In less than three years, Midjourney's ARR went from zero to $200 million. In 20 months, ElevenLabs, a voice AI startup, saw its ARR soar from zero to near $100 million. In three months, vibe coding darling Lovable went from zero to $17 million in ARR, this summer hitting $100 million in ARR. In its first six months, Decagon hit "seven figures" in ARR, the company reported.
From model infrastructure to niche applications, AI is producing a new breed of founders and a new set of investor expectations. In this candid conversation on the , at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 - taking place on October 27-29 in San Francisco - top VCs will share what's catching their eye (and what's not), how they're thinking about defensibility in a world of AI monopolies, and what founders need to show to get that next term sheet.
The AI Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening October 27-29 in San Francisco, is officially locked and loaded, featuring the powerhouses shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Join the leaders from Character.AI, Hugging Face, Mercor, Runway, Wayve, and many more top tech voices, as they tackle everything from generative AI and developer tools to autonomous vehicles, creative machines, and national security.
You are seconds away from signing up for the hottest list in NYC Tech! Sign up today Octane - $24.5M Funding Round Octane, an end-to-end financing platform for powersports equipment purchases, has raised $24.5M in funding according to a recent SEC filing. The filing indicates that there were five investors in this round. Founded by Jason Guss in 2014, Octane has now raised a total of $245.7M in reported equity funding.
Cohere, the Toronto-based startup building large language models for business customers, has long had a lot in common with its hometown hockey team, the Maple Leafs. They are a solid franchise and a big deal in Canada, but they've not made a Stanley Cup Final since 1967. Similarly, Cohere has built a string of solid, if not spectacular, LLMs and has established itself as the AI national champion of Canada.
It's knowing that the city itself wants you to to build something great, is willing to actually put the money where the mouth is, right? And help you do that.
Nominal plugs into a company's existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and helps CFOs and controllers automate tasks to reduce manual work and errors.
"It's such a critical part of the internet," Sinha, a partner at Point72 Ventures, said regarding the creator economy's enduring significance. He noted that initial hype might have subsided but remains confident in its importance.
Cursor is capitalizing on the disparity in the AI startup landscape by acquiring talent from startups like Koala to enhance its enterprise offerings and compete with major players.
