Today's Entrepreneurship Pulse
Pure DC secures $2.7B to expand data centre footprint in Europe and Middle East
London‑based data centre firm Pure DC has secured $2.7 billion to fund its expansion across Europe and the Middle East. The financing will support new sites and capacity growth for the company’s customers.
Also developing:
By the numbers: abcoffee raises $7.35M in pre‑Series B round
Part 2: The Spaces Between
Bright Frontier, a new platform founded by Janis Naeve and Tim Fitzpatrick, maps systemic gaps in kidney and cardiometabolic (CKM) care and proposes four critical "bridges"—signal to decision, decision to action, action to accountability, and accountability to signal. The analysis highlights that only a fraction of high‑risk patients receive proven therapies such as SGLT2 inhibitors, and that fragmented data and payment models impede early intervention. Over $20 billion in recent kidney‑related M&A and more than $3 billion in early‑stage CKM infrastructure funding signal strong investor belief in upstream solutions. The series calls for coordinated investment to build the connective infrastructure that will translate insights into outcomes.
Investors Are Valuing Polymarket $7 Billion Less than Archrival Kalshi—And Crypto Could Be One Reason Why
Polymarket is in talks to raise capital at a $15 billion valuation, roughly $7 billion below rival Kalshi’s recent $22 billion price tag. Kalshi dominates about 90% of the U.S. prediction‑market share and has posted higher weekly trading volumes. Polymarket’s upcoming crypto token...
From Evening Firewood to 40s Entrepreneurial Success
Each April, we attend a small birthday gathering at a friend’s home. There is always this one guy whose entrepreneurial story I really like. Ten years ago, he was working a 9 to 5 job. During most evenings, he started cutting and...
Syenta Gets $26M Series A for Advanced Chip Packaging
Australian semiconductor startup Syenta announced a $26 million Series A round led by Playground Global and the National Reconstruction Fund, bringing its total capital to over $36 million. The funding will accelerate commercialization of its Localized Electrochemical Manufacturing (LEM) process, which promises 40%...
Nigerian Web3 Startups Raised $43 Million in 2025, but Growth Remains Early
Nigeria’s Web3 sector raised $43 million in 2025, twice the amount raised in 2024, according to Hashed Emergent’s Nigeria Web3 Landscape Report. Funding was heavily skewed toward stablecoin‑centric finance, with 89% ($38 million) supporting payments, fiat‑crypto exchanges and related infrastructure. Early‑stage activity...
Seeds | Boundary.AI Closes Series B Round Exceeding 100 Million Yuan
Boundary.AI, a Chinese developer of high‑safety flight control systems for eVTOL aircraft, closed a Series B round exceeding 100 million yuan (about $14 million). The round was led by Xiamen C&D with participation from Zhangke Yaokun, Xingqi Weilai, and existing backers Yida...
The US VC Database Most Founders Never Build
The VC Corner has launched a searchable database of 2,000 active U.S. venture‑capital firms covering pre‑seed to seed stages across every sector. Each record includes fund name, portfolio, focus, location, social links, investment count, exits and a full description, all...
AI Makes Plain Text Pitches Replace Decks
It’s funny - I think we will actually move from pitch decks to text files (or deal memos  will be OK too). Feels like we are going back to what we used in the 90s. But with AI agents,...
Bolto Secures $12M to Launch AI‑native All‑in‑one HR Platform
Congrats to @boltohq on their $12M Series A! They're building the first AI-native HR platform that brings full-cycle recruiting, payroll, and HRIS into one place. Companies post a job, Bolto's recruiters compete to fill it, and new hires transfer seamlessly...
Jeff Bezos’ AI Startup Nears $10B Funding Deal at $38B Valuation
Jeff Bezos' AI venture, Project Prometheus, is on the brink of a $10 billion fundraising round that would lift its valuation to roughly $38 billion, placing it among the world’s most valuable early‑stage AI firms. The startup focuses on "physical AI," building...
Founder Matters More than the Startup Idea
The best early-stage startup investment isn't actually the startup. It's the founder. When Joshua Sirota came through the Launch accelerator after getting rejected by YC, and my team, "I don't know if this startup works. But I know Josh is...
ISS National Lab Launches 2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator to Scale Space-Based R&D
The ISS National Laboratory has launched its 2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator, the second year of a program that pairs early‑stage startups with in‑orbit testing and private funding. The accelerator offers two tracks—Sentinel for space‑specific and dual‑use technologies, and Disrupt for...
A&K Robotics Raises $8 Million to Build Autonomous Mobility Infrastructure for Airports
A&K Robotics announced a CAD $8 million (~US$5.8 million) Series A round led by BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures. The funding will accelerate deployment of its Cruz™ autonomous mobility pods, which already operate at Vancouver International Airport and Madrid‑Barajas Airport....
Mellow Yellow Continues Its Business Model Overhaul
Mellow Yellow has embarked on a multi‑year transformation that began with new management in 2022. The brand trimmed its store network, opened nine new boutiques, and re‑acquired two affiliates while keeping shop sizes between 20 and 40 square metres. It...
Habi Secures $40M Credit Line From BBVA Spark
Colombian proptech Habi has secured a $40 million credit line from BBVA Spark, adding to a prior $60 million facility in Mexico and bringing its total credit access to $100 million. Founded in 2019, Habi’s platform leverages data and AI to streamline home...
Revolut Targets $200bn Valuation for IPO
Revolut is aiming for a valuation between $150 bn and $200 bn when it eventually lists, according to the Financial Times. The fintech’s most recent private round in November pegged the company at $75 bn, up from $45 bn a year earlier. CEO Nik...
Ricursive Intelligence Secures $500 Million Series A, Valued at $4 B
Ricursive Intelligence, a UK‑based AI lab founded by former Google researchers Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, closed a $500 million Series A round at a $4 billion post‑money valuation. The round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global among others, underscores...
AI Gave My Small Business a Finance Team, a Marketing Agency, and a Supply Chain Crystal Ball
Sarah Wells, founder of Sarah Wells Bags, explains how AI tools have transformed her four‑person, 14‑year‑old small business. Using Finaloop for finance and inventory, Blaze.ai for brand‑consistent marketing, and Amazon’s AI for ad and listing optimization, the company now operates...
From Dorm to $275M: Early Ovarian Cancer Detection Breakthrough
This is my friend Surbhi Sarna. She came to Draper University in 2012. She had painful ovarian cysts as a teenager, but doctors didn’t have tools that could detect cancer without harming the ovaries. She studied molecular biology at UC Berkeley. Then came...
You Can Be a Savage Founder and Family Man
The strongest "message" is not anything said ... but seeing what people around you are DOING I got married and started my first company at 24. We had 3 kids by 31. But living downtown, I did not know anyone who...
Google Selects 4 Nigerian Startups for 10th Accelerator Cohort
Google has chosen four Nigerian startups—Bani, MasteryHive AI, Regxta and Termii—for the 10th cohort of its Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, out of nearly 2,600 applicants, yielding an acceptance rate under 1%. The program, now in its tenth year, pivots...
AI‑Powered Automation Accelerates Startup Success
I’m a serial entrepreneur and I’m helping my husband build a new company. So far I’ve used Claude ai to create the website, the logo, and the entire operation workflow. It’s even setting up the automations for us so that...
Mistral Raised €105M at Seed with 6 Employees, 4 Weeks in, and No Customers. Here Is the Memo that Did...
In May 2023, three ex‑DeepMind and Meta researchers formed Mistral AI with six employees. Within four weeks they closed a €105 million ($115 million) seed round, the largest ever in Europe, without a pitch deck, customers, or revenue. The round valued the...
A&K Robotics Closes $8-Million Series A Round to Put Self-Driving Pods in Airports
Vancouver‑based A&K Robotics secured a CAD 8 million (≈US $5.8 million) Series A round to accelerate its Cruz self‑driving mobility pods. The pods, already in service at Vancouver International and Madrid‑Barajas airports, aim to ease passenger movement in crowded terminals. The funding, led by BDC...
Susan Powls Cloud Nine: The Woman Who Turned a Mystery Styling Tool Into a £600m Beauty Win – and Why...
British hairdresser Susan Powls turned a mysterious Korean ceramic iron into the foundation of ghd, a brand that helped grow the UK straight‑ener market from under $19 million to an estimated $750 million by 2025. After exiting ghd, she launched Cloud Nine...
Hiring at AI Speed: Artemis Secures Talent in 48 Hours
Shachar Hirshberg and Dan Shiebler make offers to new hires within 48 hours of their first conversation. They’re building an AI-native security company, Artemis Security, that battles threats that move at machine speed (which, for AI-driven attacks, is often in seconds)....
Be Productive by Doing Nothing... With Meghan Joyce of Duckbill
In a recent Code Story podcast, Meghan Joyce, co‑founder of Duckbill, recounts a moment in Amsterdam where a malfunctioning breast‑pump disrupted her ability to attend Uber meetings. While on hold with the pump’s support line, she imagined a hands‑free solution...
Proparco Commits $17.25m to Alterra Africa Accelerator Fund
Proparco, the French development finance institution, has pledged $17.25 million to the Alterra Africa Accelerator Fund (AAA Fund), a pan‑African growth‑equity vehicle managed by Alterra Capital Partners. The fund targets profitable, growth‑stage companies in East and Southern Africa that serve basic...
800 Pound Gorilla Goes Direct-to-Fan with a Comedy Streamer
800 Pound Gorilla Media is launching Gorilla Comedy+, a dedicated comedy streaming service featuring over 250 stand‑up specials from names like Patton Oswalt and Pete Holmes. The platform, built with Cineverse’s AI‑powered Matchpoint technology, will debut on May 5 with a...
The AgeTech Collaborative™ From AARP and HLTH Launch Landmark Collaboration to Advance the Future of Aging
HLTH Inc. and AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative have announced a landmark partnership to accelerate aging‑technology startups. The collaboration will feature 20 vetted companies at HLTH 2026 in Las Vegas, giving them exposure to investors, health systems, and industry leaders. Leveraging AARP’s longevity expertise...
Why Running a Successful Indie Label Is Still Harder Than It Looks
Luciano Winter explains that independent labels, despite streaming‑driven growth, now hit an operational ceiling as they outgrow spreadsheets and piecemeal tools. The core issue is infrastructure built for major‑label budgets, leaving independents to manually reconcile royalties, chase UGC revenue, and...
Couple Swap London Life For New Luxury Glamping Venture
Barney and Heather Barc have launched Pont Tyweli Glamping, a luxury glamping site on an 11‑acre estate in South West Wales. After four years of planning and construction, the venture opened in April with three UK‑made geodesic domes, each equipped...
What AI Model Should You Use for Revenue Intelligence? Von Says All the Big Ones, and It Will Automate Mixing...
Von, a new AI platform from Rattle, creates a company‑wide context graph that unifies CRM, call transcripts, emails, and internal docs to serve as an intelligence layer for Go‑to‑Market teams. It employs a mixture of Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and...
Spain’s Pangea Propulsion Secures €2 Million From the Catalan Government
Pangea Propulsion, a Barcelona‑based deep‑tech firm, received €2 million (about $2.2 million) from the Catalan government to expand its manufacturing and testing capacity. The financing follows a €23 million Series A round and a €7.27 million grant from Spain’s science ministry, underscoring strong public support....
PrimeInvestor Nets ₹19.5 Cr From Rainmatter To Expand Portfolio Management Services
Indian wealth‑tech startup PrimeInvestor announced a seed round of ₹19.5 cr (≈$2.1 m) led by Rainmatter Capital, Zerodha’s investment arm. The capital will be used to scale its subscription‑based portfolio management services, which currently include mutual‑fund‑only, hybrid, and pure‑equity strategies under a...
Clean Food Group Raises £4.5M to Bring “World’s Largest” Yeast-Oil Facility to Full Capacity
Clean Food Group (CFG) raised £4.5 million (≈$5.6 million) in a round led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian, plus a £700,000 (≈$875,000) Innovate UK grant, to finish scaling its 1‑million‑litre fermentation site in Knowsley, Liverpool. The plant, billed as the world’s...
Know Your Starting Point to Accelerate Success
At 25, I was broke, working a job I hated, and had zero idea what to build. These 4 questions could've cut a decade off my journey. 1. Where are you actually starting from? Not where you want to be. Where you...
Synthesia Announces Major Hiring Push, Opens Three New Offices
Synthesia, the London‑based AI video platform, announced a 70% headcount increase, adding over 400 employees. It will invest more than $25 million to open new offices in Austin, Paris and Berlin while expanding its Zurich presence. The move follows a $200 million...
Why Brandon Marshall Bet on Athlete-Owned Media
Former NFL All‑Pro Brandon Marshall explains how he built I AM ATHLETE, an athlete‑owned media platform that emphasizes long‑form, athlete‑driven conversation. He credits early media ventures during his playing days for laying the groundwork and stresses ownership as essential in today’s fragmented...
AI Can Code, but Not Choose the Right Product
AI can help you write code, draft cold emails, and generate blog posts. But there's one of the core four SaaS skills where AI falls flat: Product. Knowing what to build, what not to build, and how to listen to...
Real Founders Face Instant Rejection After Cross‑country Investor Trips
You’re not a real founder until you travel cross country for an investor meeting only to be told no almost immediately.
Investing in Visionary Builders Redefining Email's Future
Naveen, Steven, and Albert are amazing builders bringing email into the future. Very excited to invest and see what and how they build.
Cut Facebook Ads, Build Sustainable Profitability
Blueland reached profitability and $300M in sales by *cutting* over $1M/month in Facebook ad spend to focus on a stronger business foundation. Meanwhile you're burning all your cash on Facebook ads to chase unprofitable growth instead of building a sustainable...
Announcing “Lookmaxxxing at 50” Startup on All In
On the next episode of All In, @chamath and I will reveal our new startup... "lookmaxxxing at 50" in partnership with @Clavicular0 https://t.co/3KFw5I88pZ
Complex Product Derailed PLG, Forcing Sales Team Rebuild
PLG got Product Fruits to $2M ARR. Then it broke. The product was too complex for self-serve. Customers had no idea what it could do. They had to build a sales team from scratch. https://t.co/DInZ7mxOqy
Nabla Bio Secures Seed Funding Directly at Conference
Some companies raise a seed round. Nabla Bio had one built at a conference. https://t.co/1xmbmuqA8p
Real-World Business Lessons Schools Skip, Says Dave Berkus
#TimTalk - What they actually don’t teach you in business school with Dave Berkus https://t.co/8rmij4kvqK
Skip Empathy Theater; Investors Should Give Blunt, Actionable Advice
Was just reminded of this classic video this week. Many VCs specialize in empathy theater. Nodding along. Telling founders what they want to hear. I’m more of a “hey… there’s a nail in your head” investor -- and then I...
Live at 11 AM EST: Bitcoin Founders Showcase Batch 3
Batch 3 already. We continue to invest in the brightest founders building the future of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Join us live at 11 AM EST to see what these amazing teams have been working on @lxdev_ @OpenAgents @helios_finance @Resolvr_io @CharmsDev @PyrusFinancial
First‑time Founders Spread Too Thin, Miss Traction
Most first-time founders go wide too early. They set up ads, post on social, maybe do some cold outreach - and then wonder why nothing is sticking.