EverythingStartups Weekly

Welcome to everyone new here who signed up last week!

Let’s get into this week’s edition on what’s happening in startup & VC world + the main highlights. I added an IPO section for this week since it was a crazyy week of IPOs.

But first, you might find some of these resources helpful:

• 120+ Active Pre-Seed - Series A investors

• Venture Capital Trends August 2025

• 48 pre-seed accelerators

• Latest VC funds announced

• 350+ SaaS investors

• LPs investing in VC funds 

Partnership & collaboration opportunities. 

New Instagram account with more great startup & VC content.

Cheers,
Ivelina

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Important News + Data 🟣

What people are talking about…

• NVIDIA announced a major piece of news on its official website: NVIDIA will invest $5 billion in rival Intel. This investment will be realized by purchasing Intel stocks at a price of $23.28 per share.

• MVA Foundation launched a new defense and national security syndicate that has invested over $10 million in startups including Anduril and Shield AI, opening its deals to veterans and senior civil servants.

• 9 startups stood out at Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 Demo Day. Highlights included Autumn, which simplifies billing for AI startups; Dedalus Labs, which makes deploying agents easier; Design Arena, which crowdsources feedback on AI-generated designs; and Getasap Asia, a fast-growing distributor in Southeast Asia.

• Workday will acquire Swedish AI startup Sana Labs for about $1.1 billion. The deal will integrate Sana’s AI-powered learning tools and agents with Workday’s platform to create more personalized employee experiences. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday’s fiscal year ending January 2026.

• TikTok’s U.S. operations will be controlled by a new company with an investor group led by Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz holding about 80% of the stake. The remaining shares would stay with Chinese investors in a board dominated by Americans, including one government-appointed member. The agreement is still being finalized as Washington and Beijing work on the deal’s details.

New VC Funds Announced 🟣 

These new venture capital funds have just launched…

• Una Terra – $54.5M for Sustainability

• CoreWeave Ventures – Undisclosed amount for AI, Edge Computing, AI infrastructure

• Accion Ventures – $61.6M for Fintech, Embedded Finance, InsurTech

• Vireo Ventures – $58.6M for Climate Tech, Energy, Mobility Tech

• Morphosis Capital – $152M for Healthcare, B2B, Consumer

• VCUK – Announced they are currently raising for Deeptech, Food Tech, Agriculture

• Lakestar – $265M for Fintech, Consumer Tech, Enterprise Software

• Finnfund – $95M for Inclusive Finance, Energy, Infrastructure

Interesting Links 🟣

These caught my eye this week…

• Sam Altman in the hot seat. Tucker Carlson pressed the OpenAI CEO on religion, AI’s role in society, its potential military use, and the controversy surrounding the death of former employee Suchir Balaji.

• This is one of the most unhinged things I have read all week. Peter Thiel delivered a talk on the Antichrist, and people (obviously) have strong opinions.

• The Redpoint AI playbook. Jacob Effron, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, lays out how top VCs are backing AI applications, from chat and document search to speech and code, and why SaaS founders need speed, quality, and clear wedges to win.

• From $2.8M to $150M ARR in less than a year. This article unpacks how Replit turned an AI coding agent launch into compounding growth, using product-led marketing systems, relentless shipping, and community buzz to build a repeatable growth engine.

• OpenAI just dropped the largest study ever on real AI use, analyzing 1.1 million conversations from 700 million users. The big surprise is that most people aren’t asking AI to think for them, but to help them think better, like editing their writing, giving practical guidance, answering questions, and speeding decisions at work.

• After Klarna’s $17 billion IPO, eyes are now on Stripe, Revolut, Monzo, Starling Bank, and Payhawk as possible next listings attention considering their strong valuations and renewed Wall Street appetite for fintech offerings.

🎙️ Pitch Them

Benjamin Ehrlich is investing in new fund managers + shares his criteria.

Plug and Play investors are looking to invest €200-500K into 2-3 new companies before the end of the year.

Elana Gold is looking to back 10 startups over the next few months.

These investors are all writing checks for Hard Tech in the US.

New Fund Highlight: GG Ventures 🟣 

This fund is truly impressive because…

GG Ventures is raising its second fund targeting $100M to invest in AI-first healthtech solutions for women's performance, health, and longevity.

Led by Founding General Partner Priya Oberoi-Cattai, the fund has secured a $30M first close.

The fund targets growth seed to Series A companies across five verticals: sports/strength/wellness, next-gen reproductive health, longevity/chronic diseases, seven female cancers, and mental health/cognitive performance.

Why it's notable:

• First-mover advantage in underserved market. Established in 2021 as the first venture platform centered on female performance healthtech, now doubling down with AI-native focus.

• AI-first investment thesis. Prioritizes companies with proprietary data moats and global scalability built from day one, targeting precision-built solutions rather than optimized legacy systems.

• Comprehensive vertical coverage. Spans critical areas from reproductive health to cancer treatment, positioning to capture multiple aspects of the women's health opportunity as it scales.

PS: Track new VC funds raised here.

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

Watch out for these…

• Sharp Performance, a Los Angeles startup providing first responders with performance coaching from former Special Ops and public safety professionals, raised a $12 million seed round. Andreessen Horowitz, A*, Commonweal Ventures, Formation, SV Angel, and Liquid 2 were part of the round.

• DianaHR, a San Francisco startup that provides AI-powered HR-as-a-service for SMBs, raised a $3.7 million seed round. SNR Ventures, General Catalyst, and Y Combinator joined the investment.

• Ethosphere, a Seattle startup that uses voice AI to turn in-store conversations into insights that help retail associates improve customer interactions, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round. Point72 Ventures, AI2 Incubator, Carya Ventures, Pack VC, Hike Ventures, and J4 Ventures contributed to the round.

• Fabrix Security, a Tel Aviv startup that uses AI agents to automate identity and access management for enterprises, raised an $8 million seed round. Norwest, toDay Ventures, and Jibe Ventures were part of the round.

• Scalekit, a San Francisco startup that helps businesses verify the identity of AI agents and control what data and apps they can access, raised a $5.5 million seed round. Together Fund and Z47 were part of the round.

IPOs 🟣 

• Klarna - Raised $1.37B at $40/share, valuing it at ~$15.2B. Backers include Sequoia, Silver Lake, Ant Group, and Mubadala.

• Figure - Raised $787.5M at $25/share, $5.3B market cap. Investors include DST Global Partners, Ribbit, and DCM.

• StubHub - Plans to raise up to $850M at $22–$25/share. Backed by Madrone Partners, WestCap, and Bessemer.

• Black Rock Coffee Bar - Raised $294M at $20/share (above range). Backers include Cynosure Partners.

• Gemini - Raised $425M at $28/share (above raised range) plus $50M private placement from Nasdaq. Backers include Morgan Creek Digital.

• Via Transportation - Raised $493M at $46/share, $4.2B valuation. Investors include Exor, 83North, and Pitango.

• Netskope - Set terms for $15–$17/share IPO, ~$6.1B valuation midpoint. Backers include Lightspeed, Iconiq, and Accel.