NVDA or nothing. Peak AI valuations?

YouTube Sucks. $100M+ Rounds, Sora 2, Oura, OpenAI x Anthropic

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Hello from LA

Where we’re monitoring the situation.. YouTube has taken down our account for some odd automated reason.. Please, standby.

Musings

The only thing(s) you need to listen to.

• Jensen Huang Deep Dive on NVIDIA, OpenAI, Future of Compute, & the American Dream | BG2 w/ Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner

  • P.S. VCs are “fundamentally wrong”

• Richard Sutton on Dwarkesh – Father of RL thinks LLMs are a dead end

  • The Bitter Lesson, Rich Sutton

• Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify on David Senra’s new podcast, David Senra

  • NEWS: Daniel Ek steps down as CEO to Become Executive Chairman, Alex Norström & Gustav Söderström to Become Co-CEOs in January 2026

Top Interviews

• **Factory Raises $50M from NEA, Sequoia, NVIDIA, JPMorgan, & Abstract Ventures → Listen on X, Spotify, Apple

• Carta CEO Henry Ward: The Path to $500M ARR, Raising $1B, Why PE Is The Future, & Peter Thiel’s Influence → Listen on X, Spotify, Apple

• Keith Rabois Lessons From Paypal Mafia, $OPEN, & Investing → Listen on X, Spotify, Apple

Carta x Sourcery

Data of the day: Among funds raised in 2017, some 85% have started to generate DPI. Among funds raised in 2019, some 53% have begun returning capital to LPs, including 8% of funds in the vintage that did so for the first time in Q2. Read more..

→ Follow Sourcery on: X, Spotify, Apple, Linkedin

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Last Week (9/22-9/26):

Relevant deals include the 70+ deals across stages below. I’ve categorized the deals below into seven categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise / Consumer, HardTech, Sustainability, Acquisition/PE, and Fund Announcements, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds.

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VC Deals

Fintech:

- Stripe is in talks to repurchase shares from venture capital backers at a $106.7 billion valuation

- Tide, the British business management platform, raised $120m at a $1.5b valuation from TPG and insider Apax Digital

- Zero Hash, a Chicago-based digital assets infrastructure provider, raised $104m in Series D extension funding at a $1b valuation. Interactive Brokers led, joined by Morgan Stanley, Apollo, SoFi, Jump Crypto, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Liberty City Ventures.

- Fnality, a London-based provider of wholesale payment systems, raised £99.7m in Series C funding from WisdomTree, Bank of America, Citi, KBC Group, Temasek, Tradeweb, Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Euroclear, Goldman Sachs, ING, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, and UBS

- WeTravel, an SF-based provider of travel payments software, raised $92m in Series C funding. Sapphire Ventures led, joined by Left Lane Capital, Base10, and Cross Creek Capital

- Cardless, a San Francisco-based credit card platform, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Spark Capital led the round and was joined by Activant, Pear, and others.

- Light, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based AI-powered accounting platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Balderton Capital led the round and was joined by Atomico, Cherry, Seedcamp, Entrée, and angel investors.

- Brale, a stablecoin issuer, raised $30m. Lightspeed led, joined by NEA and Refract

- Aleph, a New York City-based AI-powered financial planning and analysis platform, raised $29 million in Series B funding. Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by Picus Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Y Combinator.

- Alguna, a San Francisco-based revenue management platform for business-to-business software-as-a-service, raised $4 million in seed funding. Mango Capital and Atlantic Labs led the round and were joined by others.

- Argyle, a New York-based verification platform for income and employment data, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mastercard and insiders Bain Capital Ventures, Checkr, Rockefeller Asset Management, and SignalFire

Care:

- Oura, a Finnish smart ring maker, is raising $875m in Series E funding at around a $10.9b valuation Oura Ring have surpassed 5.5 million since it was first offered in 2015, having sold over 2.5 million rings since June last year, the company said separately on Monday. Oura expects to reach $1 billion in sales in 2025. It posted revenue of over $500 million in 2024, more than two times from the previous year. Reuters

- Capital RX, a New York City-based pharmacy benefit management platform, raised $252 million in Series F funding. Wellington Management and General Catalyst led the round.

- Inspiren, a New York City-based AI-powered ecosystem for senior living facilities, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Avenir, Primary Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Story Ventures, Third Prime, and Studio VC.

- Thyme Care, a Nashville, Tenn.-based cancer care platform, raised $97 million in Series D funding from CVS Health Ventures, Foresite Capital, a16z Bio + Health, Concord Health Partners, Town Hall Ventures, and others.

- Until Labs, a developer of cryopreservation for organs, raised $58m in Series A funding. Founders Fund led, joined by Field Ventures and Lux Capital.

- Sunrise Group, a Namur, Belgium-based sleep health technology company, raised $29 million in funding. Eurazeo led the round and was joined by Amazon’s Alexa Fund, WE International, Kurma Partners, Vives Fund, and others.

- Manas AI, a New York-based drug discovery and development startup, raised $26m in seed extension funding from The General Partnership, Wisdom Ventures, Blitzscaling Ventures, Westbound Equity Partners, and Mosaic Ventures.

- Salt AI, a Culver City, Calif.-based life sciences workflow platform, raised $10m. Morpheus Ventures led, joined by Struck Capital, Marbruck Investments and CoreWeave

- Seven Starling, a New York-based provider of maternal telemental services, raised $8m. Rethink Impact led, joined by Pear VC, Zeal Capital Partners, Magnify Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Expa, Fiore Ventures, March of Dimes, Rogue Women’s Fund, and Graham & Walker

- Prosper AI, a New York City-based developer of AI voice agents for health care operations, raised $5 million in seed funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, CRV, and Company Ventures.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Nscale, a London-based hyperscaler, raised $1.1b in Series B funding. Aker ASA led, joined by Sandton Capital, Blue Owl, Dell, Fidelity, G Squared, Nokia, Nvidia, Point72, and T.Capital.

- Modular, a San Francisco-based AI infrastructure company, raised $250 million in funding. Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology fund led the round and was joined by DJF Growth and existing investors GV, General Catalyst, and others.

- AppZen, an automated enterprise finance compliance tool, raised $180m led by Riverwood Capital

- Distyl AI, an SF-based startup that helps integrate AI into core biz workflows, raised $175m in Series B funding at a $1.8b valuation. Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed led, joined by Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, and DST Global

- Signal AI, a London-based risk and reputation intelligence platform, raised $165m led by Battery Ventures

- WeTravel, a San Francisco-based operating system for multi-day travel businesses, raised $92 million in Series C funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by Left Lane Capital, Base10, Cross Creek, and angel investors.

- Irregular, a San Francisco-based AI security lab, raised $80 million in funding. Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures led the round and was joined by Swish Ventures and angel investors.

- Factory, an SF-based software development platform, raised $50m in Series B funding from NEA, Sequoia Capital, Nvidia, and JPMorgan.

- Valence, an New York-based enterprise AI coach, raised $50m in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners

- Fetcherr, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of an AI market engine for airline companies, raised $42 million in Series C funding. Salesforce Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Battery Ventures, Left Lane Capital, and M-Fund.

- Enter, a São Paolo, Brazil-based legal AI company, raised $35 million in Series A funding. Founders Fund and Sequoia led the round and were joined by Atlantico and OneVC.

- Obot.AI, a Cupertino, Calif.-based developer of model context protocol software, raised $35 million in seed funding. Mayfield Fund and Nexus Venture Partners led the round.

- Greptile, a San Francisco-based AI code review platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Benchmark Capital led the round and was joined by Cory Levy, YC, and Initialized Capital.

- Mimica, a London, U.K.-based process intelligence company, raised $26.2 million in Series B funding. Paladin Capital Group led the round and was joined by Khosla Ventures, LGVP, and Entrepreneur First.

- Emergent, an SF-based vibe coding platform for small businesses raised $23m in Series A funding. Lightspeed led, joined by YC, Together, and Prosus.

- Synthesized, a London, U.K. and New York City-based provider of test data and infrastructure for enterprises, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Redalpine led the round and was joined by IQ Capital, Mercia Ventures, and UBS.

- Circuit & Chisel, an agentic commerce platform, raised $19.2m in seed funding. Primary Venture Partners and ParaFi Capital led, joined by Stripe, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Samsung Next, and Polygon Labs

- Epic Padel, an Arlington, Va.-based padel tennis owner, operator, and investor, raised $10 million in seed funding. NowaisWorld and Stryde Ventures led the round and were joined by 305 Ventures, High Water Venture Partners, Lane Holdings, Off Court Ventures, and others.

- Genstore, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based AI-powered platform for building online stores, raised $10 million in seed funding. Weimob led the round and was joined by Lighthouse Founders’ Fund.

- Testkube, a Wilmington, Del.-based continuous testing platform for Kubernetes, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Ratmir Timashev and Insight Partners led the round.

- Tilt, a Miami, Fla.-based AI-powered direct indexing platform, raised $7.1 million in seed funding. Portage and Lerer Hippeau led the round and were joined by Golden Ventures, Real Ventures, Cumberland Investments, and FJ Labs.

- Stickerbox, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based developer of a voice-activated box that creates and prints stickers, raised $7 million in seed funding. Maveron led the round and was joined by AI2, Matthew Brezina, and Serena Ventures.

- Forgent, a Berlin, Germany-based AI platform designed to help businesses win public sector contracts, raised €4.3 million ($5.1 million) in pre-seed funding. Cherry Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

- Belfort, a San Francisco and Leuven, Belgium-based encrypted compute company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Vsquared Ventures led the round and was joined by Anagram, Protocol VC, Inovia Capital, and angel investors.

- Superpanel, a San Francisco-based AI intake system designed for plaintiff law firms, raised $5.3 million in funding. Outlander VC and Field Ventures led the round and were joined by others.

- wexler.ai, a London, U.K.-based developer of AI technology designed to flag false or inconsistent testimony in depositions and hearings, raised $5.3 million in seed funding. Pear VC led the round and was joined by Seedcamp, The LegalTech Fund, and existing investors.

- Helios AI, a Tysons, Va.-based developer of an AI co-pilot for food supply chains, raised $4.7 million in seed funding. Collide Capital led the round and was joined by S&P Global Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Angeles VC, Equity Alliance, and Supply Change Capital.

- Mycroft, a Toronto, Canada-based AI platform designed to serve as a security and compliance officer, raised $3.5 million in funding. Luge Capital led the round and was joined by Brightspark Ventures, Graphite Ventures, and existing investors.

- Le Walk, a New York City-based AI-powered tour guide and travel partner, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. Adverb Ventures and Lerer Hippeau led the round and were joined by Origins Fund and Point72 Ventures.

- Ankored, a Boston, Mass.-based youth sports safety and compliance platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Rally Ventures led the round.

- Burnt, a San Francisco-based operating system designed to automate repetitive tasks in the food supply chain, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Penny Jar Capital led the round and was joined by Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and angel investors.

- Scorecard, a San Francisco-based AI agent evaluation platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding from Kindred Ventures, Neo, Inception Studio, Tekton Ventures, and angel investors.

HardTech:

- Empower Semiconductor, a San Jose, Calif.-based processor maker, raised $140m in Series D funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. Maverick Silicon, CapitalG, Atreides Management, Socratic Partners, Walden Catalyst Ventures, Knollwood, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participated

- Auterion, an Arlington, Va.-based provider of software for military drones, raised $130m in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led, joined by Lakestar, Mosaic Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, and $25m of non-dilutive funding from DoD

- Morse Micro, a Sydney, Australia-based provider of Wi-Fi HaLow silicon solutions, raised $59 million in Series C funding. MegaChips led the round and was joined by National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, Blackbird, Main Sequence, and others.

- Corintis, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based developer of technology designed to manage the heat produced by computer chips, raised $24 million in Series A funding. BlueYard Capital led the round and was joined by Founderful, Acequia Capital, Celsius Industries, XTX Ventures, and others.

- Track3D, a Milpitas, Calif.-based AI-powered construction monitoring platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Ironspring Ventures and Zacua Ventures led the round and were joined by Shadow Ventures and Monta Vista Capital.

- Cosmoserve Space, a Hyderabad, India-based space debris removal company, raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding. Alan Rutledge led the round and was joined by AUM Ventures, Shakti VC, and Ram Shriram.

Sustainability:

- Earthmover, a New York-based weather and climate data provider, raised $7.2m in seed funding. Lowercarbon Capital led, joined by Costanoa Ventures and Preston-Werner Ventures.

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Acquisitions & PE:

- Compass (NYSE: COMP) today agreed to buy rival Anywhere Real Estate (NYSE: HOUS), whose brands include Century 21 and Coldwell Banker. The combined company would be worth around $10 billion (including debt), with Compass shareholders to own 77% of the combined business.

- Battery Ventures agreed to lead a majority investment in Signal AI, a London, U.K.-based risk and reputation intelligence platform, worth $164 million.

- KKR and CPP agreed to acquire a 45% stake in Sempra Infrastructure Partners, a San Diego, Calif.-based energy infrastructure platform, for $10 billion in cash.

- Solifi, backed by TA Associates, acquired DataScan, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based wholesale finance and inventory risk management company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Thoma Bravo agreed to buy PROS Holdings, a Houston-based provider of revenue management software to airlines. for around $1.4b, per $23.25 per share (42% premium to Friday’s closing price).

- Morningstar (Nasdaq: MORN) agreed to acquire the CRSP, a provider of historical stock market data and indexes, for $375m from the University of Chicago

- Blackstone is weighing options for Ancestry.com, including a sale or IPO, per Reuters. It bought the company for $4.7b in 2020.

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IPOs:

- Cerebras Systems, an AI chipmaker on file for an IPO, is nearing a $1b round led by Fidelity at a valuation north of $8b

- BitGo, a Palo Alto-based digital asset custody and lending platform, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $300m. It reports $12.6m of profit on more than $4b of revenue on the first half of 2025, and plans to list on the NYSE (BTGO). Backers include Redpoint Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures, and Bridgescale.

- Navan (fka TripActions), a Palo Alto-based corporate travel and expense management platform, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $800m. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (NAVN) and reports a $100m net loss on $329m in revenue for the first half of 2025. Navan has raised over $2b, including in 2022 at a $9.2b valuation, from firms like Lightspeed, a16z, Zeev Ventures, Coatue, 01 Advisors, and Group 11.

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Funds:

- Touring Capital, founded by ex-M12 and SoftBank investors, closes $330 million first fund

- Archetype, a New York City-based venture capital fund, raised $100 million for its third fund focused on decentralized infrastructure and onchain applications.

- Ares Management is seeking to raise more than $8b for data center investments,

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The material presented on Molly O’Shea’s website are my opinions only and are provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It is not a recommendation of, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Any analysis or discussion of investments, sectors or the market generally are based on current information, including from public sources, that I consider reliable, but I do not represent that any research or the information provided is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied on as such. My views and opinions expressed in any website content are current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.