Coming soon to a podcast near you

YouTube debuts podcast tools: Now that YouTube is a favored destination not just on phones but TVs, the streamer is eager to add more blockbuster podcasts to its line-up. So it makes sense that, at this week’s Made on YouTube event in NYC, much of the focus was on new tools for podcasters, aimed at easing the transition of full podcast segments into video clips and YouTube Shorts. It’s 2025, so naturally there are AI bells & whistles coming soon, including a tool that helps creators pick out the best short clips from their shows, and another which uses generative AI to add visual elements to audio-only broadcasts.

Alt Capital closes II fund: Jack Altman’s venture firm Alt Capital closed a $275 million fund — its second overall — and will use the money to back AI startups aiming to disrupt the SaaS market. This marks a significant jump over the firm’s initial $150 million fund which closed in February 2024; Altman plans to use the cash to lead more Series A rounds. What’s most significant about the new fund is the speed at which Altman managed to pull it together; by his own accounting, the entire process end-to-end only took him about a month, with most of the actual commitment discussions taking place over the course of one week! That’s the blink of an eye in VC world.

Modern Animal’s $46M Series D: The company runs a string of veterinary clinics, which does not SOUND like the sort of startup we’d traditionally profile here in the Ticker. But, of course, there’s a technological twist. Modern Animal uses an AI platform (called “Claude,” but unrelated to the Anthropic model) to watch veterinarian workflows up close and find ways to improve efficiency, cut down on burnout, and keep costs (and thus, everyone’s bills) low. The system seems to be working; Modern Animal hit 85% revenue growth year-over-year, and has reached a $100 million run rate as of this month.

RowFlow: No one likes filling out forms, and even though the internet has made the process a BIT easier and faster than checking endless little boxes by hand, it’s still not a pleasurable experience. RowFlow aims to disrupt Big Form using the power of AI, replacing the conventional, painstaking intake and onboarding process with natural language chatbot conversations. They claim the system leads to fewer frustrated users and higher conversion rates for completed forms, and it’s not too hard to see why. (Another point in their favor? Experienced co-founders who are vets of Uber and Meta.)

Convexia: A self-described “AI-maximalist pharma company,” Convexia uses their proprietary AI platform to scour the world for promising early-stage drugs that are currently being overlooked by larger and more established competitors. AI agents then simulate clinical trials, flag potential Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) issues that could delay regulatory approval, and send their favored candidates to a panel of human reviewers, who then weigh approving the drug for real world development. It’s a fascinating concept, though ultimately the company’s success or failure will likely come down to whether or not the AI can do everything the founders claim.

Opennote: Now that an entire generation of students has come to rely on ChatGPT just to complete assignments, many founders are looking for ways to embed AI tools more effectively within the educational process. Ultimately it would be great if these tools were not just as a handy shortcut, but something akin to a human tutor, guiding students on their educational journey. Opennote is the latest entrant to join this field, using AI to expand on and enhance student notes with helpful visuals and graphs, the option to turn writing into an audio lecture, cross-referencing with other documents, and even automated flash card generation. Students are already so dependent on ChatGPT, OpenAI’s overall traffic ebbs and flows along with the US public school schedule. So for the startup(s) that crack the “educational aide” space, the market is essentially unlimited.

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