PIN

A newsletter for communities, investors, angels, and founders

Author

Power in Numbers
April 18, 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!

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

Got a friend that wants to learn more or stay up to date on angel investing/VC? Help us spread the word and forward this email to them ;)

Subscribe here.

📌 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.

📰 This week’s best news

OpenAI is working on a new social platform with a feed powered by ChatGPT’s image generation. The project is still early, but CEO Sam Altman is already seeking outside feedback. If it moves forward, it could escalate his rivalry with Elon Musk and put OpenAI in the race with Meta to control real-time AI training data.

Figma has quietly filed for an IPO, even as market jitters have stalled other big names like Klarna and StubHub. The design software company, last valued at $12.5 billion, is moving ahead despite the collapse of its $20 billion sale to Adobe.

Ilya Sutskever’s stealth startup Safe Superintelligence just raised $2 billion at a $32 billion valuation, without launching a single product. Backed by Alphabet, Nvidia, and top VCs, the company aims to build a safe superintelligent AI and is quietly expanding in Tel Aviv. Investors are betting big on Sutskever’s vision, not traction.

Rippling is struggling to serve Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz in its lawsuit after he and Deel’s legal director relocated to Dubai. The case involves accusations of bribery and alleged witness tampering, with key figures now outside the reach of European legal systems. Deel denies any wrongdoing.

Two former Tesla execs just launched Atomic, a new AI platform to help businesses manage inventory and demand with real-time data. Backed by $3 million in seed funding, the startup aims to replace clunky spreadsheets with smarter tools that cut inventory costs and free up cash.

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund just closed a $4.6 billion growth fund, signaling that venture capital is heating up again. The fund is larger than expected and shows strong LP demand, with major bets not only in AI but also in defense tech, where the firm holds one of the Valley’s most powerful portfolios.

Tariffs shake up VC secondaries as supply outpaces demand

Trump’s tariffs are rattling the venture secondary market, widening the gap between buyers and sellers. Discounts are rising, liquidity is tightening, and top startups like SpaceX still draw premium pricing while earlier-stage deals struggle. Investors are bracing for more volatility as IPOs stall and holding periods stretch.

💰 Funding announcement highlights

Virtue AI, a one-year-old San Francisco startup providing tools to test, monitor, and secure AI systems against risks, raised $30 million. The money came from two rounds, co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst Ventures.

Fern, a startup providing tools to automatically generate and maintain software development kits and API documentation from a company's API specifications, raised a $9 million Series A round. The deal was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Y Combinator also chipping in.

Nexad, a San Francisco startup aiming to create personalized, real-time ads and place them directly into conversations people have with AI tools like chatbots and AI search engines, raised a $6 million seed round. Andreessen Horowitz and Prosus Ventures co-led the round, with Point72 Ventures, Carya Ventures, Umami Capital, and Sequoia Capital Scout Fund also joining.

Octolane, a startup working on an AI-powered CRM platform designed to automate sales tasks and reduce manual data entry, raised a $2.6 million seed round. Y Combinator and General Catalyst Apex were part of the investors.

Telli, a startup building AI-powered voice agents to help businesses manage customer calls for tasks like booking appointments, qualifying leads, and providing product information, raised a $3.6 million pre-seed round. The deal was co-led by Cherry Ventures and Y Combinator.

 📚 Interesting reads of the week

Growth expert Matt Lerner says founders need to lead growth themselves before bringing in help. His playbook walks through how to map the customer journey, find bottlenecks, and run fast experiments to uncover what really drives traction.

Two years after calling hype around AI-generated software overblown, Josh Comeau doubles down. AI tools are helpful, but still need skilled developers to guide and correct them. Despite job market challenges, he argues that human coders remain essential and that a true “post-developer” world is nowhere in sight.

Hackers reprogrammed crosswalk buttons in Silicon Valley to play AI-generated voice clips mimicking Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The audio appears to be part of a hacktivist stunt targeting AI’s growing role in public life. Local officials are investigating.

Spacetech startup funding charts a new course

Spacetech funding is holding steady at over $6 billion a year, but investor focus is shifting fast. Defense tech, AI-powered satellites, and new geopolitical pressures are driving interest, while public markets stay volatile. Startups like Stoke Space and Muon are still pulling in major rounds, showing that optimism in the sector hasn’t cooled.

Marc Benioff was invited to the Morning Brief Podcast, where he talked about how Salesforce is being reshaped by AI, from its tech stack to its business model. In this interview, he breaks down the rise of AI agents, the threat of tech balkanization, and why India is central to Salesforce’s future.

Blue Origin’s first all-women flight takes off

Blue Origin pulled off its first-ever all-women space mission with Lauren Sánchez leading the crew, joined by Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen and Kerianne Flynn. The 11-minute flight gave the crew a taste of zero gravity and a view of Earth few get to see.

💪Tech mafia of the week

Highlights:

💰 Most money raised: Freshworks

🤑 Total money raised by the Zoho Mafia: $1.2 billion

Weekly Tech Mafia Leaderboard

The Zoho alumni has built some amazing companies. This tech mafia group takes the 60th spot on our leaderboard, with 28 companies founded and $1.2 billion raised.

PS: Are you a Zoho 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.

Human Capital is looking for a VC Analyst.

Santa Clara University is looking for a VC Director.

Palm Venture Studios is looking for a VC Fellow.

Bain Capital is looking for an IR Associate.

Point72 Ventures is looking for a VC Investor.

📠 Fun fact of the week

The term "spam" for unwanted emails comes from a Monty Python sketch where the word "Spam" is repeated endlessly, much like unwanted emails.

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