PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

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

Ramp, a platform helping big companies manage spending, travel, and vendors, raised $200 million in a new Series E round led once again by Founders Fund, pushing its valuation to $16 billion. It’s the fifth time the VC firm has led a round for the fintech startup, highlighting a growing trend: investors doubling down on winners already in their portfolio.

31-year-old Maor Shlomo built the viral AI app-maker as a side project that began last year during a post-reserve trip. Base44 only employs six people and hasn't raised any external funding.

Tron, led by crypto figure Justin Sun, is going public in the U.S. through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed toy company SRM Entertainment. The deal includes a $100 million investment and up to $210 million in TRX tokens held as reserves. Eric Trump is expected to join the new Tron Inc. in a leadership role.

The SEC is pushing to give everyday investors greater access to private markets. A rule change could let retail money into funds that were once off-limits. Some see an opportunity, while others warn it could overwhelm early-stage VCs. The line between retail and institutional capital is starting to blur.

Meta reportedly offered OpenAI researchers up to $100 million to join its new AI team, but no one took the bait. Sam Altman confirmed the offers and questioned Meta’s focus on money over mission. He says OpenAI’s culture and goals are what keep talent loyal. The battle for top AI minds is just beginning.

Microsoft is prepared to abandon its high-stakes negotiations with OpenAI over the future of its alliance, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The tech giant has considered pausing discussions with the ChatGPT maker if the two sides remain unable to agree on critical issues such as the size of Microsoft's future stake in OpenAI, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Cluely’s infamous after-party was shut down by police before it even started. The AI startup, known for its viral "cheat at everything" tool, never expected the chaos of 2,000 people showing up. Its founder now calls it the most legendary party that never happened.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Applied Intuition, a startup whose software helps automakers and government agencies develop and test autonomous vehicle technology, raised a $600 million Series F. BlackRock and Kleiner Perkins co-led the round with the Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, and Greycroft as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Lux, Elad Gil, and Bond also contributing.

Traversal, a new enterprise AI startup founded by former Columbia, Cornell, and MIT researchers, just came out of stealth with $48 million in combined Seed and Series A funding. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins co-led the round, with NFDG and Hanabi also participating. The company is building an AI SRE agent that helps enterprises automate root cause analysis and incident response.

Bigger Games, a six-year-old Istanbul startup making casual puzzle games for mobile users, raised a $25 million Series A. Goodwater Capital and Arcadia Gaming Partners co-led the round, with Index Ventures and Play Ventures also showing up.

Browserbase, a one-year-old startup that provides a cloud service that lets developers and AI systems automate interactions with websites such as filling forms, clicking buttons, and scraping data by running browsers behind the scenes, raised a $40 million Series B round. Notable Capital was the main investor, with previous investors Kleiner Perkins and CRV also contributing.

Extend, a New York startup helping companies turn complex documents such as PDFs, scans, tables, handwriting, and signatures into structured data using artificial intelligence, raised $17 million in seed and Series A funding. Innovation Endeavors led the deal, with Y Combinator and Character VC also joining.

Pano AI, a San Francisco startup using AI and elevated cameras to detect wildfires and alert emergency responders before fires spread, raised a $44 million Series B round. Giant Ventures led the deal, with Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Salesforce Ventures also pitching in.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

There have already been multiple billion-dollar rounds this year, and more AI mega-rounds closed in the U.S. in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. Here are all the U.S. AI companies that have raised $100 million this year.

Y Combinator’s recent investment trends point to a shift toward pragmatic innovation. Security, manufacturing, and B2B startups now dominate, reflecting where real budgets and needs lie. Crypto has stayed steady but small, while AI shows promise without a major funding gap yet. The message is clear: solve painful problems, and the capital will follow.

No rivals: The Founders Fund story

After 18 months of reporting, The Generalist unveils the most in-depth look yet at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. The four-part series explores how the firm rose from underdog to a dominant force in Silicon Valley. Packed with exclusive data and behind-the-scenes stories, it shows how Thiel’s team succeeded by thinking differently and playing a long game few others could see.

In this short masterclass, Vinod Khosla breaks down how to pitch venture capitalists with clarity and impact. He explains what truly matters to investors and what founders often get wrong. From storytelling to metrics, it’s all about framing your ambition as inevitable.

Jack Altman says his 100-minute conversation with Marc Andreessen was one of the most insightful of his life. On the Uncapped podcast, they talked about the future of venture capital, AI, politics, media, and a few personal curiosities.

We often give away our power without even noticing it. In this piece, Deb Liu explores the hidden "free passes" we give ourselves or, as she calls them, excuses that keep us small. From speaking up to self-advocacy, she challenges us to rewrite the stories holding us back. The big question is: what pass do you need to tear up?

New CEOs often arrive with the same script: declare a culture change and roll out top-down behaviors for everyone to follow. Paul Sweeney compares this to telling your partner how to behave based on a list your friends made and expecting them to comply. At work, this approach feels oddly normal, but maybe it’s the root of the problem. Culture isn’t declared, it’s lived.

Top VC firms like Sequoia, Lightspeed, and NEA are bringing in a new wave of partners. The latest hires come from Accel, Goldman Sachs, Y Combinator, and even the Federal Reserve. Many are focused on AI, fintech, and enterprise tech. Operator backgrounds and early-stage experience are clearly in demand.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Colossal Biosciences

🤑 Total money raised by the Zynga Mafia: $6 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The Zynga alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 35th spot on our leaderboard, with 267 companies founded and $6 billion raised.

PS: Are you a Zynga 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.

Superorganism is looking for a VC Investor.

Duolingo is looking for a Manager of Corporate Development.

Levoca is looking for a VC Associate.

VMG Partners is looking for a VC Investor.

Elm Street Ventures is looking for a VC Partner.

📌 Introducing PinPoint - Get paid to refer your friends to great jobs

Want to earn thousands of dollars for referring candidates to top companies? Sign up to PinPoint.

📠 Fun fact of the week

Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California, is famously known as the epicenter of venture capital, home to many of the world’s top VC firms.

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