Healthcare
To Wall Street and Beyond
At Obvious, we celebrate the founder’s journey from idea to IPO. After signing a term sheet, we send our founders a levitating light bulb representing...
Fixing the Carbon Market, One Credit at a Time
Building a blockchain-based carbon marketplace
5 Takeaways from Climate Week 2024
Last week in New York City, global leaders and innovators came together for ClimateWeekNYC to tackle solutions in clean energy, green infrastructure, and private sector...
Blinging out microprocessing
The amount of computing power needed to power new AI models from one generation to the next is increasing tenfold. All this energy produces performance-limiting...
Increasing Access to Life-Saving Medicine
On a mission to bring clinical trials to everyone
A Positive Approach to Autism
One in 36 children in the United States are diagnosed with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means that every...
A Game of Inches
Long before Openly began selling home insurance, co-founders Ty Harris and Matt Wielbut kept getting the same feedback from potential investors: “Can you distill your...
Promoting Kahini Shah to Partner
Since joining Obvious in 2022, Kahini has led our world positive AI investments, with a focus on healthcare, governance, and robotics. Kahini has made an...
Ushering in the AI Era of Scientific Breakthroughs
At Obvious Ventures, we see generative science as the next big wave in AI innovation. Last week, I sat down with three brilliant minds to...
Creating Biological Software to Solve the Biggest Questions in Medicine
Inceptive sees life’s languages fully encapsulated in RNA, a molecule that intermediates how our genetic code (DNA) gets actualized to proteins, which in turn carry...
Getting Physical: The New AI Frontier of Robotics
With their recent releases, OpenAI and Google have shown the profound capabilities of AI systems that can read, write, see, and even understand. But even...
Obvious, in Hindsight
As our firm crosses the ten-year mark, our conviction in world positive venture capital is stronger than ever
Generative Science: Our Contrarian View of AI
Large science models will deliver transformative solutions in climate, biotech, and robotics
Engineers Without Borders
Engineering shortages have long plagued the U.S. tech sector. Big tech companies point to immigration restrictions that hamper their efforts to find employees. The idea...
The E.T.H.I.C.S. checklist to sustain and grow AI responsibly
The age of generative AI is upon us, and it’s already proving to be a disruptive new technology. Generative AI has already shown how it...
How Geothermal is Heating Up to Power the Electrification of Everything
The world is waking up to a powerful fact about the future: we need substantially more energy than anyone thought, and we need it soon.
Fintech In Focus: Defining ‘World Positive Fintech’ and our 2024 Roadmap
In 2024, we’re exploring these key areas in world positive fintech.
Charging Toward a More Resilient Grid
The story of Synop began 18 years ago when Dhillon met Andrew Blejde in an engineering class on their first day of high school in...
AI for the GI
How Iterative Health’s founder and CEO is bringing precision care to the masses
Climate Ag’s Moment in the Sun
Decarbonizing any industry delivers benefits that go way beyond sustainability. How we cultivate soil, grow crops, and raise livestock has been in a state of tech-enabled...
The AI Copilot Market Map
At Obvious, we see AI is ushering in a major transformation to how we find and do our best work. We believe it has the...
Embedded Finance: The Clue to Inclusion
60 million Americans and 35% of small businesses don’t have access to traditional banking services. Embedded finance is, at its essence, the offering of financial...
Special Episode: Kim Stanley Robinson On Our Climate Future
Host Andrew Beebe speaks to one of the greatest living writers of science fiction, Kim Stanley Robinson.
10 Healthcare Predictions for 2023
The pandemic ebbed and flowed in 2022. It changed how patients interact with healthcare, strained the finances of health systems, and burned out medical professionals....
10 Fintech Predictions for 2023
If 2021 was the golden year for fintech fundraising, with $130 billion invested in financial services startups, 2022 was the year of the major pullback....
10 Food & Wellness Predictions for 2023
In 400 BC, Hippocrates wrote that we should let food be our medicine. Those words are the perfect harbinger for food and wellness trends in...
10 Climate Tech Predictions for 2023
2022 was a big year for Climate Tech, particularly in the U.S. The Inflation Reduction Act, also known as the Climate Bill, was a shot...
10 TechBio Predictions for 2023
We foresee the coming year will be one of convergence in TechBio. Cheaper sequencing and new wet lab tools will enable scaled data generation while recent advances in machine learning will unlock unprecedented analytical and predictive capabilities.
The Clean, Quiet Trucking Revolution
Forum Mobility’s mission to electrify a huge industry you’ve never heard of
Generative AI That Saves Lives
Bringing Generative AI into the healthcare stack can deliver extraordinary possibilities
Always Look On the Brightside
Jessica was walking into work one morning at a large distribution center in rural Illinois when something caught her eye. It was an advertisement for...
Building the SMB Central Nervous System
Verticalized tech for SMBs, a once untenable VC category, is about to have its moment
Rebuilding the Healthcare Delivery Stack, Brick by Brick
A guide to the modernization of healthcare
The Climate Bill’s Hidden Win
The climate bill, or the Inflation Reduction Act in DC-speak, represents a sea change in American climate policy. The financial impacts on climate funding have...
Engineering Culture Like an EV
How Lightship’s Head of Manufacturing is building sustainable RVs and an inclusive culture
Fixing the Fickle Finances of Healthcare
How entrepreneurs are helping consumers get better-priced, higher-quality care—with more opportunities ahead
BONUS: Series Wrap Up with Andrew Beebe and Emily Brady
For this bonus episode, we’re flipping the script.
Accelerating Fast Charging with Cathy Zoi
Cathy Zoi is the CEO of EVgo, America’s largest fast charging network for electric vehicles.
Why We Need Nuclear with Rachel Slaybaugh
Dr. Rachel Slaybaugh is a nuclear expert and investor at DCVC, where she focuses on climate tech.
The Surprising, Hidden Impact of Insurance
Corvus CEO Phil Edmundson is building a safer world at the intersection of insurance and technology
Why a Payments Company Went All In On Carbon Removal
Nan Ransohoff is Head of Climate at Stripe. As part of her role, Nan leads Frontier, an advance market commitment for carbon removal.
From Journalist to VC with Molly Wood
Molly Wood is an investor at the early stage venture firm LAUNCH, and co-host of This Week in Startups.
Building ‘Stuff That Matters’ with Tony Fadell
Tony Fadell led the teams that brought us the iPod, iPhone, and the Nest thermostat.
The Optimistic Path Forward with Jason Jacobs
Jason Jacobs is the creator and host of My Climate Journey, a podcast that demystifies climate change and helps people make a difference.
Making Big Companies Change with Maria Fujihara
Maria Fujihara is Founder & CEO of SINAI Technologies, the world’s leading enterprise software platform to measure, analyze, price, and reduce emissions.
Ken Chahine and the Laws of Nature
How the CEO of Nectar Life Sciences got to now—and plans to end allergies as we know them
Building a Climate Army with Jigar Shah
To begin the series, we speak with Jigar Shah, Director for the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Menopause Meets Its Match. Her Name Is Sally Mueller.
Womaness Co-Founder/CEO Sally Mueller brings a dynamic-yet-practical outlook to a long overlooked category.
22 Fintech Predictions for 2022 and Beyond
Purpose-driven founders are primed to transform our financial systems. Get ready.
10 Climate Tech Predictions For 2022
Spoiler alert: Growth will be ubiquitous in the Decarb Decade
10 Predictions: Knowledge Work in 2022
Re-moat advantages, new kids on the blockchain, and more
The Unstoppable Determination of Michelle Longmire, MD
Medable’s Co-founder/CEO on her father’s falconry, never listening to the no’s, and getting more molecules to market
Orchestration Software: Unlocking Superpowers for SMBs
Small business owners are primed to gain equal footing in crowded e-commerce landscapes
22 Healthcare Predictions For 2022
The past 24 months have been a reckoning for a legacy healthcare system drowning in rising costs and preventable casualties. The gaps in access, resources,...
The World Positive Report Returns
As the rules of ESG in VC are being written, let’s focus on the metrics that matter
Maria Fujihara Decarbonizes the World
SINAI Technology’s Founder & CEO on getting fired in Brazil, hiring herself in the Bay Area, and the climate tech revolution ahead
Identity-Aligned Interventions
A more inclusive healthcare system is emerging. It’s time to accelerate the change
Making Healthcare a 24/7 Affair
Anytime, anywhere care → improved outcomes at lower costs
Welcome To (the New) Wall Street
Today’s retail rebalancing is enabling a first-of-its-kind, broad base of long-term wealth creation. It’s about time.
Why We Work
How might we design a better toolkit for professional transformation in this new world?
Human-Centered Finance
Millions more Americans are in financial distress today. It’s time to rewrite the personal finance playbook, with purpose.
Reimagining ESG Reporting For Startups
Introducing Obvious’ first ever World Positive Report
Finding Wealth in Health
Why the next great consumer company will be a health-focused platform
Risk Rewards
Insurtech providers are set to play an increasingly critical role in making civil society more resilient today
These Robots Learn. Meet Their Teacher.
Dexterity CEO Samir Menon draws on neuroscience, mathematics, and computer science to build robots of the future, today. He’s also a poet.
The Persuasion Equation
A marketing playbook for technical founders and teams, rooted in truthful storytelling
Designing a Better Remote Reality
With the exponential implications of remote work emerging, it’s time to move forward with meaningful intention
Operationalizing Purpose
A practical, Patagonia-inspired guide for entrepreneurs on purpose, values, and the philosophies that underpin it all
A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs, Part II
The basics of setting Lean OKRs: be brief and look for the RAMPS
A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs, Part I
Retrofitting a classic tool with purpose, values, and systems that scale for startups
Productivity Tools Go Vertical
Five questions for entrepreneurs to consider before diving in
The New Biology
A counterintuitive approach to biological design is unlocking life-saving therapies and novel materials
The Frictionless Future
Urban infrastructure brings us closer to exponentially better living
The Rise of Purpose-Driven Marketplaces
An inspiring purpose, curated convenience, and thoughtful personalization is their recipe for success
Industrial IQ: Where High Tech Meets Low Tech
Tech is breaking out of the Silicon Valley sandbox, transforming traditional, trillion-dollar industries in the process.
A Tale of Two Cities, 2030 Edition
A great migration forces an existential question for the modern metropolis: how might entrepreneurs upgrade urban living over the next ten years?
A Sea Change in Seafood
XpertSea Co-founder and CEO Valerie Robitaille is transforming aquaculture systems with technology, and making it a family affair.
The Top Ten World Positive Stories of 2018
Just in time to restore your faith in the world
A Boon for Business, Creating a Windfall for Causes
Boon Supply founder and CEO Lily Kanter takes e-commerce consciously to the next level
Food Is Medicine, and Neka Pasquale Wants to be Your Doctor.
The story behind Urban Remedy founder Neka Pasquale’s quest to deliver a sensual, colorful, and healing experience with food.
Incredible. Immigrant. Inspiring. Introducing Iman Abuzeid.
The Incredible Health Co-Founder/CEO has been flying under the radar, but those days may be numbered
Building Better Machines That Are Better for Humans
Canvas Co-Founder and CTO Maria Telleria brings her vision, values, and Ph.D. to bear on a construction industry in need of reinvention. Maria Telleria became...
Leslie Silverglide Flips the Fast Food Script
The visionary co-founder/CEO shares her personal journey and take on the societal shifts that led to MIXT
Preparing for Liftoff
Electric flight will transform our cities for the better, and it will happen sooner than you might think
It Takes More Than Tech to Redefine a Trillion Dollar Category
Recursion Pharmaceuticals’ performance is also driven by an ambitious purpose, a values-driven culture, and the Silicon Slopes. Here’s a look at the people behind the progress
The Easy Thing About Hard Things In Health Care
Ask any person with type 2 diabetes what it’s like living with the disease. You’re likely to hear stories of health problems compounding other health...
The Seeds of a Building Revolution
With purpose as its foundation, Plant Prefab pursues a half trillion dollar market
Pouring New Foundations in Construction Tech
In 1943 Abraham Maslow published his seminal paper titled A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he posited a prioritization protocol for human needs, now know...
The Death of “Alternative Energy”
Fifteen years ago, when I joined the early ranks of clean energy entrepreneurs, we were nearly dead in the water on climate. Oil was $15...
The Org is Your Product. The People are Your Customers. Design Their Journey.
Welcome to the dawn of a new age in People Operations & HR
The Engine of Purpose That Drives Successful Companies
Inside the healthy tensions that fueled us at Patagonia, and what entrepreneurs can learn as they themselves build for the long term
Introducing the World Positive Term Sheet
Much has already been written about the proverbial term sheet. From Intel and Apple to Google and Facebook, tech giants have fueled their engines with venture...
Down With Bias, Up With Profitability
Too many founders/CEO’s are dismissing the data. To the rescue: Joelle Emerson and the team at Paradigm, guiding us on how to fight the unconscious demons within.
Words of Wisdom From the Queen of Quality Content Marketing
First Round’s Camille Ricketts successfully built the Harvard Business Review for startups from scratch. Now she’s got some content advice of her own to impart.
Seven Habits of a Highly Effective Board
Lessons Learned From the Board of Directors of Seventh Generation
Artificial Intelligence Wants To Make Us Healthier, If We Let It
Few words are thrown around Silicon Valley as often as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) these days. Startups promising to create new businesses...
The Coming Electrification of Everything
At Obvious Ventures, we believe stored electricity, increasingly derived from renewable sources, will entirely replace fossil fuels as the preferred method to power everything in...