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 🟣

• Sequoia and other big firms are facing churn at the senior level with major executives leaving legacy firms.

• SignalFire raised over $1B continuing to propel the AI wave forward.

• MIT study finds that AI is too “inconsistent and unstable” to hold a value system.

• NBA owner of Utah Jazz raising $1B in venture capital for growth-stage companies in the “experience economy.”

• Shopify CEO declares using AI is now a job requirement across the organization.

• SE Ventures launched a 12-week accelerator program for startups in climate and industrial tech.

 
New VC Fund Highlight - Lerer Hippeau🗽 🟣

Amid a tough fundraising environment for many early-stage firms, Lerer Hippeau just closed a $200M Fund IX, a meaningful step up from their previous $140M vehicle.

This isn’t just another headline fund. Lerer Hippeau has long been the go-to seed fund in New York, with a track record that includes names like Allbirds, Warby Parker, Casper, and Axios. They’ve been placing big bets on consumer, commerce, and frontier tech before those categories were cool.

And while their investments extend beyond NYC, their presence has been pivotal in building the city's startup ecosystem. With peers like Insight ($12.5B) and Thrive ($5B) also recently raising massive funds, it’s clear there’s serious capital anchored in New York right now.

What makes Lerer Hippeau especially interesting is that they’re not just a legacy fund riding coattails. They’re still hands-on, still founder-focused, and still adapting. The firm’s generational continuity (with Andrea Hippeau and Ben Lerer now leading the charge) gives it a long-term edge many funds struggle to sustain.

In a market where capital is tightening and seed rounds are more competitive than ever, having $200M to deploy, backed by a decade-plus of hard-earned pattern recognition, is a serious advantage.

I'll be watching closely to see where Fund IX goes.

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

 
Links 🟣

• The secret behind venture capital marketing: learn how the best VCs do it.

• Need help with your pitch? Here are some key pointers to help elevate your deck.

• a16z just launched the next cycle of Speedrun: founders can now apply by May 11 to work with a16z and get up to $1M in early-stage funding.

• Being prepared when your startup takes off is crucial. Here’s how to build a data room for internal and operational readiness at any stage.

• Lessons for your content strategy: learn how Brex acquired $280,000 in traffic value.

• Looking to build an optimal startup team? You only need 5 people to do it.

• Female founders in the US are receiving a smaller share of deals compared to previous years, but are continuing to grow their share of capital. Check out the full dashboard on female founders and co-founders.

• Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and former OpenAI board member, makes a case for AI optimism in his book “Superagency” and tells all on The Generalist Podcast.

WTF Is Vibe Marketing? And Why Growth Marketing Is Really Hard Right Now 🟣

Every traditional marketing channel is broken right now.

SEO is a war of attrition against Reddit threads and Google’s latest whims. Paid ads are more expensive and less effective than ever. Influencer marketing gets you a spike that evaporates by morning. And PR? You’ll drop five figures just to maybe get mentioned next to your competitors.

Unfortunately, as soon as something starts working, it gets crowded, expensive, and irrelevant. What worked in 2014 doesn’t work in 2025.

However, there is good news ;)

Some brands are still rising.

Not because they hacked an algorithm.

Not because they spammed more.

But because they made you feel something.

That’s the shift we’re watching right now to what people are calling “vibe marketing” (yes, like vibe coding, but different vibes).

Vibe marketing wins because it’s:

• Authentic — People can sniff inauthenticity in 0.2 seconds.

• Emotional — The goal isn’t clicks, it’s goosebumps.

• Human — Even in B2B, it’s people making decisions. Emotion drives them too.

• Asymmetrical — You can’t fake a vibe, and that’s exactly the moat.

It’s no surprise that some of the most effective campaigns today don’t look like “marketing” at all. They look like culture.

Vibe marketing isn’t anti-AI. It’s AI-enhanced.

The smartest marketers are pairing emotional storytelling with the latest tools:

• AI workflows that generate, test, and optimize content in hours, not weeks

• CRM extensions that personalize messaging based on real-time content analysis

• Auto-run giveaways, auto-build sales funnels, auto-craft narrative ad sequences

TLDR:

1. Feel first, feature second – Emotion drives every decision.

2. Create something people want to share – Not because it’s optimized, but because it moves them.

3. Use AI as your co-pilot, not your voice – Scale authenticity, don’t replace it.

4. Own your vibe – You don’t need to be for everyone. Just for the right people.

5. Forget funnels for a second – Build culture, community, and resonance. The rest follows.

Want to improve your content engine? We can help.

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

• Dealstack, a London startup automating workflows for private equity firms, raised a $5.5 million seed round from senior professionals at KKR, Goldman Sachs, CVC, Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and TA Associates.

• Octane, a San Francisco startup using AI to analyze and secure blockchain smart contracts, raised a $6.75 million round led by Archetype and Winklevoss Capital, with participation from Gemini, Circle, and others.

• Luzern Risk, a New York startup helping companies self-insure through captive insurance entities, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Caffeinated Capital.

• BLNG AI, a Los Angeles startup offering AI-powered tools for jewelry design, raised a $3 million seed round from Speedinvest, Cove Fund, eSeed, and Focal.

• Linus, an Oakland startup gamifying SAT prep for high school students, raised a $5 million seed round led by Owl Ventures.