The Great Descent📉, Are AI Employees More Expensive Than Humans?🤖, ElevenLabs: $2M Pre-Seed to $11B in 3 Years🎙️
Another week, another pulse check on Tech.
From top insights a
nd reports to new funds, VC jobs, resources, and the hottest deals, here’s everything you need to stay ahead 👇
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In-Depth Insights 🔍
The Great Descent 📉
AI is driving down the cost of expert judgment much like the internet drove down the cost of accessing information. Fields built on scarce knowledge now face the same shift software brought to publishing and distribution. [Chamath Palihapitiya]
Iran Charges Hormuz Fees By...? 💰
Prediction markets currently assign a modest chance that Iran introduces transit fees before the end of August. Longer dated contracts price higher odds, signaling traders expect the risk to increase over time. [Polymarket]
Cerebras Bet Against the GPU. It Just IPO’d at $56B.🎯
The company built its architecture around moving data efficiently instead of maximizing raw compute throughput. That early design choice carried it from an unconventional startup to one of the largest US tech IPOs in recent years.
The Free AI Content Engine That Beats a Content Team 📋
A Notion based workspace combines persistent memory, creator workflows, and automatic knowledge capture into one system. The thesis is simple: consistent publishing builds familiarity long before buyers enter an active purchasing process.
Why Most VCs Misunderstand Their Own Fund Economics 📊
A quarterly waterfall model shows how cash timing shapes returns beyond headline fund performance. Management fees, distributions, and carry can produce very different outcomes despite identical investment results.
Are AI Employees More Expensive Than Humans? 🤖
Lower model pricing has not reduced spending because usage continues to grow much faster than costs decline. Teams are increasingly measuring cost per completed task instead of comparing software licenses with employee salaries. [Fintech Blueprint 🤖🏦🧭]
ElevenLabs: $2M Pre-Seed to $11B in Three Years 🎙️
The voice startup scaled from an early seed round to an $11 billion valuation in just over three years. Strong fundraising and rapid adoption positioned it among the fastest growing infrastructure companies in AI. [Niko Ludwig]
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Interesting Reports 📊
Global Startup Funding Breaks $510B In H1 2026 📈
Startup investment reached $510 billion in the first half of 2026, already exceeding the full year total from 2025. OpenAI and Anthropic accounted for $217 billion, representing 43% of all capital deployed. [Crunchbase News]
Europe’s Repeat Founders Keep Building Bigger Companies 🏭
Founders with prior exits continue to raise larger rounds and create higher valued startups across Europe and Israel. Networks from companies like Wise, Skype, and Klarna are producing a growing pipeline of new founders. [Dealroom.co]
Global Markets Close June With Strong Equity Gains 📊
Major stock indexes advanced through June, with the Nikkei 225 leading yearly performance and the S&P 500 posting double digit gains. Gold remained well above last year’s levels, while SpaceX’s $1.78 trillion listing became one of the month’s biggest VC backed milestones. [PitchBook]
Recently Launched Funds 💸
PranaVentures launched a €100M seed fund to invest in early-stage startups across Europe.
Stratos Ventures raised over $50M for its debut fund focused on backing early-stage technology startups.
InvestEco closed Sustainable Food Fund IV at C$106M to invest in sustainable food and agri-tech companies.
Tapestry VC launched $80M Fund III to continue investing in enterprise infrastructure startups.
Harpoon Ventures closed Fund IV at $155M to back frontier and defense technology startups.
Ruya Ventures closed its inaugural $50M pre-seed fund to support founders across the MENA region.
Magnify Ventures closed Fund II at $46.6M to invest in deep tech and life sciences startups.
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VC Jobs 💼
Upfront Ventures (Los Angeles, CA): VC Associate (apply here)
Primary Venture Partners (New York City, NY): VC Associate (apply here)
Pear Ventures (San Francisco, CA): VC Investor (apply here)
Social Capital (New York City, NY): VC Associate (apply here)
Capital Factory (Austin, TX): VC Associate (apply here)
Alumni Ventures (London, England): VC Principal (apply here)
SuperSeed (London, England): VC Manager (apply here)
Samaipata (Madrid, Spain): VC Manager (apply here)
Healthworx (Washington, DC): Senior VC Associate (apply here)
1752VC (Los Angeles, CA): VC Fellowship (apply here)
The Free AI Kit That Turns Any Founder Into a Content Machine
The founders closing the best rounds in 2026 share one trait that goes beyond their product.
Hottest Deals 💥
Quantum Systems raised $1.2B in Series D at an ~$8B post-money valuation to scale its AI-powered autonomous aerial intelligence platform for defense and commercial applications. (read more)
Together AI raised $800M in Series C at an $8.3B valuation to expand its AI cloud infrastructure and open-source foundation model ecosystem. (read more)
Etched emerged from stealth with $800M in funding to commercialize transformer-specific AI chips built for large-scale inference. (read more)
Addi raised $85M in Series D to expand its embedded finance and consumer lending platform across Latin America. (read more)
Venice AI raised $65M in Series A to accelerate development of its privacy-first generative AI platform. (read more)
Aligned raised $60M in Series B to expand its AI-powered enterprise workflow automation platform. (read more)
Qolab raised $54.2M in Series B to advance superconducting quantum computing technology. (read more)
Xellar Biosystems raised $50M in Series A & A+ to scale its next-generation cell engineering platform for biotech applications. (read more)
CarbonSix raised $40M in Series A to expand its carbon removal technology and climate infrastructure platform. (read more)
10Beauty raised $23.5M to accelerate commercialization of its AI-powered robotic manicure system. (read more)
LinqAlpha raised $22M in Series A to build AI-powered investment research and financial intelligence tools. (read more)
StirlingX raised $20M in Series A to develop advanced electric propulsion systems for the space industry. (read more)
Telum Therapeutics closed an €18M Series A to advance precision oncology therapies. (read more)
Alva Industries raised €16M in equity funding to scale production of its ultra-light electric motor technology. (read more)
Luxonis raised $14M in Series A to expand AI vision hardware and robotics solutions. (read more)
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