Today's Venture Capital Pulse
Anthropic files confidential IPO as it calls for global AI slowdown
Anthropic, valued at roughly $965 billion, filed a confidential IPO prospectus. The company urged a coordinated global slowdown of advanced AI development, citing societal risks. U.S. regulators ordered Anthropic to block foreign access to its most advanced models.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Sygaldry Technologies raises $139M in seed and Series A round
20VC: Raising $400M for 20VC: Fundraising Lessons | Getting Marc Benioff Through 53 Cold Emails: How to Master Cold Outbound...
In this episode Harry Stebbings shares his rapid early success, details how he secured a cold‑email interview with Marc Benioff after 53 attempts, and reveals unconventional fundraising tactics like raising $70 M via WhatsApp. He introduces a decision‑making framework inspired by Pat Grady of Sequoia, advises young entrepreneurs to niche down, interview leaders, and publish content, and distills seven billionaire‑level lessons ranging from never accepting “no” to breaking big visions into milestones. The discussion emphasizes the power of relentless outreach, relationship‑focused fundraising, and content creation as catalysts for growth.
Top Funding Rounds Raised by Greek Startups in 2025
Greek startups raised more than €732 million in 2025, a 35 % jump from the previous year, with over 90 companies securing capital from 143 investors worldwide. The surge reflects Greece’s growing ecosystem maturity and heightened international visibility. Spotawheel led the pack...
Investors Diverge, Favor B
Five founders pitched, and these investors came to wildly different picks. Maxwell Weiss, of Pacific Bays Capital, and Fred Almeida, of American Medical Intelligence, chose B2B SAAS startups building for air quality testing and supply chain risk.
AI Era Triples ARR per Employee, Winners Pull Ahead
Per @a16z, the gap in ARR/employee has widened dramatically in the Age of AI $700k per FTE vs. $200k per FTE You're either pulling away here, or falling way, way behind https://t.co/6CD2h5yM6X
Sovereign Space, Smart Weather, and a Very Busy Orbit.
The episode spotlights major developments in the increasingly crowded orbital environment, including D‑Orbit’s $53 million Series D raise to boost M&A and in‑space computing, Loft Orbital’s selection as prime contractor for France’s DESIR radar‑imaging program, and Aalyria’s award from the U.S. Air...
AI Generates Real‑Time Investor Flow Reports From X
How much value is locked up here on X? Or, what is the money doing in AI? I had @blevlabs's AI (a state of the art cognitive architecture that works a lot better than Grok or ChatGPT for these kinds of...
Data Room Activity Reveals Buyer Seriousness for Better Negotiations
All of our clients use a data room. A data room is a secure, online document repository to host important resources related to selling a business/raising capital. The primary reason for utilizing data rooms is to stay organized and make...
Here Are the 20 FinTech Deals of the Past Week
FinTech fundraising fell to $898 million across 20 deals, down from $1.5 billion the week before. The biggest round was UAE‑based WealthTech startup Mal, which raised $230 million to launch an AI‑native Islamic digital bank. U.S. music‑tech firm Duetti secured $200 million, while PayTech...
AI Startups Outperform Non‑AI: Higher ARR, Faster Growth
👨🦳Non-AI startups: - Lots CSMs (vs FDEs) - AI agent is slow / not truly great, not #1 focus of company - Not gaining market share - Customers don’t want to pay 2x-10x more for AI Agent (honest truth: not great) - Still very large...
PE Shifts Away From Vanilla SaaS, Seeks AI Growth
There’s a tough topic that it’s time to be honest about in 2026: PE is no longer coming to the rescue. It was a great run. From 2012-2023 or so, almost any B2B or SaaS company that hit $20M ARR,...
This $800M Startup Makes ChatGPT 24x Faster
Inferact, the startup behind the open‑source vLLM inference engine, announced a $150 million seed round that pushes its valuation to $800 million. vLLM, now used by Amazon and other cloud providers, accelerates ChatGPT‑style models by 2‑24× through PagedAttention and continuous batching. The...
Founders Overraise, Ignoring YC’s “Default Alive” Wisdom
YC’s best advice is “default alive” - have enough cash to survive without the next raise. Great advice… nobody f*cking does it. Paul Graham (the founder of YC) once said he’d raise $500K, get ramen profitable, and probably never raise...
Venture Funding Hits Decade Low Amid AI Optimism
For decades, venture capital has expanded practically by default. More funds, more managers, more capital. Today, fundraising, firm formation, and LP participation are all moving in the same direction: down. After 20+ years, we are now facing the first meaningful...
M&A Advisor on Ecommerce Valuations
Frank Kosarek, co‑founder of BizPort, explains that ecommerce valuations now hinge on seller discretionary earnings (SDE) rather than top‑line revenue, with multiples typically 2×–2.5× and up to 5× for subscription‑heavy brands. He notes that buyers prefer companies generating recurring sales,...
Why Digital Game Economies Are Attracting Serious Investment
Digital game economies have evolved from niche curiosities into high‑margin revenue engines, attracting billions in institutional capital. Developers now embed sophisticated scarcity and trade systems that mirror physical markets, while blockchain technology adds true ownership and cross‑game liquidity. Adult gamers,...
Playad Raises $5.4M in Pre-Seed Funding
Playad, a San Francisco AI creative platform, closed a $5.4 million pre‑seed round. The financing was led by BRV Capital Management and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, with angels such as Bora Chung and Jihun Yu joining. Playad’s technology lets teams generate and...
Mendra Raises $82M in Series A Funding
Mendra, a San Francisco‑based biopharma focused on rare‑disease therapies, announced an $82 million Series A round. The financing was co‑led by OrbiMed, 8VC and 5AM Ventures, with Lux Capital and Wing VC also participating. The capital will fund the acquisition and development of...
Agileday Raises €6.4M to Scale AI Solutions for Professional Services
Finland‑based Agileday closed a €6.4 million Series A round, led by Newion and joined by Specialist VC, Vendep Capital, and Business Finland. The startup offers a people‑focused professional services automation (PSA) platform that merges talent management, resource allocation, timesheets and project financials...
Qure.ai Receives Grant From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Qure.ai, a New York‑based AI diagnostics firm, secured a multimillion‑dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The undisclosed funding will finance health‑equity projects, including an open‑source multimodal medical database and AI‑driven point‑of‑care ultrasound algorithms for early TB and pneumonia...
Inside America's AI Strategy: Infrastructure, Regulation, and Global Competition
In this episode of All‑In, hosts Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg, moderated by Maria Bartiromo, discuss America’s AI strategy with former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. They examine the massive costs and energy demands of...
GitLab Spurs 12.8% Rally, SaaS Index Up 3.
📊 https://t.co/D1x4RaX5t7 Market Pulse - Thu, Jan 22 The https://t.co/D1x4RaX5t7 Index delivered a strong performance on January 22, 2026, with an average gain of 3.47% as 23 out of 25 stocks advanced. GitLab led the rally with a remarkable 12.82% surge,...
AI Agents: Cost‑Effective Workers Who Never Quit
"Why did we go all-in on AI Agents?" with @kylecnorton CRO @kylecnorton "I just got tired of paying folks six-figures, letting them work from home with plenty of agency ... and still quitting. The AI Agents aren't perfect. But they...
Inferact Launches with $150M in Funding to Commercialize vLLM
Inferact Inc. launched with a $150 million seed round that values the startup at $800 million. The company will commercialize the open‑source vLLM inference engine, known for its PagedAttention memory‑saving technique and quantization. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed and Databricks’ VC arm,...
Cracking B2B AI Pricing: Experts Share Proven Models
How do you price AI features in B2B? Per seat? Per outcome? Usage-based? Founders are still figuring this out in real-time. At SaaStr AI 2026, we're bringing together the ones who've cracked it. May 12-14. SF Bay https://t.co/4l6Rm5He3B
Corxel Draws $287M Round to Drive Global Development of Oral GLP-1
Corxel Pharmaceuticals announced a $287 million Series D‑1 financing round aimed at advancing its oral GLP‑1 therapy into late‑stage clinical trials. The capital will enable the company to move beyond its China‑only data and pursue a global development strategy. Existing backers RTW...
Farcaster Returns Investor Money, Praising Decentralized Vision
As a Farcaster investor, can confirm: money is coming back to investors. Dan and the team built something genuinely amazing, perhaps the best decentralized social protocol. He's independently wealthy from Coinbase, and could have done whatever he wanted, but he decided...
Growth Trumps Efficiency in AI Era IPOs
A tough truth: getting more efficient, getting profitable, might have been necessary the past few years for many. But it also got you … nowhere. The markets still reward growth far more than efficiency. You do need both now when...
LiveKit Raises $100M in Series C Funding at a $1 Billion Valuation
LiveKit announced a $100 million Series C round that values the San Francisco‑based real‑time communication platform at $1 billion. The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Hanabi Capital. LiveKit will use the capital to...
Klir Pulls In $17.5M
Klir announced a $10 million Series B equity round complemented by a $7.5 million credit facility from Innovation Banking at CIBC. Existing backer Insight Partners participated, underscoring confidence in the company’s growth trajectory. Klir’s platform serves as an operational data hub for water...
Mia Labs Scores $20M Series A Financing
Mia Labs, the Austin‑based AI conversational platform for automotive dealerships, announced a $20 million Series A round. The financing was led by Permanent Capital Ventures with participation from Norwest and existing backers such as Eniac Ventures and Analog Ventures. Mia’s technology acts...
Artie Announces $12M Series A Funding Round
Artie, a fully managed real‑time data streaming platform, announced a $12 million Series A financing on Jan. 22, 2026. The round was led by Dalton Caldwell of Standard Capital and included participation from Y Combinator, Pathlight Ventures, and prominent angels such as Dropbox co‑founder...
Mews Raises $300M Series D Round
Hospitality‑tech platform Mews announced a $300 million Series D round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by EQT Growth with new investors Atomico and HarbourVest Partners, alongside existing backers Kinnevik, Battery Ventures and Tiger Global. Mews reported a 55 % increase...
Nexus Launches Global Platform for Verified Quantum and Deep-Tech Investment
Nexus unveiled a global platform, built with Global Quantum Intelligence, to connect quantum and deep‑tech startups with verified investors, adding a technical verification layer that audits claims and benchmarks performance. The service, already hosting over 45 companies and $350 million in...
SpinQ Technology Secures Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Series C Funding for Superconducting Scale-Up
SpinQ Technology announced a Series C round that raised hundreds of millions of RMB, earmarked for scaling its superconducting quantum chip line and advancing error‑correction, measurement, and control hardware toward a 100‑qubit processor. The funding supports a dual‑track strategy: exporting portable,...
SMBs Trade Higher Volume for Lower NRR than Enterprises
In theory, SMB > Enterprise More customers, much faster sales cycles, faster PLG and viral cycles But even 100% NRR is tough to hit with SMBs, While 120%-140% common in Enterprise Most SMB SaaS goes at least bit enterprise or at least into more...
Tokenization Firm Superstate Raises $82.5 Million to Bring Wall Street Onchain
Superstate, a tokenization startup founded by DeFi veteran Robert Leshner, closed a $82.5 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Crypto. The capital will fund its Opening Bell platform, which lets SEC‑registered firms issue digital shares and run shareholder processes on public...
Railway Raises $100M in Series B Funding
Railway, a San Francisco‑based cloud platform that streamlines developer workflows, announced a $100 million Series B round. The financing was led by TQ Ventures with participation from FPV Ventures, Redpoint, Unusual Ventures and other existing backers. Railway plans to deploy the capital...
Most Series A Founders Overestimate Their $50M Worth
I talk to delusional Series A founders every day. I now just send them this post. If your company does under $10m ARR, burns over $200k/mo and has low Gross Retention, you are not worth $50-100m dollars to ANYONE despite...
Exclusive: Cambio Lands $18M At $100M Valuation For AI-Powered Commercial Real Estate Software
Cambio, an AI‑powered commercial real‑estate SaaS startup, closed an $18 million Series A round at a $100 million post‑money valuation. The round was led by Maverick Ventures with participation from Y Combinator, Adverb and angels from OpenAI, Anthropic and Notion. Founded in 2022, Cambio...
Yuki Launches with $6M in Funding to Help Businesses Manage Spiraling AI Data Costs
Yuki Technologies raised a $6 million seed round led by Hyperwise Ventures to launch its AI data‑cost optimization platform. The startup’s Yuki Fabric acts as a real‑time control layer for data warehouses such as Snowflake and BigQuery, automatically routing queries to...
Clean Data Rooms Accelerate Startup Sale Success
Selling your startup isn’t just about finding a buyer. It’s about being ready when they show up. Due diligence kills deals every day. But the real reason isn’t product quality. It’s when buyers hit sloppy org, missing docs, unclear metrics, and they...
Deep Dive: AI Trends and Investment Strategies with Nathan Benaich
Fun convo going deep on all things AI and how to invest in it with the 🐐 @nathanbenaich
Why We Invested in Endra
Notion Capital led a $20 million seed round in Endra, a Stockholm‑based startup building a generative‑design platform for mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineers. The solution promises to automate up to 80 % of the traditionally manual MEP design workflow, shrinking project...
The Term “Seed Round” Is Officially Retired
We are now officially retiring the term "seed round". Thank you for your attention to this matter. https://t.co/NzL2sy9dUJ
VC Success Lies in Platforms or Specialists, Not Verticals
This is actually a very interesting discussion. It's near consensus now that the only strategies that make sense in VC is large platform or small specialist. So it's kind of a hot take to say that verticalized venture doesn't work. A couple...
Cancilico Raises €2.5M in Seed Funding
Cancilico, a Dresden‑based AI diagnostics startup, secured €2.5 million in seed funding led by a consortium that includes High‑Tech Gründerfonds, TGFS, GEDAD GmbH and ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft. The capital will accelerate the rollout of its AI‑driven software MyeloAID and fast‑track digital biomarker...
AzimutGroup Pours €110M Into D‑Orbit Space Logistics
Italian asset management co #AzimutGroup invests EUR 110M ($129M) into space logistics/transport perovider @D_Orbit - EUR 45M as part of D-round capital raise, + EUR 65M in purchases of D-Orbit shares from existing shareholders. https://t.co/m03h44pTbC
One to One Health Raises $12M in Funding
One to One Health, a Chattanooga-based provider of employer-sponsored onsite and virtual primary care, announced a $12 million financing round led by Frist Cressey Ventures. The capital will fuel nationwide expansion and further development of its AI-enabled Intelligent Care Manager...
The New Gold Rush in Brain Science
Venture capitalists are aggressively targeting the brain, with billions flowing into CNS drug development and neurotechnology after breakthroughs in biomarkers, imaging and patient stratification. Big‑pharma deals—Johnson & Johnson’s $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra‑Cellular Therapies and Sanofi’s $470 million purchase of Vigil Neuroscience—signal...
AI Managing AI
Recent advances have pushed tool‑calling accuracy for large language models past the 90% mark, a dramatic leap from the sub‑50% success rates seen two years ago. This improvement is driven by trillion‑parameter models that excel at context‑rich orchestration, while smaller...