Verticalize

work in progress

• AI in motion. Greylock's Chen argues that in the AI world, the moats have not changed - what he calls "systems of intelligence". More than 5 m images were generated with Genus AI Product Catalog tool. JobRely launched integration with ChatGPT so that recruiters would never work, again. There might be opportunities for one-person companies, but we are not there yet.
• Vinted. Grows revenue to EUR 371m and reduces losses to EUR 43m, now having 1,800 people onboard. They have caught us by surprise with the launch of Vinted Go - one could have expected them to jump into another category ( furniture?) instead. It won't be easy - it's atoms, not just bytes, and a significant B2B arm alongside the C2C marketplace (these lockers won't be full of clothes alone - they will need other freight companies to use them). But it's a challenge worth taking - it completely aligns with the overall mission of making fashion sustainable. Apparently, delivery to a pick-up point instead of the buyer’s home reduced emissions by 62%, which is massive, not to mention reduced cost, which in turn encourages more sales on the platform. If they can make this piece of vertical integration work, it will be a cornerstone of its "factory is the product" version.

• Energy &  deeptech. Among the 12 energy startups to watch - PVcase and Aerones. Viezo releases Powerail v2. Notes from Energy Tech Summit (by Contrarian Ventures), where batteries seem to receive a lot of interest. Anyone building in the deeptech space - here are some leading funds, and spot-on tips on how to structure your pitch (unless you can flex Mistral.ai type of memo that brought them EUR 105m four weeks into a startup)
• Edtech. End of the school year, this is what Teachers Lead Tech has achieved. "By endurance we conquer" - that's the favourite quote of Lukas Kaminskis (Turing College) and signal how startup got where they are today. Alfa Klase is another one to watch, the question is if revenue grows because of increasing tutoring spending, or a great product?
• Scale-ups. Hostinger hits EUR 60m in revenue last year, navigating trough the AI world - interview with Arnas (paywall, in LT). Interview with Rytis (in LT) on Omnisend journey - how he values freedom above other things, and how it allowed him to take more risks while bootstrapping. The 'ship' Estonians were all waiting for - Starship Technologies and Bolt have finally gotten it together.