🎯Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Updated 2h agoWhat's happening: AI fuels record $119.5B venture fundraising despite fewer rounds
Venture capital fundraising jumped 16.9% to $119.5 billion in 2025, the strongest recovery since the 2022 market reset. The total number of rounds fell 41% to 4,859, concentrating capital in larger AI‑focused financings, with AI startups capturing 58% of Series D cash and median valuations rising across all stages.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI raises $110B in corporate funding
News•Jan 7, 2026
DayOne Raises US$2.0 Billion in Series C Funding
DayOne Data Centers Limited announced a US$2 billion Series C funding round. The round was led by Coatue with participation from Indonesia Investment Authority, Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund. Combined with the earlier US$1.9 billion equity raises and a €1 billion mezzanine facility, total capital now approaches US$4 billion. The proceeds will accelerate global expansion, focusing on hyperscale campuses in Finland and further roll‑outs across Asia‑Pacific.
By FinSMEs
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Five Years of Growth Leads to Strategic Exit
After Sarah Rowell and Scott Mackenzie spent five years increasing Kantola Training Solutions' revenue, client retention, and learner engagement, they saw the market starting to consolidate and decided to make a strategic move to maximize value; either through acquisition or...
By Michael Lyon
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Global Founders Drive Innovation; Scaling Worldwide Is Essential
2025 reinforced what I've always believed: the best ideas and founders emerge from everywhere. We at Notable Capital backed founders building companies that transcend borders and categories—I am excited for dub and K Health for democratizing financial investing and personal...
By Hans Tung
News•Jan 7, 2026
Sigrid Raises USD5M in Funding
Swedish consumer‑health startup Sigrid announced a $5 million financing round, though the investors remain unnamed. The capital will fuel both operational scaling and intensified research and development. Sigrid’s core offering is its patented SiPore technology, a non‑systemic, mechanically active platform that...
By FinSMEs
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Choose Speed over a Higher Multiple for Faster Exit
Every day a deal stays in due diligence is another day for "market events," "cold feet," or "competitor moves" to blow it up. For a fast-growing marketing agency recently listed on @acquiredotcom, the goal was a premium 3.8x EBITDA multiple. We hit...
By Andrew Gazdecki
News•Jan 7, 2026
Filtrabit Raises €2M in Funding
Filtrabit, a Finnish cleantech firm specializing in dust‑extraction systems, secured €2 million in a financing round led by Ajanta Innovations 2 Ky. The capital will accelerate research and development while funding geographic expansion across the Nordics, Central Europe and India. The technology removes...
By FinSMEs
News•Jan 7, 2026
Linker Vision Raises US$35M in Series A Funding
Linker Vision, a Taipei‑based AI software platform, closed a $35 million Series A round led by Abico Group, with participation from NVIDIA and several Taiwanese venture funds. The capital will fund a rapid global expansion into the United States, Latin America, Asia,...
By FinSMEs
Podcast•Jan 7, 2026•23 min
E677 | Michael Brehm, Redstone: One Investment, 200 Ventures — The New Blueprint for European VC Access
In this episode, Michael Brehm of Redstone explains how the firm backs a single investment across 200 European ventures, creating a new model for VC access that spreads risk and capital efficiently. He discusses the rationale behind concentrating capital, the...
By The European VC (EUVC)
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Build Trust with Prospects to Boost Acquisition Odds
Getting to know potential acquirers in your space does increase the odds they acquire you — if you do it for the right way. Why? Because it builds trust. And a big part of M&A is trust. Will the team we just...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Seeking Series A+ Leaders' Feedback on Cursor 2.0
A portfolio co is building Cursor 2.0. If any Series A+ founders or eng leaders are open to sharing early feedback as a favor for me, DM me. :)
By Ryan Hoover
News•Jan 6, 2026
Interos Lands $20M Funding Round
Interos.ai announced a $20 million funding round led by Blue Owl Capital and Structural Capital. The new capital will accelerate development of its AI‑powered Operational Resilience Cloud, which visualizes and monitors global supply chains down to individual suppliers. The platform also...
By VC News Daily
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Europe’s Booming Entrepreneurs Signal Strong Investment Opportunities
If you are not bullish on Europe right now I can categorically tell you, you have s*** dealflow and need to improve. Never been more great entrepreneurs building mega European businesses.
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Project Europe Poised to Lead EU Entrepreneurship
Project Europe has been live for 10 months. 12 Project Europe companies. 4 have raised significant up rounds from Tier 1s. 1 has been acquired by category leader. Never been more confident that Project Europe will be the dominant entry...
By Harry Stebbings
News•Jan 6, 2026
How World Cup Champion Mario Götze Built a Parallel Career as an Angel Investor
Mario Götze, the 2014 World Cup hero, has built a parallel career as an angel investor through his vehicle Companion M, which now backs more than 70 startups. Two of those companies, Danish fintech Flatpay and German AI firm Parloa,...
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
Social•Jan 7, 2026
Liquidity Gap Lets Jensen Pay Estate Tax, Others Can't
Jensen is liquid. As odious as the precedent is, he can pay it. His competitors, startup founders, are illiquid. Their paper valuations can't be cashed in. Even a "five year payment plan" wipes them out. Clever framing designed to normalize the estate...
By Naval Ravikant
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Roofle Acquired by SalesRabbit: A New Growth Chapter
Congrats to Travis Harvego , Joe Hoffman , and the ROOFLE team for their recent acquisition by SalesRabbit . Best of luck as you kick off the next stage in your journey. Glad we could help. Check out the press...
By Michael Lyon
News•Jan 6, 2026
Meritz Securities Selects WNSTN as Strategic AI Partner for Next-Gen Investing Platform
Meritz Securities announced a strategic partnership with AI‑focused firm WNSTN to embed compliant, infrastructure‑grade artificial intelligence into its next‑generation digital investing platform. The collaboration makes Meritz the first major Korean brokerage to deploy WNSTN’s real‑time, multi‑agent financial AI across client‑facing...
By FinSMEs
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Stop Parenting Your Startup; Treat It as an Organization
Your business is not your baby, child, or another human you are in a relationship with. It is an organization. That distinction matters more than founders want to admit. Organizations exist to convert decisions into outcomes at scale. They rely on clear...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Real‑World M&A Lessons: Offer Private, Objective Guidance
I’ve been around long enough to see how most M&A paths actually unfold. Some work exactly as hoped. Others resolve quietly. A few fall apart late for reasons that never make it into a postmortem. I’ve been on the acquiring side, the...
By Hiten Shah
Podcast•Jan 6, 2026•43 min
VC10X - Gamification of Consumer Apps - Phylicia Koh, GP, Play Ventures
Phylicia Koh, GP at Play Ventures, explains how gaming mechanics are becoming the operating system for consumer apps, with in‑app purchases in non‑gaming sectors now outpacing traditional gaming spend. She outlines Play Ventures' $142 M thesis focused on "playable apps" that...
By VC10X
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Predictable Revenue Drives Higher SaaS Valuations
Valuations of software companies are highly dependent on the predictability of revenue. In other words, different classes of revenue are valued differently depending on their predictability. The more predictable, the better. To help founders distinguish between the different classes of...
By Michael Lyon
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Inflated ARR Misleads Investors and Cash Flow
An issue I’m seeing pop up with new AI companies - they pay reps on “ARR” that’s really a series of three month pilot deals. The rep sells something for $3K and they call it $12K in ARR. Oh, and...
By CJ Gustafson
News•Jan 5, 2026
Insight Partners Sued by Former Vice President Kate Lowry
Kate Lowry, a former vice president at Insight Partners, filed a lawsuit in San Mateo County alleging disability discrimination, gender discrimination, and wrongful termination. She says her supervisor demanded constant online availability, subjected her to harassment, assigned redundant tasks, and...
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Prepare Your Startup for Exit, Not Luck
Not every startup is ready to sell the first time it hits the market. In 2022, a founder listed a promising startup on @acquiredotcom that went nowhere. No real buyer interest. No momentum. The issue wasn’t demand. It was structure. So they...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Jan 6, 2026
AI Accelerates Design: 3‑D Renders in 30 Seconds
💥 Now that we’ve packed up the holidays and turned the corner into 2026, it’s a good time to take stock of the spaces we live in. This The New York Times piece highlights how Havenly Brands (Havenly, Interior Define,...
By Tina Sharkey
News•Jan 5, 2026
Azimuth AI Raises Funding
Azimuth AI, a semiconductor firm operating out of Sacramento and Hyderabad, closed an undisclosed‑amount funding round led by Jetha Global, with participation from Moneta Ventures, AUM Ventures, and new investors. The company specializes in custom edge‑AI system‑on‑chips targeting smart utilities,...
By FinSMEs
Social•Jan 6, 2026
History Guides Real Insight Into AI Investing
I sat down with @mjmauboussin to connect his unconventional career to Runnin’ Down a Dream—then used history, not hype, to frame the current AI investment world. Pre-order the book to unlock the full video here: https://t.co/HlNDfpEy66 #runnindownadream https://t.co/AhjQL3BGAO
By Bill Gurley
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Variant Bio Launches $200M‑plus Pharma Collaborations with New Platform
1/ Big news today from Lux family co Variant Bio 🧬📈@VariantBio Announced its new Inference platform is now available to research partners + has collaborations with several pharmaceutical companies in deals totaling more than $200 million including Boehringer + Novo...
By Josh Wolfe
Podcast•Jan 5, 2026•56 min
20VC: $0-$260M in Revenue in Three Years: How We Did It | You Need to Work Weekends to Win —...
Alan Chang, co‑founder and CEO of Fuse Energy, shares how he scaled the company from $2M to $400M in three years by applying the same high‑speed, extreme‑ownership culture he helped build at Revolut. He emphasizes that building a generational business...
By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Effective Strategy Demands Painful Trade‑offs and Clear Ownership
strategy should hurt. if you aren't making painful trade-offs, you haven't prioritized. • one goal, one owner • shared ownership = no ownership molly graham on @lennysan: https://t.co/RW7eAWk6kI
By Tomasz Tunguz
Social•Jan 6, 2026
Show AI Benefits and Address Fears to Win Race
A good reminder that outside of the tech bubble, we must expand our efforts to (1) show tangible AI superpowers to many people, and (2) address the concerns and fears they have about AI growth, both environmentally and economically. Failing...
By Reid Hoffman
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Engage Multiple Buyers to Maximize Synergies and Outcomes
Different buyers value companies differently. Only by talking to a broad spectrum of buyers will you ensure that you: * Uncover all potential synergies * Make the process hyper-competitive * Unlock the best outcome #founders #pathtoexit
By Michael Lyon
Social•Jan 5, 2026
LLMs Poised to Become Tomorrow’s Hidden Infrastructure Layer
Will today's leading foundational LLMs be the DEC,Cray, Wang, Radio Shack, Sun, Data General, Compaq, etc of tomorrow ? GenAI LLMs want to be the operating systems of today and tomorrow. It's possible they will be the CP/M, DOS,...
By Mark Cuban
Social•Jan 5, 2026
AI Erodes Speed Advantage, Judgment Now Matters Most
AI removed the natural friction that used to separate thinking from output. Writing, design, analysis, code, and planning now move fast enough that effort is no longer a credible signal. When anyone can produce something quickly, speed stops being impressive. What...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Top Operators Guard Conviction Like Capital Preserves Cash
The best operators conserve conviction the way capital allocators conserve cash.
By Hiten Shah
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Winning Obsession: Why Founders Must Sacrifice Work-Life Balance
I have interviewed 1,000 of the best founders over the last 10 years. The top three: 1. Nik Storonsky (Revolut) 2. @awxjack (Airwallex) 3. @alanchanguk (Fuse Energy) All three share one trait. Unwavering obsession to win. We BS so many founders today because people hate what...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Strong Fundamentals, Not Subscription Model, Drive SaaS Sales
One of the biggest myths in SaaS is that if a business isn’t pure subscription, it’s not sellable. That’s wrong. A recent $4.5M cloud computing acquisition on @acquiredotcom proved it. This company didn’t have textbook recurring revenue, but it did have...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Even Passed Deals Can Become Lasting Favorites
If you’ve been investing long enough, you’ve passed on a few companies that still stick with you. @tryramp is one of mine. I saw the seed round and could’ve led it, but passed because we’d already backed a company that MIGHT...
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Jan 5, 2026
70+ and Thriving: Backing Innovators, Learning Fast
At 70+ I feel like I'm thirty backing exciting innovators/innovations making the impossible possible and from improbable ideas to world-changing socially impactful companies. Never had such a fast learning rate in my life or felt I could have so much impact, which is exciting. https://t.co/3BTsDx4Gr7
By Vinod Khosla
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Envisioning 2050: Past Predictions Shape Our Future
Here are my predictions for 2050 (the world we can create) two years ago at TED and at our CEO conference:
By Vinod Khosla
Social•Jan 5, 2026
Niche Micro‑SaaS: $120K Revenue, $106K Profit
Love when founders go ALL IN on a niche problem. High-margin SEO micro-SaaS dropped on @acquiredotcom. Proven demand with low operating costs and recurring revenue: > $120K TTM revenue > $106K TTM profit > $185K asking price Full listing: https://t.co/wEmZSNHIYp https://t.co/H2P0UFshLo
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Jan 4, 2026
When Execution Is Cheap, Judgment Becomes the Bottleneck
Execution is no longer the constraint. As building gets cheaper, judgment becomes the scarce resource. Models can generate options endlessly. What they don’t accumulate is lived consequence. They don’t carry the memory of failed bets, abandoned paths, or tradeoffs that only made...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Every App Becomes a Self‑Coding, Shareable Platform
prior gen software products often added scripting languages/macros so that people can extend functionality (Excel being the most famous, but also modding in games, etc) what if every app becomes a vibe coding app? That is, in any app that you use...
By Andrew Chen
Social•Jan 4, 2026
AI & Space IPOs Set to Shatter Fee Benchmarks
Wow, here's an estimate of what investment banks made from IPO fees in 2025 2026 will blow these (already large) numbers away if OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic hit the public markets (Someone tell the manager at Porsche of Greenwich to...
By CJ Gustafson
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Ask VCs Their Investment Odds to Save Time
It's totally OK to ask a VC at the end of a pitch meeting, "Based on what you know now, what are the odds you'd invest?" In fact, it can save a lot of time
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Clean P&L: Your Ticket to Premium M&A Exit
Founders often focus on the product and the growth, but in the world of M&A, a premium exit starts with your books. For sophisticated buyers, clean financials are virtually mandatory. If a founder can't produce a clean P&L on demand, it...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Embrace Risk: The Key to Bigger Opportunities
More risk is something most people are afraid of, and it's where the larger opportunity lies
By Vinod Khosla
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Beta Tool Accelerates Startup Fundraising – Seeking Founder Feedback
Building a tool to help startups fundraise faster. If you're a founder planning to raise soon, DM me. Would love your feedback on the early beta. :) (I may delete this if I receive too many DMs)
By Ryan Hoover
Social•Jan 4, 2026
VC Returns Collapse: Only 7% of Deals Hit 3x
Yes, M&A is back. More deals are getting done. But per @SiliconVlyBank, VCs make 3x or more their money on just 7% of them That’s way, way down from 22% in 2021, and even 15% in 2019 https://t.co/5oeZOGTpNr
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Jan 4, 2026
Wealth Isn’t Exclusive to Entrepreneurs—Founders Just Have More Leverage
Saying that only entrepreneurs generate wealth is as mistaken as saying that only workers do. In fact founders, managers, employees, and individual craftsmen can all generate wealth. Founders do have the most leverage though.
By Paul Graham