The final frontier 🚀

Plus: 20 growth marketing hacks to get your first 100 customers [AngelList Logo]( [View Online]( [The most promising SpaceTech startups]( [Alternate text]( Last month, SpaceX successfully launched its Crew Dragon spacecraft, sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, and also sending space nerds around the world into a state of giddy euphoria. As the first launch of “American astronauts in an American-made rocket, from American soil” in more than nine years, it marked a significant step forward for private investment in space ventures. According to the space technology venture firm [Seraphim]( investor activity into space-related startups is up almost 10x in the last 3 years. Dollars invested went from 2.5 billion in 2017 to 5.4 billion in the first quarter of 2020 alone. Seraphim categorizes potential investment areas into eight main sectors: Build - Companies building the satellites and drones themselves. Launch - Companies building and launching rockets. This includes autonomous flight and drone delivery startups. Data - Companies collecting data from space. For example, Spire Global uses nanosatellites to track maritime, aviation, and weather patterns. Downlink - Technologies facilitating the transmission and storage of data from space back down to Earth. Analyze - Companies working to convert that data into insights. Product - Companies packaging data streams from space and terrestrial sources into APIs for use by other companies. Beyond Earth – Companies building in-space infrastructure to connect satellites and spaceships to each other. One example is Momentus, which is a sort of space-taxi service, moving satellites from one orbit path to another. Founders Fund famously groaned that “we wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” With SpaceX’s manned launch and the new VC optimism in space technology, their complaint may finally be out of date. [View Story]( More from last week [A look at 10 successful startups founded during a recession]( MEDIUM Recessions eventually end, and the startups that survive often turn into successful companies. From Airbnb to Groupon, Richard Liu explores how tech startups that survived the 2008 financial crisis eventually made it big. [Company culture is how you are different, not how you are the same]( SUMMATION Culture is a forgotten form of free leverage. It's what attracts the right employees at the right time and leverages them to grow the business for the long term. Auren Hoffman, CEO of Safegraph, explains why culture is about differentiation rather than similarity. [What is good retention]( SUBSTACK Lenny Rachitsky, former supply growth lead at Airbnb, and Casey Winters, Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, walk through the difference between good and great retention curves. [20 growth marketing hacks to get your first 100 customers]( MEDIUM 20 growth marketing hacks from companies like Lyft, Snapchat, The Morning Brew, and Superhuman to onboard your first 100 customers, including how to: - define your ideal customer - Own your audience - nurture that audience - create scarcity - continue providing excellent service Hot startups hiring now 🔥 [Forethought]( - AI powered agent to scale your customer support. [Explore 11 jobs](. [Vantage Point]( - Inclusion training for the modern workforce. [Explore 3 jobs](. [Calendly]( - Schedule meetings without the back-and-forth emails. [Explore 6 jobs](. [Mahmee]( - Mapping the maternal healthcare ecosystem. [Hiring a Sales Associate](. [digitalundivided]( - Creating pathways for Black & Latinx women into entrepreneurship. [Hiring VP of Marketing](. [AptDeco]( - Used furniture marketplace without the hassle. [Explore 10 jobs](. [Pindrop]( - Creating frictionless authentication and fraud detection for voice interactions. [Hiring engineers](. [Squire]( - OpenTable for Barbershops. [Explore 3 jobs](. Funding and acquisitions Varo Money, a mobile banking startup, raised $241 million in Series D funding. It closes in on becoming the first and only fully digital bank to receive a national bank charter. [Mobile banking is growing in popularity]( as some banks remain closed because of the pandemic, and consumers are seeking the safety and convenience that digital banking provides. Chegg, a direct-to-student learning platform, has acquired Mathway, a popular math problem-solving application for $100 million. The deal comes at a time when [online learning platforms are more important than ever]( as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps students at home. Hyperscience, a data automation startup, has raised $60 million in Series C funding. Hyperscience’s automation platform is designed to assist enterprises to quickly build and roll out new business processes. The [platform’s usage has grown 3x]( since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as enterprises are accelerating their automation adoption. DNAnexus, a biomedical informatics and data management provider, has raised $100 million in Series G funding. DNAnexus provides a platform for researchers, regulators, and companies to [host and analyze their increasingly large sets of genomic data](. Covid-19 has accelerated a shift to virtual work, collaborations, and data-sharing efforts that might allow scientists to understand and stem the virus. Cruise, the self-driving car developer, has acquired Astyx, [a producer of high-resolution radar sensors for cars](. The deal reflects the belief that sensor production may represent a competitive advantage to autonomous vehicle companies. AngelList Weekly 90 Gold St San Francisco, CA 94133 [Unsubscribe]( | [Update preferences](