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
Coming Soon: Harry Stebbings on the State of Venture
In this episode, Harry Stebbings examines the rapid transformation of venture capital, focusing on shifting valuation dynamics, the impact of AI hype on startup success, and the emergence of a new capital stack that founders and investors must navigate. He explains how AI-driven excitement is redefining which companies attract funding and which are left behind, while also detailing practical strategies for adapting to these market changes. Stebbings, a seasoned venture investor and host of 20VC, offers insider perspective on what the evolving landscape means for future investment decisions.
Zachary Perret Recounts Plaid’s Early Days
i will never get tired hearing Zachary Perret talk about the early days of Plaid , here in interview with Ben Thompson https://lnkd.in/g6YzpMte
Collaborative Checks on Mega Platforms Drive Venture Success
If you have a mega platform Write super collaborative checks You will absolutely crush the next decade in venture. Distribution matters. 😉
Anysphere Bags $900M Round
Anysphere Inc., the creator of the AI‑powered coding assistant Cursor, announced a $900 million financing round led by Thrive Capital with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and DST Global. The infusion lifts the company’s valuation to $9.9 billion and brings total capital...
AI Becomes Commodity as B2B Giants Shift Strategies
📰 Top AI+B2B News - Sat, Dec 6 https://t.co/MWFHfEuzpm Top Stories: 1. Wealthfront wants just $255 million net from IPO 2. Microsoft (MSFT) to Hike Prices for Commercial Office 3. Salesforce CEO calls AI a 'commodity feature' Top SaaStr Articles: 1. 4 Reasons to Send Investor...
Relentless Margin Focus Sets Top Founders Apart
I caught up with one of my portfolio founders this past week. He's a successful serial entrepreneur, and one of the things that sets him apart from many founders is his relentless focus on margins. He constantly is trying to...
How to Build an Investor CRM (With Template) | The Four Product Discovery Models: Where Your Company Really Operates.
In this episode, Sahil S explains that successful fundraising is 80% organization and introduces a simple investor CRM built in Google Sheets, complete with a downloadable template. He walks listeners through essential columns—contact info, investor type, referrer, and stage—showing how...
Kalshi Secures $1 B Funding, Valuation Hits $11 B
What I read this week... 1) Kalshi Raises $1B at $11B Valuation Kalshi has closed a stunning $1 billion Series E funding round at an $11 billion valuation, more than doubling its worth in under two months. The round, led by crypto-focused...
Seeking Traction-Driven Startups for 11,000 Angel Syndicate
Looking for startups with traction to syndicate to 11,000 angel investors
What Comes After ChatGPT? The Mother of ImageNet Predicts The Future
Fei‑Fei Li and her former student Justin Johnson discuss their new model Marble, which creates explorable 3D worlds from text or images, highlighting how spatial intelligence differs fundamentally from language and why current world models lack physics understanding. They argue...
VCs Overload Winners, Driving Sky‑High Valuations
Larger VC funds want to cram more and more capital into their winners. More than ever. It’s not that complicated but two core reasons: #1. Fewer and fewer winners, so everyone wants to throw money at whatever truly breaks out...
Sequoia Backing Signals Growth; Ignore the BS
One of the most BS statements: You do not want people to join your company because of an investor that led the round. People want to grow and they want to make money. When Sequoia invests, it is a massive stamp...
Helmet Security Raises $9M Funding
Helmet Security, a Washington, DC‑based provider of end‑to‑end security platforms, announced a $9 million funding round. The round was led by SYN Ventures with participation from WhiteRabbit Ventures. CEO Fred Kneip and CTO Kaushik Shanadi said the capital will fuel operational...
Prioritize Margins Over Feel‑Good Hype in Startup Investing
BEWARE, INVESTORS IN “FEEL GOOD” STARTUPS! We’ve all seen these startups… they have bold ambition and admirable goals, but lack a cutthroat business model that will guarantee future returns for investors. But it’s surprisingly easy to fall into what I...
Future‑Focused Founders: Build for Tomorrow’s Unseen Challenges
Two of our faves from the latest Y Combinator cohort : Dome and Zephyr Fusion. YC just had their Fall ‘25 Demo Day, so Alex and I are running down some of their favorite contenders. Two startups that REALLY stand...
20VC: Inside Bending Spoons Acquisition Machine: Evernote, Eventbrite, Vimeo | How Evernote Evaluates Acquisitions and New Product Ideas | How...
In this episode, Federico Simionato, a product lead at Bending Spoons, walks through the company’s rapid growth from a small game studio to an $11 billion acquisition powerhouse, sharing how they evaluate and test new product ideas and build a coveted...
A Refreshing Perspective on the AI Bubble
This is one of the better takes on the AI "bubble" I've seen recently. https://t.co/sMJsm1vnT2
Join Mercury CEO Immad on Live Founder Hotline Dec 17
Excited to have @immad, CEO / co-founder of Mercury join us on the 24 hour live founder advice hotline on Dec 17! Sign up here:
Key Takeaways From Pete Warden’s Insightful Post
Solid post from Pete Warden sharing some learnings
Small Seed Funds Punch Above Their $100M Weight
Fund size is your strategy. You hear it all the time because it's true, and Micah Rosenbloom and the team at Founder Collective demonstrate the art and the super power of this. Five funds and twenty $B+ outcomes, yet every...
Recapitalize to Replace Early Investors with Growth Capital
Oftentimes as your company grows, you either outgrow your investor or they've passed their investment horizon and are looking to exit. For example, you may have a smaller fund invest early on, but then your company does well and you...
Teach Decision‑Making, Not Just Math or AI
The latest on Outlier's Path - Being Right vs. Getting It Right -- During Thanksgiving Break, I found joy at several friends' and family gatherings. I've learned to sit between the adults' table and the kids' table. The conversations at that intersection...
Optics Excel at I/O, but Not for Computing
I responded to an investor re optical computing: More optical interconnects which we funded and sold. Have thus far been skeptical as optics for comms and moving data are amazing. But for computing/processing data very hard. Semiconductors work as switches and...
Kalshi's Media Deals Reveal Deep Finance‑politics Network
Kalshi ’s new CNN and CNBC deals are making headlines. But the more interesting story is its connections across finance and politics. I mapped the entire network here:
US Tech Must Treat Qatar Investors Like Threats
Any American tech or defense company should be as wary of any investor with ties to or money from Qatar as much as Russia or Iran or the CCP. It will NOT end well. Funds surely took money years ago...
Rethinking Burnout: Rest Isn't the Whole Solution
We took a week off to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we are back with a new episode of The Learning Corner by Precursor Ventures . We are thankful for all of your who have listened, liked, and subscribed to episodes this...
I’m Unable to View the Linked Content, so I Can’t Generate a Headline.
https://t.co/kAFihJJHMV
Ship Fast: Speed Beats Polished Slides Every Time
The incumbents are still polishing their slide decks. You just shipped the product. While the world waits for permission, you are paving the road. Speed is your unfair advantage. Keep shipping!
2025 IPOs Underwhelmed; 2026 Promises Big Tech Giants
2025 IPOs: pretty meh in end 2026 IPOs: Anthropic, Databricks, SpaceX? OMFG
Small Funds, Big Impact: Strategy Beats Size
Fund size is your strategy. @micahjay1 + team at @fcollective demonstrate the art & super power of this. 5 funds & 20 $B+ outcomes, yet every fund <$100M. Today, that’s practically rebellious. All this + what 'unsexy' sectors are quietly delivering...
Pentagon Funds Tiny Rare‑earth Startup After Trump Jr. Backing
A little-known rare earths start-up with about 30 employees has won a blockbuster funding deal from the Pentagon, three months after Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm invested in the company. https://t.co/dvj66uDJZC
AI Oncologist Gives Every Patient World‑Class Cancer Care
Radical Health is building the future of cancer care with their new AI Oncologist, giving every patient access to care as if they were being treated by the world’s top cancer doctor. https://t.co/EFqcwRfwXq
Besimple AI Secures $3M Seed to Power Audio Data Layer
Congrats to @besimple_ai on their $3M seed! They're building the data layer for AI, starting with audio. Besimple licenses and processes diverse conversational audio so teams can ship better voice models, faster. https://t.co/PGihh57d8S https://t.co/r4m6g3h45i
Hire People Who Already Are the Role
Some people aren’t just in big roles, they *are* the role. e.g. Tammy at Stripe. Solana at FF. Katherine at AD/a16z. For appropriate roles, recruit people whose natural inclinations fit your business and pitch them "be yourself, just with more support...
Unicorns Typically Need 10‑20 Years, Not 5‑10
While we have portfolio companies that have gotten to unicorn status in 5-10 years. It's much more realistic (and common) - even on a fast trajectory - to take 10-20 years to get there.
Consumer Health Boom Accelerates in 2026
One 2026 prediction I have is that consumer health companies will be an even bigger trend next year. With Function Health leading the way, you have fast growing newer upstarts helping consumers with longevity. Measurement of vitals, F&B for more...
Focus on Sales and Support, Not Features
Instead of building more features, do more sales and support at your startup. You'll will grow faster and learn more.
Be Irreplaceably Human or Remain Ignored—No Middle Ground
Yes
AI-Powered VC Intros: 526+ Matches for Founders
SaaStr AI VC has made 526+ VC intros for founders 1️⃣Upload your deck 2️⃣Get an instant AI score 3️⃣If it's a fit, opt-in to top-tier VC intros Learn more here: https://t.co/dd0zpQKZQp https://t.co/2pHhYC61aQ
Invest in Unstoppable People Creating Inevitable Breakthroughs
The secret to investing is to invest in unstoppable people building inevitable things.
Mission‑First Investing: We Match Founders’ Pace
At @fiftyyears, nothing matters more than the mission. So we don't operate like most investors. Not many OOO auto replies over the holidays. No weeks long trips to Aspen. No long summer vacations. We try to match the pace of our founders....
Opinionated Vision Drives Simplicity in Great Products
Good Products are Opinionated. “Every great founder I’ve seen up close, or even from afar, is highly opinionated and they’re almost dictatorial in how they run things. Also, early-stage teams are opinionated. And the products they build are opinionated. Opinionated means they...
Prism Brings Real‑Time ARR, Burn Rate, Churn to ERP
If you told me five years ago that I could see my ARR, Burn Rate, and Churn in an ERP, I would have told you to go back to bed. Sounds like fiction. It's all possible now with Prism. CONGRATS...
150 AI Leaders Ignite Collaboration at State of AI Meetup
This week’s State of AI Report x London AI @airstreet meetup was something special. 150 people building across big tech, AI labs, startups, and academia packed the space with sharp ideas and real momentum. Highlights from the night: • @rosstaylor90 (@GenReasoning) on...
Flex Team Celebrates Successful Funding Round
Congrats to the Flex team on their raise!
I’m Unable to View the Linked Content, so I Can’t Generate a Headline.
https://t.co/rmhdBlvLJa
Emerging Fund Manager Launches Succession Planning, Congrats Haley Bryant
Why we started succession planning as an emerging fund manager and congrats @haleymbryant ! https://t.co/TuBWR76gm5
Europe's AI Lag: Causes and Paths to Recovery
this is a great piece on why europe has fallen behind on driving ai progress and what we might do to rectify this
People Chase Tech for Cash, Ignore Its Math
Too many are interested in “tech” (by which they mean money) but they aren’t interested in tech (by which I mean math).
Stealth Mode: Founders Quietly Building the Next Big Thing
Founders building in stealth mode: https://t.co/PBn8AtWJ4s