Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Clip raises $500M, pushes valuation past $2.5B
Mexican fintech Clip secured a $500M financing round, lifting its valuation to over $2.5B. The capital will fund a consumer‑focused wallet rollout and broaden its financial‑services platform. Investors were not disclosed and the round remains open.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI secures $122B private financing round
Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan: How AI Will Cure All Disease
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan explain how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is creating AI‑driven computational tools—like the open‑source Cell Atlas and virtual cell models—to accelerate discovery, test high‑risk hypotheses in silico, and ultimately cure, prevent, and manage all disease by the end of the century. They argue that basic science now requires $100 million‑scale projects beyond traditional NIH grants, and that unifying the Biohub under AI leadership fosters deep collaboration between biologists and engineers. The episode highlights the shift toward expanding compute over lab space, the importance of interface design for democratizing research, and a long‑term roadmap for AI’s broader impact on biotech.
Skip Finishing Schools, Build Real Value and Relationships
Someone at the SF Standard is going to write a story about how I told people not to go to Slow Ventures Finishing School. FWIW I really like a bunch of the people who work there, and I have no...
Product Hunt Celebrates 12 Years Empowering Indie Makers
Today is Product Hunt's 12-year anniversary. It started with a tweet and has become a global launchpad for founders and makers. Pretty cool to see so many now-household names—Notion, Deel, Loom, Ramp, Figma—launch their v1s on the platform. But we've always tried to...
VC10X Micro - The Reason Behind 100,000 Layoffs in 2025 - VC10X Micro
In this micro‑episode, Prashant Choubey explains why even profit‑rich giants like Meta and Amazon are cutting thousands of jobs in 2025, attributing the wave to three forces: the "Great AI Re‑allocation" that shifts talent to automation, a newly permanent "Year...
Export Restrictions Threaten US AI Leadership and Global Innovation
Everyone in Silicon Valley understands that the way to win a technology race is to get the most users and developers on your platform. Yet the anti-export lobby in Washington keeps inventing reasons why America’s friends and allies shouldn’t be...
Mission‑First Biotech Thrives on Science and Execution
10 out of 10. Would recommend. BillionToOne is a wonderful example of what's possible when you take on the most important, hardest problem you can. Oguzhan and David didn’t set out to “start a startup.” They wanted to solve a globally important...
From Billion-Dollar Brand to Blank Slate: Bobbi Brown’s Comeback
In this episode, Bobbi Brown recounts how she grew Bobbi Brown Cosmetics into a billion‑dollar powerhouse and the fraught split with Estée Lauder that forced her to choose between retirement and reinvention. She shares hard‑won lessons on scaling a brand, navigating...
AI-Powered Platform &AI Goes Public, Boosting Patent Litigation
&AI (@tryandai) is a collaborative workspace for patent invalidity and infringement work — litigation, portfolio monetization, business development, and more. Over the past year, they've been working closely with the best patent litigators and in-house teams in the world, supporting them...
A16z Launches New Media Fellowship for Online Talent
I'm excited to announce the a16z New Media Fellowship. Or as many people are saying, the Thiel Fellowship for the terminally online. Finding highly functional people who are also very online is hard, so we are creating a fellowship to gather and...
E647 | Kristaps Ronis, ION Pacific: The Rise of Structured Secondaries in Venture
In this EUVC Podcast episode, Kristaps Ronis of ION Pacific explains how structured secondaries are reshaping venture liquidity by offering DPI‑focused deals that provide cash without forcing founders or GPs to sell shares or signal weakness. He highlights the market’s...
Benchmark’s Portfolio Outshines All Other Funds
Of every fund of this vintage, I would rather have Benchmark’s portfolio than any other: Sierra ($10BN) Mercor ($10BN) Firework ($4BN) Legora ($2BN) Langchain ($1.3BN) Manus (one of most insane teams in AI) HeyGen ($80M ARR) Today it gets...
Emotionally Intelligent AI Support Scales Enterprise Customer Service
Giga (@gigaml) is building the next generation of customer support — real-time AI agents that can understand emotion, resolve issues instantly, and scale across the world’s largest enterprises. The team recently raised $61M to power emotionally intelligent, human-quality conversations at enterprise...
Rebuilt From Rejection Into a Billion-Dollar Model W/ Michael Loeb
The episode chronicles Michael Loeb’s journey from being fired at 36 to creating billion‑dollar ventures like Synapse, Priceline.com, and the healthcare discount platform ScriptRelief, now operating under his venture collective Loeb.nyc. He argues that entrepreneurial instincts appear early—often evident in...
OpenAI May Turn on Partners, Threatening Founders
Just a fair warning to founders: like Facebook and microsoft, I predict OpenAI will study their platform partners and compete with many of them in the coming years. This isn't abnormal, mind you… Microsoft built windows, then destroyed their top...
AI Agents Automate Market Due Diligence for Top PE Funds
DiligenceSquared (@DiligenceSqrd) is automating market due diligence for investment decisions, deploying AI agents that conduct expert interviews and synthesize insights. They're already working with some of the world's largest PE funds. https://t.co/J4rb0mdmqV
Are We Being Railroaded by AI?
The post compares AI infrastructure spending to historic U.S. investment projects, showing AI at 1.6% of GDP in 2024—far below World War II, the New Deal, and the railroad boom. It highlights current corporate outlays (Microsoft, Google, Meta) and projects OpenAI’s...
Biotech Nasdaq IPO Promises Massive Early‑investor Returns
juicy biotech nasdaq ipo today! huge returns for early investors https://t.co/EppHjO3egc
Introducing Cerebral Valley’s Heavyweights with Index Ventures
Meet the Cerebral Valley Heavy Weights with @IndexVentures https://t.co/MfyhKCjKam
Harsh Truth About European Startups Ft. Joe Seager
In this interview, Joe Seager—partner at the consumer‑focused VC True and former Virgin executive—explains how True’s vertically integrated, multi‑stage model gives founders a distinct advantage and why Europe’s fragmented venture landscape is beginning to outpace the U.S., especially in the...
AI Associates Automate Legal Workflow, Freeing Lawyers' Focus
Lexi (@getlexi_io) is building AI Associates for law firms and legal teams—handling the full spectrum of legal work from intake to delivery so lawyers can focus on what really matters. https://t.co/6rM6Vh0ycO
Investing to Accelerate Technology's Deflationary Impact
Technology is deflationary in a good way and @usv we are investing in driving down cost!
SOC Prime Secures Strategic Investment
SOC Prime, the Boston‑based provider of an AI‑native detection intelligence platform, announced the closing of its latest investment round. The round was led by u.ventures and included participation from DNX Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, J Ventures and Angel One. Proceeds will...
AI Cuts Referral Time 82% and Boosts Appointments
Saffron Health (@saffronhealthco) uses AI agents to automate specialist referrals for primary care, cutting referral time by 82%, finding appointments 55% sooner, and reducing kickbacks by 44%. https://t.co/oFQ6BDBwO0 Congrats on the launch, @moonriseTK & @MichaelMotorcy9! https://t.co/xjxkZ3JlDT
Planbase Secures $2.1M to Automate Clinic Scheduling with AI
Planbase raised $2.1M to build the AI platform for healthcare ops—where admins can just type “build next week’s schedule” and it happens. Real-time, generative operations for clinics. https://t.co/6pDmxoGuwr
Liminal Custody Expands EMEA Leadership with Appointment of Ilinca Cartoflea as Head of Sales
Liminal Custody, a digital‑asset custody and wallet‑infrastructure provider, announced the promotion of Ilinca Cartoflea to Head of Sales, EMEA, based in Dubai. In her new role she will drive regional growth, enterprise partnerships and institutional client engagement across Europe, the...
AI Agents Already Outpace Average Humans—Start Monetizing Now
New!! @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me on 20VC: 1/ "AI Agents really are already better than mediocre humans. So you better be tapping into that revenue as a startup. You better be getting some of that revenue by now, by late...
Cash Burn: No Escape for Founders
New on SaaStr!! "You Can Hide From a Lot of Things as a Founder. Cash Burn Isn’t One of Them." https://t.co/GzWBxOnn2k https://t.co/KFM0DeUeuo
Amera Cuts Claims Admin Costs 20‑30% via Automation
Amera automates claims processing workflows for health insurance payers. It cuts admin costs by 20-30%, turns hours of manual work into minutes, and helps members access more affordable, transparent care. https://t.co/xhDCotk94Z Congrats on the launch, @deepkkapur & @LouiseTanski!
AI Hype: Bubble or Superintelligence? Both Unlikely.
The two biggest narratives about AI right now are that (1) it’s a massive bubble (i.e. totally fake) and (2) about to give rise to superintelligence (i.e. totally real). Both narratives can be fake (which is what I believe) but...
No U.S. AI Bailout; Competition Will Fill Gaps
There will be no federal bailout for AI. The U.S. has at least 5 major frontier model companies. If one fails, others will take its place.
AI Revolutionizing Finance, Fueling Our VC-Backed Startup
I had a great time with my friends at Corient yesterday keynoting their annual summit. AI is undoubtedly changing all the things that we do in finance (and every industry!) and it's never felt better to be building a tech...
New Media Redefined: Insights From Alex Danco and A16z
interesting piece on what new media is from @Alex_Danco and @a16z crew https://t.co/aEXT20msl4
Investors Underestimate AI-Native Insurer Lemonade's Compounding Edge
“Many insurance CEO want to sprinkle AI pixie dust on themselves” - @daschreiber CEO of $LMND on CEO of @AIGinsurance Investors still do not fully understand the power of an AI native company like @Lemonade_Inc and how it compounds advantage. https://t.co/LOPcEf4U1f @CNBC
AI Agents Accelerate Sensor Analysis 100x, Ending Engineer Bottleneck
Engineers became the bottleneck when analyzing sensor data. MOVEdot (@movedot_) built AI agents that fix that, working hand in hand to analyze telemetry, video & documentation 100x faster. Starting with race cars, expanding to manufacturing, robotics, and more. https://t.co/L912mZilya Congrats on the...
Free AI Calculator Scores 600K Startup Valuations, Predicts Funding Odds
Woo-hoo!! Just crossed 600,000 start-up valuations on new, FREE SaaStr AI valuation calculator here -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA The 2.0 version not only tells you what you’re worth, but now also tells you the odds you’ll get funded! Try it! -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA https://t.co/T2LLQpqSkK
T3D2 Deals Are Attractive but Could Cost
New!! “The Problem(s) With T3D2 Venture Deals. They’re Still Great. But They Might Get You Fired.” https://t.co/lXKYxMt3Lo
YC Community Accelerates Founder From AI Student to Enterprise Platform
A year ago, @thepablohansen was finishing his master's in AI. Today, he's building @withkeystone, a modern bug-triage platform for enterprises. Through YC, he found a community of founders that helped him move faster and think bigger. And you can too. https://t.co/gNl84El3BS https://t.co/ZYZEY5oYle
Big Funds Skip Follow‑on when Upside Seems Limited
I remember a few years ago, a SaaStr Fund portfolio company was struggling to get a Series A round done They found a lead to put in $8m, but wanted the insiders to put in the other $2m. I wasn't a very...
Domestic Battery Supply Chain Essential for National Security
Why are batteries a national security issue? It is THE energy source for critical applications today and, even more importantly, tomorrow: Cars Data Center Batteries (ESS) Military and defense drones Robots If we are to be a resilient nation that is in control of our...
Startup Fundraising Used to Be Far Tougher
When I founded my first start-up, * I had to sign a full recourse note to my VCs for $750,000 to get a tiny bridge * We had to sell 60% of the company in the first round * I had to agree...
Free Tools for Startup Valuation and Pitch Deck Grading
FREE startup valuation tool -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA FREE VC pitch deck grader -> https://t.co/S5UFYzoN7a
Neoclouds Skip VCs, Target Public Markets Directly
Good one from @cityofthetown: Neoclouds Race for the Public Markets, Leaving VCs Behind https://t.co/bBRvTaZCmp
Bootstrapped Mobile Games Hit $500K Profit, 400M+ Downloads
400M+ downloads and $500K profit. Bootstrapped mobile gaming portfolio live on @acquiredotcom. > $501K TTM revenue > $501K TTM profit > 100% YoY growth > 5000+ customers Full listing: https://t.co/JSw4HtA7wT https://t.co/6oHcBIy8Fg
Deedy Das and Jay Eum Join VC Roundtable
Deedy Das and Jay Eum Join the VC Roundtable! https://t.co/QQlqMmKtCr
Unlock Angel Investor Tax Savings with Expert Session
Super psyched! We're doing a quick session with @ankurnagpal tomorrow who knows a TON about tax-savings strategies for angel investors. He is going to knowledge-dump a ton of tactical info - will be great! Hope to see you tmrw - sign...
AI Scientist Achieves Verifiable End-to-End Discoveries
in the latest @stateofaireport, I predicted that an ai scientist would make verifiably new discoveries end-to-end looks like we’re pretty much there!
Automating Insurance Submissions Frees Brokers for Clients
Casey is building the infrastructure layer for insurance distribution - automating complex submissions so brokers spend less time on admin and more time with clients. https://t.co/lxZsmXMwXd Congrats on the launch, @MaxThoelen, @pascalkueng, and @nicohaenggi! https://t.co/r1Eer98FEm
Palantir's Sky‑high Valuation Defies Low Sales
Palantir: the highest valuation on the least sales of any public company ever I’m still very bullish Just a reminder things in AI are well valued https://t.co/0CNJSRuhax
SF Tensor Cuts Foundation Model Training Costs by 70%
SF Tensor (@sftensor) is building infrastructure for training foundation models, letting researchers focus on research and forget that the infrastructure layer even exists while saving 70% in training costs. https://t.co/Kcy4TeCjm3 Congrats on the launch, @benkoska, @tom_koska, and @lukkoska!
Sequoia Partners Split on Prop 50: $2.
Super interesting overall - and this with all the Sequoia news yesterday: Mike Moritz gave $2.5M FOR Prop 50 and Doug Leone gave $250K AGAINST https://t.co/nFC4cbAzg8