Gm. Some savvy investors have caught on to the fact that Homescreen is where 15,000+ founders get their news and have started to read as well.

First off, very clever to read what founders are reading. Secondly, we have an announcement for you all. 

Today, we're launching Venture House, our newest program targeting up and coming investors.

The first cohort is for web3-leaning individuals and up-and-coming investors. If you are trying to build deal flow, meet other smart folks, and learn from the top web3 investors and operators, this is the program for you. 

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers. 

GOVERNMENT 

The Senate got something done

On Saturday, lawmakers in the Senate pulled a rare hustle-culture double: working on a weekend and pulling an all-nighter to finally get the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) across the finish line and onto a House vote. It’s a major political win for President Biden ahead of midterms that touches everything from taxes and healthcare to climate change and clean energy. 

If you’re a founder building in any of those areas, here’s how the 755-page bill might affect you.

• Clean energy: Climate change has long been a focus of the Biden administration and the IRA injects a whopping $260 billion into the renewable energy sector through tax credits. The two biggest benefactors are producers of non-carbon energy sources and purchasers of EVs who, combined, can expect around $150 billion in tax credits to come their way over the next 10 years. 

• Healthcare: The IRA takes a page out of Mark Cuban’s playbook and aims to lower prescription drug costs. According to one report from the Annals of Internal Medicine, the government could save up to $3.6 billion in a year if they were allowed to negotiate directly with drug companies like Cuban’s startup does. The new bill opens the door for Medicare to do exactly that. 

• Corporate taxes: The bill targets the country’s biggest corporations slapping a 15% minimum tax on companies with profits of over $1 billion (crypto companies, rest easy). It also adds a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks, which aren’t taxed at all under current regulations. Here’s to hoping your startup grows big enough for those taxes to affect it. 

Zoom out: If we had to pick the biggest winner from the IRA making it through the Senate, it would be founders building in climate tech. The last time this much visibility and funding was directed at green energy was during the “clean tech” boom around a decade ago. But after a few high-profile companies went belly up, the sector was tarnished. Now, it's back under a new moniker, flush with $16 billion raised from US VCs last year, and the beneficiary of some serious support from the public sector.

M&A 

iSeeEverything

Amazon, a company obsessed with delivering packages to your home, wants a more comprehensive look inside it. On Friday, it agreed to acquire at-home robot maker iRobot for $1.7 billion. 

This isn’t Amazon’s first attempt to get into your pad

• In 2020, Amazon introduced Always Home Cam, a flying indoor drone made by Ring (another acquisition) that failed to gain traction. And last fall, Amazon introduced its own home robot called Astro that is yet to make it to the open market. 

iRobot’s flagship product, the Roomba, gives Amazon access to data from a fleet of floor cleaners that create precise maps of the homes they clean. Armed with that data, Amazon could make invasive inferences about household income or whether you have children or not. 

Zoom out: The everything store has been on a shopping spree lately with the iRobot deal following Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical for $3.9 billion last month. It’ll be interesting to see which path—targeting homes or health—has a more significant ROI in the long run.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: Look away parents, Netflix would very much like your kids to play more video games. But so far the parentals are winning—Netflix’s mobile video games average just 1.7 million daily users according to app analytics firm Apptopia, less than 1% of Netflix’s total 221 million subscriber base. But that hasn’t stopped the streaming giant from (literally) doubling down—over the weekend, it revealed plans to expand its video game catalog from 24 to 50 by the end of the year. 

Story we’re watching: A US bankruptcy court is allowing Voyager Digital to return $270 million to its users, marking the first step in its long voyage towards solvency. The embattled crypto firm saw its shares rise more than 41% amid the ruling, yet the $270 million represents a small piece of the more than $10 billion it owes to creditors. Meanwhile, Voyager claims to be in talks with 20 interested parties to buy out the firm. 

Rabbit hole: Productivity porn (Caleb Schoepp).

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Elon Musk challenged Parag Agrawal to a “public debate” about bots. 

• Berkshire Hathaway reported a $53 billion loss on equity investments during Q2.

• Baidu secured permits to offer commercial robotaxi service with no human driver present in two regions in China.

PICK THAT PITCH DECK

Which unicorn created the blandest pitch deck of all time before it was acquired in 2006?

MONDAY MUSIC

The best work jams to write, focus, and build your company to. 

• Artist: Greg Gonzalez (Spotify)

• Playlist: Big Desk Energy (Spotify)

• Song: Fortress (Spotify)

P.S. If you have any songs or artists you love, feel free to reply to this email and send ‘em our way.

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week

iRobot: 140 people (10%)

Jam City: 200 people (17%)

TalkDesk: 200 people 

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across this weekend that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

🗺 What cities to move to meet interesting tech people 

🔤 9 startup metrics you should absolutely know

🧘 12 meditations for investors, operators, and founders

PICK THAT PITCH DECK ANSWER

YouTube. Turns out decks don't have to be pretty to get the job done.