Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip raises $500M, pushes valuation past $2.5B
Mexican fintech Clip secured a $500M financing round, lifting its valuation to over $2.5B. The capital will fund a consumer‑focused wallet rollout and broaden its financial‑services platform. Investors were not disclosed and the round remains open.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI secures $122B private financing round
Almost 80 European Deep Tech University Spinouts Reached $1B Valuations or $100M in Revenue in 2025
Europe’s deep‑tech and life‑science university spinouts have coalesced into a $398 billion pipeline, with 76 companies reaching either $1 billion valuations or $100 million in revenue, according to Dealroom’s 2025 Spinout Report. New funds PSV Hafnium and U2V each aim to raise €60 million to back Nordic and broader European spinouts, expanding a funnel historically dominated by Cambridge, Oxford and ETH Zurich. The sector is set to attract $9.1 billion in 2025, even as overall European VC funding falls 50 % from its 2021 peak. However, growth‑stage capital remains a bottleneck, especially with half of late‑stage money still sourced from the U.S.
ARR Multiples Often Irrelevant in Acquirer’s Strategy
M&A pricing can be a weird thing Meta buys Manus for $2B+ at $125m ARR Then likely … abandons all that revenue. It is a distraction, and in the end, immaterial to Meta’s revenues. Whatever Meta does with it, it...
VC10X - Inside a $1.5 Billion Japanese Fund’s Big Bet on India - Rajeev Ranka, Partner, Incubate Fund
In this episode, Rajeev Ranka of Japan's Incubate Fund explains their 100‑year investment horizon and how it shapes decisions like backing Captain Fresh during COVID and pivoting it from a domestic brand to a global seafood exporter. He argues that...
Detach Ego, Embrace Feedback to Close Your Exit
When a buyer calls your codebase "messy" during due diligence. Selling your startup is emotional. No way around it. You’ve spent years bleeding for the business with late nights, zero salary, the works. Then a buyer comes in and looks at your "baby"...
Niche SaaS Will Thrive Despite AI Agent Disruption
Here’s why I think there will STILL be room for great SaaS companies, even in the age of the AI Agent. We’ve all heard the fear-mongering… AI is coming for every other category of software, particularly companies relying on recurring...
Gross Profit per Token
Meta announced a $2 billion acquisition of Singapore‑based AI agent firm Manus, which reported $100 million annual recurring revenue and 147 trillion tokens processed since its March 2025 launch. The deal underscores the relevance of gross profit per token as a valuation lens,...
Founders Should Meet VCs Only on Their Own Terms
Here’s why I say founders need to always maintain “ball control”. It can be a nerve-wracking moment for a founder whose company is just starting to get traction… a VC reaches out cold and wants to take a meeting. It...
AI Valuation Bubble Exists, Not Technology or Revenue
Are we in an AI Bubble? Technology Bubble -> NO Investment Bubble -> Likely YES Valuation Bubble -> Absolutely YES, in the private markets. Revenue Bubble -> NO. https://lnkd.in/g2ea7pFK
Traini Raises $7.5 Million
Pet‑emotional‑intelligence startup Traini announced a $7.5 million financing round. The round was led by Banyan Tree, Silver Capital, ZhaoTai Group and NYX Ventures, with participation from NVIDIA VPs, Anthropic staff and other high‑profile investors. Existing backers such as Xiaomi co‑founder Feng...
Make Yourself Irrelevant to Boost Exit Valuation
If your business can’t survive without you, it isn’t an asset. It’s a job. I talk to founders every day who are proud of being "in the weeds." They close every lead, ship the critical code, and manage every fire. In...
Motive's S‑1 Shows Growth Outpacing Samsara's IPO
Motive, the AI-powered fleet management company formerly known as KeepTruckin, filed their S-1 this week. The company has grown tremendously & in this post, we compare it to Samsara at IPO :
Investors Share What to Remember While Raising a Series A
At TechCrunch Disrupt, investors Thomas Green, Katie Stanton, and Sangeen Zeb outlined the new criteria for raising a Series A in an AI‑driven market. They noted that while the number of funded rounds is shrinking, average deal sizes are expanding,...
Benchmark, A16z, Hummingbird, Creandum Battle For
"Who Is The VC Fund of the Year? @benchmark vs @a16z vs @HummingbirdVC vs @creandum" with @HarryStebbings @rodriscoll + me https://t.co/9aw20r6YHL
Treat Your Roadmap as a Hypothesis, Ship to Validate
A product roadmap is a hypothesis about user behavior. Shipping is how you interrogate it.
VC10X Micro - BigTech Energy War - The Next Battleground for AI Race
The episode explains how the AI boom has shifted the competitive focus from chips to electricity, prompting Big Tech firms to acquire or contract power assets—Google’s $4.75 billion purchase of Intersect Power, Microsoft’s Three Mile Island restart, and Amazon’s nuclear deals. It highlights...
Tackling America’s Broken Healthcare, Housing, and Education Systems
If/when I run, I’m going to focus on solving the big 3: 1. Healthcare 2. Housing 3. Education These are the most regulated, calcified, inefficient & corrupt verticals in America. We’ve funded companies in each & it’s been brutal. So hard,...
VCs Overrate AGI Timelines, Give Themselves 0.9
VCs score their own annual predictions like "We'll achieve AGI in 2025" Grade: .9
How to Unlock Your Team’s Creative Potential
In this episode, Reid Hoffman talks with former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi about how to cultivate an environment that unlocks a team’s creative potential. Nooyi shares the leadership principles and talent‑development initiatives she implemented at PepsiCo, emphasizing psychological safety, clear...
Even VPs Discover CEO Role Is Tougher than Expected
"I actually didn't know being CEO was this hard" -- every top VP that starts their own startup
Taxing Unrealized Startup Equity Ignores High Failure Rate
It's deeply troubling to me that people really think this. The argument that taxing unrealized startup equity like real estate is like taxing lottery tickets based on what someone might win. Houses don’t expire worthless. Startups do. Most of them.
The European Startup Market’s Data Doesn’t Match Its Energy — Yet
European venture capital poured €43.7 billion into startups through Q3 2025, keeping the year on track to match 2024 but still trailing U.S. deal volume. Fundraising by European VC firms stalled at €8.3 billion, the lowest in a decade, highlighting a liquidity gap....
Founder Advice Misses the Emotional Burden They Bear
Most founder advice fails because it ignores what the founder must emotionally carry.
California Tops List as Worst State for Startup Exits
California already taxes founders far, far more than any other state. Far more. 5 worst states for startup exits (tax rate + QSBS combo): California - 13.3% + NO QSBS exclusion 💀 Hawaii - 7.25% + only 50% QSBS Alabama - 5% +...
AI Agents Halve B2B Sales Teams by 2026
Ok I'm not any sort of savant. But I chatted (using AI) with every SaaStr AI speaker from 2025 — from OpenAI to Anthropic to Zapier and beyond — reviewed 100+ past conversations, and synthesized what the best operators are actually...
Financial Buyers Beat Strategic Acqs for SaaS Exits
Every founder dreams of the "strategic" acquisition. You imagine Google, Meta, or Salesforce knocking on your door with a blank check because they "need" your tech. It’s a great story but it’s a rare outcome. Strategic deals are notorious for: > Months of...
Scaling Secrets in AI Era Revealed by 10,000 Experts
https://t.co/5gjWmKLRrD is back. MAY 12-14 2026. The Secrets to Scaling in the Age of AI 10,000 of the best sharing how it's done https://t.co/f9I8gHsF4U
Niche Real‑Time News SaaS Delivers $800K Revenue, 70% Growth
Niche SaaS plays like this are game changers. Real-time news API for global coverage live on @acquiredotcom > $800K TTM revenue > $600K TTM profit > 70% YoY growth Full listing: https://t.co/qAPFWjNXCv https://t.co/3T3Kq6mdfG
Antitrust Should Foster Small Tech, Not Block M&A
Antitrust regulators should just allow M&A and focus on helping little tech so consumers get alternatives and keep big tech in check American antitrust policy should be about creation Support little tech, allow M&A and stop big tech structural self-preferencing instead https://t.co/HNE3w7wX4r
Federal Pre-Emption Threatens AI Innovation, Favours Big Tech
If you’re wondering why we should support a federal pre-emption for AI regulation, this is a case study in the idiocy that will destroy AI innovation in America, particularly for little tech Big tech can afford the army of lawyers. Startups...
Billionaire Tax Threatens California Startups, Fuels Exodus
Why might the proposed “billionaire tax” kill startups in California? This is simple and extreme uncertainty that will cause people to leave the state before their startup becomes successful Many will choose not to start in California at all https://t.co/yPhUDw0Tbn
California's Agglomeration Fuels Billions, Protects US Innovation
California already has incredible agglomeration effects. It’s a thing that generates companies worth billions to trillions Why dismantle it? Startups in SF Bay succeed 2.5X more than every other place in the world. Protecting California *is* protecting American innovation
Emerging Managers Spend 18 Months Fundraising, Not Building
According to @johnfelix123, emerging managers take an average of 18 months to raise. Wild. As an LP in several funds, I’d rather see that time spent deploying capital and supporting founders. https://t.co/8iT5zLIypS
Silicon Valley's Collapse: California Platform Failing Unpriced Disruption
The disruption that’s not priced in is the disruption of Silicon Valley itself. Because California is the physical platform on which it’s built. And that platform is collapsing.
Tech Tax Could Disperse Startups Beyond California
Ro mistakes this for a big tech tax But over a decade all of big tech won’t start in CA anymore because little tech, the startups, will start in all the other states If you want to kill the golden goose of...
Mediocre VP Breeds a Cascade of Weak Hires
When you get tired, and settle on a mediocre VP You also settle on their 10-15 mediocre hires to come
Multiple LOIs Create Auction, Maximize Exit Value
If you want a premium exit, you can’t rely on one "perfect" suitor. One buyer means no buyers. You need leverage and leverage comes from competition. To get the deal you want, the funnel usually looks like this: > 100 NDAs signed >...
Attend Few Key Events, Build Relationships Regularly
My rough advice for events, having produced many of them, with lots of data: - Go to 2 of the top events in your industry each year - Go to 2 local meet-ups, dinners, etc. in your industry each month...
Early Investors McCauley and GarageCapital Celebrate Groq Success
One of the unsung winners from the $20B Groq deal: @mmccauley and @GarageCapital. They invested in the first round and several since. Incredibly kind, incredibly humble, incredible investors. Always great to see the good guys win.
Invest in Key Startups for Pre‑IPO M&A Premium
Groq is a reminder that "important" startups can get a massive premium in M&A It all normalizes at IPO, more or less Valuations then are based on revenue, growth and profits But for venture, investing in important startups can lead to massive outcomes...
AI Chip Startups Falter Against Nvidia, Even With Gov Ties
there’s another “only in America” episode to be written around the outcomes of Groq and Graphcore similar thesis that new silicon needed to power ai breakthroughs neither hit rev scale to continue on their own vs nvidia/tpu but one had pro-tech...
From TPU Founder to Nvidia: A Decade of Gratitude
Taken Sep 1, 2016 when @JonathanRoss321 convinced me we could take on the giants, build new silicon and that AI was coming. In typical SV fashion, we didn’t even have a company yet - just a term sheet from me...
Profitable Startups Hold Real Acquisition Leverage in 2026
If you are a profitable startup, you have the only leverage that actually matters in an acquisition in 2026. You don't need to sell. This means you can walk away from bad terms or lowball offers without hesitating. Buyers can smell...
Rapid Productivity Boom Threatens Wealth Concentration, Requires Early Action
How concentrated do you think the wealth generation will be ? What do you see as second order social implications of productivity hyper-acceleration? If we don’t address the issues you anticipate now, before it happens, I don’t know that it’s...
Cold Emailing VCs Succeeds at Seed Stage
Yes, cold email to VCs works. Especially at Seed and earlier -> https://t.co/ibiQ9FIQyV
Finalizing 50mm Round; Request Overview Before Allocation
Signing Out on this Outreach Hi Christopher, We’re finalizing this stage of the 50mm round - would a brief overview be helpful before we lock in this phase of allocation?
AI Strategy Boosts SaaStr Growth From -19% to +47%
From -19% to +47% growth over the course of 2025. Here's how we turned SaaStr's traffic (and SaaStr itself) around in 12 months: 📉Through April 2025, we were down 19% in active users, 22% in views. The slow bleed every B2B...
Each Crisis Is Unique; Wall Street Fees Fuel Trouble
Why some economic crises are not like the others… In this TWiST highlight, I break down how the Dot Com Bubble was nothing like the “Great Recession” of 2008, and ALSO totally distinct from the Silicon Valley banking crisis of...
Zero‑Return Public Markets Forecast, Yet Investing Still Essential
"Will the public markets return ... 0% over the next decade? Apollo says so. Even so, we probably have to keep investing." The latest with @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me https://t.co/rAgT9714X8
Cold Email Investment Fuels Drone Pivot to Defense Giants
We backed @flybyrobotics via a cold inbound email. They built drone delivery for Yale campus students. Since then COVID crushed their plans and they pivoted. They’re now selling US-made drones to Palantir, US Marine Corps, and others. And now this…
AI-Powered Platform Raises $10.1M to Spark Real‑world Connections
Congrats to @222place on their $10.1M Series A! In a world where tech makes it easier to disconnect, 222 is using AI to maximize the probability of an in-real-life future, matching people for in-person dinners and experiences across 10 cities. https://t.co/VuSdAOZwJG