Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip secures $500M to accelerate consumer wallet rollout
Mexican fintech Clip raised $500 million, pushing its valuation above $2.5 billion. The new capital will fund the rollout of a consumer‑focused wallet and broaden its financial‑services platform. Investors were not disclosed and the round remains under review.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Francisco Partners raises $18B for new tech funds
No Keynotes, No BS — Why This Year’s Best Tech Talks Happened over Cocktails at StrictlyVC
TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC series delivered a year‑long circuit of intimate, cocktail‑style events that gathered top venture capitalists, founders, and policymakers across San Francisco, Athens, London, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto. The gatherings featured high‑profile speakers such as Kirsten Green, Pat Gelsinger, and Sam Altman, discussing AI‑consumer opportunities, regulatory challenges, fintech IPOs, and crypto asset digitization. By blending candid conversation with exclusive networking, StrictlyVC created a rare platform for unfiltered insight into emerging tech trends. Organizers are now opening a 2026 waitlist, inviting partners to expand the format.
Guard Your Focus: Turn It Into a Competitive Asset
Focus used to be a habit. Now it’s an asset that must be defended. AI constantly invites expansion. Founders who don’t guard focus end up running a portfolio instead of a company.
TikTok US Valued at $14B Amid Political Sale Push
The deal values TikTok U.S. at around $14 billion, a source confirmed to Axios. (ChatGPT says it’s really worth between $50 and $100B) Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will collectively own 45% of the U.S. entity, which will...
CranioSense Receives $5.5M in Federal Grants
CranioSense, a neurotechnology startup, secured roughly $5.5 million in non‑dilutive federal funding from the NIH Blueprint MedTech Program and the DoD’s Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program. The grants will finance development and pivotal validation of its non‑invasive intracranial pressure monitoring system,...
FinnyAI's AI Boosts Advisor Revenue, Drives $7.7M Asset Gains
Congrats to @FINNYAI on their $17M Series A! The $90T+ wealth management industry still prospects with tools built for other industries, with advisors spending ~60 hours on cold outreach to convert one client. Finny's AI matches advisors with high-intent prospects,...
Beware: Classic Valuation Trick Still Misused
i've seen this too and it's the oldest trick in the valuation maxxer bad practice book
Legacy, Innovation, and the Future of ASEAN Agri-Food W/ Ho Ren Hua, CEO of Thai Wah PCL
In this episode, Sarah Chen‑Spellings talks with Ho Ren Hua, CEO of Thai Wah, about transforming a 77‑year‑old family starch business into a regional agri‑food and bio‑materials platform anchored in sustainability. He outlines the “F4” framework (Farm, Factory, Family, Food) and shows how...
AI-Native B2B Firms Surge, Seat‑based SaaS Lag
The Great B2B Bifurcation of 2025 Palantir +142%. HubSpot -51%. Despite the fact both businesses end the year pretty strong. Some patterns from the top 25 B2B / SaaS public companies: What's working: 🔼AI-native infrastructure (Palantir, Cloudflare, MongoDB) 🔼Mission-critical + high switching costs (CrowdStrike, Palo...
Thiel’s Kind Dismissal Leads to SpaceX’s Biggest Bet
"Peter Thiel fired Elon Musk. Be -- he was kind about it. And he left Elon with all his economics (12% of PayPal). Be kind. He did what he had to do, but he was kind. And then Elon...
How Big Is AI Spending, Really? | Using ChatGPT for Competitive Analysis. | Measuring Real Efficiency in Venture Exits.
The episode breaks down three major trends: AI infrastructure spending is already 1.6% of U.S. GDP and could near 3% by 2030, dwarfing past tech booms but still far from wartime mobilisations; female‑founder funding in Europe is rising in absolute...
Product Strength Beats Capital as True Business Bludgeon
Capital is not a bludgeon The best product is the bludgeon
Truth Social Merges with Billion‑dollar Fusion Startup TAE Technologies
Meanwhile in M&A, TRUTH SOCIAL (last 12 months $400M losses) is merging with TAE Technologies - a fusion power company - that has raised over $1B betting on a beam-driven field‑reversed configuration (FRC), where high-energy neutral particle beams sustain...
The Present and Future of AI in Sales and GTM A Deep Dive with Jason Lemkin and Kyle Norton,...
Jason Lemkin and Owner CRO Kyle Norton discuss how AI agents now outperform average AEs and SDRs, reshaping GTM team structures. They stress that CROs/CMOs must personally train at least one agent within 30 days, choose one or two vendor...
LPs Concentrate, Co‑invest Rises; Small Funds Must Differentiate
ICYMI: Re-sharing Dan Gray's badass survey on the state of fundraising👇. He puts data behind how the current fundraising low wasn't just a "hard year" for smaller funds, but a structural shift in LPs changing behavior. Key takeaways from 48...
CFO Insights Signal Accelerating Finance Stack Growth
When the CFOs speak, I listen - gotta love real talk from the people actually building modern finance stacks. Here's a supercut from a year's worth of insights on Run the Numbers, with special shoutout to Brex . I expect...
Limenet Raises €7M in Funding
Italian startup Limenet announced a €7 million financing round led by CDP Venture Capital and construction group Fassa Bortolo. The capital will be used to cement the company’s market leadership and speed up development of its carbon‑dioxide removal technologies. Limenet, headquartered...
Scale Faster: Hire Leaders Better Than Yourself
How do founders that have never done it before scale to $10m, $100m, $1B in ARR? They hire people better than them This is the mistake most Stretch VPs make. They don’t hire folks better & later more experienced than...
Trump Media's $6B Fusion Deal Signals Struggling Tech
Trump Media to Merge With Fusion Energy Firm in $6 Billion Deal. Technologies that cannot make it on their own partner with a Trump entity? Happened in critical minerals (MP materials / Vulcan), in batteries (50% in Mitra Chem for...
Ferronova Raises $6M in Funding
Ferronova, an Adelaide‑based medical‑technology firm, closed a $6 million financing round, bringing its total capital to $17.5 million. The round was led by Uniseed/UniSuper, South Australian Venture Capital Fund, Artesian Venture Partners, and Renew Pharmaceuticals. The cash will fund expansion of its...
Tech Titans, Mega Funding, and AI Disruption Weekly
The only podcast you have to listen to every week. No politics. Just tech. - Will SpaceX IPO for $1.5TRN - Will Cursor Kill Figma - Lightspeed Raises $9BN - OpenAI: Disney’s $1BN Investment & New CRO Spotify 👉 https://t.co/kSlARc4lQP Youtube 👉 https://t.co/GUg2n68etS Apple Podcasts 👉 https://t.co/osOaTumZQS My 6...
Start Building Today for a 2026 Exit
2026 might feel far away but exits don’t happen overnight. Most founders who sell in 2026 start preparing now. Not because they’re desperate but because they want options. You don’t need to rush and you don’t need to sell tomorrow. Just build...
Stefan Roebel: Building Europe’s New Defense Tech Prime
In this episode, Stefan Roebel, co‑founder and CEO of ARX Robotics, discusses how his company evolved from makeshift decoy robots to NATO‑backed modular systems now operating in Ukraine, illustrating the need for Europe to overhaul its slow defence procurement and...
2025 Portfolio Milestones Unveiled in Video Recap
Just sent a video-filled 2025 recap to our LPs. Here's a peek at a few slides highlighting portfolio cos and their milestones. https://t.co/VDqBus6eDe
Top CROs Have Already Built 2026 Teams
The best CROs have mostly recruited the teams they need for 2026 already Half the job is recruiting
Lux Funds Frontier; Others Waste on Quantum Hype
1000%. From my partner @Farshchi Lux funds the frontier but some people are funding really stupid shit including Quantum and Photonic compute (photonic interconnect and data relay makes good sense, not compute) nor data centers in space for terrestrial use
Shopify Subscription App Generates Predictable $30K Monthly Profit
Recurring revenue is king. Live on @acquiredotcom: Shopify subscription app helping merchants turn one-time buyers into predictable monthly revenue. > $29K ARR > $32K TTM revenue > $30K TTM profit > 190 paying merchants Full listing: https://t.co/zCumfIm8mD https://t.co/wYOQ3FwbAz
VCs Fuel Silicon Valley's Aggressive Startup Roll‑up Wave
Inside the VC Roll-up Craze That Has Taken Silicon Valley by Storm https://t.co/isY66sgWKh
Pulse AI Launches Free Public Document Intelligence Platform
After processing 1B+ pages for global banks, top private equity firms, Fortune 50s, and large insurers, @Pulse__AI is opening its document intelligence platform to everyone. Production-grade parsing is now publicly available via the platform and API. 20K free pages for all. Congrats...
World Models Poised to Rival LLMs, General Intuition Leads
World models will be as important as LLM's. Next big market and General Intuition has the best data set for this...
Mercury CEO Immad Akhund Live for Startup Q&A
Immad Akhund @immad - CEO / co-founder of Mercury is live answering startup questions now. Ask yours in the comments here: https://t.co/EkZAmrfjOS
Patience Finds Buyer, Speed Closes Deal
He sold SwiftNet in 30 days on @acquiredotcom. After months of calls that went nowhere, Nikita Danilov finally met the right buyer. His secret? > Patience in finding the right buyer > Speed once aligned Don’t rush the process. But when it’s time, move...
Celebrating Excellence at Clarity Pediatrics
Go go Clarity Pediatrics
Live in 10: 24‑Hour Startup Advice Hotline Launch
I am going live in 10 minutes to kick off our 24 hour startup advice hotline. We have some amazing mentors joining us to help founders navigate sticky situations. Join here: https://lnkd.in/g2parB8i
Highlight Unique B2C Strengths to Secure Better Sale
A key aspect of marketing a B2C software company is helping prospective buyers/investors evaluate the asset on its own merits instead of against the backdrop of B2B software. Unfortunately, B2C software businesses usually don't receive the same caliber of treatment...
Secondary SPVs Available for Top Late‑Stage Pre‑IPO Deals
Hey Chris, We’re actively syndicating secondary SPVs in Polymarket, xAI, SpaceX, Anduril, and Kraken alongside a broader basket of late-stage names. Flagging in case you’re spending time on late-stage, high-growth, pre-IPO opportunities. Happy to connect later this week or next to share...
Winning Mindset: Growth Equity Meets Marathon Drive
What do growth equity and the NYC Marathon have in common? JMI Equity 's own Larry Contrella proves it takes the same innate drive and competitive streak to succeed at either. Tune in to tomorrow's Run the Numbers to learn...
Founders Must Lead in AI's Disruptive Era
One CEO I have insane respect for is Daniel Dines, CEO of UiPath. After the better part of two decades — and it taking 10 years to get the first $1m ARR (!) — he stepped down as CEO, a billionaire,...
Hidden Startup Jobs via A16z Speedrun Referrals
for folks thinking about a new thing in 2026: we want to find you a job at a startup -- we’ve invested in >250 companies so far via a16z speedrun. I’ve spent time with all of the founders: I’m betting (literally)...
Private Cap Tables Are Riddled with Unnecessary Inefficiency
There’s soooo much inefficiency in private company cap tables. Sometimes it’s a feature but for most stakeholders it’s not.
Seek Evidence, Not Consensus, to Shrink Startup Risk
Founders often wait for consensus when they should be waiting for evidence. Agreement feels safer, but it does not reduce risk. Evidence does. Risk shrinks fastest when opinions are forced to meet the real world.
Ask Tara Viswanathan: Startup Success and Building America
On the 24 hour startup advice hotline, our first guest will be @TaraViswanathan who sold her company Rupa Health for a ton of $$$ & is starting a new co to help America build. What should I ask her? (Join...
Fix Fundamentals Early; Growth Won’t Hide Inefficiencies Later
Growth hides inefficiency the way adrenaline hides pain. It feels good while it lasts. When growth slows, everything surfaces at once. Teams that fix fundamentals early experience fewer emergencies later.
Narrative Gives Meaning to Shipping; Otherwise It's Noise
Shipping answers the question “what changed.” Narrative answers “why this matters.” Without the second, the first just feels like noise.
Anonymous Hedge Fund Debates Power Fastest‑Growing Research Library
Trata (@trytrata) curates anonymous hedge fund debates into the fastest-growing library of investment research. They work with 125+ contributing funds globally that manage >$175 billion in AUM. Trata facilitates calls between funds and uses voice agents trained on these conversations to...
Production‑grade AI Agents Need Robust Infrastructure, Not Just Prototypes
Congrats to @triggerdotdev on their $16M Series A! Prototyping AI is easy, but building production-grade agents is hard. https://t.co/EAT6n7xgeL handles reliability, scaling, orchestration, and observability—already powering hundreds of millions of agent executions per month for 30K+ developers. https://t.co/PgyXjqSzwR
Founders Must Prioritize Distribution over Product Alone
Founders who are not focused on building distribution: https://t.co/XypSD04aLJ
Waymo Leads Global Robotaxi Fleet, Poised for IPO
Not an investor but I think Waymo will be a successful IPO if and when it does It quietly has the most robotaxis of any company around the world https://t.co/CzXsOB6viz
No Perfect Moment—Stop Waiting, Start Building Now
There's never going to be a perfect time to build a startup. Please stop waiting and start building.
US Capitalists Prioritize Value, UK Chairs Chase Titles
American capitalists that care about value creation vs. UK chairmans who care about their career? Becoming knighted? The governance is f***** up on UK PLCs. If they do not bring @TSMonzo back they will lose the $5BN he gained for them.
Proprietary AI Keeps Pricing Power Despite Cheaper Open‑Source Alternatives
Despite open-source AI models being 10-100x cheaper, proprietary providers haven’t lost pricing power. OpenRouter’s data reveals a market splitting in two. Over the last year, open-source models’ market share has remained stable around 22-25%, briefly spiking to 35% during the explosive...