Week Twelve: Romeo & Juliet
No CEOs were harmed in the making of this edition.
Housekeeping
Welcome to the twelfth edition of Venture Vantage. We’ll be exploring topics related to tech and the venture ecosystem.
I’m late. Again. I already know my subscribers start looking like this when VV isn’t on time:
Too soon? Anyways, a lot has happened this week, so forgive me. Syria, Franklin Fire, and a childhood friend visiting me in NYC.
As always, please hit me back with feedback and comments—I’m constantly seeking ways to make this newsletter a more valuable read.
Diving right in and keeping things brief:
News, Deals, and Pretty Things
Modern day Romeo & Juliet: Albertsons and Kroger
Context:
Joe Biden’s mafioso FTC headed by Dictator Khan (am I showing my bias here?) blocked the merger between Albertsons and Kroger. They claimed that the $20B merger would lead to price increases for consumers.
U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson backed the FTC’s decision, leading to the merger falling apart.
Kroger is the 5th largest retailer in the U.S., and Albertsons is the 10th largest.
Albertsons is now suing the sh*t out of Kroger, claiming that they did not do anything to alleviate the concerns of regulators that led to the blocking of the merger.
From Albertons’ release: Kroger refused to offer an adequate divesture package and repeatedly ignored regulators’ concerns, causing the merger with Albertsons to be blocked.
Albertsons in search of a “$600 million termination fee that Kroger previously agreed to pay and relief for the two years and hundreds of millions of dollars that Albertsons spent seeking approval for the merger.”
Vantage:
The Albertsons and Kroger execs have said that this merger is what they actually need to be able to provide low prices to consumers: right now, Walmart eats them for breakfast when it comes to buying power, leaving “small players” like Albertsons and Kroger to pay higher prices for similar goods.
Stocks of both companies have been impacted—going in wildly different directions. See the image above.
This might be a bad signal for the big retailers with regards to CPG access—although it’s a bit of a stretch: CPG startups may choose to partner with small grocers instead of the big boys because they’re subject to less scrutiny. If the retailer is growing, the startup can likely grow with them.
Quantum computing is real, apparently
Context:
Google announced a new chip called the Willow that supposedly marks a huge leap forward in quantum computing technology.
Quantum computers are much faster than traditional computers—with Willow chips, they only take 5 mins to solve the same problem that would take a traditional computer 10 septillion years to solve.
Quantum computers leverage particle physics (quantum mechanics) to solve extremely complex problems. Most of us learned in our computer science classes that computers use 0s and 1s to store and compute information in bits. Quantum computers can use 0s, 1s, or both simultaneously (called a superposition), in a unit called qubits. This means quantum computers can explore many solutions at the same time, rather than one-by-one like classical computers. Qubits also link together in something called entanglement. When qubits are entangled, changing one qubit instantly affects the other, even if they’re far apart. This connection lets quantum computers work together on problems more efficiently, boosting their power to solve complex tasks. Quantum entanglement, yo.
Vantage:
The Willow chip and other advancements in quantum computing can help accelerate the time it takes for AI models to go to market. This faster computing can also help train machine learning algorithms more quickly and accurately.
Quantum computers have the potential to provide a lot of value to all kinds of startups and investors, from helping hedge funds with rapid and accurate financial modeling to helping life science startups with ultra-fast molecule simulations for drug discovery.
Bye bye, Cruise
Context:
General Motors announced Tuesday that it would end funding for its Cruise robotaxi service.
GM has invested more than $10B into Cruise, with about $800M of that coming from Microsoft.
Cruise was founded in 2013, began testing cars in 2015, and then was acquired by GM in 2016. California gave Cruise an autonomous vehicle license in 2021. In October of 2023, a Cruise car called “Panini” hit a woman in SF and dragged her 20 feet.
After the incident, Cruise had their self-driving permits revoked.
Vantage:
This is a huge loss for GM, and a huge loss for Microsoft. They really sank a lot of money into this project, and this will likely act as a cautionary tale for other investors who might be looking at autonomous systems in the future.
This will likely give competitors Waymo and Tesla an edge, since they’re still standing. This race might be won by process of elimination.
It may also signal that autonomous driving is still not perfect, and has a long way to go. It’ll be a while before it becomes fully mainstream.
This defeat, combined with the October 2023 incident, may lead to changes in the regulations that autonomous car manufacturers face. Regulators may choose to limit who can become a maker of autonomous vehicles based on the fact that GM failed so horribly.
Deals that caught my eye
Here’s the latest and greatest:
Ariana Thacker’s NewCo, called MoldCo, just raised $3M in their pre-seed. The company is focused on reclaiming one’s health from mold by providing testing and treatments for mold toxicity.
Mainframe, probably the coolest company I’ve seen recently is designing generative productivity software. They just raised a $5.5M seed round led by Peter Boyce II of Stellation Capital and Lachy Groom, with participation from Alana Goyal, Akshay Kothari (co-founder of Notion), Weekend Fund and others. Calling it now—I’m going to regret missing this deal.
Aampe, an agentic infrastructure that enables product and marketing teams to build customer relationships by delivering continuously personalized experiences, raised $18M in Series A funding. The round was led by Theory Ventures with participation from Z47.
Players Health, a provider of athlete safety and sports insurance solutions, raised $60M in Series C funding led by Bluestone Equity Partners with participation from Mosaic General Partners, RPM Ventures, SiriusPoint and TriplePoint Capital.
GovSignals raised a $5.5M seed round led by Unusual VC. The company leverages data across the government to generate compliant proposals.
Rapid Fire
Context: Walgreens might sell to a private equity firm, taking the company private. They’ve been in talks with Sycamore Partners to acquire the company. | Vantage: Walgreens once sat at a $100B market cap in 2015, but that number has shrunk drastically to about $7.5B as of this week. This acquisition might save a failing company.
Context: Perplexity AI projects $127M annual revenue in 2025 ($10.5M/month) and $656M by 2026, aiming to attract millions of paying users with their Pro plan. | Vantage: This info was apparently leaked as Perlexity was raising their $500M round, which is honestly not a good thing. It shows that investors have no ability to keep their mouths shut—not a good look.
White Hot
Human Health:
Improvements in real-time injury monitoring. Imagine if doctors could attach or impregnate a device to your body that can keep tabs on how you’re healing from various injuries, whether it’s a wound, fracture, or tear. Even if it could detect infections early—that would be game-changing.
A platform that provides feedback about environmental factors that could be impacting your health. For example, daily air quality, likely noise or light pollution, temperature changes, local tap water quality, etc.
I feel like a broken record saying this, but healthy meal replacements. Things like Huel and Soylent suck… and people want real alternatives to a $24 Chipotle bowl for office lunches.
Future of Work:
Making everyone in the office comfortable is hard. Having a digital smart office manager would be great—one that could make unbiased decisions about where to place people so they aren’t disturbed by noisy people on calls, set the thermostat temperature, and reorder supplies at the best price.
I think co-working will grow as the freelance wave grows, and therefore I think more support technologies, like member engagement tools, will be necessary.
Infrastructure:
Improved cooling technology for data centers that use less power, no water, no risk of leaks, etc. The status quo is really sub-par, in my opinion.
We have self-healing car paint, but we don’t have self-healing waterproofing membranes. This seems like a no brainer to me, and would prevent so much money worth of property damage each year.
Some cool stuff on my radar
I’m a big fan of the Oliver Peoples Sheldrake Sun. These have replaced the Gregory Pecks as my daily glasses. Can’t recommend them enough. Comfortable, durable, and, most importantly, glass lenses.
Without exaggeration, I think I own 5 of these Post-It Dispensers. They make it so easy to quickly write things down. The only downside: my desk is COVERED in sticky notes.
I did a lot of hunting for a high-quality but affordable waiter’s corkscrew. This Hicoup one is the best thing I could find. Feels really premium for a great price.
I’ve had my eye on these Sabah Fort Worth slippers. They look so comfortable, I think I may have to cop soon.
I’ve been meaning to try the Nix Hydration patch for the longest time. It looks like a CGM, but instead measures sweat loss. Rather than drinking an LMNT and praying it was enough, Nix is supposed to give you insight into how much you need to replenish after a hard workout. Essential for summer months!
Continued Reads
This week’s continued read is Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. A snippet:
“People tend to assess the relative importance of issues by the ease with which they are retrieved from memory.”
Read it here. Bonus points: The Right It by Alberto Savoia
Closing
Thanks for taking time out of your Wednesday to read.
As always, you can find me on X and LinkedIn, and I’d love to hear from you via email. Whether it’s talking startups or just shooting the shit, I’m always happy to connect.
Onto the next!
//Eli