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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

Goldman Sachs has agreed to buy San Francisco–based Industry Ventures for $965 million, with $665 million paid upfront and up to $300 million tied to future performance. The acquisition, expected to close in early 2026, will bring all 45 Industry Ventures employees into Goldman’s asset management division.

Ron Conway, the founder of venture firm SV Angel, known for its early investments into Google, Airbnb, and Meta, has resigned from the Salesforce Foundation, the New York Times reported.

Fitness app Strava is reportedly preparing for a public listing. CEO Michael Martin said the company, last valued at $2.2 billion, plans to raise capital for acquisitions as it continues rapid growth. Strava now counts 50 million monthly users and reports an 80% jump in downloads year over year. Its success is fueled by a Gen Z shift toward alcohol-free socializing and the rise of running clubs as community hubs.

Payroll startup Deel raised $300 million in a funding round, led by new investor Ribbit Capital alongside existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue Management, valuing the company at $17.3 billion. The San Francisco, California-based company said it plans to use the fresh capital for acquisitions and expand its payroll infrastructure with a goal of offering native payroll in more than 100 countries by 2029.

JPMorganChase unveiled a 10-year, $1.5 trillion plan to strengthen U.S. economic security by financing and investing in critical industries. The initiative includes up to $10 billion in direct equity and venture investments targeting sectors like defense, clean energy, and frontier technologies. The goal is to reduce dependence on unreliable sources and boost innovation, manufacturing, and supply chain resilience.

Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, reportedly has left the AI startup to join Meta Platforms. His exit follows Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s earlier attempts to acquire the startup and recruit several of its employees. The report says Tulloch’s deal could be worth up to $1.5 billion over six years, underscoring Meta’s push to close the AI talent gap after the weak performance of its Llama 4 model.

DVC’s AI stack now automates all core venture workflows — from sourcing and due diligence to portfolio monitoring — enabling the firm to operate without analysts. Instead, DVC effectively “hires” 170 founders-turned-funders from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, SpaceX, Perplexity AI, and other top AI companies. They source new deals and actively support the growth of 120 portfolio companies with hiring, sales, product, and strategic connections — and earning a share of carried interest in return.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Trove AI, a San Francisco startup building AI agents for private equity workflows, raised a $7.1 million seed. The deal was led by Menlo Ventures, with Khosla Ventures also joining.

ClaimSorted, a startup providing an AI-enabled service to streamline insurance claims, raised a $13.3 million seed round. Atomico was the main investor, with Eurazeo, Y Combinator, Firstminute Capital, and Start Ventures also showing up.

Flint, a San Francisco startup building AI tools to autonomously generate and update websites, raised a $5 million seed. Accel led the deal, with Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners and previous investor Neo also participating.

Epiminds, a newly founded startup developing AI agents to automate marketing analytics and campaign optimization, raised a $6.6 million seed. Lightspeed Venture Partners was the main investor, with EWOR and Entourage also joining.

Altitude, a New York healthcare startup using AI to support and train nurse practitioners in clinical decision-making, raised a $5.4 million round. Lerer Hippeau led the deal.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

This profile traces Joshua Kushner’s rise from a New Jersey kid with entrepreneurial roots to founder of Thrive Capital, now managing more than $25 billion. Known for bold, intuitive bets, Kushner backed OpenAI, Stripe, Instagram, and Spotify long before they became giants.

Crunchbase data shows a growing group of startups racing from Series A to Series C in record time, with some completing all three rounds in under a year. Generative AI leads the pack, with companies like Anysphere, Cognition, and Fal raising hundreds of millions in rapid succession. Other fast climbers include fintech firms Kapital and Finom, spacetech players Impulse Space and Apex Space, and robotics startup Figure. The trend highlights how investor enthusiasm, especially around AI and automation, is accelerating fundraising cycles across industries.

Notation Capital’s Nicholas Chirls argues that intelligence and taste are no longer true differentiators in venture investing but courage is. Chirls points to bold moves like Founders Fund and Thrive taking risks others avoided, and his own firm backing Ethereum early. Few investors show this kind of conviction these days, as most firms prioritize safety, consensus, and survival over brave, independent thinking.

Continuation funds, long used in private equity, are now gaining traction in venture capital as firms seek new ways to provide liquidity to investors. VCs are turning to these vehicles because M&A and IPO exits are no longer enough. Smaller and mid-sized firms are joining early adopters like General Catalyst and Insight Partners, using continuation funds to extend ownership in top-performing assets. The trend is here to stay as venture capital faces mounting pressure to generate exits in an increasingly crowded market.

In a new episode of Bloomberg’s “Leaders with Francine Lacqua,” Ray Dalio, the American billionaire investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist, reflects on his career, philosophy, and the lessons behind building one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Filmed aboard OceanX in Nice during the UN Ocean Conference, the conversation explores transparency, leadership, and the global debt challenges shaping today’s economy.

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian said the internet has become “botted” and “quasi-AI,” arguing that genuine human interaction is disappearing online. Ohanian predicted a new wave of social platforms focused on verifiable human activity as users retreat to smaller, more authentic spaces like group chats. The future of online connection will depend on “proof of life.”

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Twilio

🤑 Total money raised by the StubHub Mafia: $2.7 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The StubHub alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 47th spot on our leaderboard, with 47 companies founded and $2.7 billion raised.

PS: Are you a StubHub 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?

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📌 PIN tweet of the week

💼 Who’s hiring in VC?

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

NewSpace Capital is looking for a VC Principal

Golden Falcon Capital is looking for a Senior VC Associate

Working Capital Fund is looking for a Senior VC Analyst

Entrepreneur First is looking for a VC Associate

Samsung is looking for a VC Investor

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📠 Fun fact of the week

Steve Jobs used phone swapping to make early iPhone demos look smoother.