Teaching your kids how to get away from a ‘bad guy’ - WJXT News4JAX

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The idea of a child being kidnapped is terrifying. It’s why Brandon Centeno, with Roderick’s Family Martial Arts, enjoys teaching his students self-defense. It does not focus on hitting, as much as it trains young kids to avoid becoming a target.

“Predators prey on what they perceive to be weak, so that’s why we teach them. The first thing is confidence,” said Centeno.

He stresses the importance of walking with your head up, shoulders back and making eye contact with the people around you. This confidence, he said, signals you are not weak or afraid. Perhaps it will deter someone from targeting you.

Something else, don’t be afraid to use your voice, he said. Centeno teaches his students to yell at anyone who grabs them or approaches them in a threatening way.

“Hey stop, leave me alone,” he shouted during his demonstration with students.

Centeno then shows his students how to get away if someone grabs them and won’t let go. He focuses on five soft spots, teaching the kids where to hit their attacker so they can free themselves and run for safety.

These classes are offered to children as young as 4 years old by Roderick’s Family Martial Arts, which has four locations in Northeast Florida: Oakleaf, Middleburg, Fleming Island and San Marco. If you would like to learn more call: 904-872-9435.

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Biddeford startup may provide farms with unusual field hands — robots - Mainebiz

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For small and mid-size farm owners, worker shortages are a continuing problem. But a Biddeford startup is working to create a labor pool of potentially easy hires.

Farmhand Automation is developing low-cost electric robots to handle the arduous task of weeding fields.

The autonomous platform is designed to help rural local farms scale operations to address growing food security pressures posed by climate change.

Founded by Kennebunk native Alexander Jones, the early-stage company has developed a prototype, is planning real-world trials and is targeting late 2022 for a commercial launch. 

The company employs three staffers plus one contractor and is looking to hire three additional software development and mechanical engineering employees within the next six months. Click here to learn more about hiring opportunities.

Over the past two years, the company has invested $500,000 in Maine Technology Institute grants, loans and local angel investment. Farmhand Automation recently received an additional $250,000 through a Maine Technology Institute and Governor’s Energy Office joint initiative called the Maine Clean Energy Innovation Challenge, for product development, testing and field trials.

Courtesy / Farmhand Automation

The robot’s weeding tools run between rows of seedlings.

Mainebiz asked Jones about his startup journey and the connection between farming and robots. Here’s an edited transcript.

Mainebiz: What’s your background?

Alexander Jones: I went to Emerson College in Boston for its film program and worked in Manhattan for close to seven years, mostly as a camera engineer. In my late 20s, I dropped everything and moved to Portland to build a career here. That brought me to technology. It was 2014, 2015. There was a burgeoning web technology scene here and the start-up scene was really picking up. I wanted to start a small business. 

My first entrepreneurial endeavor was in honeybee monitoring. I developed small-scale devices that go under the hive, connect to wifi and track the weight of the hive throughout the day. The weight goes down as bees leave to look for pollen. By the end of the day, you can tell how much honey has come in by how much the weight has increased. 

It’s a niche market, mostly for hobbyist beekeepers, but at the time felt like a great way to make an impact in the agricultural world with technology. I was selling product mostly through beekeeping conferences, traveling along the East Coast. From there we started getting online orders. We sold about 150. That led me to Forager [a Portland developer of an app that connects local food producers and sellers] where I was the product manager. 

But I wanted to explore robotics. So I went to the West Coast, worked in San Francisco briefly, then moved to Seattle to work with iUNU [a specialist in computer vision for agriculture]. We were building small robots, a little bigger than a football, that run on overhead tracks through a greenhouse and have a camera on the bottom, sort of like a drone without propellers. The robots take pictures of the plants below. We used computer vision and artificial intelligence to understand how well the plants were growing, whether there were diseases and helped growers keep track of inventory across several acres of indoor growing. iUNU was a great experience.

MB: Why did you start your own company?

AJ: I was always interested in farming and had done farm apprenticeships in upstate New York. At the same time, I became aware of how challenging farming is. I was excited by the opportunity to use technology to make it easier to start and scale small and mid-size farms. 

MB: How did you land in Biddeford?

AJ: My partner Linzy and I heard Biddeford was up and coming and the rents were cheaper than Portland. We needed an industrial base to build robots, but close to lots of farms. We leased one acre from Broadturn Farm in Scarborough as our test field. 

MB: What was your goal?

AJ: We wanted to figure out how to reduce the cost of starting or growing a farm. Sixty percent of a farm’s cost is labor. A lot of that labor is for basic repetitive tasks  like weeding or turning over the soil. Those are jobs that are underserved. But much of the workflow can be automated with simple tools. That’s what we’re approaching with robotics. 

MB: What have you built? 

AJ: We started with a rover — like a Mars rover — that can drive over farm beds. That’s the big thing — there’s no off-the-shelf robot that can straddle a bed of vegetables. We had to figure out how to build it at a low cost, with low-cost tools, so we could sell it at an accessible price point for local farms. Our target is to reach a price of $25,000 per unit. 

Courtesy / Farmhand Automation

Seen here is the solar-powered charging station.

MB: How far along is development?

AJ: We’re on our fourth-generation prototype now and we’re doing longevity and resilience testing, along with tool development. The rover is  5 feet wide by 3 feet deep by 2.5 feet tall and weighs 150 pounds with tools. The first tool we’re developing is a weeder. The idea is to have it be able to do light weeding in the top two inches of the soil to disturb weed growth without destroying the soil structure and beneficial soil organisms that support plant growth. We want to follow that with a seeder and a transplanter. But we’re focused on weeding now because it’s one of the most expensive and labor-intensive tasks aside from harvesting.

MB: How is the robot powered? 

AJ: The robot has internal batteries and we have a solar base station with another big battery that gets charged all day, so the robot can charge itself. The idea is that you can have the robot run all day and night. 

MB: Can the robot find its way to the charging station by itself? 

AJ: Yes. The farmer has to set waypoints to tell the rover where it can go, but it can move freely from there. The robot is equipped with high-precision GPS that we use for the navigation and tools. Another piece that we’re still developing is adding lightweight sonar sensors to the front and back of the robot so that it can avoid basic obstacles.      

MB: How does the robot know what is a weed and what is a plant?

AJ: We’ve taken a different approach to most agricultural robots in that we’re not “looking” for the plants at all. Typically in small-scale farming, you mark your beds with where you want your team to plant seedlings or seeds. We’re taking over that process with the robot to mark the soil for the farmer, and we record the position where each plant should go with the GPS. Later, when we come back through with weeding tools, we weed everything between the known plant locations the same way a tractor would drive down a row of lettuces with a cultivator. It’s a different approach than scanning for plants and weeds with computer vision, but it’s essential to reducing costs and making this technology accessible to farmers.     

MB: Where are you working on this?

AJ: We signed a three-year lease last month on a 2,000-square-foot space at 432 Elm St. Before that, we were working in a 550-square-foot space at the Counting House [a historic building converted to artist studios at 24 Pearl St.] We use several low-cost CNC machines and 3D printers working together to make our machines. 

MB: Tell us a bit about how the robot is made.

AJ: The system has a  main computer sitting on one corner of the robot and various sensors spread throughout the system.  You have the motors, the actuators, the wheels and the tools. These systems have to communicate with each other securely and we’ve been working with open source initiatives to develop robust communication channels over standard ethernet, like you would use on your router at home.

Courtesy / Farmhand Automation

The shop is equipped with CNC precision cutting machines and 3D printers to build robots.

We build all our own software out of necessity, and we focus on  designing systems in such a way that makes it accessible and not overly sophisticated. We do this, first, to make it easy for farmers to work with the technology and, a close second, to work with as much local tech talent as we can. We know not everyone is Maine is going to have robotics experience, so we use a lot of web-based technologies to bridge the gap with the skill sets here in Maine.

MB: What are next steps?

AJ: We’ve lined up farms as early-trial partners for next year. We hope next season to launch a YouTube channel to give people a real-time look at day-to-day use of the system and how it’s performing on our farm. We’re targeting to launch our first 25 commercial units by the end of 2022.

The biggest feedback we get from people in the technology world is how fast and how cheap we’re building the robots. But we’re not building rockets. It’s more realistic to build a robotics startup in this day and age because a lot of it has become a lot easier. The same way that Portland and other places saw an explosion of software  startups, we believe we’ll start seeing more robot startups in the next five to 10 years. It’s a really exciting way for people to engage with their communities in the physical world  and open new markets.  

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Our favorite startups from YC's Summer 21 Demo Day, Part 1 - TechCrunch

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Y Combinator kicked off its fourth-ever virtual Demo Day today, revealing the first half of its nearly 400-company batch. The presentation, YC’s biggest yet, offers a snapshot into where innovation is heading, from not-so-simple seaweed to a Clearco for creators.

The TechCrunch team stuck to its tradition of covering every single company live (but, you know, from home,) so you’ll find all of the Day 1 companies here. For those who want a sampling of standouts, however, we’re also bringing you a host of our favorites from today’s 1-minute pitch-off extravaganza.

As reporters, we’re constantly inundated with hundreds of pitches on a daily basis. The startups below caught our picky attention for a whole host of reasons, but that doesn’t mean other startups weren’t compelling or potential unicorns as well. Instead, consider the below to be a data point on which startups made us do a double-take, be it due to the size of the market opportunity, the ambition exhibited by the founding team or an idea that was just too clever to pass up.

Genei

Genei is, dare I say, a refreshing mashup between robots and writers. The startup has a simple goal: Automatically summarize background reading so content creators can grab the top facts, attribute and move onto the next graf. Writing is innately an art, so I find Genei’s positioning as a tool for writers instead of a replacement out to take their jobs as smart. Better yet, it’s launching by targeting some of the hardest workers in our industry: freelance writers. These folks often have to balance consistent pitches, diverse assignments and tight deadlines for their livelihood, so I’d presume a sidekick can’t hurt. Down the road, I could totally see this startup playing the same role as a Grammarly: a helpful extension of workflows that optimizes the way people who write for a living, write. — Natasha

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Stocks Shake Off Bad News to Rally for Seventh Straight Month - The New York Times

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With expectations that interest rates will stay down and government spending will stay up, the stock market has learned to live with the pandemic, even as cases increase.

Bad news doesn’t seem to bother Wall Street these days.

Deaths and hospitalizations related to the coronavirus are soaring, and many businesses have shelved plans to return to the office. Staffing shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks linger, while consumer confidence has fallen.

And yet, the stock market continued its quietly remarkable year in August, posting its seventh straight monthly rise. The S&P 500 index is up over 20 percent for 2021 and has more than doubled in value since it hit bottom in March 2020. The market has closed at a record high 53 times — the most by this point of the year since 1964, according to LPL Financial.

It’s an ascent that looks out of step with the reality of the virus in many parts of the country, but most investors are confident of two things: The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels, possibly for years to come, and the federal government won’t be shy about spending heavily to keep the recovery going.

“I hate to say it,” said Ed Yardeni, a longtime market analyst and president of the stock market research firm Yardeni Research. “But it looks like we’re learning to live with this virus, and the market certainly has.”

Not everybody expects the rally to continue unabated. And any disruption of investors’ expectations about interest rates and governmental supports — or a big slowdown caused by Delta or some other variant — could alter the persistently sunny outlook.

But so far, the lingering pandemic has lifted the stock prices of companies whose profits are tied to it directly — Moderna’s 260 percent rally this year has made it the S&P 500’s best performer — and those positioned to gain from the messy economic recovery, like metals manufacturers, energy companies and semiconductor makers.

The breadth of the boom was clear in July. Second-quarter earnings results were expected to be generally strong, but trounced expectations: Nearly 90 percent of companies exceeded analyst forecasts, the highest such level of “beats” on record, according to Refinitiv data going back to 1994.

“Earnings numbers were spectacular,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “You had an extraordinarily strong rebound from the recession.”

Typically, periods of strong economic growth and red-hot profits are also accompanied by high or rising interest rates, which tend to act as a headwind for stocks. But not this time.

Despite higher-than-expected inflation, the Federal Reserve has signaled it intends to keep rates low even as it prepares to slow — or “taper” — the money-printing and bond purchases it began at the start of the pandemic.

During a closely watched speech last week, Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, stressed that rate increases were far away, and that the Fed was attuned to the risk posed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus. His comments helped to catalyze a fresh scramble higher for the market.

“I think investors can live with tapering because everyone knows it’s going to happen and it’s been talked about so much,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, a brokerage and investment advisory firm. “But knowing rates are going to stay a little bit lower for longer, that’s that cherry on top with an economy that’s overall still improving.”

Such widespread optimism is a far cry from how investors reacted when the pandemic first hit. Stocks plunged 34 percent as the extent of the economic risks finally dawned on them in early 2020.

The stock market continued its quietly remarkable year in August, posting its seventh straight monthly rise.Richard Drew/Associated Press

Government and central bank intervention quelled the panic. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero and began pumping money into financial markets. The Trump administration and Congress quickly enacted trillions of dollars in relief spending for companies and households, cushioning the economy from the worst damage and setting off the market’s climb.

The initial rally centered on stocks that were poised to thrive in a work-from-home world, including online retailers like Etsy, the home exercise company Peloton and suddenly ubiquitous services like Zoom Video.

But the stock surge broadened in November, when favorable results on vaccines lifted expectations of an economic recovery. Businesses including airlines, casino companies and commodities producers began to race higher, too.

As much as the stock market abhors uncertainty, the shifting threat that is the Delta variant has been no match for investors’ confidence that Washington will offer plenty of support — no matter what.

When the S&P 500 this month rose to double its Covid-era low on March 23, 2020, it was the fastest 100 percent rise for the index since World War II, according to Yardeni Research. In roughly 17 months, the rally created nearly $20 trillion in stock market wealth.

Besides the sheer angle of the ascent, analysts have been struck by the smoothness of the rally. The S&P hasn’t suffered a 5 percent pullback since October, according to Mr. Detrick. Even with a 0.1 percent decline on Tuesday, the market is just a day removed from its most recent record high.

It won’t last forever, of course. The market’s seemingly effortless upward glide is bound to hit turbulence — and some experts think it’s likely at some point in the next year.

Mike Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, said he believed that there would be some kind of “comeuppance” as the economic picture shifts.

The economy, which is expected to grow at a pace above 6 percent this year, is widely expected to slow. Goldman Sachs recently cut its 2021 growth forecast to 6 percent, from 6.4 percent, citing the Delta variant’s impact. Slower growth could mean less impressive corporate earnings.

And even if the Federal Reserve doesn’t actually raise interest rates, its support for the stock market will weaken as it cuts back on the money-printing and bond-buying programs to which investors have grown accustomed.

“We think that the extraordinary fundamentals are about to deteriorate and we’re going to see growth start to decelerate significantly,” Mr. Wilson said. “And we’re going to see the Fed start to remove accommodation.”

Both factors lend themselves to lower stock prices. Mr. Wilson said he believed that the market was due for a correction — Wall Street’s term for a decline of 10 percent or more.

But, he said, the sell-off could be worse the longer the market rises and the further stock prices get out of whack with standard measures of value.

“That correction can be more than 10 percent,” Mr. Wilson said. “It can be 10 to 20.”

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These Images Show Just How Bad Hurricane Ida Hit Louisiana's Coastline - WBFO

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Hurricane Ida's fierce Category 4 winds and torrential rain left the Louisiana coastline badly beaten.

Images of the effected areas days after the storm show crushed homes, debris scattered across streets, and flooded neighborhoods.

As cleanup is underway, officials are warning residents who evacuated not to return to their homes just yet due to the severe damage.

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A man checks a broken gas pipe with a firefighter after Hurricane Ida hit Bourg, Louisiana, the United States, Aug. 30, 2021.

When the storm made landfall, its winds were as high as 150 mph, which tore roofs from homes and trees from their roots. It was eventually downgraded to a tropical depression by Monday as it moved across Mississippi.

Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina-- the costliest storm on record in U.S. history. Katrina, which caused massive damage to New Orleans, was a Category 3 storm when it hit. Though a weaker storm (winds during Hurricane Katrina reached 125 mph), it was larger in size than Hurricane Ida, which experts attribute to why Katrina caused so much damage ago.

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The house owner Alzile Marie Hand, 66, right, is being comforted by her son Thomas James Hand, 19, outside of their damaged house after the Hurricane Ida passed through in Houma, Louisiana on August 30, 2021.

The winds knocked out power in New Orleans, including temporarily the city's 911 emergency response system, and surrounding areas. More than 1 million residents are still without power by early Tuesday. It's unclear when power will be restored to most residents, but officials believe it may last more than a month for some people.

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A resident carries a dog through floodwater left behind by Hurricane Ida in LaPlace, Louisiana, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. The storm, wielding some of the most powerful winds ever to hit the state, drove a wall of water inland when it thundered ashore Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane and reversed the course of part of the Mississippi River.

Hurricane Ida is also blamed for the death of at least two people as of Monday, according to Louisiana's Department of Health. One man drowned after he attempted to drive his car through floodwaters in New Orleans. The other victim was found Sunday night after being hit by a fallen tree.

Gov. John Bel Edwardssaid he expects the number of fatalities to increase as recovery efforts continue.

Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images

A National Guard vehicle drives through floodwater left behind by Hurricane Ida in LaPlace, Louisiana, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. The storm, wielding some of the most powerful winds ever to hit the state, drove a wall of water inland when it thundered ashore Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane and reversed the course of part of the Mississippi River.

President Biden approved Louisiana's request for a major disaster declaration on Sunday, allowing federal funding to reach residents and business owners.

Emergency and first responder teams, including the U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard, continue operations on Tuesday. Search and rescue teams from more than 15 states are conducting operations in hard-hit areas, according to FEMA.

/ U.S. Coast Guard Heartland

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted overflights Monday following the landfall Hurricane Ida. Aircrews conducted overflights near Galliano, LA to assess damages and identify hazards.

FEMA also reminded residents to be cautious of news shared on social media being attributed to the agency.

It warned residents on its website about false rumors being shared on online alleging the agency is paying for hotels for people who evacuated due to the storm. The agency said people must first apply for FEMA assistance online before receiving aid.

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Marquita Jenkins stands in the ruins of the Be Love hair salon, owned by her mother, which was destroyed by Hurricane Ida on August 30, 2021 in LaPlace, Louisiana. Idas eastern wall went right over LaPlace inflicting heavy damage on the area.

Officials continue to remind Louisianans that bouncing back from Ida's destruction is a marathon--not a sprint.

In New Orleans, the city put out a call for hot and non-perishable meals, generators, charging stations and offered options for those interested in donating to assist residents.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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First responders prepare to launch rescue boats to transport residents out of floodwater left behind by Hurricane Ida in LaPlace, Louisiana, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021.

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6 tips for establishing your startup's global supply chain - TechCrunch

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Jeff Morin Contributor

Jeff Morin is the co-founder and CEO of Liteboxer, an at-home fitness company that creates immersive workouts.

Startups are hard work, but the complexities of global supply chains can make running hardware companies especially difficult. Instead of existing within a codebase behind a screen, the key components of your hardware product can be scattered around the world, subject to the volatility of the global economy.

I’ve spent most of my career establishing global supply chains, setting up manufacturing lines for 3D printers, electric bicycles and home fitness equipment on the ground in Mexico, Hungary, Taiwan and China. I’ve learned the hard way that Murphy’s law is a constant companion in the hardware business.

But after more than a decade of work on three different continents, there are a few lessons I’ve learned that will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes.

Expect cost fluctuations, especially in currency and shipping

Shipping physical products is quite different from “shipping” code — you have to pay a considerable amount of money to transport products around the world. Of course, shipping costs become a line item like any other as they get baked into the overall business plan. The issue is that those costs can change monthly — sometimes drastically.

At this time last year, a shipping container from China cost $3,300. Today, it’s almost $18,000 — a more than fivefold increase in 12 months. It’s safe to assume that most 2020 business plans did not account for such a cost increase for a key line item.

Shipping a buggy hardware product can be exponentially costlier than shipping buggy software. Recalls, angry customers, return shipping and other issues can become existential problems.

Similar issues also arise with currency exchange rates. Contract manufacturers often allow you to maintain cost agreements for any fluctuations below 5%, but the dollar has dropped much more than 5% against the yuan compared to a year ago, and hardware companies have been forced to renegotiate their manufacturing contracts.

As exchange rates become less favorable and shipping costs increase, you have two options: Operate with lower margins, or pass along the cost to the end customer. Neither choice is ideal, but both are better than going bankrupt.

The takeaway is that when you set up your business, you need to prepare for these possibilities. That means operating with enough margin to handle increased costs, or with the confidence that your end customer will be able to handle a higher price.

Overorder critical parts

Over the past year, many businesses have lost billions of dollars in market value because they didn’t order enough semiconductors. As the owner of a hardware company, you will encounter similar risks.

The supply for certain components, like computer chips, can be limited, and shortages can arise quickly if demand increases or supply chains get disrupted. It’s your job to analyze potential choke points in your supply chain and create redundancies around them.

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Fundraising for your startup? We’ve got you covered at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 - TechCrunch

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Fundraising is a huge part of building a successful startup, and whether you’re looking for information about the latest trends, alternative funding or how to fine-tune your pitch to attract investors, you’ll find that and a whole lot more at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 on September 21-23.

Disrupt always taps the top experts, visionaries, founders, investors and makers to share their insights, tips and actionable advice. This year is no different, and you can choose from more than 80 presentations, events and breakout sessions over the course of three full days.

Be disruptive: Buy your pass today for less than $100 and get ready to learn from and connect with a global startup community.

Money makes the world go around (just ask Liza Minelli), and we’re highlighting just a sampling of the fundraising-focused sessions to help you on your financial journey at Disrupt.

Ready to raise? Here’s just a sample of the fundraising knowledge you can get — you’ll find the specific days and times listed in the Disrupt 2021 agenda.

How to Raise Your First Dollars

Deciding how to go about getting your initial funding is always a tricky subject, as the wrong move could adversely impact your young company. In this session we’ll hear from Index Ventures’ Nina Achadjian, Sequoia Capital’s Luciana Lixandru and Canvas Ventures’ Rebecca Lynn — experts who’ve shepherded multiple companies from the earliest to the latest fundraises.

How to Ditch Traditional Fundraising

In 2021, venture capital has never been more plentiful, but some founders still can’t break into networks or have found that traditional fundraising isn’t the best route for their business. Fortunately, alternative fundraising techniques are gathering steam as founders find paths to raise cash that diverge from the startup success stories of the past. Join Pipe’s Harry Hurst, Accel’s Arun Mathew and Clearco’s Michele Romanow to learn more about alternative fundraising options.

You’ve Raised Your Seed Round — Now What? Preparing for Your Series A

You cleared the first hurdle: initial funding is in the bank. You’re hiring more talent, seeing the beginnings of a finished product with clear evidence of traction and experiencing the coveted growth that previously felt just out of reach. Before you know it, the decision to raise for what is arguably the most competitive round is staring you in the face. Join Samsung Next’s David Lee alongside founders Kadie Okwudili (Agapé), Andy Hoang (Aviron) and Jim Bugwadia (Nirmata) as they discuss the learnings and nuances of bridging seed to Series A. Presented by Samsung Next.

Where to Cut and Where to Spend in First-Check Fundraising

Every time a founder raises financing, they usually have one goal: growth. But what does that actually mean? And how do you begin divvying up your new capital between the various goals your startup is barreling toward? In this panel, which includes Harlem Capital’s Henri Pierre-Jacques, Equal Ventures’ Richard Kerby and BBG Ventures’ Nisha Dua, you will learn about how to spend your investment the best way, balancing runway with classic startup rigor.

How Circle’s $4.5B Public Listing Will Change Startup Fundraising

Circle acquired SeedInvest in 2019, as a further step toward realizing its vision of a more open, global, connected and inclusive financial system. Circle recently announced its plans to become a $4.5 billion public company with over $1 billion of fresh capital. In this session, Circle CEO and co-founder Jeremy Allaire and Ryan Feit, CEO and co-founder of SeedInvest, will break down the evolution of the two companies and how Circle and SeedInvest plan to double down on online fundraising to make it faster and easier for entrepreneurs. Presented by by SeedInvest.

Crafting a Pitch Deck that Can’t Be Ignored

Investors may be chasing after the hottest deals, but for founders selling their startup’s vision, it’s never been more important to communicate it in the clearest way possible. Our panelists of pitch deck experts — Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Mercedes Bent, Pear VC’s Mar Hershenson and Techstars’ Saba Karim — dig into what’s essential, what’s unnecessary and what could just make all the difference in your next deck.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 takes place September 21-23. Buy your pass today and take advantage of these fundraising sessions and expert advice — so you can find the money to make your world go around.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt 2021? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Robot Truck Startup Gatik Raises $85 Million In Koch-Led Funding Round - Forbes

Southeast Asia “omnichannel” health startup Doctor Anywhere gets $88M SGD - TechCrunch

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Doctor Anywhere, a startup that takes an “omnichannel” approach to healthcare, announced today it has raised $88 million SGD (about $65.7 million USD) in Series C funding. The round was led by Asia Partners, with participation from Novo Holdings, Philips and OSK-SBI Partners. It also included returning investors EDBI, Square Peg, IHH Healthcare, Kamet Capital and Pavilion Capital. 

As part of the round, Asia Partners co-founder Oliver Rippel and Novo Holdings Equity Asia senior partner Dr. Amit Kakar will join Doctor Anywhere’s board of directors. The company’s Series C, which it claims is one of the largest private rounds raised by a Southeast Asian healthtech company, brings its total funding to more than $140 million SGD. 

Doctor Anywhere’s omnichannel approach means that in addition to online consultations, it runs in-person clinics, provides home visits, medication deliveries and operates an in-app marketplace for health and wellness products. 

Founded in 2017 by Lim Wai Mun, Doctor Anywhere claims it now serves more than 1.5 million users. It is available in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, and recently established tech hubs in Bangalore and Ho Chi Minh City. 

Lim told TechCrunch in an email that when he started working on Doctor Anywhere, there were already successful telemedicine platforms in the United States, the United Kingdom and China, but the model was still nascent in Southeast Asia. A former investor, Lim began Doctor Anywhere as a side project because he had older relatives who could not leave their homes for medical visits. 

Doctor Anywhere launched as an online-only telehealth platform, but “we quickly realized that physical presence is very important in order to build trust with users,” Lim said. As a result, the company started its home care services and physical clinics. 

According to Doctor Anywhere’s estimates, the COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked the adoption of telehealth services in Southeast Asia by at least five years. The company saw more demand for online medical consultations, medication deliveries and marketplace purchases. 

“In the past year, we have more than doubled the size of our network, from around 1,000 providers at the start of 2020 to currently close to 2,500 medical professionals across Southeast Asia,” Lim said. 

In response to the pandemic, Doctor Anywhere launched an online COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic last year to provide on-demand consultations for people with suspected symptoms. It also created an online mental wellness module with psychologists. Lim said the company has seen an increase in demand for mental health-related services, like insomnia and anxiety. 

Other telehealth startups in the region include WhiteCoat, Speedoc and Doctor World. Lim said Doctor Anywhere wants to differentiate by quickly launching new products in response to user inquiries, and “cultivating a balance between technology and human touch.” 

The funding will be used to deepen Doctor Anywhere’s presence in its current markets and expand into new ones. It also plans to scale its tech infrastructure and big data capabilities for a better online-to-offline user experience, and will introduce new medical specialty modules, shorten medication delivery times and develop personalized healthcare plans. 

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Hurricane Veterans Were Stunned by Ida: ‘It’s Never Been as Bad’ - The New York Times

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Some small towns outside New Orleans were inundated. Trapped residents waited for daylight, when rescue boats could make their way through the floodwaters.

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Jordan Roque pulled his Chevy pickup truck onto the last stretch of highway outside of town that was not inundated by water on Monday, hauling an airboat. Hurricane Ida had turned the road into a makeshift boat launch, and Mr. Roque was on a mission to find his relatives.

His aunt and uncle, Diane and Buddy Nolan, had ridden out the fierce Category 4 storm at home in the hardy fishing village of Jean Lafitte. No one had heard from the Nolans since Sunday morning, and now the village, along with much of the southeastern Louisiana bayou area, was underwater.

The authorities had rescued more than 70 people in Jean Lafitte and the surrounding communities, said Cynthia Lee Sheng, the Jefferson Parish president, after eight feet of water overtopped levees, sending several hundred people into attics and onto roofs. At least one person, an older woman, died in her home, Ms. Lee Sheng said. The parish had received more than 200 calls for rescue since Sunday.

A home in Jean Lafitte.Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times

Across the path of Ida’s destruction, the weathered and storm-weary people of the northern Gulf Coast waded out of flooded communities on Monday and surveyed the damage left by one of the most fearsome hurricanes to strike the region since Katrina 16 years ago. New Orleans and its hardened storm infrastructure appeared to have held up, though the city had no electricity. But with parts of Louisiana still unreachable, the full extent of the wreckage remained unclear.

“It’s never been as bad as it is this time,” said Jesse Touro, 62, who was rescued from Jean Lafitte after riding out storms in town for the past 12 years. He sounded exhausted as he rode a parish bus to find some sort of shelter. “None of them like this one,” he repeated.

Several small towns in the southern half of the parish, outside the giant storm protection system encircling New Orleans and some of its suburbs, were inundated. Dozens of residents watched as floodwaters advanced, waiting for rescues that did not start until daybreak.

New Orleans itself had been bruised but not beaten. Tree limbs and debris clogged the streets from the Bywater neighborhood to Uptown. In the French Quarter, the streets seemed to have been washed almost clean. A few New Orleanians had begun venturing out to walk their dogs, ride bikes and assess the state of things early on Monday. Though the city looked sturdy and dry on the outside, many of the problems were unfolding indoors, where the lights could be out for days.

Residents surveying the damage to their home in Houma, La.Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times

In Houma, a small city about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, Craig Adams, 53, had planned to spend Saturday night in his beige trailer, but his daughter begged him at 9 p.m., as the storm’s arrival was imminent, to seek shelter somewhere sturdier. On Monday, he was thankful she had. The two-bedroom trailer was wrecked, with only the air-conditioner intact among piles of mangled furniture, kitchen supplies and personal belongings.

“Every little thing that I owned and had, it’s gone,” Mr. Adams said. “I’m going to have to start all over again. You always see other people going through this on the news. You never think it’s going to be you — until it is.”

Grand Isle, a narrow beachy islet of stilt-raised homes facing the Gulf of Mexico, near where Ida came ashore, could not be reached by road, which was underwater, or by air, because there was nowhere for a helicopter to land, said Sheriff Joseph P. Lopinto III of Jefferson Parish.

He sent the chopper anyway to see if it could spot his 10 deputies who remained in a bunker on the isle during the storm. There were reports that its roof had blown off. But the deputies gave the helicopter crew a thumbs up on Monday, Sheriff Lopinto said in an interview with WWL radio. He told The New York Times he might have his team drop radios by helicopter so deputies on the isle could communicate.

LaPlace, La., saw many homes mangled and streets flooded by Ida.Emily Kask for The New York Times

Ms. Lee Sheng estimated that about 40 people had chosen not to evacuate Grand Isle.

In Jean Lafitte, a village of about 2,000 people, about 400 residents initially refused the mandatory evacuation order, according to the sheriff. But he expected fewer actually stayed once they saw Ida’s strength.

“We did rescue missions all today,” Sheriff Lopinto said. “But the water has stabilized. It’s not coming anymore. In fact, it’s receding.”

Some of those who stayed behind still had no plans to leave. Cody Lauricella, a 30-year-old native of bayou country, sailed the 19-foot fishing trawler he usually uses to catch trout and flounder back and forth to Jean Lafitte throughout the day to help people get out. He went all the way to lower Lafitte, he said, but found few takers for a boat ride.

“There are a lot of people that are still there and OK, sitting on the porch, waving at us,” Sheriff Lopinto said. “It’s part of living in this community. They understand that.”

The full extent of the wreckage in places like Houma remained unclear.Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times

Mr. Roque felt certain his aunt and uncle, whom he lovingly described as “hippies,” would be all right. “They have good knowledge of what they’re doing,” he said. Their house, like others in the village, was elevated, and their neighbor had a boat.

But he worried anyway.

“They were being stubborn — everyone told them to leave, but they were like, ‘Oh, we’re staying,’” Mr. Roque, 23, said. “We just want to make sure.”

LaPlace, a town of quiet subdivisions on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River where many evacuees from New Orleans settled after Katrina, saw many of those homes mangled and streets flooded by Ida. On Whitlow Court, a strip of mobile homes, every truck attempting to drive down the street stirred a wake. The water was out. So was the electricity. No one had cellphone service.

David Sanford, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, considered himself something of a hurricane veteran, having lived on the Florida coast, in Pensacola, before moving to Louisiana. Even so, Ida terrified him. The storm had his mobile home vibrating — then it popped a skylight over the bathroom, dumping water inside.

Flooding at a mobile home park in LaPlace.Emily Kask for The New York Times

“It was just rough,” Mr. Sanford, 64, recounted, sitting back on a dry patch at the end of the street on Monday. “This one right here was the worst one I’ve been in.” The wind was howling, he said, and seemed to never stop. “It didn’t slack up at all,” he said.

Lea Joseph took her children to try to sleep in the trembling car once the power went out; the wind was whipping her house, uprooting trees and peeling roof shingles.

“I felt bad because I should have left with my kids,” she said. “I’m scared. My son is crying. He kept asking, ‘When is the eye passing, when is the eye passing?’”

Her 13-year-old son, Cesar, showed videos he had shared with friends on Snapchat of the wind and water descending on the family’s home. In them, his 11-year-old brother, Juan, kept calling out, “Hold the door, hold the door,” terrified of the storm’s bluster.

“I was crying,” Juan recalled as he stood on the flooded street, the water lapping over his rubber boots.

“Never again,” Ms. Joseph said. “Never again.”

Richard Fausset reported from Jefferson Parish, La., Rick Rojas from LaPlace, La., and Patricia Mazzei from Miami. Edgar Sandoval contributed reporting from Houma, La.

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Zoom announces first startups receiving funding from $100M investment fund - TechCrunch

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For more than a year now, Zoom has been on a mission to transform from an application into a platform. To that end it made three announcements last year: Zoom Apps development tools, the Zoom Apps marketplace and a $100 million development fund to invest in some of the more promising startups building tools on top of their platform. Today, at the closing bell, the company announced it has made its first round of investments.

Ross Mayfield, product lead for Zoom Apps and integrations, spoke to TechCrunch about the round of investments. “We’re in the process of creating this ecosystem. We felt it important, particularly to focus on the seed stage and A stage of partnering with entrepreneurs to create great things on this platform. And I think what you see in the first batch of more than a dozen investments is representative of something that’s going to be a significant ongoing undertaking,” he explained.

He said while they aren’t announcing exact investment amounts, they are writing checks for between $250,000 and $2.5 million. They are teaming with other investment partners, rather than leading the rounds, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working with these startups using internal resources for advice and executive backing, beyond the money.

“Every one of these investments has an executive or senior sponsor within the company. So there’s another person inside that knows the lay of the land, can help them advance and spend more personal time with them,” Mayfield said.

The company is also running several Zoom chat channels for the startups receiving investments to learn from one another and the Zoom Apps team. “We have a shared chat channel between the startup and my team. We have a channel called Announcements and a channel called Help, and another one that the startups created called Community,” he said.

Every week they use these channels to hold a developer office hour, a business office hour (which Mayfield runs) and a community hour, where the startups can gather and talk amongst themselves about whatever they want.

Among the specific categories receiving funding are collaboration and productivity, community and charity, DE&I and PeopleOps, and gaming and entertainment. In the collaboration and productivity category, Warmly is a sales tool that provides background and information about each person participating in the meeting ahead of time, while allowing the meeting organizer to create customized Zoom backgrounds for each event.

Another is Fathom, which alleviates the need to take notes during a meeting, but it’s more than recording and transcription. “It gives you this really simple interface where you can just tag moments. And then, as a result you have this transcript of the video recording, and you can click on those tagged moments as highlights, and then share a clip of the meeting highlights to Salesforce, Slack and other tools,” Mayfield said.

Pledge enables individuals or organizations to request and collect donations inside a Zoom meeting instantly, and Canvas is a hiring and interview tool that helps companies build diverse teams with data that helps them set and meet DEI goals.

These and the other companies represent the first tranche of investments from this fund, and Mayfield says the company intends to continue looking for startups using the Zoom platform to build their startup or integrate with Zoom.

He says that every company starts as a feature, then becomes a product and then aspires to be a line of products. The trick is getting there.  The goal of the investment program and the entire set of Zoom Apps tools is about helping these companies take the first step.

“The art of being an entrepreneur is working with that risk in the absence of resources and pushing at the frontier of what you know.” Zoom is trying to be a role model, a mentor and an investor on that journey.

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Summer of 2022: Will browntail moths be this bad again? - pressherald.com

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After one of Maine’s worst browntail moth seasons, there are signs 2022 could continue a years-long outbreak of the invasive insect responsible for painful skin rashes and occasional dangerous breathing problems. But winter and spring weather could determine the scale of next summer’s infestation. Photo by James Dill

Next summer may be just as itchy and painful as this one.

After one of Maine’s worst browntail moth seasons, there are signs already that 2022 could continue a years-long outbreak of the invasive insect that’s responsible for painful skin rashes and occasional dangerous breathing problems.

A browntail moth caterpillar climbs across a leaf on a tree Tuesday in the Androscoggin Riverlands State Park in Turner. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

But winter and spring weather could determine the scale of next summer’s infestation. And ongoing research offers some hope for tamping down future outbreaks.

The influx of moths throughout the state this summer means there likely was successful mating, leading to a large number of eggs that become caterpillars, experts told The Maine Monitor.

A cool and wet spring, however, would help reduce the outbreak because a fungus that attacks browntail moth caterpillars thrives in those conditions. When the spring is hot and dry, like it has been in recent years, the fungus isn’t as effective in controlling the caterpillars.

For what it’s worth, The Farmer’s Almanac this month predicted that the coming winter will “flip flop” between mild and cold and stormy.

Maine is in a browntail moth outbreak that began in 2015 and has ramped up in recent years. The insect was found in every county but York this year, although it’s likely it was there in small numbers, said Tom Schmeelk, an entomologist with the Maine Forest Service. Webs were found in Aroostook County this year for the first time in decades after the insect likely hitchhiked there on cars.

The pest gained national attention this summer for irritating Mainers and visitors enjoying the outdoors. Tiny hairs from the caterpillar can cause a skin rash similar to poison ivy and remain toxic for up to three years. Severe reactions can include trouble breathing. The brown caterpillars are about 1.5 inches long with white stripes on their sides and two orange spots on their hind end.

The browntail moth was accidentally brought from Europe to Massachusetts more than a century ago. By the early 1900s, it had spread across New England.

To find out the full range and impact of the moth this summer, the Forest Service will conduct an aerial survey in early fall to note how many acres of trees have been impacted. The caterpillars consume part of the leaves, turning them brown, which is visible from a plane.

Last year, browntail moths impacted about 150,000 acres. The largest outbreaks in the early 2000s were typically less than 20,000 acres, Schmeelk said.

During the winter, the Forest Service will count caterpillar webs throughout the state. The two surveys together will give an idea of the infestation that could happen next summer.

Infestation could expand

While it’s early to predict, Schmeelk said, “the areas that are bad this year will probably be the same areas that are bad next year. There just might be some range expansion and some new towns that are included in the browntail survey.”

But the fungus that attacks the caterpillars also is widespread in small, isolated populations such as Blue Hill and Jefferson.

“That’s good news because that tells us that it is widespread and if we do happen to have that cool wet weather, we will likely see a large decrease in the population,” Schmeelk said.

While it’s possible one really rainy spring season could squash the outbreak, browntail moths are so rampant that it likely will take a couple of seasons, he said.

And with shorter, milder winters due to climate change, there’s a smaller window of cold conditions that naturally regulate the insect, said Jim Dill, pest management specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

“Climate change in the winters can be a dramatic force in the population dynamics,” Dill said.

Mainers who find webs on their property this winter can hire an arborist to remove them or find more information from the Forest Service about how to safely remove the webs themselves.

Some cities, such as Bangor and Waterville, announced plans this summer to control the pest on a larger scale, including moth inventories and web clipping programs. Dill said this might be a good approach because it’s difficult to address the problem one property at a time.

Ongoing research may provide another solution for controlling the bug.

UMaine researchers provide hope

Angela Mech, assistant professor of forest entomology, and her colleagues at the University of Maine this summer conducted a pilot study to test pheromone traps for male browntail moths as a way to calculate population density. They will compare the number of trapped moths to the number of winter webs later found in the same area. After about four or five years of data, they will have a statistical model that can predict where the moths will be most prevalent, Mech said.

From there, Mech and her colleagues can create a “plume” of high concentrations of the female pheromone to confuse the males, making it difficult for them to find a mate.

The browntail population fluctuates in cycles, so a monitoring system will help researchers and officials predict when the populations are growing again to prevent future infestations from getting this bad, Mech said.

Browntail isn’t the only invasive insect threat in Maine. There’s been an increase of emerald ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid, Mech said. And southern pine beetle, a native species typically found south of New Jersey, is creeping north with warming winters. Schmeelk said he’s concerned about the spotted lantern fly, which feeds on almost anything and is devastating to agriculture, drifting north into Maine as the climate warms.

But the browntail moth is unusual because it’s a “trifecta pest,” Mech said. The insect damages trees, which can affect an entire ecosystem; it harms orchards and plantations, affecting the economy; and it causes irritating rashes, affecting human health.

“We are always going to have pests that could affect our ecology and our economy,” Mech said. “Browntail moth is unique in that it’s all three that are being affected, which makes it quite the little beast.”

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor is a local journalism product published by The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonpartisan and nonprofit civic news organization.

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A Startup Is Turning Houses into Corporations, And Neighbors Are Fighting Back - gvwire.com

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Neighbors in Sonoma are fighting back after learning that a new venture capital-backed startup called Pacaso was buying houses in the area and converting them into LLCs. Pacaso then sells shares of these corporate houses to multiple investors.

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TikTok owner ByteDance buys a top virtual reality hardware startup - TechCrunch

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TikTok parent company ByteDance seems to be looking to one-up Facebook anywhere it can. After taking over the mantle of most-downloaded social media app in the world with TikTok, ByteDance is coming for Facebook’s moonshot, buying up its own virtual reality headset maker called Pico.

The deal first reported on by Bloomberg last week was confirmed by the company on Monday, though ByteDance didn’t disclose a price tag for the deal. Pico had raised some $62 million in venture funding from Chinese firms, including a $37 million Series B in March. Like Oculus, they create both hardware and software for their VR devices. Unlike Oculus, they have a substantial presence in China. Pico may not hold the same name recognition as Oculus or HTC, but the company is a top VR hardware maker, selling to consumer audiences in China and enterprise customers in the Western world.

With Pico finding its home now at ByteDance, two of the world’s largest virtual reality brands now reside inside social media companies. Ironically, many of the company’s North American customers I’ve chatted with over the years seem to have at least partially opted for Pico headsets over Oculus hardware due to general weariness of Facebook’s data and ads-dependent business models, which they fear Oculus will eventually become a larger part of.

It’s no secret that the virtual reality market has been slow out of the gate, but Facebook has blazed the trail for the technology, dumping billions of dollars into an ecosystem that traditional investors have largely seemed uninterested in, in recent years.

Without knowing broad terms of the deal (I’m asking around), it’s hard to determine whether this is a moment of resurgence for VR or another sign of a contracting market. What seems most likely to me is that ByteDance is indeed interested in building out a consumer VR brand and is aiming to follow in Facebook’s footsteps closely while learning from their missteps and capitalizing on their contributions to the ecosystem. Whether the company solely focuses on the consumer markets in China or loosely pursues enterprise clients stateside as well is a big question ByteDance will have to address.

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Get your pitch-off on with our Disrupt Startup Alley companies on upcoming episodes of Extra Crunch Live - TechCrunch

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Disrupt is right around the corner, and this year the show is packed to the brim with incredible panels and conversations, an absolutely stacked Startup Battlefield cohort of companies launching on our stage, investor insights and a virtual expo hall full of exciting new products and services in the Startup Alley.

We can’t wait! Literally. So we’re giving you guys a sneak peek at some of the startups you might see at Disrupt in upcoming episodes of Extra Crunch Live.

Usually, the Extra Crunch Live crew sits down with founders and the investors who finance them to learn how they decided to partner with one another and, ultimately, how startups can get to “yes” when fundraising. In the latter half of the episode, those same guests give live feedback to folks in the audience who come on our virtual stage and pitch their products.

Truth be told, everyone loves a good pitch-off. So in these upcoming Startup Alley Edition episodes of Extra Crunch Live, we’re turning the entire episode into a pitch-off. SUA companies will come on stage, one at a time, and have exactly 60 seconds to get us excited about their startup. But it wouldn’t be a true pitch-off without some expert feedback.

I’m excited to announce the investors joining us on these episodes to share their insights and wisdom with both the startups and the audience.

On September 1, we’ll be joined by Neil Sequeira, founder at defy.vc, as well as Stacey Bishop, partner at Scale Venture Partners.

Image Credits: Elena Zhukova / Scale Venture Partners

Sequeira was managing director at General Catalyst before venturing out to start Defy. Before GC, he was at TimeWarner Investments and was a founding member of AOLTW Ventures. Defy has a portfolio that includes Airspace, HonorLock, Novi and more. Sequeira has served on more than 40 company boards, so it should go without saying that he’ll have plenty of insightful feedback for our founders.

Bishop brings more than 20 years of investment experience to our little pitch-off. She currently serves on the boards of Abstract, Airspace, Demandbase, Extole, Lever and more. Bishop has also served on several boards where the company has seen a successful exit, including HubSpot, Bizible and Vitrue. Bishop specializes in business applications and will have lots to share with our pitch-off startups.  Register here for Extra Crunch Live with defy.vc and Scale Venture Partners.

On September 8, we’ll be joined by Next47 CEO and Managing Partner Lak Ananth and Moxxie Ventures founder and General Partner Katie Stanton.

Image Credits: Next47 / Amanda Aude

Ananth serves as founding CEO at Next47, which is backed by Siemens AG. He’s sat on several boards where he has helped the companies grow beyond $1 billion valuations. Ananth specializes in emerging areas of deep tech, including AI/ML, vertical SaaS, robotics, mobility, etc. Some of Ananth’s current investments include Verkada, rideOS and Markforged.

Katie Stanton has been an executive and an operator for much of her career, holding roles at Twitter, Google, Yahoo and Color across a wide variety of departments, including marketing, comms, recruiting, product and media. Stanton also served in the Obama White House and State Department after getting her career started as a banker at JP Morgan. She currently sits on the board of Vivendi and has invested in dozens of early-stage companies, including Airtable, Cameo, Carta, Coinbase, Literati, Modern Fertility, Shape Security and Threads. Register here for Extra Crunch Live with Next47 and Moxxie Ventures. 

You don’t want to miss these episodes of Extra Crunch Live. Register (for free) to come hang out with us!

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Eating walnuts daily lowered 'bad' cholesterol and may reduce cardiovascular disease risk - Science Daily

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Eating about ½ cup of walnuts every day for two years modestly lowered levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, known as "bad cholesterol," and reduced the number of total LDL particles and small LDL particles in healthy, older adults, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation.

Healthy older adults who ate a handful of walnuts (about ½ cup) a day for two years modestly lowered their level of low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol levels. Consuming walnuts daily also reduced the number of LDL particles, a predictor of cardiovascular disease risk.

Walnuts are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid), which have been shown to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health.

"Prior studies have shown that nuts in general, and walnuts in particular, are associated with lower rates of heart disease and stroke. One of the reasons is that they lower LDL-cholesterol levels, and now we have another reason: they improve the quality of LDL particles," said study co-author Emilio Ros, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Lipid Clinic at the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona in Spain. "LDL particles come in various sizes. Research has shown that small, dense LDL particles are more often associated with atherosclerosis, the plaque or fatty deposits that build up in the arteries. Our study goes beyond LDL cholesterol levels to get a complete picture of all of the lipoproteins and the impact of eating walnuts daily on their potential to improve cardiovascular risk."

In a sub-study of the Walnuts and Healthy Aging study, a large, two-year randomized controlled trial examining whether walnuts contribute to healthy aging, researchers evaluated if regular walnut consumption, regardless of a person's diet or where they live, has beneficial effects on lipoproteins.

This study was conducted from May 2012 to May 2016 and involved 708 participants between the ages of 63 and 79 (68% women) who were healthy, independent-living adults residing in Barcelona, Spain, and Loma Linda, California.

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Participants were randomly divided into two groups: active intervention and control. Those allocated to the intervention group added about a half cup of walnuts to their usual daily diet, while participants in the control group abstained from eating any walnuts. After two years, participants' cholesterol levels were tested, and the concentration and size of lipoproteins were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This advanced test enables physicians to more accurately identify lipoprotein features known to relate to the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The two-year study had a 90% retention rate (632 participants completed the study). Complete lipoprotein analyses were available in 628.

Among key findings of all study participants:

• At 2 years, participants in the walnut group had lower LDL cholesterol levels -- by an average of 4.3 mg/dL, and total cholesterol was lowered by an average of 8.5 mg/dL.
• Daily consumption of walnuts reduced the number of total LDL particles by 4.3% and small LDL particles by 6.1%. These changes in LDL particle concentration and composition are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Intermediate Density Lipoprotein (IDL) cholesterol also decreased. It is known that IDL cholesterol is a precursor to LDL and refers to a density between that of low-density and very-low-density lipoproteins. In the last decade, IDL cholesterol has emerged as a relevant lipid cardiovascular risk factor independent of LDL cholesterol.
• LDL cholesterol changes among the walnut group differed by sex; in men, LDL cholesterol fell by 7.9% and in women by 2.6%.

"While this is not a tremendous decrease in LDL cholesterol, it's important to note that at the start of the study all our participants were quite healthy, free of major non-communicable diseases. However, as expected in an elderly population, close to 50% of participants were being treated for both high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia. Thanks in part to statin treatment in 32%, the average cholesterol levels of all the people in our study were normal," Ros said. "For individuals with high blood cholesterol levels, the LDL cholesterol reduction after a nut-enriched diet may be much greater."

"Eating a handful of walnuts every day is a simple way to promote cardiovascular health. Many people are worried about unwanted weight gain when they include nuts in their diet," Ros said. "Our study found that the healthy fats in walnuts did not cause participants to gain weight."

The major limitation of this investigation is that both participants and researchers knew who was and was not eating walnuts. However, the study did involve two very different populations with distinct diets. "The outcomes were similar in both groups, so we can safely apply the results of this study to other populations," Ros said. More research is also needed to clarify the different LDL results in men and women.

According to the American Heart Association, walnuts are especially high in omega-3 fatty acids, the same heart-healthy fat found in oily fish. A serving size is a small handful or 1.5 ounces of whole nuts or 2 tablespoons of nut butter.

The study was funded by the California Walnut Commission.

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