I'm Kiani from Inside.com, and this week, we asked our Inside Startups community, "As a startup founder, how do you prevent burnout?" and received many answers from founders and CEOs. Burnout amongst founders is a genuine concern, and here’s how some of the community is dealing: - Batuhan Ulasan, Co-founder of BeforeSunset, a SaaS company offering a time, budget, and project management platform, stressed the importance of taking care of yourself, writing, “In a professional environment, it’s different. You are just a piece of the puzzle that can be replaced easily, but in the startup world, without you, there’s no startup. That’s why you need to make sure to take care of yourself and your team as much as possible to avoid burnout.”
- Paulina Sosa, Founder, and CEO of Latinx Voces, admits though she loves her work, she’s dealt with chronic burnout this past year, consisting of feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and insecure. She writes, “Well, it got to the point where I told myself I HAVE TO care for myself or I just won't be a good leader for my team. And giving myself that sense of motivation and internal accountability has helped me practice gratitude more regularly. Because you know what? I really do have so much to be grateful for.” Her strategy to fight burnout is always to practice gratefulness in her journey.
- Rhys Ryan, a Founder of Ekkobar, a B2B SaaS AI software focused on delivering on the financial promise of social media, told the community his past struggle with living and breathing work, and balancing his own needs. It wasn’t until he learned an interesting lesson about forgiveness that he was able to take steps to improve this balance. Rhys writes, “I gave myself permission ****to take it easy… I found myself taking 10 minutes and playing Angry Birds or taking the dogs for a walk. The more I learned about pacing and not feeling guilty, the better the burnout got.”
The Inside Startups community is fantastic, and I always wish to include all answers. However, you can continue this conversation with other founders here. We may shout out your name and business or reach out for more about you! ⭐️
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Startups are investigating new ways to produce hydrogen; companies believe they can cheaply create hydrogen to help decarbonize the economy and make it a viable alternative energy. Currently, hydrogen is expensive to produce and costs between $3 to $26/kilo. For hydrogen to become a practical alternative energy, it must cost ~$1/kilo. More: - Startups like Sunfire GmbH and Hysata use electrolyzers to produce hydrogen. Unfortunately, electrolyzers often require a lot of water and electricity.
- Jefferies estimates that $100B worth of electrolyzers will be sold this decade.
- Sunfire GmbH recently raised ~$192M with investment from Amazon.com Inc.'s Climate Pledge Fund.
- The startup Hysata believes its electrolyzer requires 20% less energy while producing 20% more hydrogen than its competitors.
- Cemvita Factory Inc. does not use electrolyzers but adds microbes to abandoned oil wells to produce carbon and hydrogen.
- The carbon remains underground while the so-called "gold hydrogen" is captured.
- The company has opened a hydrogen-focused arm called Gold H2 LLC, which claims it can produce hydrogen for ~$1/kilo.
- Monolith uses methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen. This method relies on low electrical currents to dissolve methane into carbon black and hydrogen.
- The early-stage startup Molten Industries uses a similar technique and was recently awarded funds from Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy.
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Amagi raises a $100M Series F funding round at a $1.4B valuation. The round was led by General Atlantic, but the company includes investors Accel, Norwest Ventures, and Emerald Media. More: - The media technology company headquartered in New York and Bengaluru, India, offers cloud solutions through its platform for companies to monetize and distribute their content.
- The company yields clients, including NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Network, ABS-CBN, A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, Curiosity Stream, Gannett, Gusto TV, and Vice Media.
- The funding proceeds will be used to build its infrastructure, AI investment, and advertising solutions.
- Following its Series F round, the company has raised a total of $350M from investors and noted they had surpassed $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
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Wheel to acquire GoodRx's virtual care programs for $19.5M. The startup will gain access to GoodRx's clinical management tools, patient-facing program, and medical record platform. The deal is expected to close by the end of this month. More: - GoodRx will continue to run its consumer-facing website and smartphone application.
- It will also continue to host telehealth services using the Wheel's technology and staff services.
- The acquisition allows Wheel to scale its platform further, introducing the program to in-person healthcare providers.
- The Wheel and GoodRx have been partners since 2020.
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U.K. startup Napo snags £15M in its Series A funding round to offer widespread pet insurance and health prevention options. The round was led by DN Capital with additional venture participation from Helvetia, DMG, T0, and FJ Labs. More: - The company differentiates itself from traditional pet insurance in that it offers 24/7 access to online vet consultations, obesity awareness resources, and other preventive measures in addition to its insurance policies.
- Gen Z and Millennials represent nearly 70% of pet owners, and global pet demand is expected to increase over the next decade.
- Napo claims to have more than 35,000 pets insured on its platform since its launch late last year.
- The company, which was founded in 2021, has raised a total of £17M.
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Meta is acquiring the Cambridge-based startup Audio Analytic for an undisclosed amount. Audio Analytic trained AI to recognize everyday sounds like a dog barking or glass breaking. The startup will join Meta's Reality Labs division, which is focused on building the metaverse. More: - At Meta, Audio Analytic's team will work to grow the metaverse, helping to research how virtual sounds can better mimic their real-world counterparts.
- Technology companies use the startup's ai3 software to create products that recognize everyday sounds.
- The company had previously raised $25M.
- The announcement comes just as Meta lays off 13% of its staff.
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Mexican-based produce company Perfekto raises $1.1M pre-seed to save foods from landfills. The funding round, announced yesterday, was led by Asymmetry Ventures. More: - Perfekto offers imperfect produce deliveries through a subscription box. It offers fresh produce from farms that would otherwise have to be traditionally thrown away based on coloring, looks, or shapes.
- The company joins the crowded space of startups looking to reduce food waste, with companies such as Full Harvest raising $23M last year in its Series B to build a food produce marketplace.
- The money from the round will be put towards optimizing operations and tech and expanding products to consumers.
- The company, founded in 2021, recently launched a crowdfunding campaign in addition to its pre-seed raise.
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Quick Hits: - $250 for International Acct. Day? Demo Divvy by Nov. 10 so you can stop wasting time on expense reports and start wasting it at the beach.*
- The Chinese startup Space Epoch is building reusable rockets. The SpaceX-inspired company recently closed a Seed round to launch its stainless steel rockets.
- Rivian's shares dropped ~$1.72B in Q3. The EV startup expects to lose $5.4B this year.
- Vouch and Capsule partner to protect companies, including startups, with business insurance.
- Intel Corp. announced accepted participants for its Ignite program, a 12-week accelerator. The 18 startups all closed pre-Seed or Seed funding rounds of ~$8.5M+.
*This is sponsored content.
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Upcoming Events: - November 29 - Learn about concrete 3D printed houses: how it works, market snapshot and investment opportunity. (Register Here) *
- January 31 - Growth Summit'23 (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored event listing.
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 |  | Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History. While working toward her Ph.D., Courtney has developed an interest in the language and history of the tech industry, especially regarding metaverse technologies, streaming, and podcasting. In fact, she hosted her own podcast Low Culture Boil! You can find her on Twitter: @ckayerawlings Email: courtney@inside.com |  | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
