💫 Ramplify: January Wrap Up
AGI (ASI) Pilled, Deep-Freak, Founder <> Investor interaction
(AWS’ Casey Flint and Anthropic’s (ex-Google Gemini’s) Sholto Douglas talking AGI)
👀 Looking beyond by Taryn Pieterse
Last week, OpenAI unveiled Operator, a new agent capable of performing browser-based tasks like filling out forms, ordering groceries, and even creating memes. While Operator can handle repetitive tasks with impressive efficiency, it’s designed to hand off to the user for anything requiring login credentials, payment details, or solving CAPTCHAs.
It’s incredible to think how quickly something as mundane as grocery shopping has evolved. We’ve gone from flipping through recipe books, handwriting shopping lists, and navigating store aisles to using a web link and prompting an AI agent to order home delivery. Technologies like Operator have supercharged this process, cutting out multiple steps and delivering a 10x improvement in convenience—though with 87% accuracy today, there’s still room for growth (see the demo here).
AI’s rapid progress is astonishing. Just last week, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, predicted, “AI will surpass almost all humans at almost all tasks in 2-3 years.” Yet, the pace at which we embrace these tools might lag behind their development.
So, where does that leave founders in Australia and New Zealand? At an AWS event hosted by Casey Flint, we heard from Sholto Douglas on lessons from his time at DeepMind. My biggest takeaway? While the AI giants focus on enhancing their models to reach ASI (Artificial Superintelligence), startups have a massive opportunity to carve out niches. Startups that leverage the best AI models for specific problems combine them with deep domain expertise and solve real-world challenges where rewards are more complicated to define. However, they still have significant room to innovate.
We’re particularly excited about opportunities in Vertical AI, where domain-specific solutions can make a real difference. If you’re building a startup, we’d love to hear from you - get in touch!
🗞️ Tech News:
Deep-freak. The news that has rocked the technology community over the last week is that DeepSeek, founded by a Chinese hedge fund, released its R1 model on Monday, explaining in a detailed paper how to build a large language model on a bootstrapped budget that can automatically learn and improve itself without human supervision. In December, DeepSeek released its V3 model with 671 billion parameters, trained for just $5.58 million—a fraction of what other major AI labs typically spend (11x- 20x lower). This model matched industry leaders like GPT-4 and Claude 3.5 Sonnet in benchmarks while being fully open-source. Following this, a few days ago, DeepSeek released DeepSeek-R1, a reasoning model that achieved strong results on mathematical and logical tasks, and the DeepSeek app is now the most downloaded free app in the U.S. on Apple’s App Store. DeepSeek demonstrates that high-performing AI models can be built with fewer resources than previously thought necessary, and this breaks the narrative around chip supremacy and that model runs were scaling to a power of 10, OpenAI GPT-4 cost $100mm; there were talks the subsequent runs would be $1 billion, $10 billion to $100 billion model. While we don’t think this will have a massive impact on overall technology companies and valuations, this calls into question Nvidia's revenue projections and R&D plans for the Magnificent 7.
The Nasdaq is off 3.90% in pre-market trading this morning, with tech companies associated with the present AI boom taking even larger hits:
Nvidia is off 12.3% in pre-market trading after falling 3.1% Friday
Microsoft is off 6% in pre-market trading
Amazon is off 4.4% in pre-market trading
Meta is off 3.3% in pre-market trading
Wallstreet AI. Goldman Sachs is rolling out a generative AI assistant to its bankers, traders and asset managers, the first stage in the evolution of a program that will eventually take on the traits of a seasoned Goldman employee, according to Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti. The bank has released a program called GS AI assistant to about 10,000 employees so far, with the goal that all the company’s knowledge workers will have it this year. “The AI assistant becomes really like talking to another GS employee,”.
🛠️ How to Startup:
How to Navigate Those Initial Founder-Investor Interactions. Rampersand’s investment intern, Varad Chaudhari, offers actionable insights for founders navigating the delicate balance of sharing their vision while assessing investor fit. From crafting a compelling 30-second explanation of your startup to leveraging authentic storytelling and addressing challenges with transparency, learn why the most successful founder-investor relationships go beyond capital to create true partnerships. Whether preparing for your first investor meeting or looking to refine your approach, this guide provides battle-tested strategies to help you stand out in a landscape where investors hear thousands of pitches yearly.
(Cuttable co-founders Ed Ring, Sam Kroonenburg and Jack White want small brands to be able to use their platform to create better ads)
These founders with nothing to lose are coming back for a second act. Meet two successful tech entrepreneurs who aren't resting on their laurels after billion-dollar exits. Sam Kroonenburg, fresh from selling A Cloud Guru for $2 billion, and Leigh Jasper, who sold Aconex for $1.6 billion, are diving headfirst into the AI revolution with new ventures. While Kroonenburg's Cuttable (Rampersand portfolio company) aims to democratise advertising for smaller brands through AI-driven campaigns, Jasper's Firmable reimagines B2B sales intelligence. Their stories offer a fascinating glimpse into how seasoned founders approach the AI era differently from their previous ventures, highlighting faster decision-making, earlier marketing investments, and the remarkable speed at which AI enables companies to scale with smaller teams.
👕 VC in Australia/New Zealand:
Rod Hamilton live. Culture Amp is one of Australia’s great success stories. Rod Hamilton, Culture Amp’s Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer (also a Rampersand VP), was on last week’s The High Flyers Podcast for a rare in-depth public interview. He covered a lot of ground. It’s great; check it out.
▪️Professional sports dreams growing up and the influence of his brother
▪️Reflecting on success and fulfilment at age 18 and now
▪️Benefits of co-founding Culture Amp in his early 30's rather than 20's
▪️How to truly understand customers and differentiate buyer and user
▪️What does a world-class people leader behave like?
▪️Decision to move away from Culture Amp, questioning his identity and much more!
Big Australia VC Gets Bigger. The Australian venture capital landscape is experiencing a significant shift, with a stark divide emerging between established and newer players. While powerhouse firms like Blackbird, Airtree, and Square Peg continue raising substantial funds, smaller VC firms face unprecedented challenges. Only seven firms closed new funds totalling $3 billion in the past year, compared to over 30 funds in previous years. This consolidation trend mirrors the US market, where just 20 firms captured 60% of total fundraising. With limited IPO opportunities and cautious investors keeping cash on the sidelines, emerging fund managers are at a crossroads - facing potential market exits or consolidation, despite arguments that smaller firms often deliver superior returns due to their appetite for higher-risk, potentially more rewarding investments.
2025 Ventures ilab Accelerator: Meet our cohort. The 11 teams, including 24 founders and 10 current UQ student participants, are solving programs across diverse industries.
Aroma Armour – Helping people take care of shoe and gear hygiene.
Eyebrarian – AI-powered book recommendations and reading tools.
Polinate – Marketplace for restaurants to order from suppliers.
MyHive – The café pre-ordering app for morning exercisers.
ScanAI – AI algorithm for diagnostic radiology.
Nova Intelligence Systems – All-in-one hub for seamless business operations.
SeatFinder – Airline rewards seat finder for APAC travellers.
Rise – Better data, better healthcare outcomes.
Inventico – Intellectual property management platform.
Orchy Energy – Orchy slashes your energy bill.
Marco Polo Portal – Empowering people with a disability to choose how they live their lives.
🤩 Portfolio News
Cuttable has hired Paul Arena, former Ogilvy Australia head of strategy and planning, as its new head of strategy. Arena will lead the strategy to ensure Cuttable's AI delivers sharper recommendations, more impactful creativity, and deeper strategic precision.
Quantum Brilliance has raised $30 million in Series A funding from Breakthrough Victoria and the National Reconstruction Fund. The company is working on diamond-based quantum devices that can deliver real-world applications today, particularly in quantum sensing for industries like navigation and defence. Additionally, QB is building the world's first mobile quantum computer using diamond-based quantum technology.
💼 Portfolio Job Board
Marketing Coordinator at Orkestra
Location and Type: Melbourne, Australia (Hybrid) & full-time
What they do: Orkestra Technologies is an Australian software startup revolutionising the deployment of energy projects. Their SaaS software helps energy teams deploy and operate new energy projects, such as solar, batteries, and electric vehicles, in the C&I customer segment.
What you’ll do: As a Marketing Coordinator, you will assist with crafting and executing Orkestra's global growth marketing strategy across digital platforms, events, content creation, and automation. You will work closely with the growth, sales, and product teams to align marketing efforts with business objectives and drive awareness, engagement, and lead generation across multiple channels.
Sales Development Representative at Restoke
Location and Type: Melbourne, Australia (Hybrid) & full-time
What they do: Restoke is revolutionizing the hospitality industry through our innovative all-in-one management platform. We empower restaurants and bars to boost profitability through smart team management, real-time food costing, automated inventory control, streamlined purchasing, and comprehensive financial monitoring.
What you'll do: Serve as the first point of contact for both inbound leads and outbound prospects, leveraging your hospitality experience to build authentic connections. You'll qualify leads against our ICP, schedule demos with Account Executives, maintain a healthy pipeline through strategic outreach, and collaborate across Marketing and Customer Success teams. Additionally, you'll gather valuable market insights from customer conversations to help refine our product and sales strategies.
Do you have a job you’d like us to promote? Add it to Hatch and share the link with us.
See all jobs across the Rampersand Portfolio.
🌏 Rampersand Travel Diary:
Reach out to the team for a coffee to start the year!
🎉 Upcoming Events:
SYDNEY: Feb 4 - 2024 State of Australian Startup Funding Report Launch - Join us at the Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures launch of the 2024 State of Australian Startup Funding Report—a chance to celebrate and reflect upon the highs, lows, and ever-changing landscape of Australia’s startup funding scene. https://lu.ma/wu06ami9
MELBOURNE: Feb 13 - PICKLEBALL! Brought to you by Mayfly Ventures and Rampersand - This is a free, fun, and casual event for any skill level. Come for the sport originally designed for geriatrics, but stay for the silly season tech banter. https://lu.ma/937ck2bi
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