Welcome back to Top Startups! Each week, I share who’s freshly funded by the best investors, and looking to hire.
Before we dive in, here’s my take on how to use psychology to “think different”.
Now let’s get into it:
Zuma | AI Sales | 💸 $7M Seed from A16Z, YC | 20 employees 👤
What they do: Building 24/7 human + AI sales teams, starting with real estate property management
What I like: As a new entrepreneur, I’ve learned firsthand that turning leads into qualified customers is brutal. A savvy AI-powered agent is music to the ears of any business… if it works. Zuma is as promising as they come: 10X revenue increase this year, 35X ROI for their customers, led by founders with real estate experience
Hiring: 8 roles incl. eng, design, product, sales in SF, LA, Bengaluru
Commonwealth Fusion | Renewable energy | 💸 $1.8B Series B from Khosla, Gates, Soros | 180 employees 👤
What they do: Building the path to clean, carbon-free, limitless energy
What I like: Commonwealth is founded on decades of MIT research and the clear frontrunner in making nuclear fusion a reality (fusion = holy grail of energy because it’s clean and limitless); while the time horizon is long, it’s a promising place if you’re excited by renewable energy
Hiring: 60+ roles incl. eng, finance, ops in Boston, Milpitas
Iron Fish | Crypto | 💸 $28M Series A from Sequoia, A16Z | 8 employees 👤
What they do: Building the universal privacy layer for crypto, like SSL for blockchains
What I like: Bubble or not, DeFi is here to stay in some form. Iron Fish is fixing two critical issues I’ve seen with DeFi: usability (some sites are straight-up tribute to the early 90s) and privacy (blockchain today is highly traceable)
That’s my top 3! Check out all newly funded startups and jobs (it’s ordered by recency).
💰 Btw, startup compensation (especially equity) has been a black box for far too long. So I’m building a database of real startup compensation that you can filter by role, experience, stage and location. If this sounds valuable, sign up for early access and contribute privately if you can! 💰
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Thanks,
-Linda