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Let’s get into this week’s edition on what’s happening in the startup and VC ecosystem. 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 🟣

• Yahoo has sold its 20-year-old tech news site, TechCrunch, to media investment firm Regent.
  

• OpenAI has launched an updated version of GPT-4o, improving its image generation capabilities.
  

• Nine companies became unicorns in February, with healthcare and cybersecurity leading the way. Notable new unicorns include Abridge ($2.8B), OpenEvidence ($1B), Tines ($1.1B), and Dream Security ($1.1B).
  

• Earth AI has discovered promising deposits of copper, cobalt, gold, silver, molybdenum, and tin in Australia, using AI to analyze overlooked mining sites.
  

• Fintech startup Mercury raised $300 million in a Sequoia-led Series C round, doubling its valuation to $3.5 billion.
  

• Brian O’Malley, former Forerunner Ventures partner, is raising $100 million for Tactile, a new firm focused on early-stage consumer startups, amid reduced VC interest in the sector.

 
New VC Fund Highlight - Emergence Capital Fund VII 🟣

I’m really intrigued by Emergence Capital’s latest raise: $1B for Fund VII, with a sharp focus on AI-driven B2B startups (not to mention it’s one of the very few firms to have raised a $1B fund in the past few years).

While many firms are scrambling to reposition themselves around AI, Emergence has been quietly building toward this moment for years. Their belief that AI will fundamentally reshape how businesses operate feels more like a natural progression than a pivot.

I also respect their model: one investment per partner, per year. In a funding environment that often favors quantity over quality, that kind of discipline is rare and powerful. It allows them to go deep with founders, not just write checks.

Their track record speaks for itself - Zoom, Salesforce, Bill.com - but what makes this fund exciting is how focused it is on the next wave: AI-powered workflows, human-AI collaboration, and personalized enterprise tools that go beyond the buzzwords.

Emergence VII isn’t just big in size; it feels well-timed and well-calibrated for what early-stage B2B needs right now.

PS: Stay up to date with the latest VC funds here.

 
Startup Unicorn Tracker 🟣

Which university in your state is producing the most unicorn founders? 🦄

Stanford leads the pack, unsurprisingly, with alumni having founded 207 unicorn companies. Harvard follows with 164, and UPenn rounds out the top three with 67.

Other standouts:

• Yale (CT): 59

• Cornell (NY): 58

• University of Michigan (MI): 41

• Princeton (NJ): 38

• UIUC and UChicago (IL): 36 each

Meanwhile, states like Idaho, Hawaii, South Dakota, and North Dakota have at most one unicorn per university. Ten more states, including Alabama, Delaware, and Nebraska, have no more than two.

Interesting note: while Stanford has produced 285 unicorn founders, they’ve collectively started 207 unicorn companies. Just shows how tightly networks and co-founding circles are linked.

Source

 
Links 🟣

• OpenAI just released image editing with GPT-4o (and it’s completely nuts).
  

• Next week Y Combinator hosts the Little Tech Competition Summit in Washington, D.C.
  

• Union Square Ventures is betting the next great consumer AI company will come out of NYC.
  

• Venture capital performance has declined since 2022, with fewer LPs and larger checks.
  

• The $32B lesson about putting yourself out there.
  

• 9 lessons from Jessica Livingston on starting Y Combinator.

Tweet Tweet 🟣

Building Content Engines That Last: Tip of the Week 🟣

When people talk about content marketing in VC, two names come up again and again: a16z and First Round. Sonal Chokshi and Camille Ricketts helped define what it means to build a content engine that actually shapes the ecosystem - not just fill a blog.

This YC podcast episode (recorded 8 years ago!) is still one of the best I’ve found on what makes VC content work long-term. A few points that stuck with me:

• Don’t chase side quests. If it doesn’t align with your strategy, skip it.

• Track qualitative signals. Great content usually shows up in your inbox before it shows up in the data.

• One standout piece > 10 forgettable ones.

• Create what people want to share. If it’s good, distribution takes care of itself

Still one of the most useful listens if you're serious about building influence through content, especially in VC or B2B.

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

• RockFi, a startup offering private wealth management services, secured a $19.4 million Series A round from Partech, Varsity, and others to accelerate its growth.
  

• Rival, a startup that allows users to convert standard 2D videos into 3D formats, secured a $4.2 million pre-seed round from Speedinvest, New Renaissance Ventures, and others to accelerate its growth.
  

• Sympera AI, a startup whose product helps relationship managers analyze data, secured a $10 million seed round from Nyca Partners, Viola Ventures, and others to accelerate its growth.
  

• ai|coustics, a startup that develops AI-based audio algorithms to enhance speech quality in digital communications and media content, secured a $5.4 million seed round from Partech, Acurio, Intuition, Arc Investors, and others to accelerate its growth.
  

• Voiceops, a startup that analyzes customer calls to provide businesses with insights for improving sales, marketing, and compliance efforts, secured a $5 million seed round from Bonfire Ventures, Twelve Below, Precursor Ventures, and others to accelerate its growth.