#venture-capital

#venture-capital

That was the case with crypto payments firm Mesh, which announced an $82 million Series B this year that included a $20 million payout to its founder. Ditto with the blockchain social network firm Farcaster, which raised an eye-popping $150 million Series A, but saw its CEO carve off at least $15 million of that. You can read about other examples here.

There's no shortage of noise coming out of San Francisco and New York with AI breakthroughs, billion-dollar valuations and the race to back the next big consumer app or fintech darling. With a crowded landscape sometimes influenced by hype, venture capital has developed a kind of tunnel vision. The fixation on what's shiny and fast-scaling has blinded many investors to the country's most foundational industries, which are the ones that really keep America running.

NVIDIA and Qualcomm Ventures have joined a growing coalition of U.S. and Indian investors backing India's deep tech startups. The group launched in September with more than $1 billion in commitments, timing that aligns with India's new ₹1 trillion (around $12 billion) research and development initiative. NVIDIA has joined the coalition as a strategic technical advisor, without any financial commitments, while Qualcomm Ventures has come on board alongside six Indian venture firms, bringing additional capital commitments totaling more than $850 million.

The venture capital industry has long operated on a transactional model: evaluate the science, assess the team, write the check, and monitor progress through quarterly board meetings. This approach may work for software startups, but it fundamentally misaligns with biotechnology development realities. The path from laboratory breakthrough to FDA-approved therapy involves navigating regulatory mazes, recruiting specialized talent, and building relationships across interconnected scientific communities-challenges that capital alone cannot solve.

Tech hopefuls are associating themselves with San Francisco online; some say for social media clout or to attract investors. Eight rising tech workers told Business Insider that they've noticed an influx of San Francisco love online. One changed his location to San Francisco as a "manifestation." Another said they thought of it as a "heavenly land." 18-year-old Lance Yan recently made his location on X to "Waterloo | SF."

Vinod Khosla, telling attendees he doesn't buy the argument that powering AI will doom climate efforts. Geothermal energy is nearly here, he said, while fusion remains further out. He also touched on his alignment with President Donald Trump (deregulation) and his disagreement (immigration): "The only thing I will say is this administration won't last forever," he said with a grin.

AI is reshaping the media and marketing industries at warp speed - whether consumers like it or not. Adtech and martech startups are raising millions of dollars from venture capital firms on the back of the AI wave. Many of these companies are developing under-the-hood tech, like agentic AI tools designed to streamline marketers' workflows and boost productivity. Others are working on creative platforms that let marketers create ads and even virtual influencers using generative AI.

AI taking entry-level jobs is a 'when,' not an 'if.' But in venture capital, 70% of the decision is reading the founder and team-and that's something AI can't do. That simple breakdown , 70% people, 30% product-flips the usual narrative about finance. For decades, finance was defined by numbers. Analysts lived and died by the spreadsheets. Today, AI can run discounted cash flows, parse a term sheet, and size a market faster than any junior associate.

In 2022, when Yoni Rechtman's boss asked where he wanted to be in five years, the newly hired venture capitalist told him, "Not here." What might have sounded like defiance was exactly what Kevin Colleran, managing director of Slow Ventures, wanted to hear. The firm doesn't promote from within. It keeps funds small - "easier to return many multiples of success," Colleran said - and so the firm needs fewer investors.

Kevin Hartz tends to be first through the door. In 2001, he co-founded Xoom, back when sending money across borders meant standing in line at Western Union. In 2013, it went public, and in 2015, PayPal paid $1.1 billion for it. Four years after launching Xoom, he co-founded Eventbrite, which went public in 2018 and turned buying event tickets into something you could do without wanting to throw your laptop in the ocean.

Venture capitalists are among investors putting $75 million into a US startup's push to install home solar and batteries for an electricity subscription - just as the residential market shrinks. RELATED: The world's largest battery made of bricks turns on in California Daylight Energy raised the funds in a round that included $15 million in equity led by Framework Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Hippeau, M13, Room40 Ventures and EV3, according to a statement.

Rather than racing to dramatically increase their assets under management like many funds have in recent years, the partners have intentionally kept their fund sizes small, even as their reputation and returns have grown. Their latest vehicle - a $55 million early-stage hybrid fund, dubbed the Axis Fund, that recently closed - brings the Washington-based venture firm's total assets to roughly $250 million across four funds.

September 2025 NYC startup funding reached $2.09B across 95 deals in September 2025. The month showed remarkable growth from both last month and last year, with strong activity across all funding stages and particularly robust performance in Series B rounds. 📈 CONNECT WITH NYC'S STARTUP ECOSYSTEM Position your brand alongside the most-read funding coverage in NYC tech. Reach decision-makers when they're most engaged. Explore Opportunities → Funding by Stage

Last year, her worlds collided when she decided to launch her own fund, Sugar Free Capital, a firm that focuses on investing in technical founders from MIT. She nabbed LPs, including the family offices of heavy-hitting tech executives from companies like Nvidia and Citadel, and on Monday announced the closing of Sugar Free's $32 million inaugural fund. One premise of the fund is found in the name.