AI Is Coming for Venture Firms 🤖, Most Active VCs and CVCs📊, Anthropic’s Blueprint for Smarter AI 🛠️

Another week, another pulse check on venture.

From top insights and reports to new funds, VC jobs, and the hottest deals—here’s everything you need to stay ahead.

Let’s dive in 👇

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In-Depth Insights 🔍

• Startups Still Aren’t Businesses Yet 💬
  Stop treating your startup like a Fortune 500. It’s a science experiment - your job is to discover, not deliver.

  

• AI Is Coming for Venture Firms 🤖
  VCs, meet your new partner: a neural network with no sleep schedule and better pattern recognition. [Ben Bergman]

  

• We Have Entered the Flappy Bird Era of SaaS Companies 🐦
  SaaS is speedrunning itself - viral today, vanished tomorrow. Blink and your ARR might be a memory. [Julien Codorniou]

  

• Inside the VC Decision-Making Process: What Founders Should Expect 🤔
  Behind the pitch deck lies a messy mix of conviction, timing, and “who else is in?” psychology. [David Turney]

• Most Active VCs and CVCs in Europe (Q1) 📊
  Europe’s capital scene isn’t sleeping - here’s who showed up with the most term sheets in Q1.

• European Financial Services See Surge in PE Investment 💶
  PE firms are piling into Europe’s finance sector, chasing yield in all the right spreadsheets. [Emily Lai]

  

• Mapping US Regional Venture Capital Deals (Q1 2025) 📍
  Not just SF and NYC - surprising regions are heating up. VC maps are getting redrawn. [Kia Kokalitcheva & Jordan Rubio]

  

• Erik Torenberg Joins a16z, Acquires Turpentine Podcast Network 🎙️
  a16z hires a podcaster, acquires a network, and doubles down on voice, vibes, and venture media. [Michael Bodley]

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📢 Want to get in front of +300k founders and investors?

For sponsorship opportunities across this newsletter and my other media assets, email: rdominguezibar@gmail.com

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Interesting Reports 📊

• AI in the Enterprise: Big Bets, Big Risks 🤖
  Companies are racing to plug AI into everything - some will win big, others will burn cash fast.

  

• Europe’s VC Scene: Chilly, but Alive 🌍
  Q1 2025 shows Europe's VC vibe cooling - but breakout sectors are still heating up.

  

• Anthropic’s Blueprint for Smarter AI 🛠️
  Anthropic lays out how to build AI agents that don’t just act smart - but actually are.

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Recently Launched Funds 💸

• TDK Ventures dropped a $150M Fund 3 to supercharge hard-tech bets in energy, health, and materials.

• Venture Guides landed $262.5M for Fund II to back enduring tech and consumer startups.

• Claris Ventures is teeing up Fund II. Early peek via a candid interview with MP Pietro Puglisi.

• Team Ignite just launched its debut fund to bet exclusively on Y Combinator alums.

• HealthCap scored €48M from Novo Holdings and EIFO for its latest life sciences fund… HealthCap IX. Europe’s biotech backbone just got stronger.

• Kompas VC closed €150M to fund climate and infrastructure resilience. Betting big on sustainable transformation in heavy industries.

• First Momentum Ventures raised €35M to double down on early-stage deep tech and B2B SaaS in Europe.

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Fundraising?

If you're raising a round,

Luis Llorens

and I can help. We gather startup fundraising data and share it with our audience of 300k+ investors and startup enthusiasts. Fill out this form and we’ll will do our best to connect you with the right investors! 🚀

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VC Jobs 💼

• Citi Ventures (New York City, NY): VC Associate (apply here)

• Schrödinger (New York City, NY): VC Director (apply here)

• Forgepoint Capital (San Francisco, CA): VC Internship (apply here)

• Cambridge Associates (Boston, MA): VC Analyst (apply here)

• TRS (Chicago, IL): VC Investor (apply here)

• Construct Capital (Washington, DC): VC Investor (apply here)

• Integrity Growth Partners (Los Angeles, CA): Senior VC Associate (apply here)

• Precursor Ventures (Remote): VC Internship (apply here)

• ABB Ventures (London, England): VC Manager (apply here)

• First Momentum Ventures (Munich, Germany): VC Internship (apply here)

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Hottest Deals 💥

• Symbiotic, snagged $29M in Series A to supercharge its bioengineering platform tackling chronic diseases. (read more)

• Jericho Security, locked in $15M to bring generative AI to the cybersecurity frontlines. (read more)

• Surfin Meta Digital Technologies, raised $26.5M to scale its fintech-meets-lifestyle super app across emerging markets. (read more)

• Augur, brought in $7M to boost AI-powered medical diagnostics that aim to outpace the human eye. (read more)

• Theo, secured $20M to rewrite wealth management for the next-gen investor. (read more)

• Alternative Payments, landed $22M to give merchants a faster, borderless checkout experience. (read more)

• RTA, scored a Series A from Susquehanna to modernize how recruitment teams work and win. (read more)

• Amplifier Security, raised $5.6M to build cybersecurity that actually accounts for human behavior. (read more)

• Push Security, banked $30M Series B to help IT teams take back control of SaaS sprawl. (read more)

• Repair Carbon, topped up with $15M to help enterprises shrink their carbon footprint with precision. (read more)

• Sevii, raised pre-seed funding to bring TikTok-style energy to live video shopping. (read more)

• SquareX, pulled in $20M Series A to make your browser the first line of defense. (read more)

• Electra, raised a massive $186M Series B to make zero-carbon aluminum at industrial scale. (read more)

• Omnidian, scored over $87M to protect and optimize solar systems for homes and businesses. (read more)

• Listen Labs, brought in $27M to decode customer feedback with AI before you even ask. (read more)

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RESOURCES 🛠️

✅ 50 Game-Changing AI Agent Startup Ideas for 2025

✅ 70+ Startup Pitch Decks That Raised Over $1B in 2024

✅ The Ultimate Startup Data Room Template (VC-Ready & Founder-Proven)

✅ The 100+ Pitch Decks That Raised Over $2B 💰

✅ Ultimate Investor List of Lists (+5k VCs)

✅ 40 Pitch Decks That Raised Over $460M

✅ The Startup Founder’s Guide to Financial Modeling (7 free templates included)

✅ SAFE Note Dilution: How to Calculate & Protect Your Equity (+ Cap Table Template)

✅ 400+ Seed VCs Backing Startups in the US & Europe

✅ The Best 23 Accelerators Worldwide for Rapid Growth (and How to Get Into Them)

✅ 144 Family Offices That Cut Pre-Seed Checks

✅ The Ultimate Startup & Venture Capital Notion Guide: Knowledge Base & Resources

✅ AI Co-Pilots Every Startup & VC Needs in Their Toolbox