PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
August 01, 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

Harmonic just launched a mobile chatbot powered by its math-focused AI model, Aristotle. The startup claims the tool gives “hallucination-free” answers in areas like physics, stats, and computer science. Backed by $100 million in fresh funding, the company aims to bring mathematical superintelligence to the mainstream.

Tacora Capital has raised $685 million to ramp up lending to startups, with backing from Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Joe Lonsdale. The firm, led by ex-Third Point partner Keri Findley, specializes in venture debt for high-growth companies. Its first fund posted a 32% net return, drawing strong interest beyond its $500 million target.

Meta will now allow some candidates to use AI tools during coding interviews. The move reflects how deeply AI is shaping the day-to-day work of engineers. It also signals a shift in hiring: knowing how to work with AI is becoming just as important as knowing how to code.

Ramp just secured $500 million, its second massive raise in under a month, bringing its valuation to $22.5 billion. The fintech is leaning hard into AI, launching autonomous agents that now manage expenses, travel and invoicing. With over 40,000 customers and growing cash flow, Ramp is speeding ahead while the rest of fintech hits the brakes.

Figma Inc.’s US initial public offering is approaching 40 times oversubscribed, according to people familiar with the matter, as the design and collaboration software company heads for what could be the year’s most in-demand listing.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Julius AI, a San Francisco startup building an AI-powered data analyst for knowledge workers, raised a $10 million seed round. Bessemer Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Horizon VC, AI Grant, and 8VC were part of the investors, along with angels from Notion, Vercel, Replit, and other top tech companies.

Fable Security, a San Francisco-based human risk management platform, raised $31 million in funding with Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures backing the round.

E2B, a San Francisco startup offering open-source cloud infrastructure for AI agents, raised a $21 million Series A round. Insight Partners led the investment, with Decibel, Sunflower Capital, Kaya, and several angel investors also joining.

BlinkOps, a San Francisco-based startup helping companies automate security workflows through custom micro-agents, raised a $50 million Series B round. O.G. Venture Partners led the deal, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Hetz Ventures, and Vertex Growth also participating.

Prophet Security, a Menlo Park-based startup developing an agentic AI platform for security operations centers, raised a $30 million Series A round. Accel led the investment, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures.

📚 Interesting reads of the week

Seed funds are at a turning point. Pushed by Y Combinator on one side and mega-funds on the other, they’re losing ground in an AI-driven market obsessed with power laws and trillion-dollar dreams. As valuations climb and exits slow down, many seed VCs are struggling to stay relevant.

Palantir just cracked the top 20 most valuable U.S. companies, beating out giants like Home Depot and Coca-Cola. Its stock has more than doubled this year, fueled by booming AI demand and strong government contracts. Revenue from U.S. federal agencies jumped 45% last quarter alone. But with sky-high valuations, investors are paying a steep premium.

Investors are suddenly pulling out of AI

Despite record-breaking funding in 2025, investors are starting to back away from AI. Exits are piling up, but most are low-value deals that fall short of big returns. Warnings of an AI bubble are growing louder, with some comparing it to the dot-com crash. Even giants like Microsoft are hitting pause.

Five years ago, data looked like the next big VC bet but the reality didn’t deliver. Despite AI and cloud adoption, the market for buying data hasn’t grown as fast as expected. Data businesses are profitable, but they scale slowly and don’t match the fast-growth model VCs seek. Turns out, DaaS is built for private equity, not venture capital.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Coinlist

🤑 Total money raised by the AngelList Mafia: $555 million

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The AngelList alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 90th spot on our leaderboard, with 43 companies founded and $555 million raised.

PS: Are you an AngelList 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.

Electric Capital is looking for an IR Associate.

Sorenson Capital is looking for a VC Partner.

Workday is looking for a Manager of Corporate Development.

Cerity Partners is looking for a VC Associate.

Fidelity is looking for a VC Director.

📌 Introducing PinPoint - Get paid to refer your friends to great jobs

Want to earn thousands of dollars for referring candidates to top companies? Sign up to PinPoint.

📠 Fun fact of the week

In the 1970s, when FedEx was facing bankruptcy, the company’s founder, Frederick Smith, took their last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 playing blackjack, allowing FedEx to keep operating, today it is worth billions.