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A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Power in Numbers
August 29, 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

Vercel is raising new funding at $9B valuation amid AI growth

Front-end development startup Vercel Inc. is reportedly raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding. Sources told Bloomberg today that Accel is leading the investment. The cash infusion is expected to value Vercel at about $9 billion, nearly triple what it was worth following its most recent $250 million raise last May. That funding round was also led by Accel.

Klarna to seek valuation of up to $14 billion in IPO next month, sources say

Klarna is reviving its U.S. IPO with a target valuation between $13 billion and $14 billion. The Swedish fintech aims to raise about $1 billion, pricing shares at $34 to $36. That represents a sharp fall from the nearly $50 billion valuation it once sought, but still marks a major step as markets warm back up.

Netskope files to go public on Nasdaq

Cloud security firm Netskope has filed for an IPO, revealing $616 million in sales for the year ended July 31, 2025. The Santa Clara–based company is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, ICONIQ, and Accel. Its listing will be closely watched as one of the biggest cybersecurity debuts of the year.

Apple still debating Mistral and Perplexity M&A amid looming Google Search shakeup

Apple is weighing potential acquisitions of AI firms Perplexity and Mistral as pressure builds around its Google Search deal. Eddy Cue is reportedly pushing hardest for a bold move, while Craig Federighi argues Apple can build its own way out of the AI gap. Tim Cook is cautious. The debate highlights Apple’s struggle to balance in-house development with the need to catch up fast in AI.

Elon Musk takes aim at Bill Gates’ Microsoft with new AI venture “Macrohard”

Elon Musk has launched Macrohard, an AI-driven software company under xAI, with the goal of building hundreds of specialized coding and generative AI agents. The venture is tied to Musk’s Colossus 2 supercomputer project in Memphis, which is rapidly expanding with millions of Nvidia GPUs. Musk says speed will be the company’s edge, aiming to rival Microsoft by recreating its products with AI.

Researchers are already leaving Meta’s new Superintelligence Lab

At least three artificial intelligence researchers have resigned from Meta’s new superintelligence lab, just two months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg first announced the initiative. Two of the staffers have returned to OpenAI, where they both previously worked, after less than one-month stints at Meta, WIRED has confirmed.

Nvidia reports record sales as the AI boom continues

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, reported another quarter of sustained sales growth in its earnings statement Wednesday, with $46.7 billion in revenue, a 56% increase compared to the same period last year. That growth was largely fueled by AI-dominated data center business, which saw a 56% year-over-year increase in revenue.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Attio, a London-based AI-native CRM platform, raised $52 million in Series B funding. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures) with Redpoint Ventures, Balderton Capital, Point Nine and 01A, also joining.

Aurasell, a two-year-old startup developing customer relationship management software built with AI to consolidate sales and marketing tools into one system, raised a $30 million seed round. N47, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures were part of the investors.

Eyebot, a startup that operates self-service kiosks offering 90-second vision tests that generate doctor-verified prescriptions, raised a $20 million Series A. The round was led by General Catalyst, AlleyCorp, Baukunst, Village Global, Humba Venture, Ravelin, and Ubiquity Ventures also contributing.

Nest Health, a startup that delivers in-home and virtual medical, behavioral, and social care for families on Medicaid, raised a $12.5 million Series A. Previous investors 8VC and Blue Venture Fund co-led the round, with Amboy Street Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Health 2047 also joining.

The Clearing Company, a startup building a new kind of prediction market - onchain, permissionless and regulated, raised a $15 million seed round led by USV, with participation from Haun Ventures, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, Compound, Rubik, Earl Grey, Cursor Capital, Asylum, Terrance Rohan, Soleio, Furqan Rydhan, Bill Lee, Henri Stern, Elena Nadolinski, Jonah Van Bourg, Ben Levy, and other amazing angel investors.

InstaLILY AI, a New York City-based platform for hiring AI teammates, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Perceptive Ventures and Marvin Ventures.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

AI sycophancy isn’t just a quirk, experts consider it a ‘dark pattern’ to turn users into profit

Researchers are warning that flattery and the use of “I” and “you” make chatbots highly persuasive. Although psychiatrists are seeing more cases of AI-induced psychosis, safeguards remain weak. The core risk: chatbots are built to keep people engaged, even if that means manipulating the vulnerable.

Capital and industry: Why AI's moat is capital

The AI race has become a pure contest of capital. Foundation model leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic are raising tens of billions while Big Tech commits $70 billion - $100 billion each year to stay ahead. Smaller challengers are effectively locked out unless they can tap nation-scale funding. For investors, the message is: the winners are already set, and the game is now about who gets to superintelligence first.

Just people in a room

Lucas Pierce shares hard lessons from the tech trenches, from toxic leadership to his own crash-out moments. What starts as war stories about “others” always ends with the reminder that we’re all just people trying to figure it out. Growth comes from humility, reflection, and helping others learn from our failures.

An obligation to independence

For founders independence is a rare privilege. It gives you the freedom to test weird ideas, back experiments, and say yes when others would say no. Public companies can’t take those risks, but you can. If you’re not using that freedom, you’re missing one of the best parts of building a business.

You will never have enough

Leaders often feel trapped by not having enough time, people, or money. But those constraints are exactly what force creativity and sharpen focus. Scarcity can drive discipline, speed, and innovation. Instead of wishing for more, see the limits as your hidden advantage.

Is venture broken? What 2,000+ priced early-stage rounds tell us about the state of Seed & Series A

Mega-funds are showing up earlier, driving bigger checks and higher valuations at Seed and Series A. But Sapphire’s new analysis finds boutique funds are still leading most smaller and mid-sized rounds. The early-stage market isn’t collapsing, it’s just getting tougher. Picking right has never mattered more for GPs, LPs, and founders alike.

AI’s labor impact, and how to not lose our minds

A new Stanford study shows AI is already reshaping entry-level jobs in fields like software development and customer service. Early-career workers are seeing declines while older peers hold steady or even gain ground. The findings suggest automation, not augmentation, is driving the split. The question now is which industries are next in line for disruption.

💪Tech mafia of the week

The Intel Mafia

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Ampere Computing

🤑 Total money raised by the Intel Mafia: $19 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The Intel alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 17th spot on our leaderboard, with 650 companies founded and $19 billion raised.

PS: Are you an Intel 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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