PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
May 02, 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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📌 Special announcement: 

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📰 This week’s best news

IBM just made a massive bet on America's tech future. The company will invest $150 billion over five years, with $30 billion set aside for building mainframe and quantum computers in the U.S. The move aligns with recent government efforts to boost domestic manufacturing and keep America competitive in AI and advanced computing.

The startup world is watching closely as ex-OpenAI talent builds the future, one audacious bet at a time. From billion-dollar rivals like Anthropic and Perplexity to carbon-sucking plants and robot butlers, these founders are riding the AI wave with massive backing, often raising billions without a product.

With $90 billion under management and a laser focus on software, Insight Partners has quietly become the most dominant VC firm in New York. As it turns 30, the firm’s network of alumni and active investors is investing across the U.S. and beyond.

Altman and Nadella, who ignited the modern AI boom together, are drifting apart

Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Satya Nadella (Microsoft), a duo who reshaped the AI industry together, are now clashing over control, strategy, and independence. While Microsoft is backing its own models and reducing reliance on OpenAI, OpenAI pushes to restructure and chase AGI on its own terms. Tensions are high, and both CEOs are preparing for futures where they may no longer need each other.

Spotify kicked off the year strong, adding 5 million new premium subscribers in Q1 and reporting record operating income. While it fell short of its own forecast, the platform is doubling down on video podcasts and AI-generated playlists to stay ahead of the competition.

According to a new, brow-raising WSJ report, Tesla’s board quietly began searching for Elon Musk’s potential successor about a month ago, approaching executive search firms as the carmaker faced protests, plummeting sales, and shrinking profits while Musk waded into Washington to slash government spending.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Hopper, a startup building open-source software tools to help companies manage security risks from third-party libraries and dependencies, raised a $7.6 million seed round. The deal was co-led by Meron Capital and New Era, with Sequoia Scout Fund and M-Fund also joining.

Cheehoo, a seven-year-old Australian startup developing AI-powered tools to help studios and creators rapidly prototype, iterate, and produce animated content, raised a $10 million seed round. Greycroft was the main investor, with Point72 Ventures, Basis Set, Headline Asia, Powerhouse Capital, Playground Productions, and Rideback also participating.

Minimus, a three-year-old hybrid startup helping enterprises detect and prevent software vulnerabilities earlier in the development process, raised a $51 million round. YL Ventures and Mayfield were the co-leds.

Veza, a startup building an identity security platform to help companies control and monitor access to sensitive data and critical systems across cloud, SaaS, and on-prem environments, raised a $108 million Series D. NEA led the round, with Atlassian Ventures, Workday Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Accel, GV, True Ventures, Norwest, Ballistic Ventures, JPMorgan, and Blackstone also showing up.

Lightrun, a startup providing developer observability tools to help engineering teams monitor, debug, and secure live applications without leaving the developer’s coding environment, raised a $70 million Series B. Accel and Lightspeed were the co-leds, with Citi, Glilot Capital, GTM Capital, and Sorenson Capital also joining.

Reducto, a platform for unlocking unstructured data for AI pipelines, announced that it has raised a $24.5M series A round of funding led by Benchmark, alongside existing investors First Round Capital, BoxGroup and Y Combinator. This follows the company's October 2024 seed round of $8.4M and brings its total funding to date to $32.9M.

🧠 PIN's wisdom nugget of the week

 📚 Interesting reads of the week

More young men across the U.S. are skipping college, not out of laziness, but out of calculation. High tuition, a cultural push toward immediate income, and growing skepticism toward higher education are driving the shift. Social media influencers, economic pressures, and a desire to “get to work” are shaping a new path where trade schools, blue-collar jobs, and alternative credentials feel more accessible than four-year degrees.

Roelof Botha, Sequoia’s Managing Partner, unpacks what it really takes to back legendary companies. From why excess capital stifles innovation to how clear thinking beats hype, this episode of The Generalist is a deep dive into building for the long game.

Basically all the money in venture is in the SF Bay Area now

Despite the rise of remote startups, venture capital has re-concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially with the explosion of AI. Mega deals like OpenAI and Databricks are driving the trend, but even beyond AI, nearly 50% of all VC dollars now land in the Bay.

According to Auren Hoffman, founder CEOs are routinely paid a fraction of what outside CEOs make, even after building the company and fully vesting their initial equity. Most VCs resist giving equity refreshes, but Hoffman calls it “short-term greedy” and warns it’s hurting motivation and retention. His take? If founders built the company, they shouldn’t be making less than the office snack manager.

The old startup playbook, raise big, grow fast, exit big, is starting to look outdated. AI is enabling leaner, faster, and more profitable startups that need less capital and fewer people to scale. Some founders are asking: why raise VC at all when you can grow through revenue or debt and keep your company?

Just two days after launching a GPT-4o update meant to improve “personality,” OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman admitted the chatbot had gone too far, becoming overly flattering and even irresponsible. Users shared examples where GPT-4o praised delusional or dangerous statements instead of flagging concerns. Altman called it “too sycophant-y and annoying” and promised fixes are on the way. The update sparked questions about AI safety, tone, and the real risks of emotionally reactive bots.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: X (formerly Twitter)

🤑 Total money raised by the Medium Mafia: $14 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The Medium alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 25th spot on our leaderboard, with 32 companies founded and $14 billion raised.

PS: Are you a Medium 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.

Seattle’s Childrens is looking for a VC Manager.

Singtel Innov8 Ventures is looking for a VC Associate.

Schrodinger is looking for a VC Director.

Elm Street Ventures is looking for a VC Partner.

Addepar is looking for a VC Associate.

📠 Fun fact of the week

Since 1974, 42% of companies that have gone public in the U.S. had venture backing, showing VC’s outsized influence on the business landscape.

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