Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Qorelo secures $3.5M seed round to accelerate AI‑driven SAP migrations
AI‑focused startup Qorelo announced a $3.5 million seed round led by HPI Ventures and Caesar Ventures. The funding will be used to develop its AI‑powered layer that automates functional workstreams in SAP S/4HANA migrations, which the company says can cut project timelines by up to 45 percent ahead of the 2027 SAP migration deadline.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Sygaldry Technologies raises $139M in seed and Series A round
Retail’s Biggest Scam: Deductions Ft. Akash Raju
In this episode, Mike Gelb talks with Akash Raju, CEO of Glimpse, about the hidden cost of retail deductions that can drain up to 5% of a CPG brand’s revenue. Akash explains how the complex deduction ecosystem works, why it’s a cross‑functional nightmare for finance teams, and how Glimpse’s AI‑driven platform automates capture, classification, and dispute resolution to achieve a 91% win rate. Listeners learn which deductions are worth contesting, the particular challenges posed by distributors like UNVI and KeHE, and why brands should prioritize deduction management to protect their margins.
Infracost Raises $15M to Embed Cloud Cost Checkout
Congrats to @infracost on their $15M Series A! They’ve built the checkout screen for cloud—right inside GitHub/GitLab so engineers can see the cost of infra changes before deploy and how to optimize them. Already used by 3,500+ companies, including 10% of the...
Poolside AI Acquires Fern Labs, Forming Full‑stack Frontier AI Powerhouse
news! @poolsideai has acquired @fern_labs, in which @airstreet was the first and sole investor - and a first investor into poolside as well. i met @ashedwardst in late 2024 before fern had a name or team. his technical depth, product taste...
‘Our Funds Are 20 Years Old’: Limited Partners Confront VCs’ Liquidity Crisis
Limited partners (LPs) are confronting a venture‑capital liquidity crunch as fund lifespans have stretched to 15‑20 years, leaving billions of dollars locked in under‑performing startups. LPs are revising allocation models, extending fund‑life assumptions to 18 years, and turning to the...
Sphere Secures $21M Series A for AI Tax Automation
Congrats to @nrudder_ and @get_sphere on their $21M Series A! Sphere helps companies stay in compliance as they scale across borders. Their AI native tax engine collects, codifies, and monitors tax law globally, and their 100+ local rails into tax authorities...
AI-Powered Marketplace Unlocks Previously Untapped Offline Market
.@arthur_leopold and Jonathan are a force. Ambitious, focused, hungry, hard working, insightful, and obsessed with their customers. Classic right founders + right timing, leveraging AI to crack open an offline, friction-ful market that has eluded automation. We've learned many times...
VC10X - Building OLX, 350+ Exits, Top Marketplace Investor - Fabrice Grinda, Founding Partner, FJ Labs
In this episode, Fabrice Grinda, founding partner of FJ Labs and creator of OLX, recounts his leap from McKinsey to building a global classifieds empire, detailing the aggressive "spaghetti on the wall" rollout that took OLX to 100+ countries and...
2025 IPO Pricing: Unpredictable, No Clear Pattern
Why the Hell Is It So Hard to Price an IPO in 2025? In 2025, day one IPO performance feels like a total crapshoot. Figma went parabolic (but now sits at the failed Adobe acquisition price), CoreWeave was flat out...
Hummink Raises €15M in Funding
Paris‑based Hummink, the spin‑out that commercialises High‑Precision Capillary Printing (HPCaP) technology, closed a €15 million funding round co‑led by KBC Focus Fund, Cap Horn and Bpifrance, with participation from Elaia Partners, Sensinnovat and Beeyond. The capital will fund the rollout of...
AI: The New Frontier for Mental Health Support?
In this episode, host Bob Safian discusses the contentious link between AI and mental health with Ellie Pavlick, director of Brown University's new AI‑mental health institute, and venture capitalist Soraya Darabi, an early backer of mental‑health AI startups. They examine...
E652 | Lea Strumberger, KfW Capital: How Europe’s Largest Public LP Thinks About Opportunity Funds
Welcome back to another episode of the EUVC Podcast, where we bring together Europe’s venture family to share the stories, insights, and lessons that drive our ecosystem forward. Today we dive into one of the most under-discussed — yet increasingly important...
Curate People: Hire the Best, Not Just Anyone
New podcast on recruiting (full episode). Links below. Curate People 0:00 The Best Only Want to Work With the Best 3:49 You'll Never Be Able to Hire Anybody Better Than You 6:45 Break Every Rule to Get the Best People 10:19 It Just Takes a...
AI Startups Outpace SaaS Growth Tenfold, Investors Must Choose
Why are AI companies growing SO MUCH FASTER than their SaaS counterparts? On average, AI companies are growing at about 10 times the speed as startups pursuing software-as-a-service business models. Investors now face a choice… “Bet on the past” by...
The First $100,000,000 ARR at Datadog: How Founder CEO Olivier Pomel Built a Customer-Centric Observability Giant
In this episode, Datadog founder‑CEO Olivier Pomel recounts how the company reached its first $100 million ARR by obsessively prioritizing genuine customer insight over sales or engineering shortcuts. He explains why closed alphas and annual contracts stifle learning, why enterprise SaaS...
Negative Sentiment Threatens AI More Than Any Bubble
How negative sentiment could be a more pressing concern for AI than any bubble… In this TWiST highlight, I consider the recent backlash against AI apps and related technologies. Pushback and cynical takes around AI are coming from a number...
Bezos Co‑Leads Secret ‘Physical AI’ Startup Project Prometheus
What is Project Prometheus and why is Jeff Bezos going to (co-)run it? On TWiST, Alex Wilhelm and I do a little digging on $AMZN founder Jeff Bezos’ latest project, the secretive AI startup Project Prometheus. We know they’re doing...
Emmett Shear on Building AI That Actually Cares: Beyond Control and Steering
In this episode, Emmett Shear—founder of Twitch and former OpenAI interim CEO— challenges the prevailing "control and steering" approach to AI alignment, arguing it’s fundamentally flawed and proposing an "organic alignment" model where AI genuinely cares about humans. He explains...
Explore Top B2B AI VCs with SaaStr Research
Want to learn more about top VCs in B2B + AI? Browse our new SaaStr AI Research VCs -> https://t.co/3JyImX3jMX We'll even help pick the best ones for you (and much more to come) https://t.co/rG7K5x5YYU
JPMorgan Accelerates Stealth Startup's Bold Market Entry
This is how America wins🇺🇸 A public shout @jpmorgan + our partners Doug Petno (co CEO commercial + inv bank) + John China (co head innovation banking) Lux stealth seeded serial founder w/big audacious plan + tech to match in non-obvious market JPM...
Synthetic Data and the Future of AI | Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez
In this episode, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez discusses how synthetic data has become essential for training AI models, enabling enterprises like Salesforce and Dell to scale intelligence securely across cloud environments. He explains Cohere's approach to building flexible, deployable AI...
Cellbyte Secures $2.75M Seed to Accelerate Global Drug Launches
Congrats to Cellbyte on their $2.75M seed! Cellbyte helps pharmaceutical companies launch new drugs worldwide. Their platform streamlines pricing, market access, and regulatory workflows for drug launches by automating data extraction and insight generation, enabling faster, more efficient decision-making across global...
Investors Back Cloudflare Rivals to Prevent Single
resilience investors won’t be mincing their words either when they start funding a bunch of cloudflare competitors can’t have the internet crash bc of this single point of failure ey
Backflip Raises $10M in Equity Funding
Backflip, a Charlotte, North Carolina‑based real‑estate fintech platform founded in 2020, announced a $10 million equity raise. The round was led by FirstMark Capital alongside LiveOak Venture Partners and Vertical Venture Partners. The capital will be deployed to broaden the company’s...
Rapid Growth, Not Just Features, Defines an AI Native
How to know if you are an “AI Native” start-up: 🚀 You are growing much, much faster than last year Otherwise, you just have AI Features
Production AI Teams Favor Open‑Source Models and Database‑Backed Agents
70% of production AI teams use open source models. 72.5% connect agents to databases, not chat interfaces. This is what 375 technical builders actually ship - & it looks nothing like Twitter AI. 70% of teams use open source models...
20VC: Andrew NG on The Biggest Bottlenecks in AI | How LLMs Can Be Used as a Geopolitical Weapon |...
In this episode, Andrew Ng identifies the biggest bottlenecks slowing AI progress—data quality, compute costs, and talent scarcity—while arguing that large language models can become geopolitical tools for influence and misinformation. He debates whether traditional profit margins still matter and...
Acquisitions Close Quickly, but Relationships Take Years
If you want to potentially get acquired — start now. It often really, quietly takes years. What do I mean? Well for sure, acquisitions themselves technically often happen very quickly. The acquiring CEO reaches out, they meet up...
Investors Chase Metrics; Strategics Chase Product Fit
Is the process the same for M&A vs. a capital raise? While the process is largely the same, there are some differences. The biggest difference: investors tend to be hyper focused on metrics, while strategics tend to be more focused...
20VC Newsletter - 16th November 2025
The episode features three separate interviews: Everett Randle of Benchmark explains why mega‑funds prioritize capital velocity, proposes new AI‑company valuation metrics, and shares lessons from Mary Meeker; Rory O’Driscoll and Jason Lemkin discuss a looming Palantir valuation correction, the accelerating...
Founder University Expands to Japan After Global Success
After the success of Founder University in both America and Saudi Arabia, we’re expanding to Japan! We’re hiring a researcher to help us discover the most promising startups in the region. It’s a huge opportunity to learn, grow, and get...
Join Founder University Japan: Research Top Startups
Wanna come work with me? LAUNCH is bringing Founder University to Japan, and we’re looking for a sharp, curious researcher to help us discover the most promising startups in the region! It’s a huge opportunity to learn, grow, and get...
Compute Scarcity and Geopolitics Define AI's Future
“In my career working in AI, I have yet to meet a single AI person that ever felt like they had enough compute.” “Open-weight models is a tremendous source of geopolitical influence” “When China’s government makes an all-nation commitment, it’s a very...
AI Coding's VC Subsidy Mirrors Early Food Delivery Boom
Is AI Coding Like Food Delivery: VC Subsidised and Unsustainable: " I remember the early days of food delivery, it was VC subsidized. We're seeing that right now with AI coding. This can't go on forever... there will be some very valuable businesses...
Even Disney+ Struggled: Forecasting New Brands Is Guesswork
5 learnings from launching (and attempting to forecast) Disney+ ... Forecasting a brand-new product, even one with Disney's IP library behind it, is a leap off a cliff. As Vanna Krantz , former CFO of Disney Streaming, told me: “We...
OpenAI Lacks Platform Power Without Network Effects
Posit: OpenAI’s fundamental problem is that it cannot become a platform company as long as the models it wants to use as a platform have no network effects and remain pure commodities. People had to use Windows, but there is...
Execs Must Practice Their Own Roles to Succeed.
Every time I see a CRO that doesn't sell themselves, they fail. Every time I see a CTO that doesn't code themselves, they fail. Every time I see a CMO that doesn't market themselves, they fail. Every time I see a...
Get Instant Funding Verdict by Uploading Deck
Wondering if you can get funded ... or not? Wonder no more Upload your deck to SaaStr AI VC and we'll tell you -> https://t.co/S5UFYzoN7a https://t.co/VLRaBqjNa3
Reelables Secures $10.4M to Scale Printable Smart Labels
Congrats to @ReelablesHQ on their $10.4M Series A! They've created the first printable smart label—paper-thin Bluetooth/5G trackers that work with standard barcode printers. They grew 200% this year and are scaling to 100M labels/yr to improve supply chain visibility. https://t.co/7GWxq3Trfm
20VC: Europe’s Only Fund Embracing 996 Culture
20VC crushing the 996 London life. Only fund in Europe that works this. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/RkVTlQhcTW
Deedy Das and Jay Eum Join VC Roundtable
Deedy Das and Jay Eum Join the VC Roundtable! https://t.co/GLAHbFKopV
Faire’s $5.2B Offer Highlights Public‑Company Worth
Long Faire 🚀 Long indie retail, long local communities, long craft, quality products. The $5.2B tender offer led by crossover investor WCW signals Faire has the attributes of a public company and has built a lasting, category-defining business. https://t.co/nYvdMAxuXG
Voize Raises $50M to Free Nurses From Admin
Congrats to voize on their $50M Series A! voize frees nurses from admin so they can focus on what truly matters: people. Today, more than 75,000 nurses in 1,100+ care facilities use voize to document care through natural speech, right at the...
AI Teammates Automate Insurance Paperwork, Freeing Agents for Clients
Acolite builds AI teammates for insurance agencies so teams can spend more time with clients. Forward an email or delegate from your AMS, and Acolite issues COIs, pre-fills ACORDs, and cleans SOVs — fast, accurate, secure, with humans in the loop. https://t.co/MUONLogKx6 Congrats...
Build for Users, Not Just for Funding
It was never “build what’s fundable” and it isn’t now. It’s always been: make something people want. This comes from users and customers and the needs of others.
Funding Space Fusion, Not Just a Consensus Engine
We're funding space fusion and your take is we're building a consensus machine Maybe you need to look harder
Microsoft Pivots to Agent‑centric Infrastructure Business
"Our business, which today is an end-user tools business, will become essentially an infrastructure business in support of agents doing work." — Satya Nadella Microsoft talking about their view where the value accrues : agent infrastructure https://t.co/1TaxJpOeCB
Profitable B2B Marketing SaaS with Strong Moat
This is an incredible business. Live on @acquiredotcom: Top-ranked B2B marketing education SaaS serving global teams and pros. > $3.25M ARR > $1.65M TTM profit > globally recognized SaaS + education + brand trust = serious moat Full listing: https://t.co/qKWsmO2tpo https://t.co/97g300eS6r
VCs Vanish When Growth Is Steady, Not Hyper
I have a seed investment I made years back now at $130m ARR now growing 40% and cash flow positive. And all the VCs have checked out. They haven’t been mean about it. Everyone is nice. It’s just, one has...
FoundHer House Empowers Women Founders Amid Funding Gap
Last year, women-led startups received just 2% of total venture capital funding a number that hasn’t changed much in more than a decade. That’s why stories like this one matter. Two of our USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy...
Minority Recap Keeps Control, Majority Sells Liquidity
The fundamental difference between a minority and majority recap: Control. If you sell a majority of your business, you'll receive a high level of liquidity, but all the key decisions will now be out of your control. With a minority...