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A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders
Power in Numbers
May 16, 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
Browder Capital, founded by Joshua Browder, has recently announced the launch of its $30 million Fund IV, supported by prominent backers such as Sequoia Capital, Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, and notable figures like Arthur Patterson (founder of Accel) and Walter Kortschak (founder of Signalfire).
AI search startup Perplexity is closing a $500 million round led by Accel, pushing its valuation to $14 billion. Backed by tech giants and investors like Nvidia, Bezos, and SoftBank, the company is challenging Google and OpenAI. Its new funds will help build a next-gen AI browser and scale to hundreds of millions of users.
Immad Akhund, CEO of Mercury and angel investor in over 350 startups, has launched his first $26 million VC fund. Backed by big names like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, Akhund is shifting from angel to venture. He plans to keep betting on bold founders and high-growth startups.
Airbnb is going beyond just booking stays. The company recently added bookings for massages, private chefs, and tours in 1,000 cities worldwide. It is also planning social features and an AI concierge to personalize travel. The move puts Airbnb in direct competition with travel giants like Tripadvisor and Booking.com.
eToro Group Ltd. saw its stock generate a 29% gain over its upped IPO price at the closing bell on Wednesday, in a strong trading debut for the mobile stock- and crypto-trading firm in one of the first major IPOs on Wall Street since the window abruptly shut for new issues last month.
Chime has finally filed for its long-awaited IPO, with a potential $1 billion raise on the table. The digital bank posted $1.67 billion in 2024 revenue and is edging toward profitability. A $33 million sponsorship deal with the Dallas Mavericks also came to light in the filing.
Databricks said on Wednesday it would buy database startup Neon in its latest deal valued at about $1 billion, aiming to strengthen its analytics platform with technology that can help businesses develop and use artificial intelligence agents more easily.
💰 Funding announcement highlights
PhaseV, a Boston and Israeli startup that uses machine learning to help pharmaceutical companies design and analyze adaptive clinical trials, raised a $50 million Series A round. Accel and Insight Partners were the co-led, with previous investors Viola Ventures, EXOR, and LionBird also joining.
ClearVector, a startup building software that helps organizations monitor account activity and block threats before they spread, raised a $13 million Series A. Scale Venture Partners was the main investor with Okta Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and Menlo Ventures contributing.
Sequen, a newly founded New York startup helping consumer-facing companies personalize recommendations, search, and discovery features based on how users interact in real-time, raised a $6 million seed round. Greycroft led the deal, with Vinyl VC and Correlation Ventures also investing.
Usul, a startup developing AI-powered software to help defense contractors discover and win government contracts, raised a $3.3 million seed. Scout Ventures led the round, with BVVC, Teamworthy Ventures, True Ventures, and Y Combinator also joining.
Realta Fusion, startup a developing compact fusion reactors that generate heat and electricity for industrial applications, raised a $36 million Series B. Future Ventures was the main investor with Avila VC, GSBackers, Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, SiteGround, TitletownTech, and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation contributing.
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📚 Interesting reads of the week
In case you missed it, Y Combinator dropped its 2025 wishlist last week, calling it the “year of AI agents.” They want founders building everything from AI tutors to voice bots and healthcare automation tools. If you have a big idea, now is the time to get in.
In more YC news, the accelerator is launching its first AI Startup School in San Francisco on June 16 and 17. Big names like Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman will speak to 2,500 hand-picked tech students. No wonder it is set to be the hottest event for the future of AI.
According to Crunchbase, at the current pace it will take 30 years for all U.S. unicorns to exit. Big deals like Google’s $32 billion bid for Wiz and CoreWeave’s blockbuster IPO give hope, but many unicorns are still stuck waiting. The tech IPO market remains mostly frozen for now.
The label "Tier 1" in venture capital has less to do with proven returns and more to do with brand power. Strong storytelling and audience building often give funds early access to the best deals before performance data is even available. In today's VC world, brand is the new edge.
AI scams are spreading fast, turning every online interaction into a potential trap. From fake job interviews to deepfake video calls, criminals are using cutting-edge tech to fool even the most careful. Welcome to an era where proving you are real has become a daily struggle.
The venture capital world is facing some major changes as AI tools rapidly reduce the need for large software engineering teams. Investors are now racing to find startups tackling hard problems where real friction still exists. The future of VC may depend on who solves what is toughest to build and sell.
Palmer Luckey revealed he has been part of an exclusive group chat for over a decade, open only to founders who have sold their companies for at least $1 billion. The Oculus founder says the chat is a place where wealthy entrepreneurs swap ideas and challenge each other on how they use their fortunes.
Design icon Jony Ive joined Stripe CEO Patrick Collison on stage at Stripe Sessions in San Francisco. Design, innovation, and shaping the future were some of the topics discussed during the conversation.
💪Tech mafia of the week
Highlights:
💰 Most money raised: Jumia Group
🤑 Total money raised by the L’Oréal Mafia: $2.1 billion
Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard
The L’Oréal alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 48th spot on our leaderboard, with 90 companies founded and $2.1 billion raised.
PS: Are you a L'Oréal 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
The angels shaping the future of tech.
These 18 investors have quietly backed nearly 4,500 startups, from seed-stage experiments to future unicorns.
Some are founders themselves. Others are operators turned angels.
All of them?
Gateways to capital, community, and compounding
— PIN (@getpinxyz)
12:59 PM • May 12, 2025
💼 Who’s hiring in VC?
Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.
3M Ventures is looking for a VC Manager.
B Capital is looking for a Capital Formation Associate.
Entrepreneur First is looking for a Fundraising Associate.
Factor is looking for a VC Fellowship.
SkiesFifty is looking for a VC Associate.
📠 Fun fact of the week
The U.S. government encouraged VC investment in technology as part of its competition with the Soviet Union, leading to a boom in innovation and entrepreneurship after the 1950s.
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