Archive
a16z Adds $1.7B to AI Infrastructure • OpenAI Hits $20B Revenue • Playlist–EGYM $7.5B Mega-Merger • BlackRock–Microsoft AI Fund Reaches $12.5B • Talen Buys $3.45B of Power Assets
Your dose of daily dealflow and essential VC & tech trends. The biggest moves in venture, all in one place. Celebrating startups, founders, and funders.
xAI Raises $20B to Scale AI Infrastructure • OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health • Lux Capital Closes $1.5B Fund • LMArena Raises $150M • Photonic Raises $130M
AI keeps swallowing capital, healthcare, and geopolitics as mega-rounds, platform funds, and strategic deals redraw the venture map.
The 12 Deals of Christmas • TradedVC’s Naughty and Nice List of 2025 • Nvidia Acquires Groq's Assets for $20B • Precious Metals Make History • Lululemon Athletica Deal • Japan x SoftBank Group AI Partnership • Alphabet Acquires Intersect
Venture didn’t slow down for the holidays. It concentrated, hardened, and wrapped itself in bigger checks. This is the Christmas edition - part recap, part roast, part logistics masterclass.
Databricks Raises $4B at a $134B Valuation • Lovable Hits a $6.6B Valuation • SpaceX Kicks Off IPO Bank Talks • Microsoft Locks In 3.6M Tons of Carbon Removal • NVIDIA Unveils Nemotron 3 Open Models
AI infrastructure continues to compound, developer tools sprint ahead, and climate and defense initiatives quietly secure massive commitments. This is one of those days where scale and speed matter.
SpaceX IPO? (Denied by Elon)• Paramount’s $108.4B Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. • IBM Buys Confluent for $11B • Airwallex Raises $330M • Castelion Lands $350M • MarcyPen Capital Partners Launches $500M Korean Pop Culture Fund
Media consolidation is accelerating. AI infrastructure is reshaping enterprise software. Mega-rounds are flowing globally across defense, fintech, and culture-oriented investing.
$6.5B SoftBank Ampere Buyout • Databricks In Talks For Up To $5B At $134B Valuation • $300M Black Forest Labs Series B At $3.25B • $120M Harmonic Raise For Mathematical Superintelligence • Nvidia Puts $2B Into Synopsys • Black Friday Online Spend Hits Record $11.8B
AI infrastructure and visual intelligence pull in the biggest checks while strategic chip deals tighten the stack, as consumers quietly set a new Black Friday spending record and the Thanksgiving cold chain shows where real pricing power lives.
Amazon Wins ~$50B U.S. Gov AI-Infra Deal • Google & Meta Explore Alternatives to Nvidia Chips • xAI Targets $15B Raise • Anthropic Releases Opus 4.5 • X-energy Raises $700M
A massive government AI-infra win for Amazon, hyperscalers shifting their chip strategies, and major capital flowing into frontier models and next-generation energy systems.
Databricks Eyes $130B+ Raise • Sphere Lands $21M From a16z • nvp Capital Closes $80M Fund • Cloudflare Outage Shakes the Internet • Intuit Pays OpenAI $100M/Year
AI infra, compliance automation, and vertical-AI funds take center stage as Cloudflare’s outage exposes web fragility and Intuit doubles down on OpenAI inside TurboTax.
$2.3B Cursor Series D • $2B Thinking Machines Raise • Gopuff Secures $250M Growth Round • Kalshi Cuts Coinbase Custody Deal • Orion Lands $6M Seed To Scale AI Security
AI infra, agent tools, and prediction markets dominated the week with mega rounds, strategic partnerships, and high velocity commercial integrations across enterprise and consumer networks.
Anthropic Invests $50B In American AI Infrastructure • Skims Raises $225M at a $5B Valuation • Luxus Turns Hermès Bags Into an Asset Class • Shaun White’s Snow League Scores $15M
From $50B data centers to designer assets, the lines between tech, culture, and capital keep blurring.
SoftBank Exits Nvidia for $5.8B • Apollo Buys Atlético Madrid • Iambic Gets $100M for AI Drug Discovery • Gamma Hits $2.1B • Trip Raises $40M for CBD Drink Expansion • Amazon Bazaar Launches Globally
Capital rotation is accelerating across AI, consumer, and sports assets. SoftBank is reloading its AI war chest, Apollo is turning football clubs into financial franchises, and consumer tech is finding new edges in AI-native tools and global low-cost markets.