Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Cursor eyes $50B valuation as AI coding platform seeks $2B raise
Cursor, the AI‑powered coding platform, is in advanced talks to raise about $2 billion, which would push its valuation past $50 billion. The startup last November closed a $2.3 billion Series D round at a $29.3 billion valuation and reported over $1 billion in annualized revenue. Its AI assistant now serves more than 50,000 engineering teams, including roughly 70% of Fortune 1000 companies.
Also developing:
By the numbers: CapVest closes $4.95bn sixth flagship fund, exceeding target
Exclusive: AI Startup Axiamatic Raises $54 Million to Help Companies Push Their Digital Transformations Forward
Axiamatic, an AI startup founded by serial entrepreneur Rajiv Gupta, announced a $54 million Series A round led by Greylock and Bessemer. The company offers an "agentic control plane" that creates a live digital‑twin of enterprise transformation programs by ingesting data from over 250 systems. Early deployments at Heico and Marmon have reportedly prevented 50% cost overruns and 40% schedule slips, with a first‑version setup in under two weeks. Gupta aims to cut the waste in the $3.4 trillion digital‑transformation market.
Private Markets Investors Increasingly Favour India over Peers in APAC
India has become the leading private‑markets destination in APAC, with 31% of surveyed limited partners (LPs) ranking it first and 76% placing it among their top three choices. Over half of the LPs plan to increase allocations, and private‑market funds...
From Hype To Outcomes: How VCs Recalibrate Around Agentic AI
The conversation around agentic AI is moving from speculative ambition to concrete outcomes as 2026 approaches. Snowflake's Startup 2026 report, based on interviews with eight AI‑focused VCs, shows investors now value agents that are embedded in specific, data‑rich workflows and...
Biotech Winter: Funding Freeze, IPO Surge, Path to Thaw
Biotech Science at Less Than Zero | Ep. 955 https://t.co/4DXKsaKXdO [00:49] Biotech capital winter deep dive [01:17] Scientific leaps vs frozen markets [02:31] The 2020–2021 biotech bubble [03:42] Crossover funds fuel IPO surge [04:56] Interest rates freeze biotech funding [07:58] Negative enterprise value phenomenon [10:37] Why Big Pharma...
Crisis Exposes VCs: Sympathy Tweets, Few Cash, Many Vultures
Crisis removes marketing. In March 2023, "value-add" VCs sent sympathy tweets while founders begged for payroll. A few wired cash, no terms, no leverage. The rest were vultures in venture clothing. https://t.co/OxfY9VN3wI https://t.co/EYgVVU38We
Quince Raises $500M Series E, Resulting in $10.1B Valuation to Accelerate the Manufacturer-to-Consumer Platform
Quince announced a $500 million Series E round led by ICONIQ, pushing its post‑money valuation to $10.1 billion. The capital will accelerate the rollout of its proprietary Manufacturer‑to‑Consumer (M2C) operating system that links specialist factories directly to shoppers. By leveraging AI‑driven weekly demand...
Vima Raises $100M to Develop Oral Movement Disorder Drug
With $100M, Vima pursues an oral drug for movement disorders https://t.co/gLrhlYDMSy by @gwendolynawu #biotech #startups
What to Call Tr
I never liked the name Unicorn but if: $1 Billion = Unicorn $10 Billion = Decacorn What is $1 Trillion? $10 Trillion?
RA Capital, Forbion and Canaan Appear to Back Harbour's CTLA-4 Partner Solstice
RA Capital, Forbion, and Canaan have collectively invested in Solstice Therapeutics, the CTLA-4 antibody partner of Harbour Therapeutics. The funding round, reportedly a multi‑million dollar Series B, will support Solstice's pre‑clinical and early clinical programs. By backing Solstice, the investors...
Europe Pumps $4B+ Into AI to Power GDPR Compliance
European AI raised $4B+ in one weekend. AMI Labs: $1.03B seed (Europe's largest ever) Nscale: $2B Legora: tripled to $5.55B Nexthop: $500M Eridu: $200M The continent that gave us GDPR is now building the AI infrastructure to comply with it. https://t.co/jGHmurETEC
Large Series C Signals Scale-Up of China’s Laser Satellite Communications Sector
Shanghai‑based BlueStar Optical Domain announced a Series C round of roughly 500 million yuan ($72 million). The capital will fund a production‑line upgrade aimed at delivering 1,000 laser communication terminals annually by mid‑2026. The move positions BlueStar as a mass‑production supplier for China’s...
Entrepreneurs First Crowned a Unicorn Following $200m Fundraise
Entrepreneurs First raised $200 million, pushing its valuation to $1.3 billion and achieving unicorn status. The capital influx, backed by Reid Hoffman, Stripe founders, Eric Schmidt and Greylock, will fund the management company and expand its builder‑accelerator model. EF’s portfolio has surged...
Ontario Teachers’ Venture Growth Portfolio Posts 30 Percent Gains in 2025
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s Teachers Venture Growth (TVG) unit delivered a 30.2% return in 2025, far outpacing its 18.5% benchmark. The fair value of TVG’s net investments jumped to C$15.3 bn, up from C$10.4 bn a year earlier, as stakes in SpaceX,...
Blackcat CTO on the Future of European Fintech: Multi-Rail Finance and Operational Maturity
Blackcat rebranded from Blackcatcard and launched a unified multi‑wallet app that merges a personal EUR IBAN, SEPA transfers, card payments and regulated crypto services. The new architecture lets users manage separate fiat and crypto wallets within a single interface, reducing...
OpenCFO Bags $2 Mn To Scale Agentic AI-Powered B2B Finance Platform
Fintech startup OpenCFO secured $2 million seed funding, led by Endiya Partners, to accelerate its AI-driven B2B finance platform. The solution automates accounts payable, receivable, and treasury functions for mid‑market companies with multinational operations, integrating ERP, banks, and payment rails. OpenCFO...
Global RegTech Funding Recovered in 2025 Driven by a 55% Rise in Deals Under $100m
Global RegTech funding rebounded in 2025, reaching $8.5 billion—a 31 percent year‑over‑year increase—but remains well below the 2021 peak. The market closed with 546 deals, 23 percent more than 2024, while average deal size nudged up to $15.6 million. Funding for transactions under $100 million...
European AI Startups See Soaring Investor Funding
Investor appetite for European AI startups keeps accelerating. Swedish legaltech Legora just raised $550 million at a $5.5 billion valuation, its third funding round in a year. Europe’s AI ecosystem is attracting serious capital as the global race intensifies. https://t.co/cdx0XcraQe @cnbc
Hub71 Startup Skipr Raises $2m to Build ‘Autonomous Trust Fabric’ for AI
Abu Dhabi‑based startup Skipr closed a $2 million seed round, valuing the company at $10 million. The funding will accelerate the rollout of its autonomous trust fabric, a sovereign‑grade infrastructure that secures AI‑to‑AI communication across borders. Skipr’s platform combines cryptographic identities, policy‑driven...
Unlocking the Vault: Apollo Global and the Rise of the UK Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF):
The FCA‑approved Apollo Long‑Term Asset Fund (LTAF) opens UK defined‑contribution pensions to private credit, infrastructure and venture capital. By imposing 90‑ to 180‑day redemption windows, the fund avoids the liquidity mismatches that plagued earlier products. Apollo will channel pension capital...
RSAC's Innovation Sandbox Is Where Cybersecurity's Next Giants Are Born
The RSAC Innovation Sandbox celebrates its 20th year, showcasing ten cybersecurity startups tackling AI governance, identity, and supply‑chain risks. Over the past two decades the contest has spurred more than $50.1 billion in investments and over 100 acquisitions among its alumni....
SVB Revealed only a Few VCs Gave Unconditional Cash
Three years ago, SVB exposed who VCs really are. Not the ones who tweeted sympathy. The ones who wired money -- no docs, no terms, no theater -- before the government stepped in. Very few did. That's the test most...
Atai Capital Management Q4 2025 Commentary
Atai Capital Management posted a 5.0 % net loss for Q4 2025, underperforming the S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Russell Microcap benchmarks. The quarter’s top performer was Bel Fuse, which the firm subsequently exited, while a new undisclosed position in Kitwave Group was added and...
Fast Loans and Direct Payroll Integration Ensure Employee Pay
At @fiftyyears we gave fast loans and even connected our personal bank accounts to portfolio companies' payroll systems to ensure they could pay their employees.
Investment in MENA Startups Hits $327 Million in February 2026
Investment in MENA startups slowed sharply in February 2026, with total capital deployed falling 42% month‑on‑month to $326.6 million across 62 deals. The UAE remained the dominant ecosystem, contributing $162.8 million from 23 companies, while fintech led sector funding at $94.7 million. Early‑stage...
Home-Help App Snabbit in Funding Talks at $450 Million Valuation
India’s Bangalore‑based on‑demand household‑help platform Snabbit is negotiating a new funding round that would value the company at roughly $450 million. The startup, founded in 2024, has already raised $56 million across its seed and Series C rounds, up from a $180 million valuation...
Nexthop AI Completes $500M Series B
Nexthop AI announced the closure of an oversubscribed $500 million Series B round, boosting its post‑money valuation to $4.2 billion. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with Andreessen Horowitz as a major co‑investor, alongside Altimeter and existing backers. The funding will...
Unreasonable Labs Emerges From Stealth with AI Platform for Scientific Discovery
Unreasonable Labs announced its launch from stealth and closed a $13.5 million Series A round led by Playground Global, with participation from AIX Ventures, E14 Fund, and MS&AD Ventures. The Cambridge‑based startup, founded by a former Google DeepMind senior scientist and an...
16 Unicorn Pitch Decks: Before the Billions
The author has assembled a visual collection of 16 early‑stage pitch decks from companies now worth over $1.5 trillion, including Airbnb, Uber, Facebook and WeWork. The decks, ranging from eight to twelve slides, reveal that the most successful seed presentations are...
Juicebox Raises $80M to Transform AI Recruiting
Juicebox, an AI recruiting platform, secured $80 million in Series B funding led by DST Global, with participation from Sequoia, Coatue, Y Combinator and others. Since its Series A, the company has tripled annual recurring revenue and grown to 5,000 customers, claiming up to...
Small Funds Still Thrive Despite Big‑fund Warnings
Funny thing when an LP calls you to ask: “Hey, there are some big funds going around telling LPs that small funds are going to die. What do you think?” I ask them: “Just go look at large fund returns vs...
AgentMail Raises $6M to Build an Email Service for AI Agents
AgentMail, a San Francisco startup, raised a $6 million seed round led by General Catalyst to launch an API‑driven email service built for AI agents. The platform lets agents create and manage dedicated inboxes with threading, labeling, search and reply capabilities,...
EIC Scaling Club Companies Double Peer Funding Growth with 66% Increase
The EIC Scaling Club report shows its 120 deep‑tech members achieved an average funding increase of 66.6 % over the past 14‑20 months, more than double the 26 % growth of a matched control group. Since joining, the cohort has raised roughly...
Rhoda AI Raises $450M to Build Foundational Robotics Models that Learn From Internet Videos
Palo Alto‑based Rhoda AI announced a $450 million Series A round that lifts its valuation to $1.7 billion. The startup aims to train foundational robotics models using publicly available internet videos, a method it calls Direct Video Action. By supplementing limited robot telemetry...
The AlleyWatch February 2026 New York Venture Capital Funding Report
New York City’s venture capital market posted a record February 2026, raising $2.53 billion across 76 deals—a 180.9% year‑over‑year increase and 50.6% month‑over‑month jump. The surge was driven by a handful of late‑stage mega‑rounds, which lifted the average deal size to...
Big Tech's Compute Fuels Inflated AI Startup Valuations
Public market investors: "Show me the revenue" Private market investors: "Here's $100M at a $1B valuation" The difference? Big Tech built the compute layer Private startups just need the idea layer now Barrier to entry collapsed Valuations inflated Welcome to the AI gold rush where Big Tech...
Bankers Claim $100M ARR Now Enough for IPO
"I'm hearing bankers say things like, '$100 million ARR, we could probably take that public.' I haven’t heard that in a while."
Dify Secures $30M Series Pre-A to Power Enterprise-Grade Agentic Workflows
Dify announced a $30 million Series Pre‑A round at a $180 million valuation, led by HSG with participation from GL Ventures, Alt‑Alpha Capital, 5Y Capital, Mizuho Leaguer Investment and NYX Ventures. The open‑source platform enables enterprises to design, deploy and operate production‑grade AI...
LinkedIn Message Sparked $270M Exit Journey
I just published Gleamer’s $270M Acquisition, Investing as a Radiologist, and My First Exit — It All Started with a LinkedIn message ... https://t.co/uwm9lCUsdm
UK Deftech Firm UForce With Ukrainian Roots Raises $50M at $1B Valuation
UForce, a UK‑based defence tech firm with Ukrainian origins, closed a $50 million financing round led by Lakestar and Shield Capital, pushing its valuation above $1 billion. The company develops autonomous air, sea and land systems, including marine drones, heavy‑bomber UAVs, unmanned...
FamilyOffice10x - How This Single Family Office (SFO) Invests in the Top GPs? - Slava Darkhaev, VP, Matrix Capital
In this episode, Slava Darkhaev, VP at Matrix Capital, explains how his family office evaluates and backs top venture capital general partners (GPs) and emerging managers. He emphasizes the importance of storytelling, genuine competitive advantage, and deep network immersion to...
Venture Capital Firms Continue to Demonstrate Interest in Emerging Tech : Research
Venture capital firms deployed a record $33.1 billion across 874 early‑stage deals in 2025, signaling a shift toward larger, high‑conviction bets. Artificial intelligence dominated the landscape, accounting for 51.6% of Q4 activity and $14.2 billion annually, while healthtech, fintech and climate tech...
Valuing Early-Stage Life Sciences Companies: The Why, the How, and the Impact
Early‑stage life sciences firms face unique valuation challenges due to regulatory, market and scientific uncertainties. Traditional discounted cash flow models are unsuitable, so practitioners rely on risk‑adjusted NPV, market comparables, and venture‑capital exit methods. These valuations influence capital raising, stock‑based...
A Record Number of Startups Hit $1 Billion in 2025. Not One Was Founded by an All-Female Team
In 2025 the United States saw a record 124 new unicorns, yet only 20 of them—just 16 percent—had at least one female founder and none were created by an all‑female team. While venture capital to female‑led companies has risen overall, all‑female...
Lux Aeterna Raises $10 Million Ahead of 2027 Reusable Satellite Demo
Lux Aeterna, a Denver startup founded by former SpaceX engineer Brian Taylor, announced a $10 million seed round led by Konvoy, bringing its total capital to $14 million. The funding will support development of Delphi‑1, a 200 kg reusable satellite with a 30 kg...
Lux Aeterna Closes $10M Seed to Build Reusable Sats
Lux Aeterna, a Colorado‑based startup founded by former Starlink engineer Brian Taylor, closed a $10 million seed round led by Konvoy Ventures to develop its reusable satellite platform Delphi. The 200‑kg demo satellite, built with COTS parts and a NASA‑partnered heat...
AI-Focused Fund Breakout Raises $114M To Support Early-Stage Biotechs
Breakout Ventures announced the close of its third fund, raising $114 million to back AI‑driven biotech startups. The capital will be deployed to early‑stage companies, including a University of Chicago spin‑out focused on computational small‑molecule design and a stealth venture tackling...
Top VCs Grab Half of Shrinking $68B Market
“In recent months, Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners raised $34 billion, half of the money all U.S. VC funds raised last year. Overall venture fundraising sank 34% to just under $68 billion last year, according to PitchBook.”
AI Networking Startup Eridu Steps Out Of Stealth With More Than $200M In Funding
Eridu, a Saratoga‑based AI networking startup, emerged from stealth with an oversubscribed Series A that raised more than $200 million. The company claims its clean‑sheet switch architecture can cut latency, reduce data‑center power use by up to 70%, and lower capital expenditures...
Evervault Secures $25M to Scale Secure Payment Encryption
ICYMI - .@Evervault raises $25M to scale its ‘secure-by-default’ approach to payment data encryption https://t.co/69Ndf6v1yM @SiliconANGLE @Mike_Wheatley “Quite simply, dealing with this is not their core business, it’s just a distraction from the real business…” - #NextGenApps https://t.co/b0LbyzoIoh
Exclusive: Google-Backed Namma Yatri Raises Fresh Capital
Bengaluru‑based ride‑hailing platform Namma Yatri secured ₹39.75 crore (≈$4.4 million) in a pre‑Series A extension, led by Juspay founder Vimal Kumar with participation from Blume Ventures, Antler and other investors. The round follows a July 2024 $11 million raise and brings Vimal Kumar’s stake to...