🎯Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Updated 1h agoWhat's happening: Machina Labs raises $124M Series C to build AI-driven intelligent factory
Machina Labs closed a $124 million Series C round led by Woven Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures and the Strategic Development Fund. The capital will fund a 200,000‑square‑foot Intelligent Factory in the United States, featuring up to 50 RoboCraftsman cells that produce complex metal assemblies for defense, aerospace and automotive customers.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI secures $110B corporate funding round
News•Oct 27, 2025
Roelof Botha Explains Why Sequoia Supports Shaun Maguire After COO Quit
Sequoia Capital managing partner Roelof Botha defended partner Shaun Maguire after Maguire’s July 4 X post calling NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani an “Islamist,” citing the firm’s commitment to free speech and opinion diversity. The remarks sparked a backlash, an open letter from over a thousand founders, and the resignation of COO Sumaiya Balbale, a practicing Muslim, who left over Sequoia’s decision not to discipline Maguire. Botha emphasized Maguire’s technical pedigree, his deep ties to Elon Musk’s companies (Neuralink, SpaceX, X, xAI) and defense‑tech investments, describing him as a “spiky” partner who attracts certain founders, while acknowledging the approach carries trade‑offs. The discussion unfolded onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, where Botha declined to comment on the COO’s departure but reiterated Sequoia’s celebration of diverse viewpoints.
By TechCrunch Venture Feed
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Sequoia Backs AI-Driven Founders to Reshape Industries
Today, we're launching @Sequoia's latest seed and venture funds to partner with outlier founders at the start of their journey. There's never been a more exciting time to be a founder. Nearly every industry will be disrupted by AI. So far, the...
By Sequoia Capital
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Investors Chase Companies Hitting $0‑$100M Fast
"The best companies are going from $0-$100M in revenue very very quickly. As an investor, you have to believe that this company is going to be in the $0-$100M club". @DavidCahn6 Love to hear your thoughts on the required growth...
By Harry Stebbings
Podcast•Oct 27, 2025•30 min
Raghu Raghuram: AI, Robotics, and the Rebirth of Infrastructure
Raghu Raghuram reflects on his front‑row experience of the early internet wars, the Netscape‑Microsoft browser battles, and the landmark VMware acquisition of Nicira that reshaped networking. He and the a16z hosts discuss how VMware grew from a modest startup to...
By a16z Podcast
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Mantle Automates Grunt Work, Letting Companies Focus on Building
Mantle (https://t.co/acxDq4HklH) is the operating system for every company. Tell Mantle about the grunt work you do and it does it for you in the background, exactly how you would, directly in your stack. Let Mantle do the boring stuff for...
By YCombinator
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Poolside's 2GW AI Factory Redefines Vertical Integration
some thoughts on @poolsideai's project horizon announcement last week: building a 2gw ai factory "This level of vertical integration - from model and agent development through to power generation and deployment - gives poolside a durable advantage as AI systems become...
By Nathan Benaich
Podcast•Oct 27, 2025•1h 4m
ElevenLabs’ Vision for Voice Interfaces | CEO Mati Staniszewski
In this episode, ElevenLabs co‑founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski discusses how the company’s emotion‑driven voice AI is reshaping sectors such as personalized healthcare and film production. He explains the technology’s ability to generate nuanced, expressive speech that can adapt to...
By Grit (Kleiner Perkins)
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Public SaaS Stagnates; Private AI Unicorns Lead Growth
As the world follows every whisper & rumor from AI, what has happened to public SaaS? The answer is not much! All the fun is in the private markets. Multiples haven’t moved outside of a narrow band since the post-Covid crash in...
By Tomasz Tunguz
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Upcoming Founder Events: Batter Up, Pitch Competitions, Game Night
Yo founders, mark your calendars: • Batter Up SF — Nov 10 • Batter Up NYC — Nov 10 • Founder Friends SG (Fintech Festival) — Nov 12 Community partner events: • Wild Card: Game Night — Nov 5 • Monterrey Tech Week — Early Stage...
By Elizabeth Yin
Podcast•Oct 27, 2025•1h 14m
20VC: Sequoia's David Cahn on The Winners and Losers in AI | The $0-$100M Revenue Club: Is Triple, Triple, Double,...
In this episode, Sequoia partner David Cahn argues we’re in an AI bubble but sees lasting moats in physical data‑center infrastructure, while mapping out which companies will thrive or falter as AI reshapes markets. He discusses the impact of big‑tech...
By The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Social•Oct 27, 2025
AI Winners, Margins, and Defence: Who Thrives?
Our last episode with David Cahn was one of the most downloaded of last year. This episode today is even better. - The Winners & Losers in AI - The $0-$100M Club: Is Triple, triple, double, double dead? - The Future of Defence: Who...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Best Deals Often Come From Solo Term Sheets
"Most of the great investments I have made I was the only term sheet. This idea that the best companies are always super hot rounds is wrong." @DavidCahn6 Have your best investments always been competitive @chadbyers @infoarbitrage @honam @Alfred_Lin? https://t.co/MWp77TBZzR
By Harry Stebbings
Blog•Oct 26, 2025
20VC Newsletter - 26th October 2025
20VC’s latest newsletter synthesizes three interviews with practical takeaways for founders and investors: Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz laid out a repeatable M&A playbook that rebuilds frontends in months and full backends to hit product scale in about nine months (vs....
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Great Product Doesn’t Guarantee Business
The biggest myth in tech is that great product automatically builds a great business.
By Hiten Shah
Social•Oct 27, 2025
From $1M ARR to $1M Weekly Revenue
When 20VC led the Series A for Fyxer they were at $1M ARR. Today, they are adding $1M a week. 🚀 https://t.co/qvjg8Ke7uw
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 27, 2025
AI Marketing Startup Hits $1.15M ARR, 997% Growth
AI startups are printing cash. Live on @acquiredotcom: AI platform helping marketers maximize every dollar. Automating research, creative testing and scaling campaigns. > $1.15M ARR > $798K TTM revenue > $678K TTM profit > 997% YoY growth Full listing: https://t.co/jNAVKv3ABY https://t.co/GOthuI0JQl
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 27, 2025
YC Winter 2026 Applications Open—Apply by Nov 10
Applications for the YC Winter 2026 batch are now open! Apply by November 10: https://t.co/gNl84El3BS https://t.co/H9yEOuCwR5
By YCombinator
Social•Oct 27, 2025
VCs Measure Your Startup Against This Benchmark
Fair or not, this is what your VCs are comparing you to Fair or not https://t.co/v9L5oDXV2h
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Prioritize Operator/Founder LPs, Even Small Checks
The VC version of #8: Over-index on operator/founder LPs, even if their checks are small. It's one of the best decisions we made at Weekend Fund.
By Ryan Hoover
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Skip Process‑obsessed VP of Sales Before $10M ARR
Before $10m ARR, Do not hire a VP of Sales that mainly talks about process You are too early for them
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Celebrating Entrepreneurs' Wins Fuels My Purpose
My favorite part of running @acquiredotcom is seeing entrepreneurs win. The founders who bootstrapped through hard months. The ones who landed their 1st customer. The ones who just sold their startup and changed their life. Every win reminds me of why this...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 27, 2025
Share LPs Across Non‑competing Funds to Accelerate Fundraising
The secret to LP intros that no one tells you. Make friends in alternate, non competitive categories (growth, secondaries etc etc). Share LPs. Discovery is the hardest thing in fundraising. Non-competitive managers sharing LPs is needle moving.
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 27, 2025
AI Meetups Expand to Zurich and Munich in 2026
new zurich and munich events added to the @airstreet ai meetup calendar for 2026! stopping in a city near you soon - subscribe at luma(dot)com/airstreet https://t.co/2JYV1TVNOt
By Nathan Benaich
Social•Oct 26, 2025
AI Support Saves Money, Yet Still Costs Too Much
We all know how much AI has already changed customer support But it's not cheap Across all my investments in the space, the average price to resolve or reflect a ticket is about $1 For complex issues, around $5 in tokens etc That's much...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Software Awakens: Real‑time Learning Revives Innovation
Software is waking up again. Ten years ago, apps were the frontier. Screens were canvases. Curiosity was the culture. Then the App Store froze. The same grids, the same playbooks and the same incentives repeated endlessly. We optimized everything except imagination. For a while,...
By Hiten Shah
Social•Oct 26, 2025
No‑Code Platforms Turn Weeks‑Long CRUD Projects Into Minutes
Yes, ‘prosumer’ vibe coding apps like @Replit are best at CRUD and CRUD+AI apps today. But that also means if you have some experience building CRUD apps … that you can just fly when you ‘vibe’ your next one. All the stuff...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Silence Signals Trouble—Unless It Hides $50M Profit
It’s usually a bad sign when a founder stops sending investor updates. But occasionally they surface with impressive news. Just received this one: “$50M run rate and profitable” For founders (as a founder and investor): Most investors will assume the negative without updates. They’re...
By Ryan Hoover
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Lean Execution Drives 24% Revenue Growth and Profitability
2025 has been a big year for us at @acquiredotcom. We have grown revenue, reduced expenses and finally became profitable. > $6.1 million in revenue, up 24%. > $4.5 million in expenses, down 26%. > Operating profit, up 50.2%. > Total profit, $1.6 million. Absolutely...
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 26, 2025
75% Fit with Top VCs Signals Major Validation
"A 75% fit with @altosvc + @20vcFund? That's huge. It was exactly who we'd hoped for." Sign up for waitlist for SaaStr AI VC -> https://t.co/Eg5TFmnXmm https://t.co/r9Ct5KFhbP
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 26, 2025
SaaStr AI VC Matchmaking Delivers 116 Intros in Two Weeks
The new SaaStr AI VC Matchmaking tool has already made 116 VC intros in https://t.co/P5GuMbTEG9 https://t.co/RzkMeULyjI
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Ship Early, Execution Beats Perfect Pitch Deck
When you ship v1 before the pitch deck is perfect, you are already ahead of 90% of startup founders still polishing their slides. Execution crushes credentials!
By Niko Bonatsos
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Founders Ignore Market Timing; Invest Every Year
Great founders don’t time the market Great founders often don’t even check the markets at all They just start up when they see white space, and are ready to go So … Every year is a good year to invest
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 26, 2025
776 Proudly Backs Founders Crafting Lasting Legacies
At 776, we strive to be the first backers of founders building a legacy with their work. Can't help but get fired up watching this. https://t.co/k16CvaWzbT
By Alexis Ohanian
Social•Oct 26, 2025
Anduril Hits 6.6× Multiple Since My Tattoo
Anduril's at a 6.6x multiple since my tattoo. Can't wait to share what the second one is. VCBrags, come slay me.
By Cyan Banister
Social•Oct 25, 2025
Empowering Debt Relief: Partnering with Ava’s Impactful Team
Really proud to have the opportunity to work with Reza Rahman Omar Sinno Abed L. and the team at Ava. They've been pretty quiet about the work they've been doing for the past few years but they're making a really...
By Charles Hudson
Social•Oct 25, 2025
Scaling $1M‑$50M: Execution Beats Early Milestones
I do not care how long it takes for a company to get to $1M in revenue. But I do care desperately, how long it takes for a company to get from $1M-$50M in revenue. The road to PMF is...
By Harry Stebbings
Social•Oct 25, 2025
Execution Beats Credentials: Build Fast, Ship Faster
Founders: please ditch the credential chase. Build fast and ship. Strong execution is the ultimate credential.
By Niko Bonatsos
Social•Oct 25, 2025
Serial Unicorn Experience Fuels Sky‑High Seed Valuation
Talked the other day to a founder raising a seed round at an insane price Here's the thing: the last two start-ups he worked at are worth $10B+ He wasn't the founder at those ones. But he does know how...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Keep Updating Investors to Sustain Belief During Hard Times
Did some of the best start-ups like Figma, Stripe, etc. take years to get to any material revenue? Yes. That happens — and it can work out. But I don’t think they stopped sending investor updates. So far, I’ve seen 0 success from...
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 24, 2025
First Decacorn Milestone: LongJourneyVC Celebrates Success
Let's fucking go!! Proud of @ChaseLochmiller and his whole team. You've come a long way on your journey from your gas to cash strategy and now you are the backbone of some of the most important infrastructure in the...
By Cyan Banister
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Prioritize Strategic Fit Over Valuation in Exits
Selling your business or closing a capital raise transaction isn't just about valuation, it's also about overall fit. When talking with buyers, make sure you understand what their strategic objectives will be moving forward. Verify that they share your values and...
By Michael Lyon
Social•Oct 24, 2025
1500+ Pitch Decks Uploaded, Get Real-Time VC Feedback
Woo-hoo!! Crossed 1,500 VC Pitch Decks uploaded to SaaStr AI VC -> https://t.co/XzJ5d0OYvZ Get real time feedback on your deck, benchmarking against 1000s of rounds, and optional intros to the best VCs https://t.co/BIC0fmziG2
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Bootstrapped AI SaaS Duo Generates $200K Profit
What’s better than one B2B SaaS? Two B2B SaaS. Two profitable AI SaaS duo for content creation + SEO automation. > $252K TTM revenue > $200K TTM profit > 20% YoY growth > 5K+ customers Bootstrapped + Lean Listed on @acquiredotcom: https://t.co/hVgmr7nPE3 https://t.co/gTiI2EJmqJ
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Results, Not Connections, Secure VC Funding Instantly
You don't have to know the 'right people' anymore to get funded If you've got the results -- we'll tell you And introduce you to top VCs. In minutes. SaaStr AI VC. Sign up here -> https://t.co/Eg5TFmnXmm https://t.co/4KllqrnwZp
By Jason Lemkin
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Smart Investors Weight Outcomes, Chase Big Wins over Many Misses
The reason (good) investors are more optimistic is that, for them, the outcomes are weighted. If you're just measuring percent correct, you win by predicting startups will fail. But if the outcomes are weighted, you look for big wins even...
By Paul Graham
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Velvet Offers Adobe‑Premiere‑Level AI Video Creation in Seconds
Velvet (@Velvet_Videos) is building the Adobe Premiere of AI video, allowing creative teams to generate and edit dozens of cinematic AI videos in seconds. https://t.co/lYvqpwSEXb Congrats on the launch, @lrmantovani_ & @luke_tux! (They made this launch video using Velvet by spending ~$50 in...
By YCombinator
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Contrarian Founders Succeed by Staying True to Vision
Some of the biggest breakthroughs, like OpenAI and SpaceX, started as ideas most people thought were impossible. But the best founders stay contrarian long enough to be right, learning from criticism but staying true to their convictions and users who believe...
By YCombinator
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Kids' Drawings Become Personalized Animated Edutainment on Pixley
Pixley (@PixleyAI) turns kids’ drawings into personalized animated cartoons that teach and entertain. Hundreds of families have brought their stories to life on Pixley, making it the go-to platform for edutainment. Congrats on the launch, @PranitAgrawal4 & @Krish5Iyengar! https://t.co/V5PEvD4UnH
By YCombinator
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Stay Close to Customers: Let Market Feedback Guide
Always be close to your customers. Don't build a product nobody wants. Too many startups fail from this. The market has the feedback you need to hear.
By Andrew Gazdecki
Social•Oct 24, 2025
Scaling Brings Setbacks—Own Them, No Excuses
As you scale, you likely will experience: - co-founders that let you down - investors that throw you under a bus - partners that let you down - much better funded competitors - key team members that need to move on Hard not to use an...
By Jason Lemkin