Deal Abstract
Repeat founder and AgTech syndicate are building a two handed strawberry picker solution that should automate fruit harvesting.
Financials (VRB)
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1. Fundraising Target? | $1070000 |
| 2. Fundraised So Far? | $440864 |
| 3. Pre-Money Valuation? | $ |
| 4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue | $12500000 |
| 5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) | ~$-1240626 |
The 6 Calacanis Characteristics ("Sow Passion, Not easy mediocrity", or S2 P6 N18)
| Criteria | Yes/No |
|---|---|
| 1. A startup that is based in SV? | False: SoCal |
| 2. Has at least 2 founders? | False: Two |
| 3. Has product in the market? | True: Picking strawberries |
| 4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? | True: |
| 5. Notable investors? | True: Farmhand Ventures |
| 6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | False: Needs $1.8m and not quite there yet |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
| Question | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Engineering? | 4 | Using arms and cameras to execute on two arm solution |
| 2. Timing? | 3 | Robotics good, but not sure if the technology is ready for prime time yet |
| 3. Monopoly? | 4 | Not yet, but if it is the only deployable strawberry picker at scale then that's somethin |
| 4. People? | 4 | Repeat founder with strong adviser |
| 5. Distribution? | 3 | Has an anchor customer, good advisors, but uncertain how they would distribute efficiently than others |
| 6. Durability? | 4 | Hard market to capture but if captured should be defensible |
| 7. Secret? | 3 | Two handed robot picking is more efficient than other methods |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. R&D technology scales out well to franchised model; 2. Robot companies start rolling out at scale e.g. there are customers; 3. Other automation companies don't come into this or have a good alternative
What the Risks Are
1. Technology risk, can other vendors use the AI that easily; 2. Defensibility risk, is the hardware or software more defensible; 3. Do costs of servicing clients go up as team scales?
Bonus Muhan's Notes
Cool technology, would be curious to see testimonials from farmers.
Updates
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