Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip raises $500M to expand fintech platform
Mexican fintech Clip secured a $500 million funding round, lifting its valuation above $2.5 billion. The capital will fund the rollout of a consumer‑focused wallet and broaden its suite of financial‑services tools.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI raises $122B in private financing
The Growth Strategy Most Startups Overlook: Engineering-as-Marketing. | The Smartest Startup Pivot in Recent AI History.
The episode introduces Engineering-as-Marketing, a growth tactic where startups build free, useful tools that double as product experiences and marketing assets, allowing them to acquire users organically without heavy ad spend. It explains why the approach works—low competition, upfront value, compounding SEO and virality—and showcases real examples like HubSpot’s Website Grader, Shopify’s suite of business tools, Ahrefs’ free SEO utilities, and Moz’s follower analytics. Listeners learn practical steps to identify pain points, develop lightweight tools, and turn the resulting traffic into qualified leads, illustrating how this under‑used channel can become a sustainable growth engine.
How Founders Can Prepare for Their Late-Stage Fundraises From the Start
Founders are urged to plan for late‑stage fundraises from day one, targeting capital‑intensive growth paths such as asset‑backed credit cards. CEOs like Sadi Khan and investors including Lila Preston and Zeya Yang stress building relationships with future Series C‑E investors at...
US Needs Indian‑Advantaged Oxide Refining to Counter China
Think of rare earths as a three step process. Step 1: mining and extraction Step 2: refine into oxides Step 3: manufacture value added products (like magnets) Steps 1 and 3 are being done in the US now. Step 2 is our Achilles...
AI-Enabled Finance: Mapping Vendors and the Messy Middle
It's (finally) here: I’ve emerged from the wilderness with a 59 page report, a herniated disc, and a better understanding of AI's impact on finance. I’m proud to present to you our most comprehensive report yet. What follows is a...
Founder10x - From $500M Exit to Reinventing Software - Shay Levi, Co-Founder & CEO, Unframe
In this episode, Shay Levi recounts his journey from co‑founding Noname Security, which sold to Akamai for $500 million, to launching Unframe—a venture that promises to build custom software for free and charge only when it delivers measurable impact, leveraging AI...
Master AI Transformation and Agent Building at Web Summit
Tomorrow I'm speaking twice (in the space of just 90 mins 💅🏻) at Web Summit . Talk 1: Becoming an AI Company, 10:35am, Stage 5. (this is largely about transitioning a business from one world to the next, if you're...
How to Get Funded Now: VCs Reid Hoffman, Aileen Lee, and Stacy Brown-Philpot, with Van Jones
In this Masters of Scale session, Reid Hoffman, Aileen Lee, and Stacy Brown-Philpot discuss how venture capital strategies have shifted in 2025, emphasizing a more selective, founder‑centric approach amid rapid AI growth. They outline the key green‑lights—clear product‑market fit, defensible...
E649 | Mariette Roesink, Curie Capital: Backing Life Sciences, Unicorns & Zero Bankruptcies
Mariette Roesink, co‑founder of Curie Capital, explains the firm’s biotech‑focused VC model that seeks both outsized financial returns and meaningful patient outcomes. She showcases a track record of two unicorn exits, €200 M raised in a single year, and zero bankruptcies...
Limited Seats: Join My Tokyo Founders & Investors Talk
Limited seats for founders and investors, for my Tokyo talk here: https://luma.com/cm0x90mk
Tiger Global Poised for Higher Returns via Databricks and OpenAI
Why Everyone is Wrong About Tiger Global Returns: "I think Tiger's gonna end up much better than anyone thought. They got a big stake in Databricks. They were early into OpenAI and Scale. They will benefit from liquidation preferences and preferred stock."...
VC Jennifer Neundorfer Explains How Founders Can Stand Out in a Crowded AI Market
January Ventures co‑founder Jennifer Neundorfer told TechCrunch’s Equity podcast that in the crowded AI‑driven market, investors are looking for founders who use AI to create entirely new experiences or workflows rather than incremental improvements. She emphasized the need for clear...
Predicting 2026 AI Valuations and Investment Priorities
we are going to survey Cerebral Valley attendees ahead of a discussion of the results on stage. these good? what am I missing? OpenAI has said it would top $20 billion in annualized revenue this year. What will its revenue be...
Datadog CEO Discusses $100M ARR Milestone Pre‑IPO
Ahead of SaaStr AI London on Dec 1-2 (See you there!) we're taking a look back at some of our favorite sessions from our European events. It was so great when Olivier Pomel, founder CEO of Datadog, joined us as...
TRIP Raises $40M in Funding
TRIP, a New York‑based drinks brand that markets calming beverages and supplements, secured $40 million in a funding round backed by celebrities Joe Jonas, Alessandra Ambrosio, Paul Wesley, Ashley Graham and consumer fund Coefficient Capital. The capital will be used to scale operations, broaden...
A16z Talent Wanted: Join FiftyYears to Support Purposeful Founders
If you're at a16z and want to back honest and courageous founders who care for the common good and ask themselves how they're making the world a better place, @fiftyyears is hiring. DMs open.
AI Now Writes 30% of Top‑tech Code; Hybrid Future
30% of code at top tech companies is now AI-generated. Most engineering leaders have no idea what that means for speed, quality, or ROI. Nivara (https://t.co/Ir6fwaoqHX) gives them visibility into how humans and AI build together. The future of engineering is...
It’s Not Just You. Everyone Is Paying a Lot More for AI Engineers. Especially Equity.
In this SaaStr AI episode, Jason Lemkin highlights Carta’s data showing AI engineers’ equity grants soaring up to 40% while salary growth remains modest, driven by an "AI or Die" mindset, big‑tech poaching, and perceived massive upside. He warns founders...
Lux Backs Tenzai Labs' $75M AI Pen‑Testing Platform
Lux is thrilled + lucky to back Pavel Gurvich (@PashaGur) + team in their new company @Tenzai_Labs $75M w/friends @ Battery, Greylock, Swish amazing cyber geniuses 🦸💻building agentic penetration testing platform that continuously hacks, exploits, + fixes vulnerabilities…
Treat Series A as a Stepping Stone, Not A
Non-AI founders who treat Series $ A like their last meal somehow keep getting invited back to the buffet. Those asking for seconds often starve.
Sapphire Sport Spins Out, Rebrands as 359 Capital with $300M AUM
Sapphire Sport, the sports‑media‑entertainment venture fund of Sapphire Ventures, is spinning out and rebranding as independent firm 359 Capital. The new firm inherits the fund’s $300 million in assets under management, including a $181 million second fund that is halfway deployed, and will...
AI SRE Companion Automates Alert Investigation, Cuts Firefighting
Deeptrace (@deeptraceai) is an AI SRE and debugging companion that automatically investigates every production alert and surfaces a clear root cause, so your engineers spend less time firefighting and more time building. https://t.co/CAQGUInYRE Congrats on the launch, @srinth32 & @andys_lee!
Polymarket Bets OpenAI IPO at $500‑750 B
When is OpenAI going to IPO? And how much will it cost? PLACE YA BETS! In this brand new TWiST clip, me and Alex Wilhelm revisit their ongoing wager about OpenAI’s public offering, and check in on how things are...
From Yext to Roam: Howard Lerman’s Second Act
In this episode, Howard Lerman reflects on the challenges of launching a second venture after Yext’s success, describing how he founded Roam as an AI‑augmented "Office of the Future" that lets people work from anywhere. He discusses the solitude that...
Mega Funds Prioritize Capital Velocity Over Early-Stage Deals
Why the Mega Funds are Focused on Capital Velocity: "The North Star for @generalcatalyst @lightspeedvp is investment velocity. Talk to the principles and Jr Partners at these firms.... It does not matter what @ravi_lsvp @htaneja are saying; when you are writing $BN...
True Product-Market Fit Means Market Pull, Not Just Value
What exactly IS Product Market Fit? And how do you know when you have it? Alex Wilhelm favorite way to define PMF: “You don't have true product market fit until it feels like you're wearing a meat suit in a...
20VC: Benchmark's Newest General Partner Ev Randle on Why Margins Matter Less in AI | Why Mega Funds Will Not...
In this episode, Benchmark GP Ev Randle argues that traditional profit margins matter less for AI startups, emphasizing growth, data advantage, and network effects over short‑term profitability. He warns that mega‑funds will struggle to deliver strong returns because capital scarcity...
AI B2B Sales Teams Halved, Efficiency Soars
AI B2B companies do need sales teams. Almost all of them. The question is just … how large of a sales team? It’s a question no one fully questioned until recently. But now founders & CEOs are asking: - is...
Listen to Buyers: Align Messaging with Their True Priorities
Sometimes the most impactful synergies are not that obvious. We once kicked off a process selling a company to a major strategic buyer, with the initial thesis that the company's product represented a potential upsell opportunity. Further into the process,...
Guy Wuollet Promoted to GP, Pioneering DePIN Vision
Today we are excited to announce that we are promoting Guy Wuollet (@guywuolletjr) to General Partner. We first met Guy in 2018 while he was studying computer science at Stanford, where he also rowed varsity crew. He initially joined the firm...
Align Incentives: Invest With Partners to Test Conviction
The Biggest Investing Lesson from Peter Thiel: "Peter creates incentive structures to test the conviction level of partners. For example, you can personally invest alongside the fund in a deal you are leading. If you do not, he will ask, do...
AI-Native Status Now Essential, Even for Legacy Firms
Today, legal software @goclio announces a round at $5B and presentation software @GammaApp at $2.5B valuations What do they have in common? Both were around well before the AI Era. Clio in 2008, Gamma in 2020. Being “AI Native” is critical to...
Exit Tax Threatens $200M UK Investment and Jobs
I have invested $200M into the UK in the last five years. If @RachelReevesMP implements “Exit Tax” all that funding will go overnight. That is countless jobs, companies and people who will lose out. Rachel, you have managed to steal our...
Root Ventures: Celebrating Top Hacker-Founder Engineer Investors
Huge congrats to Root Ventures, such a great team of hacker founder engineer investors - the best kind
Youthful Belief in the Impossible Fuels Founder Success
The best VCs remember: at 22 y.o., not knowing it's impossible *is* the superpower; those founders could be very right.
Lux Backs Majestic Labs with $100M for 1,000x Memory
Latest investment revealed from Lux Majestic Labs with $100M💰––from the team that ran silicon at Meta + Google... ...🧠💻1,000x the MEMORY of typical enterprise server
Forge Makes Welding Robots Autonomous for Broader Manufacturing Automation
Forge (https://t.co/M1ZPbDXxAm) turns dumb, human-programmed industrial welding robot arms into autonomous members of the workforce, enabling manufacturing companies to automate much more of the human tasks in the fabrication process. https://t.co/zUOu2hzYkg
Last‑minute YC Application Turned Into $11M Startup
Five minutes before the deadline, @itsCathyDi applied to YC with @dedaluslabs. Months later, she's now running a company that's just raised $11M. The deadline to apply for the winter batch is tonight at 8pm PT - there's still time to get...
Root Ventures Launches $190M Fund for Early Wonky Startups
EXCLUSIVE: Root Ventures Raises $190 Million Fourth Fund for Early Bets on Wonky Startups https://t.co/9yvP8hW7oF
New Funding Raises Expectations, Work Never Stops
PSA for Startups: Every new funding round raises the bar for your outcome. That’s why the news mostly excites investors. They just got a markup or won the deal. For everyone on the team, it’s a reminder that expectations just went...
Help Founders Grow Into Unicorns, Not Just Grab Coffee
The surest way to break into VC isn't asking your favorite VC for ☕. It is advising and referring founders who become 🦄 a few years later.
Peter Fenton Excels by Trusting Founder Conviction over Stages
What Makes @peterfenton So Good? " Peter does an amazing job following his founder conviction. He doesn't think about stages. When he finds a @howietl @btaylor that's what guides him." @EverettRandle What have been your biggest lessons from working with Peter @howietl...
AI Travel SaaS Hits $345K Revenue, 300% Growth
Big fan of AI plays like this. Vertical AI SaaS built for travel customer experience. > $345k TTM revenue > $265k TTM profit > 300% YoY growth High-margin + Lean ops Check out listing @acquiredotcom: https://t.co/W8PNmLJqTD https://t.co/xuUCVn0BpK
Laurel Turns Invisible Work Patterns Into Actionable AI Insights
When it comes to AI, most firms are flying blind. But @getlaurel was built to show how people REALLY spend time, turning invisible work patterns into data that leaders can act on. Their latest report has the receipts ↓ https://t.co/0EQksPzRDU
Invest $1M, Reap $150M: Women’s Soccer Boom
At @FortuneMagazine Global Forum, I shared about my ~$1M “overpayment” to help start @weareangelcity in 2020. Now, @NWSL expansion fees are ~$150M. That's a 150x return in 5 years. Billion-dollar women’s teams are coming soon. I hope @ChelseaFCW is one of...
AI Agents Cut IND Filing Time From Months to Days
Scoop uses AI agents to speed up drug trials, starting with IND filings. They automate this entire process, transforming scientific data into continuously updated regulatory documents ready for submission— compressing what used to take months into days. https://t.co/DiztbjPdiq
Helping 2–3 Founders Secure Daily Acquisitions
We help 2–3 founders get acquire’d every day on @acquiredotcom. Life changing moments for everyone involved. Pretty awesome to see it happen daily.
Exonic Launches First Internet-Native Crowdsourced Drug Discovery
Exonic (@exonicai) is crowdsourcing drug discovery. By bringing biological AI and wet lab access to users around the world, Exonic is the first internet-native drug discovery company. Congrats on the launch, @thebrimacombe! https://t.co/d5EANW135H https://t.co/lHOPjDzvZh
Western Startups Increasingly Rely on Chinese AI Models
this is a great piece that captures the current love affair that western startups and even some bigger companies have with chinese ai the models are intelligent, accessible, and open weight turns out some of your fav sf startups are built on...
Winter Batch Applications Due Tomorrow – Submit Your Idea
The deadline to apply for the winter batch is tomorrow, November 10th, at 8pm PT! All you need is an idea: https://t.co/9hUZ0buEiU https://t.co/CNdCJWqtU7
SaaS Achieves 90% Profit Margin with Minimal Overhead
A margin this high for a task and workflow SaaS is insane. Live on @acquiredotcom: > $423k TTM revenue > $384k TTM profit > 5,000+ paying customers 20+ years in the market. Near zero overhead. Full listing here: https://t.co/Bu8ma6ccSD https://t.co/Y2sadhLoRe