PIN

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

General Catalyst is set to launch a new investment vehicle called a "continuation fund," expected to be valued between $800 million and $1 billion. This fund consists of selected ownership stakes in the firm's portfolio companies. As of 2023, General Catalyst managed around $25 billion in assets, though the specific investments for the continuation fund are still being determined.

Interlagos, the venture capital firm started by former senior SpaceX leaders, is looking to raise $550 million for its first venture fund, according to regulatory filings and a confidential deck sent to prospective LPs. El Segundo, California-based Interlagos is broadly targeting startups across “deep tech” sectors.

Elon Musk showcased a robotaxi with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals at a splashy event on Thursday and added a robovan to the roster as Tesla's goal shifts from low-priced mass-market automaker to robotics manufacturer.

NFX, a venture capital firm, recently let go of four employees as part of an effort to shift its focus. The move was aimed at redistributing resources from the software and product teams to bolster the investing team. Additionally, about a week before this news, Amy Lin, who had served as the chief product officer since 2017, announced her departure from the firm via a LinkedIn post.

OpenAI is pursuing a largely untested corporate structure to defend itself from hostile takeovers and protect chief executive Sam Altman from outsider interference. The artificial intelligence start-up, which last week secured $6.6bn in new funding, is planning to restructure as a public benefit corporation, a new and rare type of company model also adopted by AI rivals including Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI.

Khosla Ventures partner Sandhya Venkatachalam, who invests in AI and machine learning startups, has left the Bay Area firm to launch Axiom, a new VC firm that is targeting $50 million for its debut fund. Axiom Partners I will invest across pre-seed and seed “mission-driven” AI companies, Venkatachalam said, with checks between $100,000 and $1 million.

The billionaire co-founder of Robinhood Markets Inc. is targeting outer space with a new Silicon Valley startup to build a network of solar power stations in orbit. Baiju Bhatt, who stepped down as the online brokerage’s chief creative officer in March, is the founder and chief executive officer of Aetherflux, which aims to create a constellation of satellites that will collect solar power.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Avarra, a California startup that simulates realistic customer interactions using 3D avatars and large language models, allowing salespeople to practice and strengthen their skills, raised an $8 million seed round. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the deal, which also included GTM Fund and Firsthand Alliance. 

Clout Kitchen, a recently founded startup that creates AI-powered tools for gaming content creators, such as an in-game assistant that offers real-time advice on gameplay and strategy, raised a $4.5 million seed. Andreessen Horowitz and Peak XV co-led the round with AppWorks, Antler, Hustle Fund, Founders Launchpad, and Orvel Ventures also taking part.

Voyage AI, a startup aiming to reduce hallucinations in generative AI systems by enhancing how AI retrieves and uses information from large datasets, raised a $20 million Series A round. CRV was the main investor, with Snowflake, Databricks, and Pear VC as well as previous investors Wing VC and Conviction also joining.

Valdera, a startup building an AI-driven platform that helps manufacturers source chemicals and raw materials, raised a $15 million Series A. The round included Index Ventures, Susa Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Box Group.

AirOps, a San Francisco startup helping marketers and content teams automate and scale the creation of SEO-driven content using AI-powered workflows, raised a $15.5 million Series A round. Unusual VC led the deal, with Wing VC, Founder Collective, XFund, and Alt Capital also joining.

🎙️ Something New Podcast

Season 2 is back! In case you missed it, PIN’s founder Steph Mui hosts a weekly podcast with Leeor Mushin, where you can hear about some of the craziest founder stories out there.

In this week’s episode of Something New, they kick things off with a special appearance from Joel Lowinger, Leeor’s former co-founder and the founder of Human Fountains, who shares how his quirky, viral act landed him on America’s Got Talent and how he turned something unconventional into a creative entrepreneurial journey.

They are then joined by Jacob Jaber, CEO of Philz Coffee, who shares the journey of turning his family’s local coffee shop into a beloved national brand. Jacob talks about the importance of maintaining authenticity while scaling, lessons learned along the way, and how community remains at the heart of Philz’s success.

Not to be missed!

📚 Interesting reads of the week

In Q3 2024, IPO activity faced increased market volatility amid a complex economic and geopolitical environment. Despite this, the Americas and EMEIA regions showed resilience, with EMEIA’s IPO proceeds increasing by 45% compared to the previous year. More on this in the EY Global IPO Trends Q3 2024 report.

Sequoia Capital is one of the most successful and influential venture capital companies in Silicon Valley history, but it has come under pressure from global economic uncertainty, geopolitics and boardroom battles. Can Sequoia adapt in a fast-changing world?

The third quarter saw a downturn in venture capital-backed public offerings, largely due to tech startups' hesitancy to enter the public market. According to Renaissance Capital, a firm specializing in pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs, venture-backed firms raised only $1.1 billion through eight initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges during this period. This represents the lowest quarterly proceeds of the year and a 50% drop compared to the same quarter last year.

Generative AI apps have three core use cases with strong product-market fit today: search, synthesis, and generation. But the promise of generative AI extends far beyond this first wave of core use cases. We’re already seeing leading app builders build solutions to take on workflows that previously could only be solved by armies of humans.

This thought-provoking essay argues that success in modern society has become overly reliant on “playbooks”: formulaic approaches to achievement that stifle creativity and genuine passion.  True breakthroughs and meaningful work come from creativity, passion, and originality, qualities that cannot be reduced to a playbook. Time to “burn the playbooks”. 

A new wave of investors is emerging in New York City, hailing from prominent venture firms like Female Founders Fund and Lerer Hippeau. These young professionals, under 30, are focused on growth, consumer, and health sectors. Outside of work, they enjoy outdoor activities like canoeing, hiking, and pickleball. Here’s who is on the list so far.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Gogoro

🤑 Total money raised by the University of Washington Mafia: $54 billion

Weekly tech mafia leaderboard

The UW alumni network has built some amazing companies, so we took a look at the top companies.

The University of Washington takes the 6th spot, with 2,064 companies founded and $54 billion raised.

PS: Are you a UW employee/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.

AirTree Ventures is looking for Head of Finance.

Slow Ventures is looking for an Associate.

Erez Capital is looking for a Venture Partner.

Triatomic Capital is looking for an Investment Principal.

📠 Fun fact of the week

TechCrunch was started as a simple blog by Michael Arrington and Keith Teare in 2005. The blog was originally meant to cover startup companies and their products, but it quickly grew into a tech media powerhouse.

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