Welcome Fools
Two fools walk into McCombs
What’s Up
Welcome to the first edition of Da Greater Fools, we’re happy you’re here! We’re two McCombs MBA students early in our investing journeys which means we have fresh eyes and questionable confidence. This newsletter is where we learn out loud — covering the trends we’re excited about, the companies raising capital, and the investment theses we’re still refining (or abandoning) in real time.
The two of us have just matched for our internships at VC firms here in Austin through the Venture Fellows program at McCombs. Malik will be interning at Mucker Capital over the next year and Sahana will be at Silverton Partners. It has definitely been a journey getting to this point, but we know all the hard work will pay off and we want to continue striving for greatness and taking on one too many side quests by committing to our bi-weekly newsletter for y’all (yes, we needed to say y’all at least once since we’re in Texas🤠). We’re ready to get real personal with y’all, let’s learn, build, and occasionally fool around together.
If you want to learn more about what you can expect check out our About page and if you want to learn more about the Venture Fellows program you can check them out here!
Fundraising Roundup
Startups raising now
Starlab Space — We don’t usually wander into orbit, but here we are. Starlab snagged an undisclosed check (mysterious… we love it) from Mercury Fund, Janus Henderson Investors, and Blank Capital on Nov 20. They’re building the next-gen commercial space station, which is either the future of space commerce or just a very expensive treehouse in the sky.
Downstream — Hard pivot from space to trash, Downstream is a platform streamlining the unsexy but incredibly necessary world of construction and waste management. The company raised an $8M Series A in early November, led by Brick and Mortar Ventures and Moneta Ventures, bringing its post-money valuation to $34M. Building software for waste may not be glamorous, but the margins definitely can be.
DataBahn — Founded in 2023 and based in Plano, TX, DataBahn is trying to fix enterprise data pipelines, because apparently every company is still duct-taping their data together in 2025. They just raised $17.25M in a Series A led by Forgepoint Capital, bringing their total capital raised to $19.25M. A big check for a young company, we think they’re onto something good.
Momentic — An AI-powered software testing company, raised a $15M Series A led by Standard Capital. I’m curious how they differentiate from the big guys (Anthropic and OpenAi) whose models already have the ability to support software testing. The rise of automated coding could be the catalyst Momentic needs to keep killing it and fend off the incumbents.
Texas Firms & Texas Founders
Peak6 Strategic Capital went on a mini Austin shopping spree in November, backing two local favorites: Still Austin Whiskey and Apptronik. They led Still Austin’s whopping $44.05M Series D which, frankly, feels like the most on-brand investment ever. Whiskey + venture capital? Name a more American combo.
And of course we had to shout out a McCombs-founded legend. Beatbox just got acquired by Anheuser-Busch for up to $700M. Not bad for a company that started in 2011, survived Shark Tank, and is now plastering its name on Austin City Limits stages next to Tito’s and Miller Lite. This is the kind of exit you show your parents when they ask what you’re doing with your MBA.
Austin based Function Health raises $298 Million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round. Bringing the total valuation to $2.5 Billion, investors include a number of high-profiled “health conscious” athletes and celebrities including: Breanna Stwewart, Caleb Williams, Kevin Heart and Zac Efron. Function Health is a personal health dashboard. Their goal is to go beyond what the everyday person can learn about themselves from their Apple watch or Oura Ring. Function gives you access to 100+ lab tests. Looking at the website they’re testing for a lot of things we’ve never even heard of. Sounds like it could be hypochondriac’s favorite tool or their worst nightmare.
Tinfoil hat time:* I wonder if there’s a specific technology out there that has exploded in popularity over the last 4 years that could benefit the health industry if given access to all those biomarkers… I think it rhymes with… “hey-hi”
Whatever your thoughts are on this new flavor of blood testing health tech, it’s apparent that Elizabeth Holmes walked (lied) so companies like Function Health and Rhythm Health could run!
Fool’s Findings
People, places and things catching our eyes
A new dating app, Frolly, is declaring themselves as the dating app for “dog people”. This is a smart move since niche dating apps are outperforming generic platforms. As a single dog mom, Sahana loves the idea of meeting someone who won’t judge her for saying “she’s my daughter”, yet still hates the idea of dating apps. Could this make dating fun again? Either way, Frolly plans to pivot from free to paid and donate a portion of profits to animal rescue orgs, so we’re here for that
The rise of athleisure definitely had its moment, but are we now seeing the rise of baggy alternatives? We don’t think athleisure is going anywhere anytime soon, but leggings are losing their share in the market, dropping below 39% after dominating nearly half the market in 2022. We’re seeing the shift to baggy sweats, wide-leg joggers, and relaxed fits. The “clean girl” aesthetic is being replaced by “cozy girl”, but at the end of the day there is always room for fashion AND function.
Figure Ai one of the most valuable private companies in the world, founded by Malik’s former boss Brett Adcock is constantly in the news, mostly for their groundbreaking flagship humanoid robot the Figure3 or for their numerous partnerships that just keep coming (NVIDIA, OpenAi) This time the headline reads like the start of a new iRobot: “Whistleblower Says He Was Fired for Warning Execs That New Robot Could Crush Human Skull”...Oh… that’s probably nothing…Morgan Stanley is estimating the humanoid robot industry can grow to an eye-popping $5 Trillion within the next 25 years. We just hope the robots remember which of us regularly said please and thank you to ChatGPT.
Tinder for startups? Except you’re pretending to be a partner watching past YCombinator (YC) application videos and deciding if they should get into YC or not. YC arena’s “Partner Sim” sent me down a 90 minute rabbit hole on Thanksgiving, it had me questioning everything about my pitch reviewing abilities. Getting into YC isn’t the barometer of success for an early stage startup but…..they have a pretty crazy impressive track record.
Views From Our Thesis
Thesis Snapshot
Malik: I have a confession, My “why MBA” and my investment thesis are pretty much identical. It made writing application essays last year pretty easy and gave me A LOT of time to refine and publicly share something I really do actually believe in. No shade to anyone that wanted to come to business school to find synergies and streamline processes as a consultant. So here we go: I believe that the current Artificial Intelligence boom is akin to the discovery of fire and has the potential if used incorrectly to widen legacy inequality gaps. I want to invest in the founders or the technologies that prevent this from happening and contribute to the closing of said inequality gaps.
It feels beyond cheesy to say I want to change the world and positively affect people’s lives, so I use the word salad above instead. (I didn’t say the “akin” part in public)
Now imagine saying that 10 times fast everyday for the last 3 months, I don’t have to imagine. I lived this, my alliteration is off the charts right now, thinking of hitting Karaoke and loading up some Busta Rhymes.
Sahana: Malik and I actually became friends after realizing we somehow had the same investment thesis, and now here we are teaming up on another shared idea: this newsletter. My investment thesis stems from me wanting to feel a strong sense of purpose in my next career. I previously worked on the value creation team at a PE firm helping our portfolio companies optimize. It was a great experience, but I found myself wanting to be earlier in the journey and closer to the point where companies are being built, not just tuned up.
This pivot to VC for me offers me the opportunity to help companies build and to work with mission driven founders. I don’t need to singlehandedly change the world (Malik claimed that lane with his “discovery of fire” monologue), but if I can support even one founder who’s genuinely pushing toward positive impact, that feels like the right direction for me.
What Changed This Week
Malik: No changes per se but I am constantly looking at startups and thinking if they would fit into my thesis. After seeing the Factor Health raise, it got me thinking about the convergence of AI & Healthcare and I mean a real convergence would have to fit into my thesis right? Healthcare unfortunately has often been a battleground for inequality and Artificial Intelligence can serve as an equalizer. I know that opens up an entire new can of HIPAA sized worms but I’m excited to see what comes of it.
Sahana: No big changes but I did want to touch on “impact investing”. I think people hear that word and immediately picture concessionary returns, but I’m continuing to learn all the ways this can be both defined and achieved. Excited to bring y’all on this journey!
Hot Take or Unpopular Opinion
Malik: Luke warm-take: Sticking with the Healthcare + AI thread, I think there will be a generational divide that will keep a true convergence from happening for at least the next decade. If you don’t believe me, when you’re home for the holidays ask your parents if they would accept a diagnosis from a robot and report back
One Thing We Learned From Our Internships
Malik: I haven’t officially kicked off my internship yet but I’m starting to compile a backlog of questions viewpoints I’m trying to get insight into. Something I’ve always been curious about is NDA’s: which founders should require them, which shouldn’t, how do investors feel about them?
My suspicion is that it’s probably a case by case basis tied to who has the leverage in the relationship, a first time founder sending over an NDA before a first meeting will probably be left on read, where as a 3x exited founder working on a new propriety deep tech play would have an NDA signed in a heartbeat. I also imagine that on the founder side there’s an element of “My idea is so amazing I can’t tell you because you’ll take it” to which I think I would reply:
It shouldn’t matter the best team that can execute will win
Competition = validation and flattery
That being said, I’m sure there are expectations where the secret sauce really does need to be a secret? I’ll follow up here after gathering some more viewpoints
Sahana: Since we don’t start our internships until Spring semester, my learnings come from our 2-week placement process. The placement process basically felt like a huge personality stress test, Malik can attest, we felt like we were being hedged like draft picks, but it did definitely help with interview prep.
Here is my biggest takeaway: I want to be where I am wanted. I repeated this to myself like a deranged affirmation for two weeks straight while hopping between Zooms, coffee chats, and all the office visits. And honestly? It worked. Silverton was exactly that for me, the place where the enthusiasm felt mutual. 24 interviews later (yes, I counted, because if I had to cry-caffeinate between rounds, I at least deserved metrics), I realized something important: VC recruiting is less about who you can impress and more about who genuinely gets excited about you. While my internship hasn’t started yet, I’m walking into it with a lot of gratitude.