Newcomer x Felicis Emergent list: founders pick the seed-stage AI startups to watch
pxd · x · 2026-11-06
Newcomer and Felicis published the Emergent list of seed-stage startups nominated by founders, plus an analysis of what it reveals.
- Ecosystem heat: global seed funding hit $13B in Q3, up 44.4% YoY; $2.6B (about 20% of seed deals) went to mega seed rounds of $100M+
- AI infrastructure startups led nominations (payments, security, monitoring, model routing); robotics and physical AI prominent; bio and healthcare a welcome surprise
- Picks span AI tools for writing software, creating music, better information, plus AI in factories, space, bio research and energy infrastructure
- Method: "ask the chef where to eat" — founders nominate the companies themselves
Follows pxd's thesis that once intelligence is commoditized, context and memory (e.g. portfolio companies Exa and Arda) become the differentiator.
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