Ambica

[Ambica @ambica89]

@CraigBrockie Guide

[Ambica @ambica89]

I know Anima's hiring https://t.co/oNeARaIJuz

[andy @b1rdmania]

15 weird London AI companies you've probably never heard of

London's AI scene isn't just chatbots and SaaS.

Some genuinely strange stuff happening.

@PrimaMente – building "foundation models for the brain" to study Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Hologen – frontier medical AI spinout tied to UCL/King's. Eric Schmidt involved. https://t.co/WrZrKnrXKk

@baseimmune – AI-designed vaccines targeting rapidly mutating viruses.

@RecursionPharma / @valence_ai – AI drug discovery platform combining chemistry, biology and machine learning.

@CausalyAI – AI that reads scientific papers and maps biomedical knowledge graphs.

Fractile – building new AI chip architecture. https://t.co/V8KXnSXrVC

@mindgard – "red teaming" AI models to find vulnerabilities.

@Limbic_ai – mental health triage AI used in NHS services.

@LindusHealth – clinical trials run with AI infrastructure.

Anima Health – AI triage platform for healthcare providers. https://t.co/BoSMZj6kkd

AUAR – robots that build buildings. AI for automated construction. https://t.co/2eYWADsFDN

@testudoglobal – insurance for the AI economy.

Isomorphic Labs – DeepMind spinout doing AI drug discovery. https://t.co/gpdTVLaEoF

BenevolentAI – one of the earliest AI drug discovery companies. https://t.co/pFSeZRnqS7

London AI ecosystem is weirder than people think.

Still mapping more.

Comment any i've missed so far.

https://t.co/PuN0PBOYKC

[Dan Gray @credistick]

"This study examined whether founder backgrounds predict funding outcomes within an elite cohort of Y Combinator startups, where all companies receive similar accelerator resources and network access. The analysis reveals that founder characteristics explain remarkably little of the variation in funding outcomes, with observable founder backgrounds accounting for less than 4% of funding differences."

(source: "Founder Backgrounds and Startup Funding: Evidence from Y Combinator")

Perhaps the best thing that @ycombinator does for the startup world is to substitute lazy credentialism for something more meaningful.

Typically, VCs will seek founders that fit a certain pattern that proxies conviction. These patterns produce predictably bad investments (see below).

YC provides an alternative (and better) signal, by giving out-of-pattern founders credibility through the program, the brand, and the support network.

Indeed, YC's process is designed to reduce typical pattern-seeking biases by staging the information used in the screening process (see below).

As a result, YC has enabled more meritocratic funding outcomes and has significantly outperformed the VC industry as a whole (see below).

So, for lazy VCs (or the self-aware, perhaps) using YC as a signal has proven significantly more profitable than the default behavior, over the last 19 years.

[Ambica @ambica89]

The best thing about Christmas is my niece’s wish list for Santa. Amongst other things, she’d like a violin with a bow, a chrome book and blue tack.

[Ali Susskind @ali_susskind]

1/ It's Demo Day Week at @join_ef 🇺🇸

Meet Mike @mjwgoh and Raf @KhaykinRaf - they met for the first time a few months ago at a NY retreat I hosted for engineers. Less than two weeks later, they'd build a product, landed paid pilots and called it Krew @with_krew

[The Bridge @jointhebridge]

This summer: 35 top European founders. One castle. Zero distractions.

Our hacker house starts July 1.

2 months of product, traction & pushing toward the US.

Only 5 spots left.

Apply now: https://t.co/QS4ScHrrNp

[Alice Bentinck @Alicebentinck]

I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to figure out how to help founders from Europe raise in the Bay Area. Here’s what I’ve learnt:

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Just over 24 hours ago, 32 of our teams pitched to over 100 of the Bay Area’s top investors at our first Demo Day in San Francisco. Before EF, some of these founders:

👉 raced on India’s national sprint team

👉 won a NeurIPS competition at just 18

👉 relocated from Colombia to the UK alone at 16 for a better education

Check out what they're building here 🧵

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Our founders are solving some of the world's most important problems, from the decarbonisation of the textiles industry, to agricultural robots to feed the future. Check out the next wave of startups launched from our latest batch...🧵

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Take a look at the first ten startups from our latest batch pitching at Demo Day in San Francisco 🧵

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Yesterday we ran our first Demo Day in San Francisco where our latest batch pitched to >100 of Silicon Valley’s top Partner-level investors.

Today, you can learn more about these companies on our W’23 online Demo Day Portal. Check it out here: https://t.co/d8qCCHUene

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Just over 6 months ago, our Talent Investors selected an exceptional set of future founders for our W’23 batch. They were all pre-team and pre-idea. Why did we invest? We believe in the founder potential of these individuals to build generation-defining companies. They are outliers and have outperformed their peers since childhood in interesting and non-obvious ways. In less than 2 weeks, they’ll pitch their companies to investors at Demo Day in San Francisco.

Take a look at who they are and follow them to keep up to date with their progress 🧵

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

3 weeks ago some of the most talented technologists from Europe, India and North America relocated to our new San Francisco office. In just 3 weeks time, they’ll be launching their startups at Demo Day.

But who are they? 🧵

[Alice Bentinck @Alicebentinck]

I announced the launch of our San Francisco Hub this morning on @business and @CarolineHydeTV. Thanks for having me!

We're now relocating our companies to SF once they've formed in London, Paris, Bangalore and New York. An exciting next chapter for them and @join_ef.

[Ambica @ambica89]

@biki_bose @loom Today, @lenatschki enjoyed Rafiki barking at the end of it

[Entrepreneurs First @join_ef]

Can you crack the code? To celebrate the launch of How to be a Founder in paperback, we’re giving the first ten codebreakers a copy of the book. Start here: https://t.co/iRflJNxHqG

*Only those in the UK will be eligible to receive a book. Full T&Cs here: https://t.co/kEw21nfecU

[Barney Hussey-Yeo @Barney_H_Y]

@Alicebentinck @join_ef @matthewclifford Watching you operate together over the years has been wildly impressive.

You set a high bar for what a world class and complimentary cofounding relationship looks like.

Really excited for what’s ahead for @join_ef - few missions matter more.

[Tushar Agarwal @iamtoosh]

@Alicebentinck @join_ef @matthewclifford Huge congrats @Alicebentinck. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again), EF was the single most transformational thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ll be eternally grateful for you guys taking a chance on me and the life skills I learn in such a short space of time.

[Alice Bentinck @Alicebentinck]

I spoke today @SlushHQ about how to develop an idea from scratch. I talked about how to go about finding a 'Secret' by:

1. Using your Edge
2. Speaking to customers relentlessly
3. Creating a behaviour explosion

(thread with details)

[Polaris Fellowship @join_polaris]

Applications close today.

Some encouragement from last year's fellows below.