Know What's Happening in Venture Capital
Know What's Happening in Venture Capital
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EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Mistral secures $830M debt raise, the largest European generative‑AI financing
Mistral raised $830 million in debt financing to build its first AI data centre, marking the biggest single funding round for a European generative‑AI firm. The capital will fund the construction of a dedicated AI data centre to support its model‑training workloads.
Also developing:
By the numbers: St Barbara lands $333M strategic investment
In this episode, Datadog founder‑CEO Olivier Pomel recounts how the company reached its first $100 million ARR by obsessively prioritizing genuine customer insight over sales or engineering shortcuts. He explains why closed alphas and annual contracts stifle learning, why enterprise SaaS defies the traditional MVP model, and how pricing discussions surface true product value. Pomel’s perspective underscores that true customer‑centricity demands daily vigilance against both sales‑driven and engineering‑driven biases, using open betas, month‑to‑month deals, and relentless feedback loops to drive growth.
If you want to potentially get acquired — start now. It often really, quietly takes years. What do I mean? Well for sure, acquisitions themselves technically often happen very quickly. The acquiring CEO reaches out, they meet up...
Is the process the same for M&A vs. a capital raise? While the process is largely the same, there are some differences. The biggest difference: investors tend to be hyper focused on metrics, while strategics tend to be more focused...
In this episode, Emmett Shear—founder of Twitch and former OpenAI interim CEO— challenges the prevailing "control and steering" approach to AI alignment, arguing it’s fundamentally flawed and proposing an "organic alignment" model where AI genuinely cares about humans. He explains...
After the success of Founder University in both America and Saudi Arabia, we’re expanding to Japan! We’re hiring a researcher to help us discover the most promising startups in the region. It’s a huge opportunity to learn, grow, and get...
Wanna come work with me? LAUNCH is bringing Founder University to Japan, and we’re looking for a sharp, curious researcher to help us discover the most promising startups in the region! It’s a huge opportunity to learn, grow, and get...
In this episode, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez discusses how synthetic data has become essential for training AI models, enabling enterprises like Salesforce and Dell to scale intelligence securely across cloud environments. He explains Cohere's approach to building flexible, deployable AI...
“In my career working in AI, I have yet to meet a single AI person that ever felt like they had enough compute.” “Open-weight models is a tremendous source of geopolitical influence” “When China’s government makes an all-nation commitment, it’s a very...
Is AI Coding Like Food Delivery: VC Subsidised and Unsustainable: " I remember the early days of food delivery, it was VC subsidized. We're seeing that right now with AI coding. This can't go on forever... there will be some very valuable businesses...
Backflip, a Charlotte, North Carolina‑based real‑estate fintech platform founded in 2020, announced a $10 million equity raise. The round was led by FirstMark Capital alongside LiveOak Venture Partners and Vertical Venture Partners. The capital will be deployed to broaden the company’s...
5 learnings from launching (and attempting to forecast) Disney+ ... Forecasting a brand-new product, even one with Disney's IP library behind it, is a leap off a cliff. As Vanna Krantz , former CFO of Disney Streaming, told me: “We...
Posit: OpenAI’s fundamental problem is that it cannot become a platform company as long as the models it wants to use as a platform have no network effects and remain pure commodities. People had to use Windows, but there is...
In this episode, Andrew Ng identifies the biggest bottlenecks slowing AI progress—data quality, compute costs, and talent scarcity—while arguing that large language models can become geopolitical tools for influence and misinformation. He debates whether traditional profit margins still matter and...
Every time I see a CRO that doesn't sell themselves, they fail. Every time I see a CTO that doesn't code themselves, they fail. Every time I see a CMO that doesn't market themselves, they fail. Every time I see a...
Congrats to @ReelablesHQ on their $10.4M Series A! They've created the first printable smart label—paper-thin Bluetooth/5G trackers that work with standard barcode printers. They grew 200% this year and are scaling to 100M labels/yr to improve supply chain visibility. https://t.co/7GWxq3Trfm
The episode features three separate interviews: Everett Randle of Benchmark explains why mega‑funds prioritize capital velocity, proposes new AI‑company valuation metrics, and shares lessons from Mary Meeker; Rory O’Driscoll and Jason Lemkin discuss a looming Palantir valuation correction, the accelerating...
20VC crushing the 996 London life. Only fund in Europe that works this. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/RkVTlQhcTW
Deedy Das and Jay Eum Join the VC Roundtable! https://t.co/GLAHbFKopV
In this episode, Sahil S breaks down Y Combinator’s proven pitch‑deck framework for seed‑stage startups, outlining a clear slide structure—from title and problem to traction, market size, and the ask—while emphasizing narrative simplicity and investor memorability. He highlights why a...
Long Faire 🚀 Long indie retail, long local communities, long craft, quality products. The $5.2B tender offer led by crossover investor WCW signals Faire has the attributes of a public company and has built a lasting, category-defining business. https://t.co/nYvdMAxuXG
Congrats to voize on their $50M Series A! voize frees nurses from admin so they can focus on what truly matters: people. Today, more than 75,000 nurses in 1,100+ care facilities use voize to document care through natural speech, right at the...
Theo Ai, an AI‑driven prediction platform serving Am Law 200 firms and corporate General Counsels, announced the creation of a General Counsel Advisory Board and a new funding round led by Run Ventures, pushing total capital raised above $10 million. The round...
Acolite builds AI teammates for insurance agencies so teams can spend more time with clients. Forward an email or delegate from your AMS, and Acolite issues COIs, pre-fills ACORDs, and cleans SOVs — fast, accurate, secure, with humans in the loop. https://t.co/MUONLogKx6 Congrats...
It was never “build what’s fundable” and it isn’t now. It’s always been: make something people want. This comes from users and customers and the needs of others.
In this episode, venture capitalists Elliot Hershberg and Lada Nuzhna examine how soaring drug development costs—now around $2.5 billion per approval—are stifling biotech innovation, identifying three key forces they call the "three horsemen" that drive expense. They contrast the U.S. model...
We're funding space fusion and your take is we're building a consensus machine Maybe you need to look harder
"Our business, which today is an end-user tools business, will become essentially an infrastructure business in support of agents doing work." — Satya Nadella Microsoft talking about their view where the value accrues : agent infrastructure https://t.co/1TaxJpOeCB
Tom Priore, CEO of Priority, unveiled Priority Sports – a fintech platform built specifically for the complex payment ecosystems of professional and collegiate sports teams. It automates contract‑linked payouts such as NIL deals and performance bonuses, provides invoice‑level, multi‑party reconciliation,...
This is an incredible business. Live on @acquiredotcom: Top-ranked B2B marketing education SaaS serving global teams and pros. > $3.25M ARR > $1.65M TTM profit > globally recognized SaaS + education + brand trust = serious moat Full listing: https://t.co/qKWsmO2tpo https://t.co/97g300eS6r
I have a seed investment I made years back now at $130m ARR now growing 40% and cash flow positive. And all the VCs have checked out. They haven’t been mean about it. Everyone is nice. It’s just, one has...
In the debut episode of TechCrunch’s Build Mode podcast, co‑founder Deon Nicholas explains how Forethought AI achieved product‑market fit by obsessively targeting its ideal customer profile and delivering tangible value before chasing hype. The company’s “7‑Failure Rule” encouraged rapid iteration,...
Last year, women-led startups received just 2% of total venture capital funding a number that hasn’t changed much in more than a decade. That’s why stories like this one matter. Two of our USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy...
The fundamental difference between a minority and majority recap: Control. If you sell a majority of your business, you'll receive a high level of liquidity, but all the key decisions will now be out of your control. With a minority...
The $1,200 Besties All‑In tequila, launched by the All‑In podcast hosts in June and sold out in its 750‑bottle run, has finally begun shipping after a five‑month delay caused by the handcrafted, collector‑style bottle. Distribution partner Flaviar pushed the delivery...
We're back! Harry, Rory and Jason! And come see the team LIVE at SaaStrLondon.com 1-2 in ... London!! The venture capital playbook is broken. Not bent — broken. In the latest 20VC x SaaStr episode, Harry Stebbings, Jason Lemkin, and...
This was a fun conversation with Nihal Mehta of Eniac Ventures https://lnkd.in/eKaqvudG
Flexport is at $2B annual revenue and just getting started. AI is so powerful it has turned internal hackathons into roadmaps for entire new product lines https://lnkd.in/g5pueCR7
Everyone, It’s that time of year when folks start to think about comp. In conjunction with the All Raise team, please find the link below. Please complete the following survey by Thursday, November 20th. We will share the results with...
Thank you for having me at Startupfest! (Btw, I'm raising for 18 months of runway...)
Big news for 776 co @PalabraAI: they just acquired @Talo_AI Their API already powers enterprise tools and custom apps & now they’re bringing real-time translation to video calls and live events. Oh, and they also snagged #1 Product of the Day on...
Sagaland is a UGC games platform where players create and remix games using AI. They're starting with interactive story games and have hit $200k ARR in 4 weeks. Congrats on the launch, @srijanyaham & @jeankaddour! https://t.co/YaxXFAbBZq https://t.co/gW8rmK8AJq
It's rare that I see spicy quotes from Limited Partners, but Ben Choi had a great quote at the most recent Kauffman Fellows Summit about why becoming and remaining a venture capitalist can be hard. It sparked a conversation between...
Wow. 🧑🏫 A masterclass on the future of global finance from a crypto savant who bet big on Solana and ironically… has zero interest in bitcoin. New Origins with Kyle Samani , Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital 👇 Transparency, speed,...
Amazing how valuable the game data is for real world data. Only games have action on controller and reaction in the world in a physics accurate way. And if you have data from thousands of games and tens of millions...
Lancey (@trylancey) is the multiplayer coding agent that builds what your customers want. Lancey scans your customer channels, builds an understanding of your codebase, and one-shots PRs. All in the background, without human prompting. Congrats on the launch, @_adipatel_ & @itsmeabhipatel! https://t.co/IpxLow4PtA
.@Mascobot is always a few steps ahead!! best @a16z scout now infra partner 🚀🚀
Selfin (@selfin_app_) is building the first AI Bank. They're starting with an all-in-one financial platform where you can connect all your financial products— credit, investments, crypto, 401(k)— and get personalized recommendations powered by AI. https://t.co/gnRinMZLUg
Every founder who got rejected 39 times before their Series A reminds me of Hulk. The angrier they got, the stronger the pitch became.
🪙🧑🏫 Wow. A masterclass on the future of global finance from a crypto savant who bet big on Solana and ironically… has zero interest in bitcoin. New Origins with @KyleSamani, MP at @multicoin👇 https://t.co/v2gSJyqLX8
With @vogentai's Voice Agent Wizard, you can create an effective voice agent with just a short description. Trained on the design processes of thousands of production agents, their wizard helps you go from idea to production voice agent in minutes. https://t.co/tcT4wV3IPb
