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Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch Signals IPO Readiness as AI Agents Fuel Revenue Surge
Vercel’s annual recurring revenue surged from $100 million at the start of 2024 to a $340 million run rate by February 2026, driven by a wave of AI‑generated apps. CEO Guillermo Rauch told investors the company operates like a public firm and is “getting more ready” for an IPO, though no timeline was set. AI agents now power roughly 30% of the apps hosted on Vercel, expanding its addressable infrastructure market. The firm last raised a $300 million Series F at a $9.3 billion valuation, positioning it against Cloudflare and AWS.
Collide Capital Raises $95M Fund to Back Fintech, Future-of-Work Startups
Collide Capital announced the close of its second fund, raising $95 million, a 44% increase over its inaugural $66 million Fund I. The firm, founded in 2021, plans to deploy the capital over the next 3.5 years, focusing on early‑stage fintech, supply‑chain...
VC Eclipse Has a New $1.3B to Back — and Build — ‘Physical AI’ Startups
Venture firm Eclipse Capital has raised $1.3 billion in new capital, divided into a $591 million early‑stage incubation fund and a growth‑focused pool, to back and build startups in the emerging ‘physical AI’ space. Its portfolio already includes electric‑boat maker Arc, battery‑recycling...
OpenAI Alums Have Been Quietly Investing From a New, Potentially $100M Fund
Zero Shot, a venture fund founded by former OpenAI engineers and prompt experts, closed its first $20 million on a $100 million target. The team—Evan Morikawa, Andrew Mayde, Shawn Jain, Kelly Kovacs and Brett Rounsaville—has already written checks to AI‑focused startups such...
Gateway Capital Announces First Close of $25M Fund II
Venture firm Gateway Capital Partners announced the first close of its targeted $25 million Fund II, though the exact amount closed was not disclosed. The new fund will deploy checks of $500,000 to $600,000 and aims to back at least 20 companies,...
Cognichip Wants AI to Design the Chips that Power AI, and Just Raised $60M to Try
Cognichip, a startup founded in 2024, announced a $60 million Series B round, bringing its total financing to $93 million. The company is developing a domain‑specific AI model to assist engineers in designing semiconductor chips, claiming it can slash development costs by more...
Toyota’s Woven Capital Appoints New CIO and COO in Push for Finding the ‘Future of Mobility’
Toyota’s venture arm Woven Capital appointed Michiko Kato as chief information officer and chief executive of Toyota Invention Partners, making her the first female CEO of a wholly‑owned Toyota subsidiary. At the same time, Mia Panzer was named chief operating officer,...
Exclusive: Runway Launches $10M Fund, Builders Program to Support Early-Stage AI Startups
Runway ML announced a $10 million venture fund aimed at early‑stage startups building AI video, media and world‑simulation applications. The fund, seeded by existing investors, will write checks up to $500,000 for pre‑seed and seed rounds. Simultaneously, Runway launched a Builders program...
From Moon Hotels to Cattle Herding: 8 Startups Investors Chased at YC Demo Day
Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 Demo Day showcased eight startups that quickly became investor favorites, each flagged by at least two venture capitalists. Valuations ranged from a default $30 million seed benchmark to $100 million for companies already generating over $1 million in annual revenue....
Riding the GLP-1 Boom, VITL Lands $7.5M to Overhaul Cash-Pay Clinic Prescribing
VITL, an 18‑month‑old Nashville startup, announced a $7.5 million Series A led by SignalFire to expand its e‑prescribing platform for cash‑pay clinics. The tool connects med‑spas, weight‑loss and concierge practices with a nationwide network of compounding pharmacies, offering real‑time price comparison and...
Arinna Raises $4M Seed Round to Solve the Space Power Problem
Arinna, a Stanford‑spun space‑solar startup, announced a $4 million seed round led by Spacecadet Ventures to commercialize ultrathin photovoltaic panels built from transition metal dichalcogenides. The company plans to qualify its 32%‑efficient, 15‑year‑lasting cells on orbit before the end of 2026...
After Pivoting, Y Combinator Grad Glimpse Raises $35M Led by A16z
Fintech startup Glimpse announced a $35 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from 8VC and Y Combinator. The company, a Y Combinator graduate, pivoted from an Airbnb product‑placement venture to an AI‑driven platform that automates retailer...
With $3.5B in Fresh Capital, Kleiner Perkins Is Going All in on AI
Kleiner Perkins announced a $3.5 billion capital raise, split between a $1 billion early‑stage fund and a $2.5 billion growth vehicle. The infusion follows successful AI bets in startups such as Together AI, Harvey and OpenEvidence, and recent exits from Figma’s IPO and Windsurf’s...
Accel, Prosus Pick Six ‘Off-the-Map’ Startups for Inaugural India Cohort
Accel and Prosus have launched their first joint Indian cohort, selecting six deep‑tech startups from over 2,000 applicants. The cohort targets “off‑the‑map” ideas in health, climate, space and longevity, with investments ranging from $500,000 to $2 million per company. Prosus matches...
Startup Gimlet Labs Is Solving the AI Inference Bottleneck in a Surprisingly Elegant Way
Stanford adjunct professor Zain Asgar’s startup Gimlet Labs closed an $80 million Series A, led by Menlo Ventures, to commercialize a multi‑silicon inference cloud that orchestrates AI workloads across CPUs, GPUs and high‑memory hardware. The software claims to boost inference speed by...