Industrials

09/12/2023

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...

08/22/2023

Fixing the Carbon Market, One Credit at a Time

Building a blockchain-based carbon marketplace

12/12/2024

Why We Invested in Mozi

Creating more connection IRL

12/11/2024

Machines will help heal healthcare

Our predictions for 2025 and beyond

12/04/2024

How Generative AI Is Transforming Healthcare

In a world of complex health challenges, including rising chronic disease rates, doctor and nurse shortages, unequal access to quality care, and aging populations, Kahini...

11/22/2024

5 Takeaways from the Cerebral Valley AI Summit 2024

This year, the Cerebral Valley AI Summit focused on the maturation of generative AI, its adoption by enterprises, and its progress toward more advanced, multi-modal,...

11/21/2024

How I Got to Now: Vishal Vasishth

Years ago, as Vishal Vasishth laid in a hospital room in his hometown of Chandigarh, India, near the Himalayan foothills, he could not have imagined...

10/31/2024

Why We Invested in Ataraxis

Cancer. It’s the great, horrible equalizer that transcends race, class, and geography. About 1 in 5 people develop cancer in their lifetime, according to the...

10/01/2024

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...

09/23/2024

Why We Invested in Pyka

Cleaner, safer, cost-effective aviation

08/20/2024

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...

08/06/2024

Increasing Access to Life-Saving Medicine

On a mission to bring clinical trials to everyone

07/31/2024

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...

07/23/2024

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...

07/18/2024

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...

07/10/2024

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...

06/17/2024

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...

05/23/2024

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...

05/21/2024

Obvious, in Hindsight

As our firm crosses the ten-year mark, our conviction in world positive venture capital is stronger than ever

05/08/2024

Generative Science: Our Contrarian View of AI 

Large science models will deliver transformative solutions in climate, biotech, and robotics

05/06/2024

Why We Invested in Zanskar

Geothermal heats up with a boost from AI

04/18/2024

Why We Invested in Halcyon

Fighting climate change with data

04/16/2024

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...

04/03/2024

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...

03/18/2024

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.

02/21/2024

Fintech In Focus: Defining ‘World Positive Fintech’ and our 2024 Roadmap

In 2024, we’re exploring these key areas in world positive fintech.

01/31/2024

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...

01/18/2024

Tesla Alums Electrify RVs

How Lightship began with a road trip

01/18/2024

The Missing Piece

Inside the making of Scott Kim’s world positive puzzles

10/26/2023

AI for the GI

How Iterative Health’s founder and CEO is bringing precision care to the masses

10/03/2023

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...

09/26/2023

Discovering the Impossible

Why the founder of Gandeeva decided to take on cancer

09/19/2023

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...

03/29/2023

Leading the AI Search for Protein Therapies

The big bold vision of LabGenius

03/22/2023

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...

01/24/2023

Say Hola to Howdy

How Howdy Corrals Top LATAM Talent

01/18/2023

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.

01/09/2023

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....

01/06/2023

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....

01/05/2023

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...

01/04/2023

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...

12/13/2022

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.

12/05/2022

The Clean, Quiet Trucking Revolution

Forum Mobility’s mission to electrify a huge industry you’ve never heard of

11/28/2022

Generative AI That Saves Lives

Bringing Generative AI into the healthcare stack can deliver extraordinary possibilities

11/14/2022

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...

10/17/2022

Building the SMB Central Nervous System

Verticalized tech for SMBs, a once untenable VC category, is about to have its moment

10/03/2022

The Future of FemTech Is Here

From innovations in contraception to hormone hacking

09/27/2022

Rebuilding the Healthcare Delivery Stack, Brick by Brick

A guide to the modernization of healthcare

09/20/2022

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...

09/06/2022

The Tripping Point

The rising promise of psychedelic medicine

08/30/2022

Engineering Culture Like an EV

How Lightship’s Head of Manufacturing is building sustainable RVs and an inclusive culture

08/24/2022

The ESG Term Sheet

The 2022 Sequel to the World Positive Term Sheet

07/05/2022

Fixing the Fickle Finances of Healthcare

How entrepreneurs are helping consumers get better-priced, higher-quality care—with more opportunities ahead

06/21/2022

BONUS: Series Wrap Up with Andrew Beebe and Emily Brady

For this bonus episode, we’re flipping the script.

06/14/2022

Accelerating Fast Charging with Cathy Zoi

Cathy Zoi is the CEO of EVgo, America’s largest fast charging network for electric vehicles.

06/07/2022

Why We Need Nuclear with Rachel Slaybaugh

Dr. Rachel Slaybaugh is a nuclear expert and investor at DCVC, where she focuses on climate tech.

05/31/2022

The Surprising, Hidden Impact of Insurance

Corvus CEO Phil Edmundson is building a safer world at the intersection of insurance and technology

05/24/2022

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.

05/17/2022

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.

05/10/2022

Building ‘Stuff That Matters’ with Tony Fadell

Tony Fadell led the teams that brought us the iPod, iPhone, and the Nest thermostat.

05/03/2022

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.

04/26/2022

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.

04/19/2022

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

04/19/2022

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.

04/12/2022

Introducing Obvious Ideas

In hindsight, all great ideas are Obvious.

01/20/2022

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.

01/19/2022

22 Fintech Predictions for 2022 and Beyond

Purpose-driven founders are primed to transform our financial systems. Get ready.

01/13/2022

10 Climate Tech Predictions For 2022

Spoiler alert: Growth will be ubiquitous in the Decarb Decade

01/12/2022

10 Predictions: Knowledge Work in 2022

Re-moat advantages, new kids on the blockchain, and more

01/04/2022

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

12/14/2021

Orchestration Software: Unlocking Superpowers for SMBs

Small business owners are primed to gain equal footing in crowded e-commerce landscapes

12/14/2021

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,...

12/07/2021

How to Build a Time Machine

The four elements of thematic venture capital

11/30/2021

The World Positive Report Returns

As the rules of ESG in VC are being written, let’s focus on the metrics that matter

10/19/2021

The New New Deal

Building the economic infrastructure for a new era of self-employment

09/21/2021

Cracking the Carbon Conundrum

The Four R’s of Carbon, for our collective consideration

09/21/2021

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

09/08/2021

Identity-Aligned Interventions

A more inclusive healthcare system is emerging. It’s time to accelerate the change

07/21/2021

Making Healthcare a 24/7 Affair

Anytime, anywhere care → improved outcomes at lower costs

03/31/2021

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.

01/25/2021

We Have Entered the Climate Decade

A long boom of climate tech is just getting started

01/12/2021

Why We Work

How might we design a better toolkit for professional transformation in this new world?

12/08/2020

Human-Centered Finance

Millions more Americans are in financial distress today. It’s time to rewrite the personal finance playbook, with purpose.

12/01/2020

Reimagining ESG Reporting For Startups

Introducing Obvious’ first ever World Positive Report

09/10/2020

Finding Wealth in Health

Why the next great consumer company will be a health-focused platform

08/12/2020

Risk Rewards

Insurtech providers are set to play an increasingly critical role in making civil society more resilient today

07/21/2020

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.

07/14/2020

The Persuasion Equation

A marketing playbook for technical founders and teams, rooted in truthful storytelling

07/07/2020

Delightful Board Meetings

A recipe for effective and enjoyable startup board meetings

05/27/2020

Designing a Better Remote Reality

With the exponential implications of remote work emerging, it’s time to move forward with meaningful intention

03/03/2020

Operationalizing Purpose

A practical, Patagonia-inspired guide for entrepreneurs on purpose, values, and the philosophies that underpin it all

01/30/2020

A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs, Part III

Making it happen

01/29/2020

A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs, Part II

The basics of setting Lean OKRs: be brief and look for the RAMPS

01/28/2020

A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs, Part I

Retrofitting a classic tool with purpose, values, and systems that scale for startups

11/21/2019

Productivity Tools Go Vertical

Five questions for entrepreneurs to consider before diving in

10/29/2019

The New Biology

A counterintuitive approach to biological design is unlocking life-saving therapies and novel materials

07/18/2019

The Frictionless Future

Urban infrastructure brings us closer to exponentially better living

06/26/2019

The Rise of Purpose-Driven Marketplaces

An inspiring purpose, curated convenience, and thoughtful personalization is their recipe for success

04/30/2019

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.

04/23/2019

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?

02/19/2019

A Sea Change in Seafood

XpertSea Co-founder and CEO Valerie Robitaille is transforming aquaculture systems with technology, and making it a family affair.

12/17/2018

The Top Ten World Positive Stories of 2018

Just in time to restore your faith in the world

12/16/2018

A Boon for Business, Creating a Windfall for Causes

Boon Supply founder and CEO Lily Kanter takes e-commerce consciously to the next level

12/05/2018

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.

11/27/2018

Incredible. Immigrant. Inspiring. Introducing Iman Abuzeid.

The Incredible Health Co-Founder/CEO has been flying under the radar, but those days may be numbered

11/13/2018

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...

10/30/2018

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

09/17/2018

The Five Forces of Food

The food industry is undergoing a seismic shift. Here's why.

09/06/2018

Preparing for Liftoff

Electric flight will transform our cities for the better, and it will happen sooner than you might think

07/26/2018

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

06/26/2018

The New Intelligence

Modern AI and the fundamental undoing of the scientific method

03/01/2018

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...

02/21/2018

The Seeds of a Building Revolution

With purpose as its foundation, Plant Prefab pursues a half trillion dollar market

02/12/2018

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...

01/23/2018

Profits *Because of* Purpose

Milton Friedman would agree: give the people what they want

07/31/2017

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...

05/18/2017

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

04/04/2017

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

01/18/2017

Manufacturing Goes Digital

A blueprint for the future rooted in lessons from the past

01/12/2017

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...

01/05/2017

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.

12/06/2016

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.

09/19/2016

Seven Habits of a Highly Effective Board

Lessons Learned From the Board of Directors of Seventh Generation

09/08/2016

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...

12/10/2015

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...