What's happening: AI fuels a 17% surge in 2025 venture fundraising despite fewer deals
Venture fundraising jumped to $119.5 billion in 2025, up 16.9% from the prior year, while the total number of rounds fell 41% to 4,859, marking a six‑year low. Capital concentrated in larger, AI‑focused rounds, with AI startups capturing 58% of Series D cash, and median valuations rose across all stages.
Also developing:
Oxide announced a $200 million Series C round, doubling the size of its recent Series B. The capital was raised exclusively from existing investors, reflecting strong backer confidence despite the company already achieving product‑market fit with its hardware offering. Oxide argues the infusion de‑risks future growth, allowing it to focus on scaling without fearing acquisition pressure. The company positions the funding as a catalyst to accelerate its mission of reshaping computing infrastructure.

Newo Inc. announced a $25 million Series A round to accelerate its AI receptionist platform for small and medium‑sized businesses. The solution provides human‑like voice, SMS and chat agents that handle calls, appointment booking, lead qualification, and handoffs using a Zero‑Hallucination Architecture....

Matia announced a $21 million Series A round, led by Red Dot Capital, bringing its total funding above $31 million. The startup offers a unified DataOps platform on AWS that merges ETL, reverse‑ETL, observability and catalog functions into a single interface. It can...

Smart Bricks, a London‑San Francisco proptech, announced a $5 million pre‑seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The AI‑powered platform ingests millions of data points to deliver autonomous valuation, cash‑flow forecasting, and risk modeling for real‑estate deals. It also automates the transaction workflow,...
Runway, the AI video generation startup, closed a $315 million Series E round, lifting its valuation to $5.3 billion. The capital will fund the pre‑training of next‑generation world models and broaden product reach into sectors such as gaming, robotics, and climate science. Runway’s...

AI venture capital in the Middle East and North Africa surged to $858 million in 2025, representing 22% of total regional VC and 29% of all deals. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia dominated funding, absorbing 87% of AI capital,...
Antler has unveiled an always‑on residency for Nordic founders, backed by the $100 million‑plus Antler Nordic Fund II—three times larger than its first fund. The continuous program replaces biannual cohorts and can approve investments within two to six weeks. Selected startups receive...

I talk with a lot of founders who want to go to market on @acquiredotcom unprepared to save some time and see if it's worth it. The problem with this is how buyers evaluate startup acquisition opportunities. Most will require and expect,...
Airwallex just crossed a $1B rev run rate and feels like no one talked about them until late last year. Crazy.

PadCare Labs, a clean‑tech firm specializing in sanitary‑waste recycling, secured $3 million in a pre‑Series A round led by Rainmatter, with participation from 3one4 Capital, Brigade REAP, PKRBCV Shroff Trust, existing backers and debt from EXIM and ICICI banks. The capital will...

Silicon Valley is a lagging indicator. Tech moved out of Delaware. Now it’s moving out of California. There are hundreds of other places. You can build a unicorn anywhere. So: cut bait on failed states. Our destiny is decentralization. That’s what the Internet means. https://t.co/9gygAEDScs

Munich‑based Constellr closed a €37 million Series A round, bringing total capital to €75 million. The funding, led by Alpine Space Ventures and Lakestar, will accelerate its HiVE microsatellite constellation toward defence‑grade thermal imaging. Constellr plans to upgrade resolution from 30 m to sub‑5 m...

Entellus Industries announced a ₹50 crore ($5.5 million) funding round led by ZeroW, adding to a prior $12 million raise from Social Capital. The capital will fund capital‑expenditure to launch sintered‑alloy production, targeting high‑stress automotive components such as engines and transmissions. The company...

ZAST.AI announced a $6 million Pre‑Series A round led by Hillhouse Capital, bringing total funding near $10 million. The Seattle‑based startup claims its AI‑driven platform delivers “zero false‑positive” code security by automatically generating and validating proof‑of‑concept exploits. In 2025 the company uncovered...

The article outlines six design principles for crafting scientific pitch decks that translate complex research into investor‑ready narratives. It stresses that slide titles should form a coherent story, business models need visual simplification, and content density follows a 70:30 data‑to‑visual...

In this 39‑minute conversation, Nolan Bean, CIO of FEG Investment Advisors, shares how institutional investors allocate over $90 billion across public and private markets, focusing on risk appetite, liquidity, and long‑term returns. He explains the four core risks institutions manage, why...

Ovation, a guest‑experience platform for multi‑unit restaurants, closed a $3 million funding round funded entirely by its own customers, bringing its total capital to $12 million. Nearly a dozen restaurant owners and operators, including leaders from Dave's Hot Chicken and Cheba Hut...
StartUpNV has launched the 2026 AngelNV programme, a 13‑week curriculum that educates first‑time angel investors while linking them to high‑potential Nevada startups. The initiative builds on the Nevada Certified Investor law, which lowered investment thresholds and helped the prior cohort...

London‑based tem has closed a $75 million (£55 million) Series B round, led by Lightspeed Ventures and backed by Hitachi Ventures, Atomico and others. The startup, founded in 2021, offers what it calls the first AI‑native energy transaction infrastructure, combining an AI‑powered engine,...
In this episode, Andreas interviews Debbie Wosskow OBE, a serial founder and chair of the UK’s Invest in Women Task Force, about the shift from gender‑equity intentions to actual capital flows in venture. She explains how aligning incentives and power...

Munich‑based Hypersonica has emerged from stealth, announcing a €23.3 million Series A round led by Plural and backed by Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, General Catalyst and 201 Ventures. The startup also reported its first successful hypersonic missile test on 3 February from...

Vesiro, a Gothenburg spin‑out from Chalmers University, secured €1.6 million in seed funding backed by Chalmers Ventures, Industrifonden and other investors. The startup offers a performance‑focused plug‑in for Elasticsearch that accelerates search queries and reduces the number of servers required. Internal...
Deel, the global HR and payroll platform, has launched The Pitch, an international competition offering a $15 million prize pool for seed‑stage startups. Up to 100 regional winners will each receive $50,000, while ten global champions can earn $1 million to accelerate...

Panda’s Box, a screen‑free early‑learning startup founded in 2022, secured Rs 1.2 crore after appearing on Shark Tank India. The round was led by investors Aman Gupta and Namita Thapar. The capital will fund product development, broaden distribution, and boost the brand’s...

The 2025 Endeavor Catalyst report shows a dramatic rise in private liquidity, with ten secondary sales and acquisitions compared with just one in 2024. Global secondary market volume is on track to hit US$122 billion in 2025, nearly six times the...

SportsSkill Ladder, a sports‑tech startup, has secured a lead investment from serial investor Nirav Mody, though the amount remains undisclosed. The funding will accelerate product development, user‑experience enhancements, and platform scalability ahead of a broader rollout. The company launched a...

Sleek EV secured $8.5 million Series A to expand Thailand production, AI software and battery‑swap networks, positioning the firm as a regional two‑wheel electric leader by 2026. Singapore‑based Polybee raised $4.3 million to scale its AI‑driven agricultural drones across 4,000 acres, while Australian...

Afreximbank has announced the eight finalists of its inaugural Accelerator program, chosen from more than 1,600 applications. The three‑month initiative, starting in March, will provide each startup with up to $250,000 in equity financing, mentorship, and access to the bank’s...

Dr. Phone Fix Canada Corp. posted preliminary 2025 results showing revenue of about $12.1 million, a 19% increase over 2024, and adjusted EBITDA rising to roughly $0.6 million. Gross margins remained in the high‑40% range while the store base expanded from 35 to...

Paris‑based event‑tech startup Naboo announced a $70 million Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Notion Capital, ISAI and Ternel. The financing follows a €20 million Series A and supports the company’s expansion beyond its core events platform into a...
The All‑In panel traces Changpeng Zhao’s (CZ) journey from his immigrant childhood in Canada to founding Binance, detailing his early tech career, the launch of his first Shanghai startup, and his discovery of Bitcoin that led him to go all‑in...

Petcare startup Supertails secured $30 million in a funding round led by Venturi Partners, with participation from Nippon India Alternative Investments, Titan Capital Winners Fund and existing backers. The round values the company at roughly $130 million post‑money and brings total capital...

Noise, the Bose‑backed Indian wearables brand, reported FY25 revenue of Rs 1,048 crore, a 24% drop from the prior year. Operating expenses fell 25% to Rs 1,067 crore, aligning with the revenue contraction. A deferred tax benefit of Rs 47 crore pushed the...
BioCentury reports that 2025 ended a four‑year decline in biotech series A financing, with 144 companies raising $8 billion. The “BioCentury This Week” podcast highlights which venture‑capital‑backed firms attracted capital and what the trends indicate for emerging technologies. Washington editor Steve Usdin...
Biotech investors have long chased scientific hype that rarely translated into commercial wins, often leaving value to large pharma. The article argues the next growth wave will stem from biotechs launching independent therapeutics that achieve meaningful sales, mirroring the early‑2010s...

Melbourne‑born SaaS firm Operata secured an $11 million Series A round, lifting its valuation to $100 million. The funding, led by Tidal Ventures with participation from Glitch Capital and existing backers, will accelerate integration with major contact‑centre platforms and global expansion. Operata positions...

YouTube star MrBeast’s holding company, Beast Industries, announced the acquisition of Step, a teen‑focused banking app with more than 7 million Gen Z users. Step, which has raised roughly $500 million and counts celebrity investors such as Charli D’Amelio and Will Smith, offers...

Neara, a Sydney‑based digital‑twin startup, secured $90 million in a Series D round, pushing its valuation above $1 billion. The round, led by TCV and joined by existing backers, brings total external capital to roughly $180 million. Neara’s AI‑driven platform now models 15 million assets...
So we added one new AI Agent to our arsenal this week, and it's a great one, even though it's pretty new. Much more to come. And another? In the end, we decided not to deploy it. What happened? It's pretty...
Watching three 3 founder CEOs at $200m+ ARR quit their start-ups the past 2 weeks or so. On the one hand, I get it. Growth way down, no M&A options, it was supposed to get easier at that stage. Now for...

Databricks announced a financing round exceeding $7 billion, lifting its valuation to $134 billion. The round includes more than $5 billion in equity and $2 billion in debt, led by JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft and other major banks. The capital will accelerate development of the...

Three upcoming events worth checking out for anyone building or investing: 🤖 Lead Your Team With AI - February 24, virtual A practical session on how founders can effectively use AI to lead their teams. Featuring Doug Peete, CPO at https://t.co/Wcl0Ro2nMv 🤝...
Modveon, a Palo Alto‑based startup building a verified operating system for governments and citizens, announced a $10 million financing round. The round was backed by Coinbase Ventures, Firebolt Ventures, Humla Ventures, Strategic Cyber Ventures, and several angel investors. The capital will...
Great post that explores this moment in time...
"All the general partners are leaving. LPs are pissed. The VC-token flashy side of the industry is done The game has changed And now everyone wants to be like us." @nic_carter https://t.co/gNuh8qfmoE
Waymo announced a $16 billion financing round that lifts its post‑money valuation to $126 billion. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake, Tiger Global and other heavyweight firms. Alphabet...
The rumor on the street is that Kyle Samani redeemed his entire position in Multicoin Capital, say @nic_carter and @austincampbell https://t.co/gNuh8qeOz6
When the typical outcome for a post seed, post series A, and post series B startup is death. Perhaps the best strategy is to be careful how much you copy the startups around you. Are you brave enough...

Harvey, the legal‑AI startup, is reportedly negotiating a $200 million raise that would push its valuation to $11 billion, led by Sequoia and Singapore’s GIC. This follows a rapid funding series: a $300 million Series D at $3 billion, a $300 million Series E at $5 billion, and...
Aspiring VCs - do you know VC is a ton of sales? Externally: - Pitching to LPs - Winning over founders & other VCs - Recruiting talent Internally: - Pitching new deals to your team - Proposing new firm initiatives - Suggesting new firm processes