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
The Hot Mic: Should You Start a Venture Fund?
In this Hot Mic episode, three listeners pose their top questions to seasoned venture capitalists, who discuss whether starting a venture fund is advisable, the key criteria they use to evaluate pitches, and the one startup they wish they'd invested in. The VCs stress that launching a fund requires deep networks, capital commitment, and a clear thesis, while emphasizing that compelling pitches combine clear problem‑solution fit, traction, and a strong team. They also share a personal regret about passing on a now‑successful company, illustrating the inherent uncertainty in deal selection.
How Venture Capital Is Evolving in a Market Driven by AI and Web3
Venture capital is being reshaped by the rapid adoption of AI and Web3, forcing firms to accelerate due‑diligence and decision‑making. New metrics such as AI model stress performance, tokenomics, code audits and on‑chain transparency now sit alongside traditional revenue and...
The Physics of Finance: How Yaniv Bertele Applies Scientific Thinking to Investment Strategy
Yaniv Bertele, a physicist‑mathematician turned investor, applies scientific methodology to venture‑capital and corporate investment decisions. His framework starts with rigorous problem identification, then validates solution viability, financial feasibility, market size, and go‑to‑market strategy before committing capital. The approach has been...
20VC: Max Altman on The New Seed War: Can Anyone Compete with Sequoia and A16z | Leaving $2BN on the...
Max Altman discusses the intensifying "seed war" where only giants like Sequoia and a16z can dominate early rounds, highlighting how many founders leave billions on the table by undervaluing deals such as Reddit's. He shares behind‑the‑scenes stories from backing Rippling...
Empowering Year Zero Founders to Build, Fund, Acquire
In Founder University, we help Year Zero founders build MVPs, raise money, and find their first customers. After launching our first international Founder University in Saudi, we are heading to Japan for our second. We kick off in January with...
Founder Update Discipline ≠ Success; Execution Drives Results
We had our Precursor Ventures AGM this week in SF, so Mia and I were able to record in person! The first topic we covered was founder update emails, specifically how valuable they are for both founders and investors, especially...
Sortera Technologies Inks $45M
MARKLE, IN, Sortera Technologies today announced the close of $45 million in funding.
Boutique Seed Funds Dominate Sub‑$10M Rounds, Mega‑Funds Rarely Lead
🔹Boutique, dedicated Seed funds continue to lead <60% of priced seed rounds in the sub-$10M range, which account for the gross majority of deals done. 🔹~90% of priced Seed rounds happen below $20M - where dedicated funds maintain a clear advantage. 🔹Nearly...
Megafunds Dominate Series A Rounds Above $20M
🔹The majority of Series A activity now clusters around $20M, but this isn’t where the power dynamics are shaping the market. 🔹At sub-$20M, dedicated A funds lead most rounds, and mega-fund involvement stays below half. 🔹Once rounds cross $20M, the megas come...
B2BINPAY Obtains El Salvador DASP Licence From CNAD, Cementing Its Lead in Regulated Crypto Payments
B2BINPAY has secured a Digital Asset Service Provider (PSAD) licence from El Salvador’s National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD), authorising the firm to conduct regulated digital‑asset transfers, custody, and fiat‑crypto exchange operations under the country’s Digital Assets Issuance Law. This...
Boutique Seed Leaders Thrive Amid Mega‑Fund AI Hype
In Aug, I wrote “Is Venture Broken?” – a data-driven look at whether the growing spread in fund sizes at the early stage was pushing venture to a breaking point. We found that while mega-funds are moving earlier, dedicated-stage, boutique...
Graphite: The Ultimate Test for Any Code
Whether the code is being written by a human, a computer, or a hybrid, the moment of truth is Graphite
The Marketing Guru Who Helped Turn Khosla Ventures Into an AI Powerhouse Is Moving On
Shernaz Daver, the first chief marketing officer of Khosla Ventures (KV), is leaving after nearly five years, having built the firm’s brand around the mantra “bold, early, impactful” and positioning KV as the first investor in marquee AI and tech...
Nvidia Earnings and Gemini Tweet Reshape AI Narrative
Two revelations this week have shaken the narrative in AI : Nvidia’s earnings & this tweet about Gemini. The AI industry spent 2025 convinced that pre-training scaling laws had hit a wall . Models weren’t improving just from adding more...
Venture Capital Enters a New Era Beyond Deals
SEE YOU THERE! Beyond the Deal: The New Era of Venture Capital • Hunter Walk, Homebrew • Samara Mejia Hernandez , Chingona Ventures • Mario Ruiz , Infinity Ventures
VC10X Micro - The Land of Crazy Startup IPOs
The episode dissects India's explosive startup IPO boom, highlighting how firms like Groww and PhysicsWallah achieve sky‑high valuations and even post‑IPO gains despite recent losses, often by timing profitability through accounting tweaks. It compares the Indian market’s low entry barriers...
Seeking Japan‑focused Founders Ready to Go Global
We're looking for ambitious Japan-focused founders ready to go global. Apply and work with our team
Why Homebrew Went Evergreen: Founder‑Driven Funding Shift
"Homebrew → Forever -- why Hunter and Satya moved from an LP-backed seed fund to a self-funded evergreen model—and why they accelerated the shift in 2022." So fortunate to back founders who build companies via Homebrew and founders who build...
How to Be 'Fearless' In the AI Age, with Fei-Fei Li and Reid Hoffman
Fei-Fei Li, the "Godmother of AI," discusses with Reid Hoffman the necessity of fearlessness for scientists and entrepreneurs navigating an uncertain AI-driven future. She emphasizes the importance of human‑centered AI and spatial intelligence, drawing on her experience founding Stanford's Human‑Centered...
Cursor’s $30B Valuation Fueled by Explosive Revenue Surge
Why $30BN for Cursor Is A Good Deal: "The pro side is revenue and revenue growth rate. If something's gone from $1-$100M in a year, and then $100M to $1BN this year, with Newton's laws of motion, it is going to $3BN-$4BN...
YC Funds the Underdogs Most, and They Thrive
YC is funny because for everything we get hate for, we fund those and fund of that kind by #'s than anyone else Solos Non-traditional background Anything not B2B SaaS Almost any category, we do the most # of anyone, and the ones we...
Runlayer Raises $11M in Seed Funding
Runlayer, a U.S. startup focused on Model Context Protocol security, emerged from stealth with an $11 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures and Felicis. The funding will be used to scale its team and accelerate development of its platform that...
AI Voice Staff Boosts SMB Clinics Revenue 83×
Simbie AI (@simbie_ai) gives SMB medical practices AI voice staff that answers, returns calls, and handles clinical tasks. Since launching in January, they've grown revenue 83x with $0 CAC, operate nationwide with zero churn, cut staff-to-physician ratios by one-third, and...
AI‑Powered Azure Fuels Predictable Microsoft Growth
Azure drives a meaningful share of Microsoft’s revenue growth. The company reports the specific impact of AI on Azure’s expansion each quarter, and the contribution has grown steadily over the past year. This gives a concrete view into how AI...
E654 | Adrian Locher, Merantix Capital: AI Studios & the Future of Venture Building
In this episode Adrian Locher explains how Merantix Capital’s hybrid studio‑community‑consulting model builds AI‑first companies by demanding customer validation before any code is written, a discipline he says is crucial in the AI age. He contrasts deep‑tech AI with mere...
Microsoft’s Platform Play: Azure Powers the AI Era
Deep Dive: A Primer on Mag7 (Part 7 - Microsoft) Microsoft has spent fifty years building platforms that sit underneath the modern economy. BASIC made early computers usable. MS DOS and Windows standardized personal computing. Office became the core productivity layer for...
Now Is the Prime Time for High‑impact Startups
“The highest order way I think about it is: ‘Is there opportunity?’ Is there opportunity for high impact, high growth, high scale businesses being born right now? And the answer to that is unequivocally yes .” - Kirsten Green ,...
Betting on Yourself: How Anne Mahlum Built a $100M Empire
Anne Mahlum recounts her journey from a North Dakota upbringing marked by her father's gambling addiction to founding the nonprofit Back on My Feet and later bootstrapping the boutique fitness brand solidcore into a $100 M exit. She emphasizes the power...
Tech Democratizes Finance: AI, Tokenization, and New Investor Mindsets
Uncapped with @vladtenev, CEO of Robinhood. We talked about the evolution of online brokers, how today's younger generations think about finance, the rise of prediction markets, tokenization of private company stock, and how AI will impact personal finance. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:27) History of...
QuindarSpace Raises $18M to Automate Satellite Ops
Congrats to @QuindarSpace on their $18M Series A! Most companies still build ops software in-house, which takes years. U.S. government programs often require a new interface every time, forcing teams to rebuild ground systems again and again. Quindar manages satellites like flying...
Tech Funding Boom: VC Surge, Private Giants Thrive
The only podcast you have to listen to every week. No politics. Just tech. - Cursor Raises $2.3BN: Who Wins the Coding War - Peter Thiel and Softbank Sell NVIDIA: Analysed - Why Venture Capital Will Hit $1TRN and the Opening of Retail - Why...
AI Generates Ready-to-Use Antibodies in Weeks
Push button, get antibody therapeutics. The future of AI x Bio is here, folks. Nabla Bio unveiled JAM-2, a model capable of generating de novo, developable, antibodies against extremely hard, novel targets. With no lead optimization! These are zero shot therapeutics...
Revenue Soars While Headcount Growth Stalls
Headcount growth has hit the brakes... In our latest *private* company benchmarks report, we're seeing median headcount growth of just 3–5% vs. revenue growth of ~20–25%. Sub-$25M ARR companies might not be *firing* employees, but they’re certainly in “one-in, one-out”...
Replace Legacy Giants: Build Faster, Smarter Service Providers
I have spent the last 14 days inside some of the largest companies in the world. 90% of them will die. Their market cap will slowly erode to innovators over a 20 year period. The lesson though: Their buying processes and...
Top‑tier VC Managers Make 5x Returns Three Times More Likely
Great data from VenCap analyzing 1,900+ VC funds (2000-2019): ☹️22% lose money (return <1x) 👇64% never hit 2x 🚀Only 6% return 5x+ 🔥Just 2% hit 10x Translation: A randomly selected VC fund is 3.7x more likely to LOSE money than return 5x. But here's what changes...
A16z Leads, Top Four Funds Dominate Seed and Series A
Top 10 Most Active Investors at Series A: Out of the 90 mega-funds we looked at, @a16z, @generalcatalyst, @lightspeedvp & @sequoia all remain in the top 5 across both Seed and A - with a16z far outrunning the pack at...
Who’s Driving Seed Deals: Top 10 Active Investors
Top 10 Most Active Investors at Seed: https://t.co/2pB2bbv0yP
Venture Market Thriving: Opportunities for High‑Growth Startups
🧵Is the venture market “healthy”? “The highest order way I think about it is: ‘Is there opportunity?’ Is there opportunity for high impact, high growth, high scale businesses being born right now? And the answer to that is unequivocally yes.” @kirstenagreen,...
Experience Meets Open‑Minded Imagination in Uncharted Era
Great to be on the Library of Minds with @daraladje. 13 yrs into Forerunner, experience is an edge. But open-mindedness is equally critical. This era is about the courage of imagination. Eyes wide open and genuine bravery are needed when...
Bluma Automates Short-Form Video Ads Like Canva
Bluma (@getBluma) is building the Canva for short-form video ads. They automate your entire consumer marketing strategy with content templates, generating on-brand videos on autopilot. https://t.co/Jeoc521iea
Lux LP Unveils Fresh Insights in New Letter
1/ New Lux LP letter...
Profitable AI SaaS with 50% YoY Growth Listed
Supercool SaaS listing JUST dropped on @acquiredotcom. No-code app for launching secure AI-driven web apps fast. > $300K TTM revenue > $100K TTM profit > 50% YoY growth High-margin, vertical SaaS with real enterprise upside. Listing: https://t.co/BATq3sxB2V https://t.co/BMo7n13wQQ
Automat AI Secures $15.5M to Replace Legacy RPA
Congrats to @automat_ai on their $15.5M Series A! They're building AI agents that operate computers like people do. Instead of fragile RPA workflows, operators show Automat what to automate, and their forward-deployed team handles the rest. Already replacing legacy RPA...
Tiny Early Funding Can Launch Billion‑dollar Companies
A few that >almost< bootstrapped, i.e. did raise a little but < $10m in primary venture: The Trade Desk, worth $26B Klaviyo worth $9B Veeva, worth $44B Sometimes the most valuable capital is just that smidge early on And you can skip the rest
London AI Meetup: 150 Experts Gather for State of AI
t-2 weeks til we're back in london for @airstreet state of ai meetup, ft: - @rosstaylor90 of @genreasoning - @youssef_a_mejj of @synthesiaio and yours truly on @stateofaireport! come hang with 150 ai friends across big tech, ai labs, startups and academia https://t.co/ELPmczmd31
Build AI Moats with Workflow, Data, UX—Start Now
The real moats in 2025: specific workflows, proprietary data with real switching costs, distribution, and UX that makes AI disappear into the job-to-be-done. Simultaneously: we are early (only a % are using AI properly) so this is an amazing time to...
Cursor Hits $1B ARR in Two Years, SaaS Record
New!! Cursor Hit $1B ARR in 24 Months: The Fastest Scaling SaaS Ever? https://t.co/kV5BNeeW4m
Space‑grown Artificial Retinas Could Restore Sight Worldwide
Proud to welcome @LambdaVision to the @sevensevensix family, @katelin_cruse's newest addition to our spacetech portfolio. They’re designing artificial retinas in space using microgravity. If successful, they could help restore sight for millions on Earth. Incredible work from the LambdaVision team, can’t wait...
Early @Function User Now Part of Its Cap Table
I was an early @function customer in 2022 and still am. Stoked to be a small part of their cap table with @vedikaja_in. https://t.co/1gnKQa149t
Entry Price Matters in Uncertain TAM; Winning Dominates Huge TAM
Entry price counts when TAM is unclear. Winning is the only thing that counts when TAM is huge.