Today's Entrepreneurship Pulse
Cognition secures over $1 billion in funding, hits $25 billion pre‑money valuation
AI coding startup Cognition announced a financing round that raised more than $1 billion, valuing the company at $25 billion before money. The round was led by Lux Capital and General Catalyst and included Founders Fund, 8VC, Ribbit Capital, Atreides and Layer Global.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Birchal raises $800K in down round valuing company at $5M
Dessn Secures $6M to Scale AI-Powered Design Tool for Production Teams
Dessn announced a $6 million funding round led by Connect Ventures, with Betaworks and N49P participating. The capital will fuel expansion of its AI‑augmented design‑tool SaaS that lets product teams iterate directly on live codebases. Investors see the startup as a rare solution that bridges design and production without forcing a switch from existing tools.
AI Agents Get Wallets to Shop and Run Businesses
Agent to agent commerce with Colin Gillingham, @gillinghammer, founder of https://t.co/mNywgIlI70 We go into what he is doing to give your AI agents a wallet so they can go shopping. Or run their own business. https://t.co/6D3amN2p5S
UK AI Chip Startup Fractile Raises $220M to Tackle the Growing Inference Bottleneck
UK AI‑chip startup Fractile announced a $220 million Series B round to accelerate its next‑generation inference hardware. The funding, led by Accel, Factorial Funds and Founders Fund, backs Fractile’s effort to cut the time and cost of producing massive token outputs for...
Five ID Raises $6M to Scale Palm Biometric Payments
London‑based Five ID has secured an additional $6 million seed round, bringing total capital to $8.5 million and valuing the company at $26 million post‑money. The startup’s palm‑vein biometric terminals, now deployed at roughly 80 locations across the UK and Ireland, have processed...
How 1Mind Hit $1M in 3 Months Selling $100k AI Sales Agents
In this episode, founder Amanda Calo explains how her company OneMind generated over $1 million in contracted revenue within three months by selling AI-powered "go‑to‑market superhuman" agents that handle the entire sales lifecycle—from inbound lead capture to closing deals. She details...
304: JerryRigged Wheelchairs and More with Zack Nelson
In this episode, Sean and Matt interview Zach Nelson of Jerry Rigged Everything about his evolution from DIY Jeep repairs to building an affordable wheelchair business and other maker projects. Zach explains how his YouTube channel funds expensive manufacturing equipment,...
Monaco Raises $50 Million Series B to Scale AI‑Powered Sales Platform
Monaco announced a $50 million Series B round to accelerate its AI‑powered sales platform. The funding arrives amid strong customer demand and a broader wave of venture capital flowing into AI‑enabled revenue tools. The capital will be used to broaden product...
Casimir Secures $12 Million Seed Round to Launch Quantum Vacuum Energy Chip
Casimir, Inc. announced a $12 million seed round led by Scout Ventures to bring its quantum vacuum‑powered MicroSparc chip to market. The funding targets a 2028 launch of a battery‑free solution for ultra‑low‑power devices, opening a new hardware frontier beyond traditional...
France’s Mantle8 Raises €31 Million to Fund the World’s Most Advanced Natural Hydrogen Exploration and Drilling Campaign
Mantle8, a Grenoble‑based natural hydrogen explorer, closed a €31 million (≈$33.5 million) Series A round, bringing total capital to €37 million (≈$40 million). The funding, led by Sandwater and backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bpifrance’s Ecotechnologies 2 fund, IP Group, Wind Capital and Calderion, will finance...
How Do You Sell When You Have No Customers, No Reputation, and No Sales Experience in a Crowded Market? (Ask...
Robert Cekay, a developer of a home‑service CRM, faced the classic startup dilemma of selling with no customers, reputation, or sales experience. He was advised to ignore established platforms like Jobber and ServiceTitan and instead target owner‑operators who have never...
Tekken Legend Katsuhiro Harada Launches VS Studio with SNK
Katsuhiro Harada, the longtime Tekken producer, has departed Bandai Namco after more than three decades and founded VS Studio, a Tokyo‑based studio backed by SNK. The move pairs Harada’s fighting‑game pedigree with SNK’s historic franchises, setting up a fresh competitive...
Isomorphic Labs Raises $2.1 B Series B to Scale AI Drug‑Design Engine
Isomorphic Labs closed a $2.1 billion Series B financing round led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Alphabet, GV, Temasek, CapitalG and the UK Sovereign AI Fund. The capital will be used to scale its IsoDDE AI engine, expand hiring worldwide,...
This $250 Million Startup Tracks How Cancer Reacts To Treatment In Real Time
NVision Quantum Technologies announced a $55 million financing round, including $38 million led by diagnostics giant Abbott, to commercialize its metabolic MRI platform that amplifies sugar signals 10,000‑fold for real‑time tumor monitoring. The German‑based startup, valued at over $250 million, plans to roll...
Corti Launches No-Equity Accelerator for Healthcare AI Startups
Healthtech startup Corti has launched a grant‑funded Startup Acceleration Program that gives healthcare AI founders free access to its clinical‑grade Symphony model and up to $5,000 in credits, without taking equity. The initiative also provides regulatory guidance for navigating the...
The Talent Profile Europe's Top AI Scaleups Are Chasing
European AI scaleups are actively recruiting "Promethean founders"—individuals who have previously launched or failed at startups—to inject founder‑level resilience and speed into their teams. Research from EQT Ventures shows 75% of their founder pool scores extremely high on risk tolerance...
Egypt-Born Proptech Byit Expands Into UAE
Egypt‑born proptech startup Byit announced its entry into the United Arab Emirates, launching a new suite of AI‑powered real‑estate tools. The expansion follows a $1.1 million funding round backed by A15, Beltone Holding and angel investors. Byit’s agent‑first model lets freelance...
Amp Raises $1.3B to Build a Shared “AI Compute Grid” Giving Startups and Universities Access to AI Computing Power
Amp, a Menlo Park startup founded by former Andreessen Horowitz partner Anjney Midha, raised over $1.3 billion to launch a global “AI compute grid.” The fund, sourced from Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and cloud providers, will pool specialized chips for startups, universities and...
Opal Advisory Launches in UK, Targeting AI‑Enabled Strategy and Turnaround Services
Natalie Griffin and Richard Stewart have launched Opal Advisory, a new UK‑based strategy and management consultancy focused on AI‑driven decision‑making, M&A integration and performance turnarounds. The firm aims to help leadership teams cut through complexity and deliver lasting change in...
ProcurePro Raises $11M (Reported $15M) to Scale AI Construction Procurement Platform
ProcurePro, the Brisbane‑based construction procurement startup, closed a Series B round that raised US$11 million—reported by some outlets as $15 million—to accelerate its AI product suite and global expansion. Led by QIC Ventures with participation from Airtree, Glitch Capital and Bouygues via...
Sam Altman May Start a New Compute Company
Sam Altman is reportedly considering the launch of a new artificial‑intelligence compute company. The venture would be primarily funded through a fresh fundraising round and would be majority‑owned by OpenAI while operating independently of its core product line. Sources say...
Isomorphic Labs Secures $2.1 B Series B to Scale AI Drug Design Engine
Isomorphic Labs announced a $2.1 billion Series B funding round led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Alphabet, GV, Temasek, CapitalG and the UK Sovereign AI Fund. The capital will expand its IsoDDE AI engine, accelerate its therapeutic pipeline and fund...
Scaling with Intent: Removing the Constraints to Growth with Holly LaBoda
In a recent Logistics of Logistics podcast, Holly LaBoda, founder and Chief Growth Officer of Formula L, explained how logistics firms can break through growth ceilings by replacing ad‑hoc, hero‑centric selling with a systematic, sales‑operating‑system approach. Formula L provides a proprietary diagnostic,...
Ex‑KPMG Adviser Launches AI‑Powered Advisory Firm Cynren for Wealthy Families
Tony Cowell, a former KPMG hedge‑fund adviser, has founded Cynren, an AI‑centric boutique advisory firm aimed at family offices and ultra‑wealthy individuals. The firm promises faster scenario modelling, real‑time monitoring and direct senior‑level access, positioning itself against the AI roll‑outs...
GL Homes Accelerates Expansion Across Florida Amid Rising Residential Demand
GL Homes announced a continued rollout of new residential communities across Florida, citing strong population growth, migration trends and shifting homebuyer preferences. The builder’s disciplined, vision‑driven approach, anchored by founder Itzhak Ezratti’s ongoing leadership, positions it as a steady supplier...
Star Catcher Industries Nabs $65M Series A
Star Catcher Industries announced a $65 million Series A round, led by B Capital with co‑leadership from Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures. The new capital brings the company’s total funding to $88 million. Star Catcher is developing the first space‑based power grid that...
This Media Startup Is Trying to Reach Readers Exhausted by Political Noise
Straight Arrow News, founded by Joe Ricketts and Jonathan Harding, is repositioning itself as a politically unbiased digital news outlet. Chief content officer Derek Mead is steering the company away from high‑volume SEO aggregation toward original reporting, regional storytelling, and...
He Left a Top Job at Bank of America to Build 2 NASDAQ Companies. His Secret? 1 Simple Framework for...
Sam Tabar, a former Bank of America Asia‑Pacific capital strategist, left his high‑profile role to found two companies that have since gone public on NASDAQ. His career trajectory—from a prestigious law firm to a Japanese hedge fund and then corporate...
Back Bold Founders; Crazy‑smart Often Looks Crazy
Can't agree more with Adam (yet again) As I always tell my team, "there is a very fine line between 'crazy smart' and 'crazy' and when we're writing a very early check we have to be willing to get this wrong...
Niche Banking Solution Scales to $250M ARR
2021: Building credit cards for sneaker resellers 2026: Hitting $250M ARR in 5 years Here's Slash 's $1.4B wild growth story👇 Victor Cardenas, a Venezuelan immigrant, dropped out of Stanford at 19. Kevin Bai left Waterloo the same year. They...
Why Great Founders Know When to Step Back
Great founders often step back sooner than expected, recognizing that sustainable growth hinges on strong teams. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head, attributes the brewery’s rise to hiring complementary talent and granting them autonomy. The article argues that early delegation...
I Left My Job to Become a Chocolatier. It Was the Right Choice, but There Are Things I Miss About...
Meredith Whitely quit a well‑paid corporate role in London after a redundancy in 2015 and launched a chocolate‑focused business that now blends confectionery with meditation. Over ten years she built the brand from part‑time tour guiding to a full‑time solopreneur...
Short‑Form Video Clippers Turn $2,500 Start‑up Into $40,000‑Strong Freelance Network
Emrah Bayraktar, a 25‑year‑old from Belgium, grew a $2,500 two‑week side hustle into a network of 40,000 freelance “clippers” who monetize bite‑size video snippets. Brands now pay anywhere from $0.50 to $25 per 1,000 views, turning short‑form clips into a...
GM Cuts 10% of IT Workforce, Shifts to AI Engineers in Skills‑Swap
General Motors announced it will lay off roughly 500‑600 salaried IT employees, about 10% of its technology workforce, and simultaneously post dozens of openings for AI‑focused engineers. The move reflects GM’s strategy to retool its tech organization for autonomous‑driving, data‑driven...
Game Startups Demand Clear Customers, Tiny MVP, and Luck
My reply to someone considering starting a video game company: The distribution of possible rewards for starting a video game company are generally not very good today. The market is well served, and gaining a foothold requires strong execution on both...
Index Ventures Leads $50 Million Series B in Frame Security to Tackle Human‑Factor Cyber Threats
Index Ventures spearheaded a $50 million Series B round for Frame Security, a New York‑Tel Aviv startup that uses AI to protect employees—the weakest link in cyber defenses. Backed by Team8, Picture Capital and angels such as Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and...
How I Lost $50 Million and What I Learned
Here’s the wild story of how I lost $50,000,000
White Circle Raises $11M to Help Companies Secure and Monitor AI Model Behavior
White Circle, the rebranded Pumpkin Intelligence, announced an $11 million seed round backed by AI heavyweights including OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind alumni, and DataDog co‑founder Olivier Pomel. Founder Denis Shilov went viral in 2024 after demonstrating a single‑prompt jailbreak that could bypass safety controls...
Series B Secures $50M, Paving Sales Future in Monaco
We're announcing our $50M Series B led by Benchmark. Founders Fund and Human Capital are tripling down in the round. We gave Benchmark a sneak preview of our upcoming GA release. They saw the future of sales. We had a term...
From Twitch to $7.5M: Maya Higa’s Global Impact
Maya Higa's TED Talk is now available. The 10-minute talk covers how she got started on Twitch, has raised over $7.5M, reached millions globally, and how @alveussanctuary is the wildlife sanctuary you can visit from anywhere.
Olivia Jade Launches Her Beauty Brand, O.Piccola After 5 Years of Formulation, Testing, and a Major Product Overhaul
Olivia Jade, a 26‑year‑old influencer with over four million followers, spent five years developing a cosmetics line after a failed partnership with a California manufacturer. The setback led her to a South Korean factory, where she spent three additional years...
AI's Potential Outpaces Funding: Altman's For‑Profit Miss
One of the things Musk vs Altman shows is how much more promising AI is than anyone expected. Sam could have started it as a for-profit company. His life would be much simpler now if he had. But he didn't...
Serial Entrepreneurs Thrive on Creation, Not Just Profit
Had a short in-person meeting with a true serial entrepreneur in his 50s. He had an early exit 20 years ago, and another one a few years ago. You can say the motive for profit and quality of life is...
Kevin Hart’s $650 Million Media Empire Is Shrinking — Here’s What Went Wrong
Kevin Hart’s media venture Hartbeat, once valued at $650 million in 2022, is now being bought out by the comedian as investors exit. The company expanded to New York, Atlanta and a 40,000‑square‑foot West Hollywood office, but a slump in Hollywood...
Lumius Launches Fast, Accessible Universal 3D Body Camera
The future of ultrasound is 3D. Lumius is making it fast, accessible, and intelligent — a universal 3D camera for the body. Congrats on the launch, @treevoo_lumius and @lichenhang1225! https://t.co/7IzDsljqrf https://t.co/7FdahhZ9UK
Act First, Refine Later: Embrace Messy Execution
Take action first. Build the perfect process second. Too many people wait until the process is perfect before they start executing. Start messy. Iterate toward clean.
Spinout Scores Funding for Clean Data Centre Energy Tech
H2CHP, a Durham University spinout, has secured a £1.5 million (~$1.9 million) investment round backed by Innovate UK, Blackfinch Ventures and Northstar Ventures – the first Durham spinout funded by the £22.5 million (~$28.8 million) North East Spinout Inspire Fund. The company’s free‑piston linear...
Founders Are Constantly Selling: Hires, Product, Investors
As a founder, you're always selling. You're selling new potential hires on your company, you're selling your product to customers, and you're maybe selling to investors a piece of your company.
Rapid Customer Acquisition Is the Core Lesson for Serial Founders
Almost all of my serial founders have figured out how to get customers super quickly, even sometimes pre-product. They learned from their first business that that was the primary problem.
Programmable Drug Targets Cancer Cells via DNA Recognition
FinalDose is building the first programmable drug platform - a single smart drug molecule that finds diseased cells by their DNA and destroys them. They're starting with all cancers. Congrats on the launch, @Jeffliu6068Liu, @sklin_lite, and @liyaohuang2! https://t.co/uKJgl7lpmR https://t.co/l4b1hS2mn7
Pitch Insights, Not Products: Customer Acquisition Remains Key
I'm seeing a lot more businesses pitch multiple apps and even ideas, but the problem is still the same as in all prior decades: customer acquisition. Those are the insights to pitch, not the product.