What'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:
In this episode, Charles Dunn and Ruth McKernan of SV Health Investors discuss their hybrid model of creating biotech companies and making later‑stage venture investments, highlighting how this structure diversifies risk for LPs and enables cross‑stage learning. They showcase recent successes, such as the $3 bn exit of EyeBio to Merck and the launch of Draig Therapeutics with a $140 m Series A, illustrating flexible company formation even after early data is available. The guests emphasize the strategic advantage of blending early‑stage creation with mature investments to capture high upside while maintaining portfolio stability.

A new study from OpenAI shows AI saves the average white-collar worker 54 minutes per day. Where does all that value go? BLS data shows median weekly earnings for full-time workers hit $1,165 in Q3 2024, or $60,580 annually. Across 2,080...
I’m going to be straight with you. I don’t know the “right” way to calculate Rule of 40. I’m a metrics sensei by many standards, but this one sparks religious debates with CFOs, FP&A directors, and VC friends across stages....
A new OpenAI study finds AI saves white‑collar workers 54 minutes daily, translating to roughly $7,282 of recovered productivity per seat each year. Current SaaS pricing—ChatGPT Plus, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google Workspace AI, and Gamma—captures only 3‑5% of that value,...
How @Polymarket @shayne_coplan Made @Kalshi @mansourtarek_ Raise Their Game: " An industry truly becomes an industry when there's a rivalry. Without Polymarket, we wouldn't have pushed our marketing and pushed our product as hard. Without us, they wouldn't have pushed their marketing and...
I sat down with Sequoia's new stewards, @gradypb and @Alfred_Lin. Maybe a bit selfishly, I spent almost the entire time asking them about the tactics of how to do venture capital well. I got a ton out of it and hope...
Tiger Global Management announced a new $2.2 billion venture fund aimed at late‑stage technology companies. The firm highlighted its track record with high‑profile bets in OpenAI, Waymo and Databricks from its previous fund. However, Tiger cautioned that AI‑related startup valuations are...
Having invested in RedNote in 2014 and Musical.ly back in 2015 which turned into TikTok, I had a front row seat to watch the rise of social media and its transformation into web 2.0. Now is the time for generative...

Solve Intelligence (@SolveIntel) has raised a $40M Series B to build the AI platform for patents and launch Charts, a new product for patent claims charts. Since last year, they’ve grown ARR more than 10x to reach 8 figures, are profitable,...
Resemble AI, a San Francisco‑based enterprise generative‑AI security platform, announced a $13 million funding round, bringing its total capital to $25 million. The round featured a roster of strategic backers including Google’s AI Futures Fund, Comcast Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund and Okta...
What Makes @Alfred_Lin @sequoia So Good? "Alfred is a very unique investor in many dimensions 1. He's not the type of investor to make strong, simplistic statements. Alfred's answer to everything is very nuanced, uninteresting and uninspiring. But it tends to be the...
Why it makes sense that PR experts are starting venture firms Veteran flack Lulu Meservey , the author of the viral “Go Direct” manifesto, is launching a VC fund. But does the industry really need comms experts funding companies? On...
Capitolis, the New York‑based fintech platform for banks and institutional investors, announced Okan Pekin as its new President. Pekin, based in London, will report to CEO Gil Mandelzis and help scale the firm’s next growth phase. He arrives with more...
Big Picture: Does this $NFLX-$WBD “mega-deal” even matter? On TWiST, I suggest that these much-hyped media consolidation deals are essentially re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, the equivalent to a bunch of high-profile magazines and publications swapping hands just...
We Version One Ventures often get asked what’s our AI investment strategy is so we thought we’d share these reflections that we prepared for our LPs recently. At a high-level: - We’re seeing a slower take off toward super intelligence...
Rotostitch, a San Francisco‑based startup focused on automated textile manufacturing, announced a $1 million pre‑seed round. The financing was led by Boost VC and Nova Threshold. The capital will accelerate product development, expand manufacturing capacity, and fuel go‑to‑market initiatives. The company’s...

Come learn for FREE each week from the best in B2B AI! Sign up for FREE SaaStr AI Workshop Wednesdays here . I see this pattern every single financial planning season. I’m seeing it right now. And honestly, it drives...
The best founders treat ideas like hypotheses. Execution is their science. They run experiments, gather evidence, and adjust without getting sentimental. That discipline compounds faster than inspiration.
The panel dissects Europe’s tech landscape, starting with Bending Spoons’ aggressive roll‑up strategy and the broader valuation reset driven by debt‑fuelled M&A and Italy’s PE‑VC hybrid model. They debate Brexit’s lingering economic fallout, the erosion of German automotive dominance, and...
EquipmentShare filed their S-1 today
$1M to $100M in 2 years is an incredible run
X-energy Reactor Company announced the appointment of Daniel Gross as its new Chief Financial Officer. Gross joins from Amazon, where he directed the Climate Pledge Fund, and brings extensive experience in clean‑energy finance from Oaktree, Hudson Clean Energy, Goldman Sachs...
It is so straightforward to get money signed and wired on a SAFE that many founders are thrown for a loop when they do their first priced round. That process can take several months from term sheet to redlines to...

embodied ai is clearly undergoing a renaissance driven by progress in foundation models in this essay, i dive into substantive progress in the last 12 months, anchoring on @stateofaireport, with case studies from @SereactAI @wayve_ai @nvidia @allen_ai https://t.co/qHsMlJckuu
In this episode, Joubin Mirzadegan discusses how his relentless discipline and frustration with broken infrastructure drove him to leave Kleiner Perkins and become CEO of Roadrunner, now a $7.2 billion company. He shares lessons from an early startup failure, emphasizing that...
Been working on something new at @acquiredotcom. After helping 1000+ founders exit, we’re hoping to also help startups grow next. Coming soon! https://t.co/pVBggapdgh
Investors, when you put down a term sheet as a lead for the round and you only commit to 50% or less of the round, you are just showing a lack of commitment. That simple. Be bold.
Airwallex, the Singapore‑US fintech platform, closed a $330 million Series G round that values the company at $8 billion. The round was led by Addition with participation from T. Rowe Price, Activant, Lingotto, Robinhood Ventures and TIAA Ventures. Airwallex plans to use the capital to...

right there, a state of ai report prediction, done imagine the alpha you get reading those 300 slides… https://t.co/ziEeEhZm1I
A role of a pre-seed investor is to guide your founders to VCs that are most likely to do the deal. Throwing them into Sequoia, Accel and Index too early is like throwing SBF into the compliance team, shouting “good...
Paribu, the Istanbul‑based digital‑asset platform, announced the acquisition of Bahrain‑originated crypto exchange CoinMENA in a deal that could value the target at up to $240 million. The transaction gives Paribu immediate access to more than 1.5 million users across 45 countries and...
Raising money from Lulu is like having a reality distortion field conjurer in your corner. Highly prized, incredibly rare.
One of the tougher reads in venture, at least for me, is the Larger Than Life CEO. The one so compelling, so driven, so charismatic, that you basically assume the product has to be as good. Vs. the introvert CEO...
What is @mansourtarek_ biggest execution regret in how he scaled @Kalshi? "I was too product-driven for too long. I was always like ... it needs to grow really fast organically. Then we do more marketing and build a brand. I actually...
Streaming is the next category to consolidate within the modern data stack. IBM announced its intent to acquire Confluent. The deal values Confluent at $11.1 billion, or 10.0x LTM revenue. Confluent commands more than 40% of the Fortune 500 as customers...
This report from OpenAI is the first time we’ve had a detailed map of what enterprise AI actually looks like inside companies. The patterns are unmistakable. The implications are big. Adoption matters, but the defining change here is how much of...
Does valuation or ownership matter more to a seed VC? Yes. https://lnkd.in/gMHd5pSP
Most VCs don't really take the rest of the year off anymore No, it's more subtle It's kind of saying, Well, That's My Hand for 2025 That leads to a slowdown. The sense that maybe it's time to just acknowledge the hand for...

In some sectors, private equity has a reputation for loading companies with debt, and those companies eventually implode under the weight. But we haven't seen this so much with tech-oriented private equity firms. Rather, venture capital money can be more...
After 27 mins of interviewing @awxjack on 20VC, I asked in the middle of the show if I could invest in @airwallex. I invested $7M. Today, Jack announced Lee Fixel and Addition, one of the best in the world, have led...
Which founder brand does @mansourtarek_ @Kalshi respect more than any other? "@eglyman @karimatiyeh have done a very good job at building a story and brand around the founders the team and how the company has come to be. I am learning...
Most SaaS AE interviews today, they're still looking for: - $300k OTE - Work from home - No travel - 100% in-bound - Side hustles fine - Strong SE support on product - Sell their way - Limited need to...
Kalshi is one of the fastest growing companies on the planet. Last week: - Raised $1BN at $11BN valuation - Partnered with CNN and CNBC This is Tarek’s only interview post this news. - How Polymarket made @Kalshi better? - Is Kalshi just sports betting with...
An ideal customer acquisition strategy as a pre-seed company is to try a handful of marketing channels and then quickly go all in on the one that is working well and optimize. The only issue is at some point that...
Anyone building going through a low moment - this thread is for you. What incredible tenacity. And a reminder as an investor that the people make all the difference. Early stories over overcoming hardship aren’t necessarily...
Releasing an Uncapped pod tomorrow with @gradypb and @Alfred_Lin. By far the most detailed episode we've ever done about the craft of venture and I loved it. https://t.co/tzoq4gsVOw
LAUNCH Accelerator 35 Public Demo Day https://t.co/3ti6Q1Qmgb
I love bootstrapped businesses like this. Live on @acquiredotcom: SaaS helping brands recover carts, segment audiences, and send high converting emails without the complexity. > $660K ARR > $46K TTM profit > 100+ merchants > 10% YoY growth Full listing: https://t.co/DjQQwM9Uux https://t.co/R10ru0NB9j
Finding product-market fit is like pushing a boulder. The easiest way to grow a startup is to find the right boulder to push down the mtn rather than pushing it up. Unfortunately, if you have not experienced product-market fit, it's...
Inside our SCI-TECH DIPLOMACY global investing theses…