News & Insights
Nick Adams Discusses How To Get Your Generative AI Startup Funded
AI and the Future of Work Podcast: Entrepreneurs wonder what it’s like to be a VC. And VCs without an operating background often don’t understand the grit required to turn an idea into a successful business. The best investors have been successful operators first.
Today’s guest is one of those. Nick Adams founded Differential Ventures in 2017 to invest in B2B, data-first seed-stage companies. Since then, Nick and the team have invested in an impressive group of companies including Private AI, Ocrolus, and Agnostiq.
Nick Adams: What Regulations Need to Be Put in Place to Ensure the Safe Use of AI in the U.S.?
Nick Adams on PM360: To get a better grasp on what eventual AI regulations could and should look like, PM360 spoke with Nick Adams, Founding Partner at Differential Ventures. In addition to starting the venture capital firm focused on AI/machine learning in 2018, Adams is also a member of the cybersecurity and national security subcommittee for the National Venture Capital Association and recently briefed members of Congress on AI policy and potential regulation.
Nick Adams: Where’s AI headed in the workplace? VCs weigh in
Nick Adams on TECHBREW: For all the pixels spilled about the promises of generative AI, it’s starting to feel like we’re telling the same story over and over again. AI is serviceable at document summarization and shows promise in customer service applications. But it generates fictions (the industry prefers the euphemistic and anthropomorphizing term “hallucinates”) and is limited by the data on which it’s trained.
David Magerman: Artificial Intelligence’s Glass Ceiling
David Magerman on THEINFORMATION: OpenAI’s stated goal is to develop and promote a software system capable of artificial general intelligence. Toward that end, the company has released systems based on large-language models, which can respond to prompts with fluent conversation on many subjects. ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing chatbot and other new systems based on OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 models are truly incredible and perform far beyond previous attempts at achieving AGI.
Nick Adams on Fox5: Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons
FOX5 WASHINGTON DC: Nick Adams discusses the pros and cons of Artificial intelligence.
Differential Ventures Specializes In Being Advisors For AI Companies
PULSE 2.0: Differential Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital fund that was founded by data scientists and entrepreneurs for data-focused entrepreneurs. To learn more about the firm, Pulse 2.0 interviewed Differential Ventures’ managing partner and co-founder Nick Adams.
Quantum commercialization: softly, softly towards the inevitable future
DIGINOMICA: What can an early-stage investor tell enterprises about the nascent quantum market?
The quantum tipping point – that fabled moment when quantum technologies break through to commercial adoption at scale – has been questioned in a previous diginomica report…
Why Investors Bank on Quantum Commercialization
ENTER QUANTUM: Experts agree that commercial quantum computing at scale could be as much as 10 years away, but this hasn’t stopped investors from betting on it turning a profit in the near future. U.S. tech venture capital company Differential Ventures led the recent $6 million seed extension round for quantum software company Agnostiq which it will use to accelerate further development and commercialization of its enterprise-grade quantum and high-performance computing platform Covalent.
In this Q&A, Differential founding partner David Magerman explains why investors are throwing their weight behind commercial quantum now.
Banking in Venture Capital & the Tech Industry
On Tuesday, April 25th, 2023, Differential Ventures hosted a webinar on “Banking in Venture Capital & the Tech Industry”. The panel was moderated by David Magerman, Managing Partner of Differential Ventures, and joined by guest speakers Michael Crook (Chief Investment Officer, Mill Creek Capital Advisers), Samir Kaji (CEO & Cofounder, Allocate), and Matt Streisfeld (General Partner, Oak HC/FT).
Differential Ventures partners with Betaworks for AICamp: Augment
AICamp: Augment is a 3 month long accelerator program run by Betaworks, aimed at bringing together the most creative pre-seed & seed stage companies building software powered by AI to augment human activity.
Nick Adams: What to Do When Your Balance Sheet Doesn’t
Sand Hill Road Podcast: Nick Adams joined the Sand Hill Road podcast to discuss the way startups can survive a downturn.
David Magerman: Why Sophistication Will Win Out In The Machine Learning Ops Sector
UniteAI: There’s no question that machine learning operations (MLOps) is a burgeoning sector. The market is projected to reach $700 million by 2025 – almost four times what it was in 2020.
Still, while technically sound and powerful, these solutions haven’t generated the expected revenue, which has raised concerns about future growth.
The Implications of Generative AI in Different Parts of Industry & Society
On Thursday, March 16th, Differential Ventures hosted our first webinar entitled Implications of Generative AI in Different Parts of Industry + Society. The panel was moderated by David Magerman, Managing Partner of Differential Ventures, and joined by guest speakers Sharon Zhang (Cofounder & CTO, Personal.ai), Erik Bernhardsson (Founder, Modal Labs), and Adam Oliner (Founder & CEO, Graft).
The Seed of Success
Welcome to the "Private Placement Perspective," a new pod storm series hosted by Matt Brown. In this first series of 2023, Matt dives deep into the world of venture capital and investing, speaking with investors and CEOs who have successfully helped scale start-ups.
How to Pitch Me
TECHCRUNCH: How to pitch me—7 investors discuss what they’re looking for in March 2023
Systemic Bias in Data Makes AI a Stereotype Machine
InsideBigData: Artificial intelligence (AI) software systems have been under attack for years for systematizing bias against minorities. Banks using AI algorithms for mortgage approvals are systematically rejecting minority applicants. Many recruiting tools using AI are biased against minority applicants. In health care, African Americans are victims of racial bias from AI-based hospital diagnostic tools. If you understand how data science research produces the models that power AI systems, you will understand why they perpetuate bias, and also how to fix it.
How global unrest will impact innovation in 2023
TECHCRUNCH: The global economic and political turmoil of the past year has had a meaningful impact on corporate innovation in the technology industry and beyond. All of these factors have led to belt-tightening in the corporate world, layoffs and hiring freezes and a more conservative investment posture from the investment community. Inevitably, these changes will have a chilling effect on innovation in the years to come.
However, there is perhaps a silver lining when it comes to the prospects for innovation. In some ways, these market forces might actually serve as an accelerant for creativity and advancement in technology.
David Magerman in Fast Company’s “The Biggest Tech Trends of 2023”
FAST COMPANY: Fundraising as a business model is dead. Valuations in the tech industry will ultimately settle above pre-pandemic levels, but down from 2021. The top companies will be surprisingly closer to the record highs. There is still a significant amount of undeployed cash in venture funds at all stages. Investors and managers are still smarting from recent pain, and appropriately chastened by overly exuberant valuations, but they will have to deploy their capital eventually. Once markets and macroeconomic forces stabilize, we should see the strong companies returning to 2021 valuations.
Startup Hustle Podcast with David Magerman: The Limits of AI/ML
n this episode of Startup Hustle, Matt DeCoursey and David Magerman, Managing Partner & CTO of Differential Ventures, talk about the limits of AI/ML. Learn about AI and ML learning modes, their limitations, and how you can maximize the use of data and machine learning to improve your own processes.
Alternative Fund Podcast with Renaissance veteran and venture capitalist David Magerman
David Magerman, a venture capitalist with Differential Ventures and former quantitative hedge fund manager with Renaissance Technologies, was the guest on episode five of the Alternative Fund Insight podcast.