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
Hoboken Farms Scores $4M Funding Round
Hoboken Farms secured a $4 million financing round led by brand‑loyal investors, fueling the launch of its Butter & Calabrian Chili sauce. The new product carries KETO, Gluten‑Free and Seed Oil Free certifications, reinforcing the company’s clean‑label strategy. Nationwide distribution expands the brand beyond its historic farm‑market presence. The funding underscores investor confidence in premium, health‑focused condiment brands.
Governance Saves Startups From Post‑funding Mishaps
We see this kind of thing from time to time before seed/VC funding — but it should never happen after fund raising Which is why governance is so critical for startups — you can avoid 100% of these self inflicted...
Get Real-Time Founder Advice Before Decisions Harden
Most advice fails for a simple reason. It shows up too late. By the time founders ask for help, the decision has already hardened. Positions are entrenched. Narratives are locked. The cost of being wrong has gone up. Uncapped Notes Live is designed...
Elad Gil’s Framework for Spotting Billion-Dollar Markets Before They Look Big.
Elad Gil explains how to uncover billion‑dollar markets that appear small or unappealing by prioritizing market size over ideas, using first‑principles analysis, solving personal pain points, and validating demand through paying customers. He outlines four spotting principles and three market...
New Entrants Lead Harmonic AI's Hot 25 Rankings
So @harmonic_ai just released their Hot 25 Report on the most in-demand early-stage companies. The top 3: @getserval Is the big new entry at #1 & have now announced a massive Series B at a valuation above $1BN 20VC portfolio company @peec_ai rises...
Greylock’s 60‑Year Playbook: Durable Venture Principles
Last Uncapped episode of the year, feeling really grateful for what a fun project this has turned out to be. Closing out the year with one of my best friends @saammotamedi. Although I don't like to admit it to him, he's...
VC10X - Stop Competing with Sequoia: Finding Alpha in Secondaries & Emerging Markets
In this episode, Maxim and Pavel of FinSight Ventures explain their "secondary‑first" approach, using secondary market purchases from employees and liquidity‑seeking funds to secure stakes in high‑growth companies like Anthropic, SpaceX, Stripe and Palantir, and they unveil a $50 million Generative...
Overnight Successes Usually Take Two Years to Start
Most overnight success stories were founded at least 2 years before you’d ever heard of them Often, 2 years before they even had a paying customer
Avoid These Founder Exit Pitfalls with Goldman Sachs
In our latest episode of Vista Point Advisors ' podcast, The Path to Exit, I sat down with Sarah Letourneau from Goldman Sachs to talk about the most common pitfalls we see founders encounter when preparing for an exit. Listen...
Matthew Wilson (Jack & Jill) & Peter Specht (Creandum): AI Recruiting Agents, a $20M Seed & the New GTM Playbook
In this episode, Matthew Wilson of Jack & Jill and investor Peter Specht discuss how AI-driven recruiting agents are reshaping a broken talent market, highlighting the founding insight that voice‑based agents can create a high‑signal two‑sided marketplace. They explain Jack’s...
DoW Overhauls Acquisitions: Speed and Commercial‑First Focus
TL;DR DoW Directory revision 3 is Online here , Order a print copy here. In November 2025 the Department of War (DoW) unveiled the biggest changes in 60 years of how they will buy weapons and services. This month Congress,...
Notion’s Revenue Surge Outpaces Valuation, Proving Growth Beats Multiples
Notion: $2M seed → $11B in 12 years. A great case study on growing into your valuation The journey: 2013: $2M seed 2019: $3M ARR → $800M val (267x) 2020: $13M ARR → $2B val (154x) 2021: $31M ARR → $10B val (322x) ←...
The Bifurcation in the AI Market
The AI market is splitting into two distinct camps: open‑source models, which remain roughly 22‑25% of usage despite being 10‑100× cheaper, and proprietary providers that retain pricing power for high‑value workloads. Open‑source share held steady, briefly spiking to 35% during...
Emerging VC Funds Operate Like Startups, Needing Go‑to‑market and Fundraising
Emerging fund VCs are much more akin to startups than to other VCs. Both have to figure out go-to-market and how to bring money in the door.
Seeking B2B AI Talent for $10k MRR Role
I'd like to add someone to help me with @saastrfund This is primarily an in-bound venture role, and a chance to learn If you know what the best looks like at $10k MRR in B2B+AI, email me
How Evan Spiegel Is Building the Future of Computing
In this episode, Evan Spiegel discusses Snap's decision to reject a $3 billion Facebook acquisition to preserve its independent culture and vision, and outlines the company's strategic pivot toward augmented‑reality glasses as the next growth frontier. He emphasizes the need for...
Rainbow's Class F Token‑Equity Model Launches Presale
I'm stoked about the innovative token/equity alignment @rainbowdotme (776 co) is pioneering w/ their Class F structure 👏 $RNBW presale is live thru Dec 18th US folks: https://t.co/iU1W0GicNg Rest of world: https://t.co/I88ezq4fnT
Catch the Hustle Fund 24‑Hour Livestream—One Hour Only
Joining the Hustle Fund crew’s 24 hour livestream (only for an hour, thank god). Here’s the schedule. Join me. :) https://t.co/hflDlAnt4y https://t.co/XBGEIpb78R
AI SaaS Turns Sermons Into Multi‑Channel Content, Thriving
SaaS for churches is wildly underrated. Live on @acquiredotcom: AI platform that turns a Sunday sermon into a full week of social posts, clips, emails, and discussion prompts. $275K TTM revenue $120K TTM profit 375% YoY growth Full listing: https://t.co/uXWpOoEZLT https://t.co/6dtcnsYY9i
Decision Owners Drive Speed; Committees Kill Execution
Speed emerges when decisions have owners. It disappears when decisions have committees. Team size and sign-off count quietly define your execution ceiling.
Build Anywhere, Yet Spend Months in SF for Network
I think you can build a large tech startup from literally anywhere in the world. At the same time, I still think it is valuable to spend at least a few months in San Francisco to build network.
How Companies React to Mistakes Reveals Their Priorities
You can learn a lot about a company by watching what happens after a mistake. Do people rush to explain it away, or do they slow down to understand it. One path protects egos. The other protects the future.
Prioritize Investor Alignment Over Pure Return Pitch
Angel investors can invest for a whole variety of reasons besides maximizing returns. They invest because they like you or your cause. They invest because they think your mission is strong. Finding the right investor fit is more important than...
Seeking Frontier AI Evaluation Expert for London Role
i'm looking for someone who has experience building evals for frontier ai systems for an amazing opportunity at a well-funded @airstreet company with strong traction ideally in london or wanting to move there ping here or dm if you're interested /...
Venture Capital Crisis: Only AI Startups Matter Now
Venture investors are going through an existential crisis. If you are not in the OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Mercor etc etc you do not fricking matter.
Angel Investing Mirrors Poker: Survive Losses, Play Winning Hands
In listening to Nate Silver’s audiobook “On The Edge”, I’m reminded by how similar angel investing is with poker playing. A lot of the time, you are losing hands, and you need to be able to survive long enough to...
1 Billion Hidden Angels Await Discovery
The world has 1B angel investors. And they may not know they are angels. You just have to find them.
South Park Commons Shares Fun Thought‑Provoking Prompts
these are really fun thought prompts from South Park Commons nice Dylan Itzikowitz and team https://lnkd.in/gUzU-Eqa
Delay Reality, Lose Learning: Act on Early Feedback
Founders say they want feedback early. They talk to customers. They debate ideas. They refine plans. They align teams. None of that creates information. Reality only enters when something external can contradict you. A user ignores the product. Behavior stays flat. A test fails. Money doesn’t...
Mega Funds Can Still Deliver 5
I think David George is one of the great growth investors today. But I also think some of the hardest and most pressing questions have not been asked. - How does a $5BN fund do a 5x? - Why invest $300M into Adam...
Private Status Shields Firms From Stock Volatility
What is the biggest advantage for companies to stay private today? @DavidGeorge83 " The biggest advantage is the avoidance of volatility in your stock price and employee management. If you can steadily grow or control your stock price in the private...
INVEST Act Says Demo Day Pitches Aren't Solicitation
More good news from the "Incentivizing New Ventures and Economic Strength Through Capital Formation (INVEST) Act" Seems like startups presenting at demo days will not trigger "general solicitation" violations: "The INVEST Act also clarifies that company presentations at sponsored events do not...
AI+B2
📰 Top AI+B2B News - Sun, Dec 14 https://t.co/MWFHfEuzpm Top Stories: 1. Alphabet poised for another paper gain on SpaceX valuation 2. ServiceNow in advanced talks to acquire Armis at around $7 Billion 3. Thoma Bravo Completes Acquisition of PROS Holdings, Inc. for $1.5...
Founders Now Can Quit; Burning Boats Still Drives Scale
A big generational change: When I raised venture capital, I viewed it as a do-or-die commitment to making them money, building something great or going down trying. Fast forward to today, founders are happy to just quit having raised $2m,...
Small VCs Forced Out, Large VCs Pursue IPOs
INVOLUNTARY exits for the small VCs (50%+) VOLUNTARY exits for the large VCs (~5 will IPO)
Valley VC Win Rates Plunge Below 50% Amid Fierce Competition
The amount of venture firms in the valley that have a win rate sub 50% right now is insane. Early stage valley is more competitive, frothy and crowded than ever.
Most Unicorns Reach Status After Just Three Funding Rounds
I saw this graph by @IlyaStrebulaev on the number of rounds entrepreneurs raise to become a unicorn. I was surprised that the plurality is only 3 rounds. https://t.co/9mxwrrzBdX
Match Your Startup with the Right Investor Type
After I became a VC, I understood much more clearly that there are all kinds of investors with varying incentives and interests. Angels, Family offices, Corporates, Fund of funds, Endowments, Gov, etc The same is true for startups. You have...
Seeding Four SpaceTech Startups to Unlock Universal Value
Grateful to all the builders who are devoting their lives to helping us unlock all the value in our universe to make life better for humanity. We've seeded 4 spacetech cos so far, more to come: @stoke_space @astroforge @interlunespace @Starcloud_Inc1
Fuse Energy Skyrockets 10x Yearly, Europe's Hidden Powerhouse
Fuse Energy is the most under the radar company in Europe. Every year, the company has 10x revenue. First Year: £2M Second Year: £20M Third Year: £200M @alanchanguk is one of the great founders of our time. 🔥 20VC to come...
Only 4% Hit $1M ARR—Persistence Pays Off
Only 4% of SaaS startups ever reach $1M in ARR. This game is hard but it’s not impossible. Please keep going.
AI Transforms Restaurants; Owner
AI is completely changing the restaurant industry, at a pace and scale many may not realize. It's a $1T+industry that desperately needs AI to deal with a lack of humans and automation. And @owner is the break-out leader of the...
From Mocked Streaming to AI: Skeptics Missed Evolution
It used to be people laughed at streaming. First it was only low quality audio. The. When video came along it was the size of a postage stamp. Then there wasn’t enough bandwidth to scale. To everyone...
Fear of Competition Kills Deals; Break Rules for Greatness
Three years ago I made one of the biggest investing mistakes of my life. We turned down the chance to invest in ElevenLabs. It was a $250K check at a $100M post. Today that would be 100x and would have...
Founders Should Delay VC Meetings Until January.
I think we're at the point in the year where it is probably better for most founders to push their VC meetings to January than it is to try to take them now. (of course, if you've already been running...
Focused SaaS Playbook Yields 18 Acquisitions
Stuart Faught turned small focused SaaS ideas into 18 acquisitions by sticking to a simple repeatable approach on @acquiredotcom. The playbook: > Build for one clear niche > Validate traction early > Use partners instead of ads > Document everything upfront > Sell when the business...
Home Buying Lessons Transform B2B Tech Strategies
"You can leave Salesforce, but you can't leave your mortgage." What can the home buying experience teach us about B2B tech? Turns out, a ton. My interview with Brian Brown CFO at Rocket drops tomorrow morning. It's a look into...
Cities Thrive When They Cluster Around Existing Industries
China has many cities that specialize in specific products. Like Detroit for cars, they have Cixi for hair dryers, Wenzhou for lighters, and Ningbo for home appliances. We’re familiar with this idea for cultural sectors, like NYC/Shanghai for finance, Silicon Valley/Shenzhen...
Bigger Firms Should Accept Lower Annual Dilution Rates
Run rate dilution by company size As you get bigger, the benchmark for appropriate dilution each year, after contemplating SBC, M&A, buybacks, and everything else, should grind downward. https://t.co/Dmjoe6M5qo
OpenAI Drops Vesting Cliff, Pours $6B on Equity
Per @WSJ, OpenAI has gone from just a 6 month cliff for equity vesting now to … no cliff at all And will “spend” $6 Billion this year on employee equity Even at OpenAI, the war for talent never ends https://t.co/uOw6ReBXCF