#venture-capital

#venture-capital

The AI investing boom (or perhaps bubble) is something Silicon Valley has seen many times before: a gold rush of VC money thrown at the Big New Thing. But one aspect of it is completely unique to these times: startups rocketing from $0 to as much as $100 million in annual recurring revenue, sometimes in a matter of months. Word on the street is that many a VC won't even look at a startup that's not on the ARR superhighway, aiming for $100 million in ARR before their Series A funding round.

SNAK Venture Partners announced Wednesday the close of its oversubsubscribed $50 million debut fund, anchored by the investment firm Pritzker Group (founded by Illinois governor JB Pritzker and his brother, Tony). SNAK founders Sonia Nagar and Adam Koopersmith worked at the firm and helped lead investments in companies like the auto marketplace Backlot Cars and TicketsNow (exited to Ticketmaster). The duo decided to break out on their own and, earlier this year, launched their firm to back digital marketplaces.

This year, 37 up-and-coming investors made the list of rising stars of venture capital. In this live Q&A, hear how the list is put together and learn about the hottest trends in venture capital. Plus, catch an interview with one of this year's winners. Scroll down for the live video on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Independently and immediately, a flood of people reached the same conclusion: This had to be a mistake. It was the summer of 2017, and as word spread that Mamoon Hamid was joining venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, some people wondered if it was a joke, or "fake news." And they didn't hold back. "I got calls from friends in the venture business, other GPs [general partners], asking: 'Are you sure this is happening? Is this real?'" Hamid recounts.

While Bitcoin treads water to start 2026, sentiment for other niches in crypto has soured even more-especially DePIN, or decentralized physical infrastructure. Tokens for the decentralized cellphone service Helium and the decentralized mapping network Hivemapper, for example, are near all-time lows. Still, some investors remain bullish on the concept, including the upstart venture firm Escape Velocity, which has raised $61.74 million for a second fund to back founders in DePIN and crypto more broadly.

FLORA - $42M Series A CREATIVE AI FLORA, a creative AI tool with an infinite canvas for generating and refining text, image, and video outputs, has raised $42M in Series A funding led by Redpoint. Founded by Alexi Li and Weber Wong in 2024, FLORA has now raised a total of $52M in reported equity funding. Slice Global - $25M Series A

Outtake, founded in 2023 by a former Palantir engineer, Alex Dhillon, has found a way to automate what has largely been the manual problem of spotting and taking down digital identity posers: impersonation accounts, malicious domains posing as the company's, rogue apps, fraudulent ads, and more. This problem has grown even more difficult because AI has enabled attackers to be more convincing and faster in their efforts.

"You can have as much money as you want to pour into the algorithm and buy ads," Kaplan told Business Insider. "But if you don't have the right founder who's able to build a community and the attention that you need to build a real product that people want, all of that money ... is meaningless."

where visionary founders showcase AI-driven innovations designed to create meaningful, positive impact. This event spotlights startups leveraging artificial intelligence, deep tech, and frontier technologies to solve real-world challenges and transform industries for the better. Selected startups will pitch live to a distinguished panel of venture capitalists and technology leaders, sharing their mission, traction, and measurable impact in a fast-paced, interactive format.

The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for NYC startups for 1/20/2026 featuring funding details for Verse Gaming, Cosmos, and much more. This page will be updated throughout the day to reflect any new fundings. Cosmos - $15M Series A CREATIVE TECH Cosmos, a platform for creatives to discover, save, and organize visual inspiration, has raised $15M in Series A funding led by Shine Capital and Matrix. Founded by Andy McCune and Luca Marra in 2021, Cosmos has now raised a total of $21M in reported equity funding.

As part of OpenAI's defense against Musk's lawsuit, Altman addressed rumors about restrictions in OpenAI's 2024 funding round. While he denied that OpenAI investors were broadly prohibited from backing rivals, he did acknowledge that investors with ongoing access to OpenAI's confidential information were told that access would be terminated "if they made non-passive investments in OpenAI's competitors."

Jenny Xiao, who cofounded Leonis Capital in 2021 after a stint at OpenAI, said the current investment excitement around AI is far behind the actual research. "There is a massive disconnect between what researchers are seeing and what investors are seeing," Xiao said on the Fortune Magazine podcast this week. What's being discussed at the biggest AI conferences is as much as 3 to 5 years behind what researchers are thinking about, Xiao said.

A fierce dispute between an American venture capital firm and the family investment office of a Russian billionaire has trickled down into the Bay Area. In December and January, four local biotech companies with stakes in the battle each filed for bankruptcy. The argument pits New York's Apple Tree Partners, a biotech-focused venture investor, against Rigmora, an investment entity owned by the family office of Dmitry Rybolovlev, who made his billions in the Russian fertilizer industry.

It was the most chaotic two weeks of my life," Sumer told Business Insider, adding that at one point, she told her then-fiancé that wedding planning would be left to him, and she'd just show up to get married.

Ben Horowitz is a big fan of tiny teams. On an episode of the A16z podcast, the Andreessen Horowitz cofounder shared how his venture capital firm maintains a lean operation despite being one of the world's largest. "An investing team shouldn't be too much bigger than a basketball team," he said, referring to advice he got from famed American investor David Swensen in 2009. He added, "A basketball team is five people who start, and the reason for that is the conversation around the investments really needs to be a conversation."

Presence CRM integrates contact data, communication history, website activity and third-party information to monitor changes such as property ownership records, employment updates and other indicators that may signal a future real estate transaction. The system is designed to generate suggested outreach and prioritize contacts based on those signals, the company said. Luxury Presence said Presence CRM will be included across its platform offerings and is scheduled to begin rolling out in early 2026.

You could think of us a lot like a climate tech fund, but instead of thinking about, where can we emit less carbon dioxide or avoid emissions in the first place, we're doing the same thing for nature loss,

Most executives wobble at the thought of controversy. Marc Andreessen embraces it. The venture capitalist and cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz has been a lightning rod for Silicon Valley, voicing his opinions loudly and publicly. That includes drawing a fair share of backlash - something he seems unfazed by. "Generally speaking, the more out there we are, and the more outspoken we are, and the more controversial we are, the better for the business," Andreessen said on " The A16z Show."

The haul represents over 18% of all venture capital dollars allocated in the United States in 2025, according to firm co-founder Ben Horowitz, but even more jaw-dropping is that it brings the organization to more than $90 billion in assets under management, putting it neck-and-neck with Sequoia Capital as among the largest venture firms in the world. Which is fitting, since a16z appears to be very friendly with actual sovereign wealth funds, including at least one from Saudi Arabia.

too many powerful, wealthy people in venture act like it's OK to break the law and systemically underpay and abuse their employees.

Menlo has elevated Carrillo, its general counsel and only in-house lawyer, to partner after nearly six years with the firm - a rare distinction inside a venture fund. Carrillo's promotion suggests the role of the legal department is shifting in the venture industry. Carrillo said she's at the table for weekly partner meetings where they pitch deals and bat around ideas.

We're not going to be using iPhones in 10 years,

Universities and research labs have long been Europe's deep tech treasure trove. Now, academic spinouts have consolidated into a solid startup funnel worth $398 billion - and VC money is following. According to Dealroom's European Spinout Report 2025, 76 of these deep tech and life sciences companies have either reached $1 billion valuations, $100 million in revenue, or both. These include unicorns like Iceye, IQM, Isar Aerospace, Synthesia, and Tekever, which are now inspiring more funds to back university spinouts.