Big news over the past month - let's get you up to speed. Today, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (an MIT spin-off) announced a $1.8 billion raise - good luck on the hard work ahead to bring net energy to fusion! On the other end of history, we all lost a great when Jay Last of the Traitorous Eight that formed Fairchild Semiconductor passed away at 92. Though perhaps we can take a moment to think about the trends in longtermism found in innovation and philanthropy in the ascendant age of venture capital? Especially when you look at IPOs like Rivian and their war chest before and after market entry. And let's not forget that biotech continues to grow, with the MIT Future Founders Initiative announcing the finalists for 2021 (and other proof-of-concept vehicles on the rise!), the Gene-Synthesis revolution headlining the New York Time Magazine, the Vertebrate Genomes Project getting some limelight, AlphaFold2 and RoseTTAFold featuring in Nature, the impact of the global vaccine gap, and Noubar Afeyan continuing to shine a light on biotech entrepreneurship.
Network Statistics
We are up to 15,805 total connections and conversations on the AVX network - 546 more over the last month (4% month over month growth). We are currently tracking 34 potential match negotiations and another 175 with multi-month long discussions heading toward possible matches. We have now actively connected 646 different ventures (out of 1900+ examined) with 1539 different entrepreneurs and investors (out of a pool of 3400+)
In the rest of this newsletter, I will highlight some of our progress at AVX, highlight a few (digital) events from around the network, and some think pieces to examine.
Top Digital Events
Dec 1-2: Engage 2021 Conference Catalyze the transformation of research into innovation at Engage 2021. Organized by the Princeton University Office of Corporate Engagement and Foundation Relations, Engage 2021 is virtual, free and open to all. We'll zero in on connections and skills to accelerate the impact of research and innovation on complex problems: Practical information and specific resources and opportunities you can use to advance your work. We'll step back and explore the big picture: How can we propel the development of a robust and inclusive innovation ecosystem.
Dec 3: Yale Lifesciences PitchFest Join us for a full day of live pitches featuring the top biotech and digital health/healthcare IT opportunities developing within Yale. Presented by the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, have the opportunity to get a first look at a range of new opportunities.
Dec 8-9: AI + Health 2021 At this wide-ranging online conference, Stanford University is convening experts and leaders from academia, industry, government, and clinical practice to explore critical and emerging issues related to the impact of AI across the spectrum of health, healthcare, and related arenas. Content will be relevant to practitioners, researchers, executives, policymakers, and professionals, with and without technical expertise. Hear from AI greats like Fei-Fei Li and Andrew Ng and Healthcare leaders like Eric Topol (and how about this interview?).
DIGITAL EVENTS