💰 Inside the Windsurf–Google deal fallout
Weeks after it emerged that Google paid $2.4B to license Windsurf’s tech and hire its CEO plus 40 key staff, more details reveal why the deal stirred controversy in Silicon Valley.
🖱 Half of Google’s payment ($1.2B) went to investors, including Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins, and General Catalyst — Greenoaks turned $65M into ~$500M.
🖱 The other half was compensation for the 40 hires, with a large share going to co-founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen.
Weeks after it emerged that Google paid $2.4B to license Windsurf’s tech and hire its CEO plus 40 key staff, more details reveal why the deal stirred controversy in Silicon Valley.
🖱 Half of Google’s payment ($1.2B) went to investors, including Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins, and General Catalyst — Greenoaks turned $65M into ~$500M.
🖱 The other half was compensation for the 40 hires, with a large share going to co-founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen.
🖱 ~200 remaining employees saw no payout despite hopes from an earlier $3B OpenAI acquisition attempt.
🖱 Investors and founders left Windsurf with $100M+ in capital, but opinions differ on whether it could’ve been used to pay all employees without sinking the company.
🖱 Some Google hires had stock grants revoked and vesting restarted, delaying full payouts by 4 years.
🖱 Vinod Khosla called the move “a bad example of founders leaving their teams behind.”
🖱 Eventually, Cognition acquired Windsurf’s remaining entity and staff for an estimated $250M, ensuring those employees got a financial benefit.
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🖱 Investors and founders left Windsurf with $100M+ in capital, but opinions differ on whether it could’ve been used to pay all employees without sinking the company.
🖱 Some Google hires had stock grants revoked and vesting restarted, delaying full payouts by 4 years.
🖱 Vinod Khosla called the move “a bad example of founders leaving their teams behind.”
🖱 Eventually, Cognition acquired Windsurf’s remaining entity and staff for an estimated $250M, ensuring those employees got a financial benefit.
A lucrative win for VCs and founders — but a cautionary tale for startup teams betting on a big exit.
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🧪 Chai Discovery secures $70M to revolutionize drug development with AI
Biotech startup Chai Discovery has raised $70M in Series A funding to advance its AI-driven drug discovery platform.
The round was led by Menlo Ventures and Anthropic, with backing from Yosemite, DST Global Partners, SV Angel, Avenir, DCVC, and existing investors like Thrive Capital, OpenAI, and Fred Ehrsam.
🔸 Founded in 2024 by veterans from Absci, Facebook AI, OpenAI, and Stripe, with former Pfizer R&D chief Mikael Dolsten on the board.
🔸 Flagship model Chai-2 designs antibodies de novo with up to 20% hit rates — compared to ~0.1% in traditional labs.
🔸 Works from target data alone, creating antibodies that bind precisely to their antigen.
🔸 Could drastically speed up and cut costs of developing treatments, including for rare diseases.
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Biotech startup Chai Discovery has raised $70M in Series A funding to advance its AI-driven drug discovery platform.
The round was led by Menlo Ventures and Anthropic, with backing from Yosemite, DST Global Partners, SV Angel, Avenir, DCVC, and existing investors like Thrive Capital, OpenAI, and Fred Ehrsam.
🔸 Founded in 2024 by veterans from Absci, Facebook AI, OpenAI, and Stripe, with former Pfizer R&D chief Mikael Dolsten on the board.
🔸 Flagship model Chai-2 designs antibodies de novo with up to 20% hit rates — compared to ~0.1% in traditional labs.
🔸 Works from target data alone, creating antibodies that bind precisely to their antigen.
🔸 Could drastically speed up and cut costs of developing treatments, including for rare diseases.
With this funding, Chai aims to expand its platform and deepen partnerships with pharma — pushing toward faster, more precise, and personalized medicine.
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Match to pay $14M to the FTC due to false advertising and other deceptive practices
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/match-to-pay-14m-to-the-ftc-due-to-false-advertising-and-other-deceptive-practices/
Source:https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/match-to-pay-14m-to-the-ftc-due-to-false-advertising-and-other-deceptive-practices/
TechCrunch
Match to pay $14M to the FTC due to false advertising and other deceptive practices | TechCrunch
Match Group agrees to pay the FTC $14 million after it was sued for deceiving users into buying subscriptions.
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AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/ai-companion-apps-on-track-to-pull-in-120m-in-2025/
Source:https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/ai-companion-apps-on-track-to-pull-in-120m-in-2025/
TechCrunch
AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 | TechCrunch
The number of AI companion apps has grown more than 60% since 2024.
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🚀 What Startups Y Combinator Wants — Fall 2025
Y Combinator has updated its Requests for Startups, highlighting the areas it’s most eager to back. Almost all of them are now AI-focused. Here’s a condensed look at the fresh list.
🖱 Retraining Workers for the AI Economy – AI tools (possibly with AR/VR) for quickly training electricians, technicians, welders, and other skilled workers to meet infrastructure needs.
🖱 Video Generation as a Primitive – Building new applications and infrastructure for low-latency, unlimited AI-generated video as a core creative tool.
• The First 10-person, $100B Company – Leveraging AI agents to create ultra-efficient teams with unprecedented revenue per employee.
🖱 Infrastructure for Multi-Agent Systems – Developer tools for building, scaling, and maintaining distributed AI-agent architectures.
Y Combinator has updated its Requests for Startups, highlighting the areas it’s most eager to back. Almost all of them are now AI-focused. Here’s a condensed look at the fresh list.
🖱 Retraining Workers for the AI Economy – AI tools (possibly with AR/VR) for quickly training electricians, technicians, welders, and other skilled workers to meet infrastructure needs.
🖱 Video Generation as a Primitive – Building new applications and infrastructure for low-latency, unlimited AI-generated video as a core creative tool.
• The First 10-person, $100B Company – Leveraging AI agents to create ultra-efficient teams with unprecedented revenue per employee.
🖱 Infrastructure for Multi-Agent Systems – Developer tools for building, scaling, and maintaining distributed AI-agent architectures.
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🖱 AI-Native Enterprise Software – Next-gen enterprise platforms deeply integrated with AI, replacing traditional “systems of record.”
🖱 LLMs Instead of Government Consulting – AI services that replace expensive government consulting contracts from firms like Deloitte and Accenture.
YC’s message is clear: if you’re building for AI-first markets with high leverage and big vision, they’re listening.
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🖱 LLMs Instead of Government Consulting – AI services that replace expensive government consulting contracts from firms like Deloitte and Accenture.
YC’s message is clear: if you’re building for AI-first markets with high leverage and big vision, they’re listening.
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🥂 Frugalpac to scale world’s first paper wine bottle after £5M crowdfunding push
UK-based Frugalpac has developed the Frugal Bottle - 94% recycled paper, 84% lower carbon footprint than glass, and five times lighter. Already adopted by 50+ brands in 27 countries, it’s prevented over 1,400 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
🔸 Over 3M bottles produced since launch, stocked by Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Target, Whole Foods, and 7-Eleven
🔸 £5M equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube follows £1M from existing and new investors, valuing the company at £25M pre-money
🔸 Plans to deploy 22 Frugal Bottle Assembly Machines worldwide by 2029, enabling 191M bottles annually
🔸 New product lines in development, including recyclable paper paint pots and takeaway cups
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UK-based Frugalpac has developed the Frugal Bottle - 94% recycled paper, 84% lower carbon footprint than glass, and five times lighter. Already adopted by 50+ brands in 27 countries, it’s prevented over 1,400 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
🔸 Over 3M bottles produced since launch, stocked by Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Target, Whole Foods, and 7-Eleven
🔸 £5M equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube follows £1M from existing and new investors, valuing the company at £25M pre-money
🔸 Plans to deploy 22 Frugal Bottle Assembly Machines worldwide by 2029, enabling 191M bottles annually
🔸 New product lines in development, including recyclable paper paint pots and takeaway cups
Frugalpac’s goal: replace a slice of the 33B glass wine and spirits bottles used globally each year with scalable, low-carbon paper alternatives.
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🚨 Another founder exits xAI - launches AI safety fund
Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI and former DeepMind/OpenAI engineer, has left the company to start Babuschkin Ventures - an investment firm focused on AI safety research and startups.
🔸 Helped build xAI from scratch, creating core training tools and leading engineering across infrastructure, product, and applied AI
🔸 Part of the team that built the Memphis supercluster in 120 days, enabling rapid model training
🔸 Departure follows other recent executive exits from xAI and Musk-led companies
🔸 New fund will back projects making AI more secure, reliable, and aligned with human values
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Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI and former DeepMind/OpenAI engineer, has left the company to start Babuschkin Ventures - an investment firm focused on AI safety research and startups.
🔸 Helped build xAI from scratch, creating core training tools and leading engineering across infrastructure, product, and applied AI
🔸 Part of the team that built the Memphis supercluster in 120 days, enabling rapid model training
🔸 Departure follows other recent executive exits from xAI and Musk-led companies
🔸 New fund will back projects making AI more secure, reliable, and aligned with human values
Babuschkin says the goal is not to race toward superintelligence at all costs, but to build the guardrails that ensure it benefits humanity.
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📈 Sub-$5M VC rounds are fading fast
A decade ago, over 70% of US VC deals were under $5M. Now it’s less than half that, with PitchBook data showing the decline accelerating since early 2024. Bigger funds and founder expectations are reshaping seed-stage investing.
🖱 Multi-stage funds are pushing up round sizes, crowding out smaller seed investors
🖱 Founders are drawn to big-brand firms, even if they get less hands-on support later
🖱 Some startups are asking for more capital early, pricing out boutique investors
🖱 AI hype and power-law thinking are fueling larger early rounds
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A decade ago, over 70% of US VC deals were under $5M. Now it’s less than half that, with PitchBook data showing the decline accelerating since early 2024. Bigger funds and founder expectations are reshaping seed-stage investing.
🖱 Multi-stage funds are pushing up round sizes, crowding out smaller seed investors
🖱 Founders are drawn to big-brand firms, even if they get less hands-on support later
🖱 Some startups are asking for more capital early, pricing out boutique investors
🖱 AI hype and power-law thinking are fueling larger early rounds
If the trend continues, early-stage founders may find fewer small, founder-friendly checks and more pressure to grow fast under big-money expectations.
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📊 Which VCs got in early on today’s $5B+ startups
Crunchbase ranked funds by how often they entered Series A or B rounds of companies now valued at $5B or more.
🖱 Accel leads with 12 Series A and 13 Series B bets
🖱 Index Ventures, IDG Capital, Lightspeed, and General Catalyst follow closely
🖱 Data excludes cases where the company was already a unicorn at its first round — rare, but common in AI
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Crunchbase ranked funds by how often they entered Series A or B rounds of companies now valued at $5B or more.
🖱 Accel leads with 12 Series A and 13 Series B bets
🖱 Index Ventures, IDG Capital, Lightspeed, and General Catalyst follow closely
🖱 Data excludes cases where the company was already a unicorn at its first round — rare, but common in AI
A clean snapshot of who’s spotting mega-winners before they blow up.
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📊 Trading Biases vs. Predictions
A prediction is you playing fortune teller - “EURUSD will hit 1.1200 by Friday.”
Feels confident, looks smart… until the market decides to do the exact opposite.
A bias is a lean, bullish or bearish, backed by logic, but with the humility to wait for the market to prove you right before putting money on the line.
Why biases beat predictions:
🟡 Predictions lock you in. You spend energy defending your call instead of reacting to what’s happening.
🟡 Biases flex. They let you change your stance without ego damage.
🟡 The right bias without execution skills still won’t pay you - being correct and being profitable are two different games.
🟡 The market doesn’t care about your forecast. It’ll go wherever it wants, with or without you.
New traders think the job is predicting.
Pros know the job is adapting.
The faster you drop the need to “be right” and start trading what’s in front of you, the faster your PnL starts looking like it belongs to someone who knows what they’re doing.
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A prediction is you playing fortune teller - “EURUSD will hit 1.1200 by Friday.”
Feels confident, looks smart… until the market decides to do the exact opposite.
A bias is a lean, bullish or bearish, backed by logic, but with the humility to wait for the market to prove you right before putting money on the line.
Why biases beat predictions:
🟡 Predictions lock you in. You spend energy defending your call instead of reacting to what’s happening.
🟡 Biases flex. They let you change your stance without ego damage.
🟡 The right bias without execution skills still won’t pay you - being correct and being profitable are two different games.
🟡 The market doesn’t care about your forecast. It’ll go wherever it wants, with or without you.
New traders think the job is predicting.
Pros know the job is adapting.
The faster you drop the need to “be right” and start trading what’s in front of you, the faster your PnL starts looking like it belongs to someone who knows what they’re doing.
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📊 How co-founders split equity in startups
Only 1 in 10 startups with four founders split equity evenly. According to Carta, whether shares are split equally or not has no measurable impact on a startup’s success.
The time until hiring the first employee has also grown - now often reaching up to three years. And in recent years, the number of solo founders has been steadily rising.
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Only 1 in 10 startups with four founders split equity evenly. According to Carta, whether shares are split equally or not has no measurable impact on a startup’s success.
The time until hiring the first employee has also grown - now often reaching up to three years. And in recent years, the number of solo founders has been steadily rising.
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📈 Sub-$5M VC rounds are fading fast
A decade ago, over 70% of US VC deals were under $5M. Now it’s less than half that, with PitchBook data showing the decline accelerating since early 2024. Bigger funds and founder expectations are reshaping seed-stage investing.
🖱 Multi-stage funds are pushing up round sizes, crowding out smaller seed investors
🖱 Founders are drawn to big-brand firms, even if they get less hands-on support later
🖱 Some startups are asking for more capital early, pricing out boutique investors
🖱 AI hype and power-law thinking are fueling larger early rounds
✔️Powered by The Startups VC
A decade ago, over 70% of US VC deals were under $5M. Now it’s less than half that, with PitchBook data showing the decline accelerating since early 2024. Bigger funds and founder expectations are reshaping seed-stage investing.
🖱 Multi-stage funds are pushing up round sizes, crowding out smaller seed investors
🖱 Founders are drawn to big-brand firms, even if they get less hands-on support later
🖱 Some startups are asking for more capital early, pricing out boutique investors
🖱 AI hype and power-law thinking are fueling larger early rounds
If the trend continues, early-stage founders may find fewer small, founder-friendly checks and more pressure to grow fast under big-money expectations.
✔️Powered by The Startups VC
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🔎 How VCs run due diligence: 5 key stages
Before investing, venture funds run a deep dive into a startup across several dimensions to reduce risk and validate potential.
Here’s what they look at:
🖱 Team — Assessing the founders’ experience, past achievements, motivation, and ability to work together under pressure. A cohesive team with a clear understanding of the market is a major plus. Weak founder dynamics are one of the top reasons VCs walk away.
🖱 Market — Analyzing total addressable market (TAM), growth rate, competitive landscape, and key industry trends. Big and expanding markets increase the odds of a venture-scale return, while niche or shrinking markets are red flags unless the product has strong defensibility.
🖱 Product — Reviewing the stage of development, whether there’s real customer validation, and what technological or operational risks could block scaling. Pilots, paying customers, and clear user adoption metrics weigh heavily here.
🖱 Financials — Looking at revenue streams, burn rate, unit economics, and capital structure to gauge how sustainable and scalable the business is. Funds want to see enough runway and a clear path to future growth without constant emergency fundraising.
🖱 Legal — Checking intellectual property rights, ownership structure, existing contracts, and any litigation or compliance risks. This protects the investment and ensures the startup actually owns what it’s selling.
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Before investing, venture funds run a deep dive into a startup across several dimensions to reduce risk and validate potential.
Here’s what they look at:
🖱 Team — Assessing the founders’ experience, past achievements, motivation, and ability to work together under pressure. A cohesive team with a clear understanding of the market is a major plus. Weak founder dynamics are one of the top reasons VCs walk away.
🖱 Market — Analyzing total addressable market (TAM), growth rate, competitive landscape, and key industry trends. Big and expanding markets increase the odds of a venture-scale return, while niche or shrinking markets are red flags unless the product has strong defensibility.
🖱 Product — Reviewing the stage of development, whether there’s real customer validation, and what technological or operational risks could block scaling. Pilots, paying customers, and clear user adoption metrics weigh heavily here.
🖱 Financials — Looking at revenue streams, burn rate, unit economics, and capital structure to gauge how sustainable and scalable the business is. Funds want to see enough runway and a clear path to future growth without constant emergency fundraising.
🖱 Legal — Checking intellectual property rights, ownership structure, existing contracts, and any litigation or compliance risks. This protects the investment and ensures the startup actually owns what it’s selling.
Strong performance in all five areas not only secures funding but also builds trust with investors and often speeds up the deal process.
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📉 How Benchmark Capital is losing partners — and time
Benchmark Capital, the cult VC firm behind early bets on eBay, Uber, and Snapchat, built its brand on small teams, disciplined early-stage deals, and avoiding hype. But that same conservatism is now costing it top talent and market relevance.
🖱 Since March 2024, three younger partners have left - Miles Grimshaw (to Thrive Capital), Sarah Tavel (now venture partner), and Victor Lazarte (launched his own fund).
🖱 Departures stem partly from FOMO - the firm’s cautious approach blocked access to high-quality AI and frontier tech deals.
🖱 Missed opportunities include Stripe, Coinbase, OpenAI, and Anthropic, eroding connections with key market players.
🖱 Current leadership - Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, and Chetan Puttagunta, has strong track records but faces skepticism over recent bets.
🖱 Benchmark’s understated investment in AI agent startup Manus drew criticism over perceived China ties.
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Benchmark Capital, the cult VC firm behind early bets on eBay, Uber, and Snapchat, built its brand on small teams, disciplined early-stage deals, and avoiding hype. But that same conservatism is now costing it top talent and market relevance.
🖱 Since March 2024, three younger partners have left - Miles Grimshaw (to Thrive Capital), Sarah Tavel (now venture partner), and Victor Lazarte (launched his own fund).
🖱 Departures stem partly from FOMO - the firm’s cautious approach blocked access to high-quality AI and frontier tech deals.
🖱 Missed opportunities include Stripe, Coinbase, OpenAI, and Anthropic, eroding connections with key market players.
🖱 Current leadership - Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, and Chetan Puttagunta, has strong track records but faces skepticism over recent bets.
🖱 Benchmark’s understated investment in AI agent startup Manus drew criticism over perceived China ties.
Benchmark’s legacy was built on picking winners early and backing them hard. To stay relevant, it may need to evolve, attracting star partners who could run their own fund, but choose to play for the brand instead.
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📊 Which top VCs hunt in packs — and which go solo
PitchBook ranked leading venture firms by how often they invest alongside other heavyweight funds.
At the top - those who almost always join deals with fellow giants.
At the bottom - the lone wolves.
🖱 “In the trend” startups often land investors from the first group.
🖱 Unusual or contrarian plays are more likely to attract the second.
🖱 Either way - landing any name from this list is already a strong signal.
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PitchBook ranked leading venture firms by how often they invest alongside other heavyweight funds.
At the top - those who almost always join deals with fellow giants.
At the bottom - the lone wolves.
🖱 “In the trend” startups often land investors from the first group.
🖱 Unusual or contrarian plays are more likely to attract the second.
🖱 Either way - landing any name from this list is already a strong signal.
A quick reminder that investor fit can be as important as the check size.
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🤖 The ultimate collection on optimizing agent systems
A powerhouse roundup from 2023–2025, covering self-evolving agents, efficiency hacks, and everything you need to make your AI agents not just “alive” but actually effective.
👉 Full collection here 👈
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A powerhouse roundup from 2023–2025, covering self-evolving agents, efficiency hacks, and everything you need to make your AI agents not just “alive” but actually effective.
👉 Full collection here 👈
Free up your own time by letting agents do the work.
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🚀 Alibaba introduces Qoder – an agentic coding platform
Alibaba has launched Qoder, a tool that can take on full-stack tasks, from writing code to testing and final assembly.
🖱 Works in Agent Mode (pair programming with full control) or Quest Mode (autonomous coding from task to production).
🖱 Can deeply parse large codebases, including architecture and patterns.
🖱 Provides smart hints, auto-documentation, and long-term memory for team style.
🖱 Automatically selects the best AI model (Claude, Gemini, GPT, etc.) for the job.
Qoder is now available in public preview and free to try.
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Alibaba has launched Qoder, a tool that can take on full-stack tasks, from writing code to testing and final assembly.
🖱 Works in Agent Mode (pair programming with full control) or Quest Mode (autonomous coding from task to production).
🖱 Can deeply parse large codebases, including architecture and patterns.
🖱 Provides smart hints, auto-documentation, and long-term memory for team style.
🖱 Automatically selects the best AI model (Claude, Gemini, GPT, etc.) for the job.
Qoder is now available in public preview and free to try.
The line between “developer” and “AI agent” just got a little thinner.
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