EverythingStartups Weekly

Welcome to all the new visionaries here who signed up last week! I just posted an updated list of 48 pre-seed accelerators around the world. Link is below. Enjoy!

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

• 48 pre-seed accelerators

• 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 🟣

• Coinbase suffers major data breach exposing sensitive user information. TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington warns the incident “will lead to people dying” as crypto kidnappings surge and the DOJ opens an investigation.

• It’s never been harder to make it in venture capital. While Silicon Valley heavyweights like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are still able to bring in big checks, up-and-coming VCs are finding fundraising increasingly difficult.

• PitchBook names 8 venture-backed IPO candidates to watch in 2025 as eToro’s strong debut sparks renewed momentum for public listings amid tariff-driven market volatility.

• Google launches AI Futures Fund to back startups with access to DeepMind models, Gemini AI, and millions in cloud credits, aiming to expand its influence in the generative AI ecosystem.

• Klarna uses an AI avatar of its CEO to present earnings, highlighting AI’s role in streamlining its workforce by 40% and driving four straight profitable quarters ahead of its IPO.

• OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup io in a $6.5B all-equity deal. Ive and his design firm LoveFrom will now lead OpenAI’s creative direction and develop a new generation of AI-powered consumer devices.

 
New VC Fund Highlight 🟣

Creator Ventures’ $45M Fund II - A Bold Bet on Consumer Internet’s Resurgence.

If you’re in the consumer startup space, Creator Ventures’ latest $45 million fund announcement is mega exciting for several reasons, so let’s dive right in.

Firstly, it signals a resurgence of optimism for consumer internet startups. This fund, led by Sasha Kaletsky and YouTube star Caspar Lee, shows their potential for leveraging creator economy insights to fuel innovation in a space that’s been overshadowed by enterprise AI and mega funds.

The fund is targeting AI-driven apps in the trillion-dollar app store economy, with a focus on personalized, high-margin experiences like microdrama apps. Some of their previous bets were focused on addictive, short-form content apps with premium pricing models (like ReelShort and DramaBox).

Brownie points for:

🍪 Proven track record: Fund I delivered hits like ElevenLabs ($3.3B valuation), Wild ($286M Unilever acquisition), and Runna (acquired by Strava), showcasing their ability to spot high-potential consumer startups.

🍪 Creator-driven edge: Caspar Lee’s creator background provides access to deals and go-to-market strategies rooted in social media dynamics, giving portfolio companies a distribution advantage.

🍪 Data-driven focus: Investments in high-growth sectors like microdrama apps (ReelShort: $152M, DramaBox: $99M in 2025 U.S. in-app purchases) reflect a keen understanding of monetization trends.

🍪 Strong LP support: Backing from Sequoia, Cendana, and others signals renewed confidence in consumer internet, a sector some LPs hadn’t touched in a decade.

But…Can Fund II really make it though?

Scalability: Doubling the fund size to $45M increases pressure to maintain their hit rate. Can they replicate Fund I’s success?

Market volatility: Consumer internet is notoriously fickle. Will trends like microdrama or AI social networks sustain, or are they fleeting fads?

Competition: The consumer AI space is crowded. Can Creator Ventures’ portfolio stand out against well-funded rivals?

Creator Ventures is filling a critical gap for consumer internet founders, offering capital, creator networks, and social-first growth strategies. By betting on founders who double as creators, they’re tapping into a cultural shift where social media drives startup success.

Their model challenges traditional VC approaches, so let’s see how this one unfolds!

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

 
Interesting Links 🟣

• Pop-up pitch day in San Francisco. Nichole Wischoff, 8VC, and Greylock are inviting five pre-seed or seed startups to pitch on June 10. Bonus points if you’re building vertical AI and are based in San Francisco.

• Carta Q1 report was just released. Q1 2025 shows one thing clearly: VC capital is more selective than ever, but also more aggressive when it bets.

• Things that make me bored as investor. Can you be the original of something for once?

• Purpose is overrated. In Good Times, Jaryd Hermann makes a compelling case for ditching the elusive life purpose and replacing it with something sturdier.

• 99 lessons from startup trenches. David Zhou drops his third edition of Cup of Zhou, a sharp collection of founder advice, legal hacks, hiring red flags, and hard-earned truths VCs won’t tell you.

• Adeo Ressi, inventor of the SAFE note, just blew up the VC playbook. Start Fund lets you launch a fund in a day with zero setup costs, $25K minimum checks, and full track record portability.

• AI coding events for kids are here and they’re quite something. Hugging Face’s Thomas Wolf hosted a “vibe-coding” workshop for 9–13 year olds that shows that Gen Alpha is growing up believing they can build anything with AI.

• Sundar Pichai on AI, search, and what’s next for Alphabet. In this All-In interview, the Google CEO talks AI disruption, hardware bets, energy bottlenecks, and whether Alphabet is still chasing its next $100B breakout.

🎙️ Klarna’s AI CEO Stunt: Visionary or Pre-IPO Hype?

It seems Klarna’s CEO just can’t stop rattling on about AI. We get it, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, you’re forward thinking and all about AI.

But, also…we’re willing to bet that the latest earnings presentation, delivered by an AI avatar of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, is a calculated signal that the buy-now-pay-later giant sprinting toward an IPO, is using AI not just as a tool but as a brand-defining narrative.

So one can’t help but ask:
Is Klarna’s AI push a genuine leap or a pre-IPO hype machine?

Of course, this move raises eyebrows and questions about where tech’s obsession with AI is taking us, both in corporate leadership and broader business strategy.

What’s compelling here isn’t the tech itself, AI avatars aren’t new, but the audacity of the statement. By having an AI stand in for the CEO, Klarna is certainly flirting with a future where AI could encroach on the C-suite.

The fintech space is brutal, with competitors like Affirm and Afterpay breathing down Klarna’s neck. Touting AI-driven efficiency and a sleek 100 million-user milestone could be a bid to dazzle investors, especially as buy-now-pay-later faces scrutiny over consumer debt risks. Klarna’s workforce cuts, while profitable, also hint at a leaner, meaner operation that might prioritize margins over long-term resilience.

Let’s see how their IPO plays out.

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

• AskElephant, a startup helping support and sales teams automate tasks by connecting their tools with AI, raised a $6 million seed round. Jump Capital, High Alpha, Tandem, SaaS Ventures participated in the round.

• Ravical, a Belgian startup that develops AI agents to automate specialized workflows in professional service firms, raised an $8.3 million pre-seed round from Lakestar.

• Clarity Security, an Austin-based startup offering identity governance tools for enterprises, raised a $9 million Series A round from Venture Guides, Silverton Partners, and others.

• Studio 42, a Cyprus-based startup developing hybrid-casual puzzle games, raised a $3.6 million seed round from Play Ventures, GEM Capital, Arcadia Gaming Partners, and others.

• True Markets, a mobile trading app for DeFi assets, raised an $11 million Series A round. Accomplice, RRE Ventures, Reciprocal Ventures, Variant Fund and PayPal Ventures were among the investors.