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A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders
Power in Numbers
May 09, 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
Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year and used his final shareholder meeting to slam U.S. tariffs, saying they threaten prosperity at home and abroad. He urged America to stop using trade as a weapon and warned of economic fallout already hitting Berkshire’s profits.
When Bill and Melinda French Gates created the Gates Foundation in 2000, they had planned for the organization to continue its work, using their remaining fortune, for several decades after they died. But now, the billionaire Microsoft founder says he doesn’t want to wait that long to give away most of his wealth.
Coatue is launching a new tech fund with backing from Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell's family offices, seeding it with $1 billion. The fund targets high-growth public and private tech companies and is open to individuals with a minimum investment of $50,000.
OpenAI is acquiring Windsurf, an AI coding tool formerly known as Codeium, in a $3 billion deal. This marks OpenAI's biggest acquisition yet and signals a push to compete more aggressively in the growing market for AI-powered developer tools.
JetBlue sold its venture capital arm to Sky Leasing as part of a bigger strategy to cut costs and refocus on its core airline business. The company has been struggling with rising expenses and a stock drop of over 40% since 2024.
Trading platform eToro is considering kicking off its US IPO as early as next week, after pausing plans due to market volatility triggered by Trump’s tariff announcements. The company pulled in $931 million in commissions last year and could soon join Robinhood on the Nasdaq under the symbol ETOR.
Elon Musk isn't backing down from his lawsuit against OpenAI, even after the company said its nonprofit arm will stay in charge. His lawyer says the changes are just window dressing and don’t fix what Musk sees as a profit grab benefiting Sam Altman and Microsoft.
💰 Funding announcement highlights
Statsig, a startup helping companies building digital products make faster, data-driven decisions by testing features and measuring their impact with real-time data and AI, raised a $100 million Series C. Iconiq Growth led the round, with previous investors Sequoia and Madrona also joining.
Wonder, a New York startup operating hybrid food halls and cloud kitchens, raised a $600 million round. NEA was the main investor, with Accel, GV, Forerunner Ventures, and Amex Ventures also showing up.
Hilo, a startup developing wearable devices for continuous, cuffless blood pressure monitoring, raised a $42 million Series B round. Earlybird Health and Wellington Partners co-led the deal, with Kfund and naturalX Health Ventures as well as previous investors redalpine, Khosla Ventures, Molten Ventures, Translink Capital, and Verve Ventures also showing up.
Recraft, a startup using AI to generate and edit high-quality vector illustrations and icons for designers and marketing teams using its red_panda model, raised a $30 million Series B. Accel led the round, with Khosla Ventures and Madrona also investing.
Trilobio, a San Francisco startup building an AI-powered robotic “lab-in-a-box” that automates biology research workflows, raised an $8 million seed round. Initialized Capital was the main investor, with Argon Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital also contributing.
📌 Special announcement
PIN is launching an investor database. Currently in beta mode, but we’d love to give our community of subscribers early access to try it out. PIN’s investor database is the best way to find angel investors & VCs who are actively investing, relevant to your stage/industry, and recommended by top VC-backed founders.
📚 Interesting reads of the week
Two underdog founders went from maxed-out credit cards to raising $2.8 million after a viral tweet showcased their no-code mobile app builder. With backing from a16z and others, Rork is now pulling in serious revenue and proving how fast things can change in startup land.
Josh Kopelman, Partner at First Round Capital, breaks down a simple formula to gauge just how bold a VC fund's model really is. Using a $7 billion fund as an example, he shows how some firms may be betting on capturing a massive slice of the startup value pie, far more than history suggests is realistic.
As venture and private equity strategies converge, new hybrid funds are stepping in to support startups too big for VC and too small for PE. These turnaround investors aim to rescue overlooked companies, reshape them for profitability, and prep them for exit.
PostHog’s James Hawkins shares how he and cofounder Tim Glaser keep their relationship strong while running a fast-growing startup. From sharing equity to weekly check-ins and honest docs, it’s a reminder that cofounder dynamics can make or break your company.
As AI reshapes the tech world, job titles have become inconsistent and hard to navigate. Candidates are seeing the same roles described in dozens of ways, while companies scramble to name and define emerging positions.
Lightspeed just added Bucky Moore as a partner to boost its focus on AI, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Moore joins from Kleiner Perkins and brings a strong track record in early-stage enterprise bets, including co-investments with Lightspeed and angel stakes in startups like Windsurf and Pinecone.
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is doubling down on open source AI and sees personal AI as the next big social shift. He lays out why Llama is key to Meta's long game, how AI will reshape ads, messaging, and content, and why AI glasses, not VR, are the future.
💪Tech mafia of the week
Highlights:
💰 Most money raised: Perplexity
🤑 Total money raised by the Databricks Mafia: $1.4 billion
Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard
The Databricks alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 58th spot on our leaderboard, with 14 companies founded and $1.4 billion raised.
PS: Are you a Databricks 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
Crazy to think these companies were AI Grant’s Batch 1.
For founders who don’t know, AI Grant offers:
– $250,000 investment via a no cap, no discount MFN SAFE
– A weekend in SF with peers, advisors, and investors at the AI Grant Summit
– A chance to pitch at an invite-only
— PIN (@getpinxyz)
12:37 PM • May 5, 2025
💼 Who’s hiring in VC?
Looking to get into VC? Below are this week’s curated VC job openings.
Vanta is looking for a VC Manager.
ScOp Venture Capital is looking for a VC Analyst.
SAIC is looking for a VC Principal.
Samsung is looking for a VC Associate.
CZI is looking for a VC Partner.
📠 Fun fact of the week
The roots of venture capital can be traced back to Queen Isabella of Spain funding Christopher Columbus’s voyage, in exchange for 90% of the profits from his discoveries.
Want to learn more about investing in startups with your community through PIN’s platform? Simply reply to this email.
