PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
January 24, 2025

Welcome to PIN’d - our weekly newsletter where we pin (lol, bear with us) the most important tech/startup news of the week for aspiring angels, vc’s, startup investors, founders, etc. Expect a new weekly roundup from us every Friday morning!

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📰 This week’s best news

OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have announced the Stargate Project, a $500 billion venture to build data centers across the U.S., starting with Texas. The initiative aims to boost AI infrastructure, create jobs, and strengthen U.S. leadership in AI development. Critics have raised concerns about environmental impacts, but the companies emphasize the project’s strategic importance for national security and technological advancement.

President Donald Trump issued a full pardon for Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who was serving a life sentence for drug trafficking and other charges. The move aligns with libertarian arguments against government overreach, though critics highlight Ulbricht’s role in facilitating over $200 million in illegal trade.

Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang published an open letter urging the Trump administration to increase investment in AI to maintain U.S. leadership over China in the "AI race." Boosting government spending on data and computing, creating AI-related jobs, and improving digital infrastructure are some ideas proposed.

Here are the types of AI companies enterprise VCs want to back in 2025

Venture capitalists are focusing on AI startups addressing specific enterprise needs, such as task-focused AI solutions, resilient digital infrastructure, and tools to reduce business friction. Emerging trends like agentic frameworks and edge AI are also expected to gain traction in 2025.

LinkedIn is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it disclosed Premium users' private messages to third parties to train AI models without consent. Plaintiffs claim LinkedIn updated its privacy policy in September 2024 to include AI data usage, but the changes came after data had already been shared.

AngelList is teaming up with CoinList to offer crypto startups tools for raising and managing funds using crypto special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and roll-up vehicles (RUVs). These allow founders to streamline compliance while investors can fund projects via stablecoins like USDC. The initiative reflects a resurgence of interest in crypto among mainstream investors.

San Francisco-based venture firm Caffeinated Capital, known for early investments in Affirm and Airtable, is raising a $400 million fifth fund. Already securing $160 million, this would mark its largest fundraising to date. Led by founder Raymond Tonsing and partner Varun Gupta, the firm continues to focus on high-growth tech startups.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Render Services, a cloud computing platform enabling developers to build, deploy, and scale applications without managing infrastructure, raised an $80 million Series C round. The round was led by Georgian, with 01A and Avra as well as previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and the South Park Commons Fund also contributing.

Nexos.ai, an AI orchestration platform that helps businesses manage and optimize multiple AI models through a single interface, raised an $8 million round. Index Ventures led the investment, with Creandum and Dig Ventures also joining.

Tapestry, a startup that created a Solana-based social graph protocol that enables decentralized applications to access and utilize social connections on the blockchain, raised a $5.75 million Series A. USV and Fabric Ventures co-led the deal, with Stellation Capital, Slow Ventures, and Foresight Ventures also investing.

Craftwork, a three-year-old startup that promises quick estimates and transparent pricing for painting jobs in the Charlotte area, raised a $7 million Series A round. Slow Ventures was the main lead, which also included Lachy Groom, Four Cities Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Pioneer Fund, and Y Combinator.

Neko Health, an AI-based body scanning startup co-founded by Spotify's Daniel Ek, raised a $260 million Series B. Lightspeed Venture Partners, a new investor in the company, led the round, with General Catalyst, O.G. Venture Partners, Rosello, Lakestar and Atomico also investing.

 📚 Interesting reads of the week

The venture market is still struggling, with many startups exiting early and not returning enough money to investors. Howard Marks warns that excitement around new technologies, like AI, can lead to overpaying for startups, with only a few succeeding in the end. While the market is tough, focusing on strong, long-term ideas can help.

David Senra, host of the Founders podcast, shares lessons from history’s most successful people, highlighting the importance of resilience, strong relationships, and avoiding self-pity. Senra also discusses how leaders often work quietly and how family stories shape personal success.

Greg Isenberg shares 30 startup ideas, including AI agents, SaaS platforms, tools, and more.

According to Carta, the Bay Area leads in venture funding, with NYC pulling further ahead of Boston, which faces strong competition for third place with LA. There’s a clear gap between the top four and Austin, ranked fifth, followed closely by Seattle, San Diego, and Denver, all tightly grouped.

Venture capital is changing as small, focused funds led by individual investors are becoming more popular. Many are tired of big firms chasing size and losing the personal, hands-on approach to helping startups. These smaller funds want to bring back a focus on real risk-taking and supporting founders in meaningful ways.

Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman clashed on X over Stargate, OpenAI’s $500 billion data center project. Musk accused Stargate of lacking secured funding, while Altman dismissed the claims and emphasized its national benefits. The feud highlights competition between Musk’s xAI and OpenAI as both vie for AI dominance.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: First

🤑 Total money raised by the Compass Mafia: $342.5 million

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard


The Compass alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 80th spot on our leaderboard, with 11 companies founded and $342.5 million raised.

PS: Are you a Compass alum interested in getting your community together to invest in the community (and earn carry/other benefits along the way)? Or are you a member of another community that you think would make for an amazing startup investment community?

Learn more about us and sign up for the waitlist here.

📌 PIN tweet of the week

💼 Who’s hiring in VC?

Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.

Mechanism Ventures is looking for a Startup Lead.

Serent Capital is looking for a VC Director.

Pillar VC is looking for an Ops Associate.

Boyne Capital is looking for a VC Vice President.

Digital Currency Group is looking for a VC Associate.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The first computer virus, Creeper, was created as a prank in 1971. It infected the ARPANET, which was the precursor to the internet.

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