PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
December 06, 2024

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!

If you’re receiving this, it’s because you’ve signed up for our waitlist and/or for newsletter updates.

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📰 This week’s best news

Brian Singerman, a longtime general partner at Founders Fund, announced he is stepping down to become partner emeritus, continuing as an investor and strategic advisor. Known for championing the firm’s investments in SpaceX and defense-tech companies like Anduril, Singerman's departure leaves Founders Fund with three general partners: Peter Thiel, Napoleon Ta, and Trae Stephens.

YC kicked off the IRL return of Demo Day at the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend, with an in-person Alumni Demo Day on Sunday for the Fall 2024 class of startups.

Alex Mashinsky, former CEO of Celsius, has pleaded guilty to fraud and market manipulation charges, agreeing to a 30-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal. Mashinsky admitted to misleading customers and artificially inflating the value of Celsius’ token, CEL, to profit personally and enhance the platform’s financial position.

RTFKT, the NFT project known for its digital sneaker ventures, announced its shutdown, planning to wind down operations by January 2025 while keeping its Ethereum-based tokens accessible. Acquired by Nike in 2021 to bolster its metaverse presence, RTFKT experienced early success with collaborations and innovative NFT drops, including the highly profitable CloneX collection.

OpenAI announced the hiring of three senior engineers from Google DeepMind—Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—to join its new Zurich office, focusing on multimodal AI research. The company, known for pioneering advances in multimodal AI with tools like Dall-E and ChatGPT, has been expanding its capabilities to include voice, image, and video functionality.

Bitcoin surpassed the $100,000 mark for the first time, driven by expectations of crypto-friendly policies under the Trump administration and investor interest in diversifying from a booming stock market. This milestone reflects a staggering 127% increase from its value a year ago, boosted earlier in the year by the approval of exchange-traded funds that linked traditional finance to cryptocurrency.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Lica, a startup that uses AI to enable users to create personalized product videos and presentations by recording their screens, and enhancing them through editing and polishing, raised a $4 million seed. The round was led by Accel, with South Park Commons, Village Global, and Balaji Srinivasan also joining.

MakersHub, a startup offering an accounts payable platform that automates bill data entry and streamlines approval processes, raised a $7 million seed round. The deal was co-led by QED Investors and TTV Capital were, with TRB Advisors and previous investor Dash Fund also contributing.

Vooma, a startup providing AI-powered tools that help freight brokers and carriers automate tasks like processing orders and generating price quotes, raised a $13 million Series A round. Craft Ventures was the main investor.

NetBird, a startup developing an open-source network security platform designed to provide secure and efficient remote access to IT infrastructure, raised a $4.2 million seed round. InReach Ventures and previous investor Nauta, co-led the deal, with Antler also contributing.

Acceleron Fusion, a startup developing clean energy systems using muon-catalyzed fusion technology, raised a $24 million Series A. The round was co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Collaborative Fund.

🎙️ Inside the Deal

PIN 🤝 Sandhill Markets.

PIN's team has partnered up with Sandhill Markets to bring you a brand new podcast called Inside the Deal.

Listen to the latest episode where we dive deep into how to align your fundraising efforts with a VC's “sweet spot”!

Key takeaways:

  • build momentum

  • use CRM tools effectively,

  • and strategically manage timing for a successful fundraising process.

Tune in on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

2020–2022, marked by low interest rates during the ZIRP era, were incredible years for digital health funding, with 64 new unicorns, 91% of which remain operational today. While the market has since tightened, with funding halving from 2021's $29.2 billion peak, one-third of these companies have secured additional funding, and a few are pursuing IPOs or have achieved significant exits.

Consumer technology evolves in cycles of rapid innovation followed by adaptation, with each phase building on the last, accelerating adoption rates. Artificial intelligence, led by breakthroughs like ChatGPT, is now defining a new consumer supercycle, delivering rapid growth and reshaping industries such as media, healthcare, gaming, and finance.

Soo…Forbes has unveiled its 14th annual 30 Under 30 List for the Class of 2025. This year’s list marks the largest representation of Gen Z honorees, who make up 50% of the cohort, reflecting their growing influence in fields like AI, technology, and social media.

Every great company starts simple: Amazon, Robinhood, and Square all grew from focused beginnings. A reminder that innovation evolves one step at a time.

Shaan Puri’s latest excellent podcast episode on AI agents (plus notes so you don’t have to listen ;)) with HubSpot’s co-founder Dharmesh. Worth checking out!

No to spreadsheets 🚩 🚩 🚩

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: incident.io

🤑 Total money raised by the Monzo Mafia: $2 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard


The Monzo alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 45th spot on leaderboard, with 23 companies founded and $2 billion raised.

PS: Are you a Monzo 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.

Forum Ventures is looking for an IR Associate.

Playground Global is looking for a VC Associate.

Vectors Capital is looking for a VC Fellowship.

Stealth Fund is looking for a VC Associate.

Thrive Capital is looking for a VC Fellowship.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The term "computer bug" comes from an incident in 1947 when a team of engineers encountered a problem while working on the Harvard Mark II. 

Want to learn more about investing in startups with your community through PIN’s platform? Simply reply to this email.