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 🟣

• Revolut, the $45 billion neobanking startup founded in the U.K., may have put its IPO plans on ice, but its balance sheet is looking pretty hot.

• Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads.

• Elon Musk’s brain implant chip, Neuralink, could be worth $8.5B.

• Fintech is making a comeback with startups globally bringing in $10B combined in Q1 2025.

• Turpentine podcaster Erik Torenberg joins a16z as general partner.

• Discord’s co-founder and CEO steps down and former Vice Chairman of Activision Blizzard takes over.

• Coding assistant startup Windsurf cuts pricing to compete with Cursor in valuation race.

• Bessemer Venture Partners launches exclusive workspace, Founder’s Garage, in partnership with Twilio co-founder.

 
New VC Fund Highlight - 201 Ventures 🟣

A bold new VC firm is emerging from Europe and it’s betting on freedom, autonomy, and deep tech.

Madrid-based 201 Ventures has officially launched its debut fund, a $22 million early-stage vehicle backing some of the most ambitious technologies in Europe. While the dollar amount might look modest next to billion-dollar U.S. funds, the focus is anything but small.

201 Ventures is placing calculated bets in sectors most investors tiptoe around: hypersonics, biosecurity, subsurface mapping, maritime sensing, and Arctic autonomy. It’s a high-risk, high-impact playbook grounded in strategic defense and dual-use technology, a category seeing renewed urgency amid geopolitical shifts and a push for European self-reliance.

What makes 201 Ventures especially interesting is the profile of founders they’re backing: PhDs, scientists, and technologists with a service mindset, not just startup polish. The firm’s founder and General Partner Eric Slesinger is building a fund defined by technical rigor and mission-driven ambition, rather than trend-chasing or FOMO.

In a world where capital has often favored copycats and consumer apps, 201 Ventures is swimming against the current. Their focus on companies that can reach cash flow breakeven, paired with active, hands-on involvement, positions them more like a partner in the trenches than a passive check-writer.

Europe has long lagged behind in defense-tech innovation. If 201 Ventures succeeds, it won’t just return capital, it could help restore strategic autonomy to the continent.

I'll be watching closely.

PS: You can track all the latest new VC fund launches here.

 
Startup Highlight: An AI Startup Built to “Cheat on Everything” Raised $5.3M 🟣

An AI startup built to “cheat on everything” just raised $5.3M. And yes, it’s real.

21-year-old Chungin “Roy” Lee announced his startup Cluely raised $5.3 million in seed funding from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures, all for an AI tool that lets users “cheat” on job interviews, exams, and even dates.

Let that sink in.

The startup, born from a viral X thread that documented Lee’s suspension from Columbia University, offers an in-browser AI assistant that operates in stealth mode. Think: real-time prompts and answers hidden from an interviewer or examiner’s view. Their pitch? Cluely is a necessary evolution, like calculators or spellcheckers once were.

Where Cluely is at:

• Over $3M in ARR

• Originated as Interview Coder, a tool for acing LeetCode

• Now HQ’d in San Francisco

• Both co-founders dropped out of Columbia amid disciplinary backlash

Their launch video features Roy Lee on a date, lying about his age and art knowledge with help from Cluely. It’s polarizing, deliberate, and feels straight out of Black Mirror. Some call it vibe marketing. Others see a dystopian descent.

So… what’s the play here?

Cluely is tapping into a generational tension:

• Many young professionals see hiring processes as broken, full of gatekeeping and outdated assessments.

• Tools like LeetCode are seen as time-wasting relics that don’t reflect real-world work.

• AI is becoming a quiet equalizer, for better or worse.

Cluely isn’t pretending to be ethical. It’s arguing that the rules are already rigged, and it's just giving you better tools to survive.

Whether you see that as rebellious genius or Silicon Valley nihilism depends on your lens. But the traction is real and and the controversy is the brand.

As AI continues to blur the line between “help” and “cheat,” Cluely might be one of the first startups forcing us to ask:

What does merit even mean in the age of machine assistance?

 
Interesting Links 🟣

• Check out these 4 major trends reshaping the venture capital market.
  

• Startup CEO salaries are at an all-time high across early-stage companies.

• J.P. Morgan publishes Q1 trends in venture capital report.

• Anthropic experts discuss the evolution and future of prompt-engineering.
  

• The debate between office and remote workers: who thinks more strategically?

• Ever wonder what it takes to run a VC firm as a new manager? Check out these FAQs.

• Are you a founder looking to hire a top marketer? Dive into these key tips from a marketer about hiring.

• What if churn isn't a flaw but the feature? Discover embracing one-and-done customers in recurring markets.

🎙️ Marketing: Why a16z Acquiring a Podcast Network Is a Bigger Move Than It Looks 🟣

Andreessen Horowitz made a very calculated bet on media with their latest hire and acquisition.

This week, they acquired Turpentine, the podcast studio founded by Erik Torenberg, and named him their newest general partner. Torenberg will now lead investments and media/network initiatives at the firm.

If you’ve followed a16z for the last few years, this is a continuation of their “go direct” strategy: bypassing traditional media outlets and building their own channels to speak directly to founders, LPs, and the broader tech world.

It’s also a subtle but massive power play.

Let’s break it down:

VCs aren’t just competing on capital anymore, they’re competing on narrative.

Media-savvy VCs have an edge. They get access, influence, and the ability to shape how entire categories are perceived.

This isn’t about podcasts, it’s about distribution.

Turpentine is a content engine that already owns attention. Acquiring it gives a16z an always-on channel to amplify their worldview, spotlight portfolio companies, and attract emerging founders who resonate with their narrative.

Erik Torenberg is the blueprint.

He’s built communities (On Deck), funds (Village Global), and now a content network that positions him as one of the most connected people in tech. a16z bringing him in-house signals that media-first operators are now eligible for top-tier GP seats.

💬 My Hot Take:

Most firms still see content as a nice-to-have. a16z treats it like infrastructure.

This move reinforces what I’ve been saying for a while:

If you're a VC and you’re not building your own media, you’re handing the mic to someone else.

Founders don’t just want capital anymore. They want mindshare, storytelling, and distribution. If your firm can help them shape the narrative and fund the future, you’re not just a partner, you’re a platform.

Media is the new sourcing engine.

It builds trust at scale. It attracts inbound that traditional BD can’t. And in the long game of venture, it compounds just like capital.

Expect to see more funds follow suit, and expect the smartest ones to start thinking like studios, not just checkbooks.

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

• Brandlight, a startup helping brands optimize their visibility across AI-driven discovery platforms, raised a $5.75 million seed round.
  

• NiaHealth, a startup offering at-home biomarker testing with AI insights and clinical consultations, raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round.

• Spur, a startup using AI-powered testing to simulate real consumer shopping behavior for retailers and travel platforms, raised a $4.5 million seed round.

• CSignum, a startup developing wireless data communication systems for underwater and harsh environments, raised an $8 million Series A round.

• Kenzo Security, a startup providing AI-powered threat detection for security operations teams, raised a $4.5 million seed round.