How Money Flows 🌊, Chamath’s $380M Loss🤯, VCs Eating PE with 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 👇
Brought to you by Vanta - Unlock Effortless Compliance for Startups 🔐
Don’t let compliance be a blocker for growth. Vanta’s solution automates up to 90% of the work for ISO 27001, SOC 2, and more, making it easier for startups to maintain continuous compliance and build trust with customers.
Explore how Vanta’s platform can save you time and accelerate growth.
In-Depth Insights 🔍
The VC vs. PE divide is fading fast—AI-driven automation is shaking up private equity, cutting costs, and rewriting the rules of value creation. [Wendy Xiao]
Pricing as the #1 Competitive Advantage for AI Startups 💰
Outcome-based pricing is flipping the script—startups charging for results, not users, are unlocking 15-30x revenue potential and leaving incumbents scrambling. [Palle Broe]
Venture Manager Selection: Capitalizing on Arbitrage Windows 🔍
The best venture managers don’t just ride waves—they spot market gaps before they close. Finding arbitrage windows is the key to long-term alpha. [Jordan]
Capital is like water—it rushes to the biggest, most painful problems. Understanding this gravity is the difference between raising millions and getting ignored. [Guillermo Flor]
$54.5B in billion-dollar startup acquisitions—and the quarter isn’t even over. The exit market is back in a big way, with M&A surging and IPOs heating up. [Jason Saltzman]
Chamath’s $380M Loss on Relativity Space 🤯
A brutal venture lesson—Chamath took a $380M hit after Relativity Space’s recapitalization, despite a rumored $3B offer from Eric Schmidt. [Tran]
📢 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
Interesting Reports 📊
The State of AI: How Organizations Are Rewiring for Intelligence ⚡
AI isn’t the future - it’s the now. Companies are rewiring at full speed. Keep up or get left behind.
Where do the world's top founders come from? This report uncovers the startup hubs that keep churning out unicorn-builders.
Central & Eastern European Startups 2025 🌍
The CEE startup scene is heating up. Get the data-driven scoop on the region’s breakout companies, funding trends, and ecosystem growth.
Recently Launched Funds 💸
Maven 11 locks in $107M for its third fund, doubling down on blockchain and crypto bets.
Daphni kicks off a fresh €200M fund to fuel Europe’s next wave of breakout startups.
ET Capital betting big on Cambridge’s deep-tech scene with a new fund targeting local startups.
Nunc Capital deploying €20M to supercharge Ukraine’s defense tech innovators.
Daybreak Ventures closes its debut $33M fund to back early-stage moonshots.
Willowtree Investments raising its third fund to hunt for breakout startups in emerging markets.
2AM VC drops a second fund to fuel India’s next-gen founders.
Yango Group launches a $20M corporate VC arm to place strategic bets on disruptive startups.
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! 🚀
VC Jobs 💼
Two Sigma Ventures (New York City, NY): VC Internship (apply here)
Citi Ventures (San Francisco, CA): Senior VC Vice President (apply here)
Suffolk Ventures (Boston, MA): VC Associate (apply here)
Distributed Ventures (Chicago, IL): VC Associate (apply here)
Arnold Ventures (Washington, DC): VC Analyst (apply here)
Zinc Ventures (London, England): VC Lead (apply here)
ACL Partners (Berlin, Germany): VC Associate (apply here)
Match VC (Stuttgart, Germany): VC Internship (apply here)
Interplay (Remote): VC Investor (apply here)
Milk & Honey Capital Partners (Remote): VC Partner (apply here)
Hottest Deals 💥
Manna Air Delivery, raised $30M to scale its autonomous drone delivery network. (read more)
Decharge, secured $2.5M in seed funding to expand its EV charging network. (read more)
DeepIP, raised a $15M Series A to enhance AI-powered IP analytics. (read more)
More, secured €2.3M in seed funding to develop sustainable materials. (read more)
Allen Control Systems, landed $30M in Series A funding to boost industrial automation. (read more)
Crusoe, secured a $225M credit facility to scale its climate-friendly cloud computing. (read more)
Layer Health, raised $21M in Series A to revolutionize digital healthcare. (read more)
Hakimo, closed a $10.5M funding round to enhance AI-driven security monitoring. (read more)
Galatea Bio, secured $25M to accelerate genomic data analysis. (read more)
Yutori, raised $15M in seed funding to scale its fashion-tech platform. (read more)
Vestaron, secured over $20M to advance bio-pesticides for sustainable agriculture. (read more)
HeartFlow, completed a $98M convertible note financing for AI-driven heart diagnostics. (read more)
WunderGraph, raised a $7.5M Series A to advance GraphQL-based API infrastructure. (read more)
Peachscore Cohort 16, features 41 startups across AI, fintech, and deep tech. (read more)
Empire State Development, selects 10 startups for Round Eight of Luminate NY. (read more)
RESOURCES 🛠️
✅ 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
✅ How to Create a Co-Founder Agreement + 3 Templates
Thanks for the mention! 🙌🙌
Don’t worry about Chamath. He made a sweet billion in 18 months just by sitting around and writing blank checks to SPAC companies, until the SEC finally noticed the loophole. He’s playing with house money he never earned. Easy come, easy go.