edge of the world and also a reminder to step outside of your silo and learn from others. Led by the M2 Editor-in-chief Andrew Rowell, a close partner of our fund, this event brings to an audience some examples of the potential global impact startups and leading innovators that NZVC is fueling.
Reminder: NZVC EHF Welcome Event
We are excited that New Zealand has finally opened its borders and that EHF has scheduled the welcome events for August and October. Given that most of you will be entering NZ in October, we decided to hold a portfolio day where you can come together, and meet each other and also all of our portfolio companies. We're planning a half-day event where the first part is meeting the companies, the second part a mix and mingle + dinner. We are planning to host this event on October 27th, the day before the EHF welcome event starts in Wellington. Most of you will be flying into Wellington on the 27th already in anticipation of the welcome event on the morning of the 28th, so doing something together the prior evening should work out well.
Please let us know if you will be able to make this event so we can have a headcount.
Best regards,
Mark Pavlyukovskyy, Ajay Gupta, and Glen Anderson