EverythingStartups Weekly

Welcome to all the new visionaries here who signed up last week! As usual, there’s loads going on in the startup & VC ecosystem, but I wanted to highlight this post for founders that I found really interesting this week.

Let’s get into this week’s edition on what’s happening & the main highlights. But first, check out these resources:

• 120+ Active Pre-Seed - Series A Investors

• Latest VC Funds announced.

• 350+ SaaS investors.

• LPs investing in VC funds.

• Understanding founder vs VC investment memos.

Partnership & collaboration opportunities. 

Cheers,
Ivelina

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Important News 🟣

• Earlier this week, Duolingo announced a shift toward an "AI-First" model, and that starts right now with the launch of 148 new courses created using generative AI.

• Crossover US funds are pulling back from venture with Q1 2025 showing the lowest participation in years.

• AI is disrupting the VC and startup ecosystem as automation changes how investors find and fund early-stage companies.

• Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel transitions to Venture Partner, marking a historic shift at the firm.

• Spotify adds 5M premium users and posts record operating income, signalling renewed growth.

• Tesla’s board reportedly explored a Musk replacement while he lobbied in Washington.

• OpenAI explains why ChatGPT got too agreeable and how they're reworking its responses to be more helpful and honest.

 
Top 10 Biggest New VC Funds Announced
in April 2025 🟣

1. Founders Fund - $4.6B fund

2. SKY Leasing - $1.35B fund

3. SignalFire - $1B fund

4. FPV Ventures - $525M fund

5. Cendana Capital - $400M fund

6. Arthur Ventures - $395M fund

7. Escalate Capital - $350M fund

8. Venture Guides - $262.5M fund

9. Moneta Ventures - $250M+ fund

10. Revaia - $250M fund

PS: You can see the full list here and track all the latest new VC fund launches here. Next week we’ll share a mini report with more insights on April’s latest funds. Stay tuned.

 
The Narrative: Why Work as We Know It Is Quietly Being Rewritten  🟣

Something’s happening behind the scenes at some of the world’s largest companies.

Employees are being put through “AI readiness assessments.” Not to identify training gaps, but to decide who stays and who goes.

This isn’t a one-off. Similar strategies are surfacing across industries. And together, they point to a stark new reality: we’re entering the era of The Great AI Reshuffle.

What used to be a “nice to have” is now table stakes. In April, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke issued a company-wide memo: AI use is now a baseline expectation. Not just for engineers, but for every employee.

Duolingo followed suit this week. Their CEO laid out an “AI-first” strategy: phasing out contractors, tying AI use to team expansion and hiring, and reworking internal processes to prioritise speed over perfection.

Who’s Safe?

We’re seeing a new model emerge:

1. Cut traditional roles

2. Double down on AI-native talent

3. Keep the irreplaceable humans

But what does “irreplaceable” actually mean in 2025?

It’s not just prompt engineers or people who know the tools. It’s people who bring the human delta, the things AI still can’t do:

• Creative intuition

• Contrarian thinking

• Ethical judgment

• Cultural taste

• Emotional insight

There’s a shadow side to all of this too.

Shopify, Duolingo, Klarna - they're moving fast. But fast doesn’t always mean thoughtful. Reflexive AI use can easily become performative. Just because something can be automated doesn’t mean it should.

Companies betting everything on AI need to build in critical thinking, ethics, and real learning systems. Otherwise, the pressure to “use AI everywhere” risks producing shallow work and shaky judgment.

This shift requires more than tool fluency, it demands AI literacy: knowing when to use it, when not to, and how to bring human value into the equation.

The people who’ll thrive? They won’t be the ones who resist AI.

They’ll be the ones who lead it.

 
Interesting Links 🟣

• 6 must-read VC reports from April 2025 - From AI-driven dealmaking to founder-led growth strategies, this roundup covers Q1’s biggest insights from CB Insights, First Round, J.P. Morgan, Lux, Kruze Consulting, and True.

• May 2025: can't-miss private market events for GPs & LPs - From Milken and IPEM to BVCA and AIM Summit, this curated calendar highlights the biggest events in PE, VC, and private markets happening globally in May.

• How VCs say ‘no’: the art of fast rejection - Stanford GSB breaks down how top investors quickly screen for red flags, why saying “no” fast is a competitive edge, and how you can adopt the same mindset in your own decision-making.

• What a16z is betting on in consumer startups - Andrew Chen shares a 70-slide deck covering his investing thesis, from viral growth and marketplace dynamics to content marketing and the future of consumer tech.

• The state of startup media: builders take the mic - From TechCrunch to Substack, this essay explores how startup storytelling has shifted from journalists to founders, and why we’re in a new golden age of media built by builders, for builders.

• How to get the most out of vibe coding (YC talk) - Y Combinator partner Tom shares best practices for “vibe coding,” a new style of AI-assisted development. From modular planning to prompt iteration, this talk is full of tactical advice for building smarter with LLMs.

• Why seed VCs are embracing secondary markets - Hunter Walk reflects on how selling shares early has evolved from taboo to strategy. A must-read for VCs rethinking liquidity, alignment, and how the game has changed for seed-stage investors.

• Why VCs still struggle with women’s health - A powerful breakdown of the systemic barriers limiting investment in women’s health. From outdated clinical research to persistent market biases, this essay explains why the opportunity is massive, but still misunderstood.

🎙️ Marketing Weekly: How to Build a Personal Brand in Venture Capital, Please Don’t Cringe 🟣

If you’re looking to build in venture, feel free to reach out to me for support on this journey.

Top Pre-Seed to Series A Funding Rounds This Week 🟣

• Faye, an AI-powered financial planning and estate advisory startup for families, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Unusual Ventures with participation from Nextdoor, Roblox, and others.

• Telgea, a mobile ops management platform for industrial field teams, secured €2.3 million from Amigo Ventures, Antler, Motivate Ventures, and others to expand its real-time compliance tools.

• Trek Health, which automates insurance billing workflows for mental health providers, raised $11 million in Series A funding from Madrona, Accrete Health Partners, LifeX Ventures, and others.

• Pistachio, a cybersecurity startup helping companies fight phishing and social engineering with awareness training, raised a $7 million Series A round from Walter Ventures, Idékapital, Angel Invest, and others.

• Deferred, a proptech company simplifying 1031 real estate exchanges with tech-driven qualified intermediary services, raised a $3.6 million seed round from B Capital, Fika Ventures, and others.