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☆ Former Disney star Bridgit Mendler is now the CEO of a space startup. Here's what she has been up to since 'Good Luck Charlie' ended.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Ayomikun Adekaiyero | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Disney star Bridgit Mendler is now the CEO and cofounder of a space satellite startup, to the surprise of some of her fans. Mendler is best known for playing Teddy Duncan in all four seasons of the Disney show "Good Luck Charlie," but has recently moved away from performing. On Monday, CNBC exclusively reported that Mendler is launching the startup Northwood Space with business partner Shaurya Luthra and her husband, Griffin Cleverly. Northwood Space aims to mass-produce ground stations and antennas that connect to satellites, making them more accessible for space companies, CNBC reported. In 2017, Mendler started working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Media Lab.

Persons: —, Mendler, Teddy Duncan, Charlie, Shaurya Luthra, Griffin, @foundersfund, Barbie, lace", endler, egan Organizations: Service, Disney, CNBC, Space, Northwood, ince Locations: @NorthwoodSpace, ath

☆ See the pitch deck that helped former investment bankers raise a $7 million seed round for their generative 'AI consigliere' to bankers and analysts
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It’s a reality that’s all too common among bankers on Wall Street — and one that venture-capital investors are hoping to capitalize on . "I was seeing how rote the work was, what a pain it was,” Stengel said, who would often work hundred-hour weeks . While at Princeton in 2019, Stengel researched how to use AI in chatbot form to analyze financial and economic data. Rogo is an AI platform built for investment bankers, hedge fund analysts, and private equity investors. Here's the 9-page pitch deck Rogo used to raise $7 million.

Persons: Gabriel Stengel, It’s, ” Stengel, Stengel, John Willett, Tumas Rackaitis, Gilder Gagnon Howe, ”, we've Organizations: Service, Lazard, Wall, Business, Princeton, JPMorgan, Co, AlleyCorp, Company Ventures, BoxGroup, ScOp Ventures, SEC

☆ This AI company wants to help you control your dreams
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's a tech startup building what the company calls the "world's first wearable device for stabilizing lucid dreams." Lucid dreams occur when a person sleeping becomes aware they're dreaming and may be able to control parts of the dream. Humane AI, a company founded in 2017 by former Apple employees, debuted its wearable — the AI Pin — on the runway last week at Paris Fashion Week. And famed iPhone designer Jony Ive and OpenAI's Sam Altman are also reportedly discussing an AI hardware project. The co-founders have the type of lofty dreams typical of a modern-era tech startup, with Wollberg comparing the company to OpenAI.

Persons: Eric Wollberg, Wesley Berry, Wollberg, Berry, Grimes, BoxGroup, Card79, Jony, Sam Altman, Prometheus Organizations: a16z's Scout Fund, Plaid, Elon, Apple, Paris Fashion, Donders Institute for Brain, Radboud University Locations: Netherlands

☆ What happened to Something Navy: How Arielle Charnas' clothing brand went from internet sensation to defunct site in 3 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Something Navy is an apparel brand that was created by fashion influencer Arielle Charnas in 2020. Now, the company has endured losses in sales and more than half its employees and CEO have left. The apparel brand launched by fashion influencer Arielle Charnas in 2020 has faced faltering sales, hordes of employees have left the company, and the brand has fallen behind on payments to suppliers. Currently, no merchandise is being sold through Something Navy's website, where a note says: "The Something Navy site is getting a little refresh. Something Navy, which is a private company, was valued at $100 million a year after the brand launched, the company told Insider in 2021.

Persons: Matt Scanlan, Silas Capital, Silas Chou, Jenny Fleiss, Charnas, Brandon Charnas Organizations: Navy, Service, Something, Kind Venture, Silas, US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Staples, Something Navy Locations: Wall, Silicon, Hong Kong

☆ Check out the bare-bones pitch deck that AI-powered text editor Macro used to raise $9.3 million from Andreessen Horowitz
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It raised $9.3 million in a round of seed funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Investors have bought into the idea with a $9.3 million seed round, led by Andreessen Horowitz's Kristina Shen and Zeya Yang. When Macro set out to raise a seed round, Andreessen Horowitz's name floated to the top of the list of dream investors. Macro wants to become the "default" app for handling documents, Beckerman said, without scrambling the Microsoft file format on which millions of people rely. Read the pitch deck that Macro used to convince Andreessen Horowitz to leads its $9.3 million seed round.

☆ The CEO of buzzy healthtech startup Vial, which slashed up to 50 jobs last year, asked remaining employees to write positive Glassdoor reviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vial's CEO asked workers to post positive Glassdoor reviews to counter negative ones, Insider found. In a month, 20 positive reviews for Vial flooded the site, raising its rating from one to 3.8 stars. On December 12, Simon Burns, a cofounder and the CEO of the healthtech startup Vial, sent a Slack message in his company's "random-kudos" channel. He included a link to Vial's Glassdoor page and asked other employees to "give her a hand, review us on Glassdoor." In earlier days at the startup, negative employee reviews on Glassdoor cited a toxic culture, a disconnected leadership team, and a lack of industry experience.

☆ Buzzy healthtech startup Vial slashed an entire division weeks before a $67 million raise from General Catalyst. Insiders say they had no idea the layoffs were coming.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vial let go of its entire site network division, 40 to 50 people, last October, Insider has learned. Just a month after the October cuts, the healthtech startup announced a $67 million funding round. Ahead of the deluge of tech layoffs that have plagued the beginning of 2023, one healthtech startup quietly slashed dozens of jobs late last year, Insider has learned. In October, Vial, which helps biotech companies run faster and more efficient trials, laid off an entire division. As of December 2022, Vial had 125 employees, according to Pitchbook.

☆ Arielle Charnas' company, Something Navy, is floundering amid dwindling sales, an employee exodus, and furious suppliers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

From the outside, it doesn't look as if Charnas' company is in trouble. Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for Beach MagazineSeveral former employees told Insider they cut ties with Something Navy because they saw signs the company was struggling. Several current and former Something Navy employees told Insider they'd been inundated with emails since the spring from suppliers, freelancers, and models asking where their money was. In one email viewed by Insider, Scanlan told a supplier that cash was tight but promised payment was on the way. The current Something Navy employee said that based on data she'd seen, the retail locations most likely don't turn a profit.

☆ Here's the 11-page pitch deck that landed car financing startup Zevvy $5.4 million to bring used EVs to the masses
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Zevvy is an auto financing startup looking to make EVs more affordable. It's offering potential EV drivers shorter leases, pay-per-mile terms. Check out the 11-page pitch deck it used to raise $5.4 million for its next expansion. Zevvy, founded in 2021 as Flux EV, just finished a $5.4 million seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital. Here's the 11-slide pitch deck that sold Zevvy's new investors on its vision for the future of financing electric vehicles.

☆ A former Shopify exec is taking a page out of the e-commerce company's playbook to build planning software for parents
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Madeline Stone | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With Maple, parents can create and assign tasks like paying the bills, planning a family trip or birthday party, and doing chores. "The next Martha Stewart is going to be made on Maple," Perry said. For example, a Disney aficionado created a guide for visiting Disneyland that parents planning a trip could find within the Maple app's browser. "Planning the trips, planning for summer camp, planning for Disneyland, planning the week's meals, the college financial planning — whatever they're planning, there is a family in need of that same exact information." The Shopify App Store, which has more than 7,000 apps geared toward online sellers, also provided some inspiration for Perry.

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