PayPal Mafia in Play

Mistral, Databricks, PsiQuantum, Cognition, Replit, Perplexity, Apex Space; Klarna, Figure, Via Transportation, Gemini, Black Rock Coffee Bar, StubHub, Netskope

Sep 16, 2025

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Publics are so back.

Largest Private Fundings

The standout financings last week were dominated by AI & hardtech. French AI foundation model player Mistral secured a staggering €1.3B as part of a €2B round anchored by ASML, while Databricks raised $1B in a late-stage Series K. Quantum computing leader PsiQuantum closed a $1B Series E at a $7B valuation with BlackRock, Temasek, & Baillie Gifford.

Other mega-rounds included Cognition’s $400M raise at a $10.2B valuation, Replit’s $250M at a $3B valuation, Perplexity’s $200M at a $20B valuation, and Apex Space’s $200M Series D at a $1B valuation. Notably, healthtech also saw momentum with Strive Health’s $300M Series D and Harbor Health’s $130M round.

IPO & Public Market Activity

The IPO window continued to reopen with several high-profile listings. Klarna raised $1.37B, hitting ~$17B mcap, marking one of the largest European fintech IPOs. U.S. blockchain lending platform Figure priced above range to raise $787.5M, with recent mcap hitting $7.9B, while Via Transportation brought in $493M at a $4.2B valuation.

Additional deals included Gemini’s $425M Nasdaq debut, Black Rock Coffee Bar’s $294M raise, and pending listings from StubHub and Netskope. The public market narrative is shifting.. after years of drought, tech & fintech companies are finding strong demand for new offerings.

Musings

AI

Elon

Tesla's stock surges after CEO Elon Musk buys $1 billion worth of shares
$1T Musk Pay Package: ‘We’re in big trouble’: pope concerned
- ‘Yes, you read that correctly’: Tesla pay committee pitches $1 trillion pact to keep Elon Musk as CEO for long term
SpaceX has agreed to pay around $17 billion to buy wireless spectrum from EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS)
- More from Ark Invest
Elon Musk on DOGE, Optimus, Starlink Smartphones, Evolving with AI, Why the West is Imploding

Axios launches new show, debut with Howard Lutnick.. & I have no idea if it’s satire or real

Top Interviews

Keith Rabois on Opendoor's $OPEN Activist Turnaround → Listen on X, Spotify, YouTube, Apple
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Their Blockbuster IPO → Listen on X, Spotify, YouTube, Apple
PsiQuantum’s $1B Series E, Nvidia, & the Race to 1 Million Qubits, $2B in total funding, $7B valuation → Listen on X, Spotify, YouTube, Apple
EXCLUSIVE: Quantum’s SpaceX Moment? Ashlee Vance on PsiQuantum’s Moonshot → Listen on X, Spotify, YouTube, Apple

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Last Week (9/8-9/12):

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.

VC Deals

Fintech:

- Aven, a San Francisco-based home equity-backed credit card company, raised $110 million in Series E funding. Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors General Catalyst, Caffeinated Capital, GIC, Electric Capital, and Founders Fund.

- Kin, a Chicago, Ill.-based homeowners insurance company, raised $50 million in Series E funding. QED Investors and Activate Capital led the round and were joined by others.

- Rainforest, an Atlanta, Ga.-based payments company, raised $29 million in Series B funding. Matrix Partners and Infinity Ventures led the round and were joined by Accel and Tech Square Ventures.

- Ume, a São Paulo, Brazil-based developer of infrastructure designed to allow businesses to offer and operate their own credit businesses, raised $21.8 million in Series B funding. Valor Capital Group and Bewater led the round and were joined by PayPal Ventures, NFX, Globo Ventures, Canary, and BigBets.

- Pave Finance, a New York-based provider of wealth management software for investment advisors, raised $14m in seed funding from individuals like George Pereira (ex-Charles Schwab) and Keith Hughes (ex-Citi)

- Speedchain, an Atlanta, Ga.-based expense manager and card issuer, raised $11 million in Series A funding from GTM Fund, Village Global, TTV Capital, K5 Global, Tandem, and Emigrant Bank.

- Kamino, a São Paolo, Brazil-based financial operating system, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Flourish Ventures and Quona Capital led the round.

- Accordance, a San Francisco-based AI-powered platform designed for accounting and tax firms, raised $10 million in seed funding and $3 million in pre-seed funding. Khosla Ventures led the seed round, General Catalyst led the pre-seed round, and were joined by Anthropic, NEA, Bain Capital Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.

- Metal, a New York City-based AI-powered research platform for private market investors, raised $5 million in funding from Base10 Partners.

- Pathwork, a San Francisco-based AI-powered life and health insurance distribution platform, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Costanoa led the round and was joined by Logos Fund, American Family Ventures, Meridian Ventures, and angel investors.

- Marloo, a London, U.K. and Auckland, Australia-based AI assistant designed for financial advisers, raised $2.7 million in ore-seed funding. Blackbird led the round and was joined by angel investors.

Care:

- Strive Health, a Denver, Colo.-based Kidney Care company, raised $300 million in Series D funding. New Enterprise Associates led the Series A and was joined by CVS Health Ventures, CapitalG, Echo Health Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, Redpoint, and others.

- Harbor Health, an Austin, Texas-based primary and specialty care clinic group and health insurance company, raised $130 million in funding. General Catalyst, 8VC, and Alta Partners led the round and were joined by DFO Management and others.

- Diana Health, a New York City-based company that helps companies develop women’s health programs, raised $55 million in Series C funding. HealthQuest Capital led the round and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners, .406 Ventures, LRVHealth, and AlleyCorp.

- Penguin Ai, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based healthcare AI company, raised $29.7 million in funding from Greycroft, UPMC Enterprises, SemperVirens, Snowflake Ventures, Watershed Ventures, and others.

- Goodpath, a Boston, Mass.-based virtual care provider for patients with chronic conditions, raised $18 million in Series A funding. MassMutual Ventures led the round and was joined by Healthy Ventures and others.

- Optain Health, an Akron, Ohio-based company using AI and robotics to improve eye disease detection, raised $26 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by others.

- Ridge Bio, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI-driven enzyme and drug design platform, raised $25 million in seed funding. Sutter Hill Ventures led the round and was joined by Overlap Holdings.

- TERN Group, a London, U.K.-based clinical AI workforce platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Notion Capital led the round and was joined by RTP Global, LocalGlobe, PreSight Capital, and others.

- Teton.ai, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based developer of predictive intelligence technology for health care, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Plural led the round and was joined by Bertelsmann Investments, Antler Elevate, Nebular, and PSV Tech.

- Lightspun, a Boston-based AI-powered dental insurance administration platform, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Brewer Lane led the round and was joined by Virtue, Cambrian, and Industry Ventures.

- TandemStride, a Cleveland, Ohio-based trauma-recovery platform, raised $5.5 million in funding. TMV led the round and was joined by Lightbank, M25, Flare Capital, JumpStart, North Coast Ventures, UH Ventures, and Marketplace Capital.

Enterprise/Consumer:

- Mistral, a French foundational AI startup, secured €1.3b from listed Dutch chipmaker ASML, as part of a €2b round

- Databricks raised $1b in Series K funding led by a16z, Insight Partners, MGX, Thrive Capital, and WCM Investment Management

- Cognition, a New York-based AI coding startup, raised $400m at a $10.2b post-money valuation. Founders Fund led, joined by Lux Capital, 8VC, Neo, Elad Gil, Definition Capital, and Swish VC

- Replit, a SF-based development environment, raised $250m at a $3b valuation. Prysm Capital led, joined by Google's AI Futures Fund, Amex Ventures, a16z, and Coatue

- Perplexity, raised $200m at a $20b valuation

- ElevenLabs, an AI audio startup, is launching a $100m tender offer valuing it at $6.6b, per Bloomberg. Sequoia Capital and Iconiq Growth are leading, with participation from a16z

- CuspAP, a developer of AI models for chemistry, raised over $100m in Series A funding. NEA and Temasek led, joined by NVentures, Samsung Ventures, Hyundai Motor Group, Basis Set Ventures, FJ Labs, Giant Ventures, LocalGlobe, Northzone, Prosus Ventures, Tiferes Ventures, and Touring Capital.

- DataCrunch, a Helsinki, Finland-based AI infrastructure company, raised €55 million ($64.4 million) in Series A funding. byFounders, Skaala, Varma PensionFund, and Tesi and were joined by J12 Ventures and angel investors.

- Higgsfield.ai, a San Francisco-based AI-powered video reasoning engine, raised $50 million in Series A funding. GFT Ventures led the round and was joined by BroadLight Capital, NextEquity Partners, AI Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Alpha Square Group, and others.

- Koi, a Washington, D.C.-based software security platform, raised $48 million in seed funding and $38 million in Series A funding from Battery Ventures, Team8, Picture Capital, NFX, and Cerca Partners.

- Motion, developer of "Microsoft Office for AI agents," raised $38m in Series C funding at a $550m valuation. Scale Venture Partners led, joined by HOF Capital, 468 Capital, SignalFire, Valor Equity Partners, Fellows Fund, and Leonis Capital

- Brain Co., a startup that helps large organizations incorporate AI, raised $30m in Series A funding. Elad Gil's Gil Capital and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners led, joined by Andrej Karpathy, Aravind Srinivas, Fidji Simo, Patrick Collison, Brian Armstrong, Reid Hoffman, and Mark Weinberger.

- Fyxer.ai, a London, U.K.-based AI program for emails and meetings, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Madrona led the round and was joined by Lakestar Capital.

- Spiral, a New York-based database startup, raised $22m in seed and Series A funding from General Catalyst and Amplify Partners,

- Isotopes.AI, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based agentic AI company, raised $20 million in seed funding from NTTVC.

- Clockwork, a San Francisco-based AI compute company, raised $20.6 million in funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round and was joined by AMD, Broadcom, and others.

- Red Access, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cybersecurity platform for organizations, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Norwest led the round and was joined by Ten Eleven Ventures, SentinelOne’s S Ventures, Elron Ventures, and Singtel Innov8.

- Born, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of AI apps designed to serve as friends, raised $15 million in Series A funding from Accel and Tangent.

- Interaction, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based consumer AI lab, raised $15m in seed funding at a $100m valuation. General Catalyst led, joined by Village Global and Earlybird VC.

- Aegis, a New York City-based cybersecurity company, raised $13 million in seed funding. Accel and Foundation Capital led the round.

- Runware, a San Francisco-based performance & price-focused AI-as-a-Service provider, raised $13 million in funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors a16z Speedrun, Begin Capital, and Zero Prime.

- Hush Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based machine access security company, raised $11 million in seed funding. Battery Ventures and YL Ventures led the round.

- Cassidy, a New York City-based AI automation platform designed for non-technical teams, raised $10 million in Series A funding. HOF Capital led the round and was joined by The General Partnership, Neo, Alumni Ventures, and others.

- Dazl, an AI app creation platform cofounded by Wix cofounder Nadav Abrahami and former TikTok gaming head Assaf Sagy, raised $10m in seed funding. 40RTY Fund led, joined by Wix

- Sphinx, a New York City-based developer of AI software designed for data scientists, raised $9.5 million in seed funding. Lightspeed led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Box Group, K5, Impatient VC, and others.

- Candid Intelligence, a San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of AI agents for engineering, procurement, and construction projects, raised $5.5 million in pre-seed funding. Quiet Capital led the round and was joined by MIT's E14 Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, Flexcap Ventures, Yann LeCun, and others.

- Koah, an ad integration platform for AI apps, raised $5m in seed funding. Forerunner led, joined by South Park Commons.

- Klaar, a San Francisco-based AI-powered performance management platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Prime Venture Partners led the round.

HardTech:

- PsiQuantum, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of quantum computers, raised $1b in Series E funding at a $7b valuation. BlackRock, Temasek, and Baillie Gifford led, joined by Macquarie Capital, Ribbit Capital, NVentures, Adage Capital Management, Qatar Investment Authority, Type One Ventures, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), 1789 Capital, S Ventures and insiders Blackbird, Third Point Ventures, and T. Rowe Price.

- Apex Space, an LA-based maker of satellite busses, raised $200m in Series D funding at a $1b valuation. Interlagos led, joined by insiders a16z, Point72 Ventures, and 8VC

- X Square Robot, a Chinese developer of robot "brains," raised $140m in Series A+ funding. Alibaba unit CAS Investment Management led, joined by HSG, Meituan, and Legend Star

- Shift5, a Rosslyn, Va.-based operational intelligence company designed for defense and transportation systems, raised $75 million in Series C funding. Hedosophia led the round and was joined by Insight Partners, Center 15 Capital, 645 Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, and others.

- Scientil Photonics, a Grenoble, France-based developer of Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics for AI infrastructure, raised $58 million in Series B funding. Yotta Capital Partners and NGP Capital led the round and was joined by Nvidia.

- Euclid Power, a New York City-based operating system for renewable energy project operations, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Venrock led the round and was joined by HSBC Asset Management, Spero Ventures, Toba Capital, Designer Fund, and Commonweal Ventures.

- Standard Fleet, a San Francisco-based fleet management platform, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Nova Threshold led the round and was joined by WEX Venture Capital and others.

- Nuclearn, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based AI platform designed for nuclear professionals and critical infrastructure operators, raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Blue Bear Capital led the round and was joined by SJF Ventures and existing investors AZ-VC and Nucleation Capital.

- Agate Sensors, an Espoo, Finland-based developer of smart sensors for material analysis, raised €5.6 million ($6.6 million) in funding. Voima Ventures and LIFTT led the round and were joined by others.

- LightTable, a Denver, Colo.-based peer review platform for real estate development, raised $6 million in seed funding. Primary Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Innovation Endeavors and Banter Capital.

- Dig Energy, a Manchester, N.H.-based developer of geothermal-specific drilling technology, raised $5 million in seed funding. Azolla Ventures and Avila VC led the round and was joined by Drew Scott.

Acquisitions & PE:

- Vector Capital Management agreed to acquire SingleStore, an SF-based data platform for enterprise AI that's raised over $580m from firms like Khosla Ventures, GV, Glynn Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, IA Ventures, DCVC, Insight Partners, Goldman Sachs, and Accel.

- Bending Spoons, owner of Evernote, Meetup and Brightcove, agreed to acquire video hoster Vimeo (Nasdaq: VMEA) for around $1.38b in cash.

- Magnetar invested $200 million in Torus, a South Salt Lake, Utah-based developer of energy storage, management, and generation products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) acqui-hired the founders of consumer DeFi startup Sensible

- Anaplan, an SF portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, acquired Syrup Tech, an inventory forecasting platform for brands that had raised $25m from firms like Accel, Gradient Ventures, and Flybridge Capital Partners.

- DeepIntent, a New York-based health-care advertising platform, raised $637m from Vitruvian Partners

- Nayya, a personalization platform for health benefits that's raised over $100m, agreed to acquire Northstar, a financial wellness benefits company.

- F5 (Nasdaq: FFIV) will pay $180m to buy CalypsoAI, a New York-based AI testing and security startup that had raised over $30m from Paladin Capital Group, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Hakluy Capital, Expeditions Fund, Auren Hoffman and Anne Wojcicki.

IPOs:

- Klarna, a Swedish buy-now-pay-later company, raised $1.37 billion in its IPO that priced above its anticipated range. Klarna priced 34.3 million shares (85% secondary) at $40 per share, after having set a $35-$37 range. Its initial valuation is around $15.2 billion. It had been valued at more than $46 billion by VCs in 2021, but one year later raised at just $6.7 billion. The company had raised over $4b from firms like Sequoia Capital, Heartland, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Silver Lake, GIC, HMI Capital, Mubadala, UBS, Skandia, Atomico, Ant Group, Harvest Growth Capital, and IVP.

- Figure, a consumer lending platform, raised $787.5m in its IPO. It priced at $25 per share (above upwardly revised range), for a $5.3b initial market valuation, and will list on the Nasdaq (FIGR). The company had raised around $425m, most recently in 2021 at a $3.2b valuation, from backers like DST Global Partners, Ribbit Capital, DCM, and Morgan Creek Digital

- StubHub, a New York City-based ticket company, plans to raise up to $850 million in an offering of 34 million shares priced between $22 and $25. The company posted $1.8 billion in revenue for the year ended June 20. Madrone Partners, WestCap, Bessemer Venture Partners, and PointState Capital back the company.

- Black Rock Coffee Bar, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based chain with 158 locations, raised $294m in its IPO. It priced at $20 (above $16-$18 range) and will list on the Nasdaq (BRCB). Backers include Cynosure Partners.

- Gemini, a crypto exchange platform led by the Winklevoss twins, raised $425m in its IPO. It priced 15.2m shares at $28, versus initial plans to offer 16.7m shares at $17-$19. It later increased the range to $24-$26 and added a $50m private placement from Nasdaq. Gemini reports a $282m net loss on $68m in revenue for the first half of 2025, and will list on the Nasdaq (GEMI). Backers include Morgan Creek Digital

- Via Transportation, a New York-based provider of municipal transportation solutions, raised $493m in its IPO. It priced at $46 (above $40-$44 range), for a $4.2b fully diluted value, and will list on the NYSE (VIA). Backers include Exor, 83North, and Pitango

- Netskope, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud security provider, set IPO terms to 47.8m shares at $15-$17. It would have a $6.1b market cap, were it to price in the middle, plans to list on the Nasdaq (NTSK), and reports a $169.5 million net loss on $328.5 million in revenue for the first half of 2025. Major shareholders include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Iconiq, and Accel.

Funds:

- Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based private equity fund, raised $2.28 billion for its second small cap fund focused on the lower middle market companies.

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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.