Hello there,

Sometimes when I’m choosing a startup to cover at PreSeed Now, it’s the tech or the business that grabs me first. With today’s, it was definitely the founder, who embodies the passion of his company’s brand. Scroll down to find out about Zaire Allen and his startup Love Circular’s approach to tech skills education.

A common question I’m asked when people talk to me about this newsletter is ‘what do you define as pre-seed?’ Good question! While ‘pre-seed’ is generally thought of as ‘a little bit of money to get you up and running’, I don’t like to make things too scientific or prescriptive. Early stage B2B or deep tech startups beginning to commercialise their products and getting into the world of equity-based investment is our sweet spot here.

As useful as investment stage labels can be, they’re pretty amorphous. A Seed deal in one country could be a Series B in another, and one founder’s Series A is another’s Seed Plus. Some startups can bootstrap themselves much further than others, but they could both be equally worthy of coverage and investment.

And given that I’ve heard from everyone from first-money-in angels to multi-million-dollar-deal seed investors with an interest in startups featured in the newsletter so far, it makes sense to keep things loose enough to encompass a good range of startups as they enter the investment market.

—Martin

🔭 Looking for founders

A new initiative worth knowing about in the pre-seed world

Zinc has been helping entrepreneurs start businesses to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems for a few years, and now they’re focusing on addressing environmental challenges. Zinc’s currently on the lookout for founders to join its next Venture Builder programme.

Zinc writes: “starting in October 2022, we’ll be bringing together 70 individuals to build new B2B businesses that transform the (1) fishing, farming & food; (2) manufacturing & supply chain; (3) construction & building operations; and (4) transport industries.”

You can find full details, including a breakdown of the financial support on offer, on the application page.

Love Circular combines passion and personalisation for better tech education

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