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A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Power in Numbers
December 05, 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

Anthropic plans an IPO as early as 2026, FT reports

Anthropic has tapped Wilson Sonsini to prepare for a possible IPO that could debut as soon as 2026. The AI company is still weighing its options, but sources say early talks with banks are already underway. The move comes as Anthropic chases explosive growth, with revenue expected to nearly triple and a new funding round that may value it above 300 billion dollars.

OpenAI declares ‘code red’ as Google threatens AI lead

OpenAI is shifting into crisis mode after Sam Altman told staff the company is prioritizing rapid improvements to ChatGPT. The move follows Google’s latest Gemini model outperforming OpenAI on key benchmarks and gaining tens of millions of new users. Altman says other projects are on hold as the team focuses on speed, reliability, and personalization.

Forbes unveils 15th annual 30 Under 30 list for 2026

Forbes introduced its 2026 Under 30 list, spotlighting 600 young leaders reshaping industries across North America. This year marks the biggest Gen Z cohort yet, with 70 percent of honorees coming from the generation driving new ideas in tech, culture, sports, and entertainment. Collectively, they have raised 3.8 billion dollars and built massive social followings.

Bending Spoons to acquire Eventbrite in $500m deal

Bending Spoons is set to buy Eventbrite in a 500 million dollar all cash deal that would take the events platform private. The Italian tech group plans to upgrade Eventbrite with new messaging tools, AI-assisted event creation, better search, and a secondary ticketing system. If approved, shareholders will receive 4.50 dollars per share and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026. It marks another big move for Bending Spoons, which has snapped up Vimeo, Evernote, Remini, Meetup, and more in recent years.

DeepSeek debuts new AI models to rival Google and OpenAI

China’s DeepSeek introduced two upgraded models that aim to match top performers like GPT 5 and Gemini 3 Pro. The new V3.2 model blends strong reasoning skills with the ability to use tools such as search and calculators. A second version, V3.2 Speciale, delivers math performance at Olympiad levels.

Sequoia backs crypto prediction platform Kalshi’s $1b round

Kalshi just closed a massive 1 billion dollar Series E that pushes its valuation to 11 billion dollars. Paradigm led the round, with Sequoia and other major firms piling in as the platform’s weekly trading volumes soar past 1 billion dollars. The company says millions of users now engage with its 3,500 plus markets each week. New funding will help Kalshi expand integrations, media partnerships, and product offerings as demand accelerates.

Female Founders Fund raises a $29 million fourth fund—a milestone for emerging managers

There are several ways to define an emerging manager in venture capital; one is that they’ve raised three or fewer funds. Female Founders Fund, Anu Duggal’s firm that backs women-founded companies, just closed its fourth fund, Fortune is the first to report. By that measure, investing in female founders is no longer considered “emerging.”

At least 80 new tech unicorns were minted in 2025 so far

The unicorn boom is still roaring as AI fuels one of the busiest years in startup valuations. TechCrunch found more than 80 VC backed companies crossing the 1 billion dollar mark across AI infrastructure, biotech, fintech, and even space. The pace shows no signs of slowing, with new billion dollar players emerging almost every month.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Raindrop, a San Francisco-based monitoring platform for AI agents, raised $15 million. Lightspeed Venture Partners was the main investor, with Figma Ventures and Vercel Ventures also joining.

Nevis, a New York startup providing an AI platform for wealth management, raised a $35 million Series A. ICONIQ and Ribbit Capital co-led the deal, with previous investor Sequoia Capital also contributing.

Tutor Intelligence, a five-year-old startup building warehouse robots, raised a $34 million Series A. The round was led by Union Square Ventures, with Fundomo and previous investor Neo also showing up.

Jeeva AI, a San Francisco startup providing AI tools that automate sales workflows, raised a $9 million round. JLL Spark led the deal, with Sapphire Ventures, Alt Capital, Launch Capital, GTMFund, Nonstop Capital, Coyote Capital, Bonfire Ventures, Techstars, Marc Benioff, and Mucker Capital also joining.

Duvo, a newly founded Prague startup that provides AI agents that automate retail operations tasks, raised a $15 million seed round. Index Ventures was the main investor, with Credo Ventures, Northzone, and Puzzle Ventures also contributing.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

The most controversial VC on Twitter: Delian Asparouhov

A new episode of The Library of Minds explores the chaos-powered world of Delian Asparouhov, the Founders Fund partner known for trolling Benchmark and battling the FAA. He lays out his “one thing” decision framework, why empty calendars create real leverage, and when extreme intensity actually works for founders.

Network effects in venture capital

Scott Hartley reflects on how standout founders create powerful network effects that compound far beyond individual talent. He argues that true signal comes from people operating far from the median, where grit, charisma, and deep expertise multiply one another. In venture, these outliers help investors separate noise from opportunity and even shape their own luck.

9-9-6-0

Benn Stancil explores the frenzy powering today’s AI boom and the brutal work culture emerging behind it. Valuations soar, founders chase quick wins, and thousands grind through 72 hour weeks hoping for life-changing payouts that may never come. The piece warns that many will walk away with nothing but lost time, even as the industry crowns new billionaires.

From network effects to cognitive effects: the new rules for platform dominance

Platforms are entering a new era where understanding users deeply matters more than scale. Instead of relying on traditional network effects, products win by learning, anticipating needs, and becoming personally irreplaceable. Startups have an edge because they can design this intelligence from day one. The companies that master cognitive effects could redefine how technology feels and how loyalty is built.

The last human edge

Colossus profiles investor Henry Ellenbogen, tracing how he built a career spotting great companies long before the market believed in them. His edge comes from reading people and transitions, not spreadsheets, and backing founders through the messy mid-journey where businesses either break or become compounders.

What does a “healthy” venture market actually look like?

A new LinkedIn analysis breaks down how Seed and Series A dynamics are shifting as mega funds push earlier into the market. Despite louder bubble talk, dedicated early stage firms still lead most sub 20 million dollar rounds, while competition spikes only at the top end. Forerunner’s Kirsten Green says the real signal is opportunity, with AI fueling a wave of ambitious new companies.