🚨 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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❤3
📈 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.
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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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🧑💻 How “Team Interfaces” Become Growth Points
💬 Losses in transitions: A user may be hot, but gets lost at the moment of hand-off from one department to another. This isn’t a demand problem — it’s a synchronization problem.
💬 Interfaces = blind spots: Each team has its own metrics. But it’s precisely at the boundaries between them that results are most often lost. There, no one is responsible “for the whole.”
💬 Growth team as a bridge: True growth points appear where someone connects the pieces of the process and eliminates the gaps.
💬 One interface = one lever: Fix the lead hand-off → conversion grows. Simplify the post-onboarding hand-off → retention rises.
Growth often gets stuck not within a team, but at the junctions between them. Where marketing hands off a user to product. Where support talks to sales. Where analytics meets dev.
💬 Losses in transitions: A user may be hot, but gets lost at the moment of hand-off from one department to another. This isn’t a demand problem — it’s a synchronization problem.
💬 Interfaces = blind spots: Each team has its own metrics. But it’s precisely at the boundaries between them that results are most often lost. There, no one is responsible “for the whole.”
💬 Growth team as a bridge: True growth points appear where someone connects the pieces of the process and eliminates the gaps.
💬 One interface = one lever: Fix the lead hand-off → conversion grows. Simplify the post-onboarding hand-off → retention rises.
Growth isn’t only about new channels or features. It’s also about how teams are connected to each other. Often, the cheapest X2 lies right there.
OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/23/openai-warns-against-spvs-and-other-unauthorized-investments/
Source:https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/23/openai-warns-against-spvs-and-other-unauthorized-investments/
TechCrunch
OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments | TechCrunch
OpenAI isn't the only AI company looking to crack down on SPVs.
🤖 Top 20 AI agent startups
Today’s leaders focus on fast ROI - writing code, handling customer support, and automating enterprise workflows.
The market is scaling faster than expected and new players are already rivaling Big Tech in efficiency.
🖱 AI agent market will more than double this year — from $5B to $13B
🖱 Anysphere (Cursor) leads with $500M ARR, 5x ahead of peers
🖱 Top startups match or exceed Microsoft’s $1.8M revenue per employee
🖱 42% of AI agent firms are already operating at commercial scale
🖱 Half of the top 20 by revenue were founded in just the past 3 years
🖱 Customer support agents generate a 127x revenue multiple vs. the average 52
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Today’s leaders focus on fast ROI - writing code, handling customer support, and automating enterprise workflows.
The market is scaling faster than expected and new players are already rivaling Big Tech in efficiency.
🖱 AI agent market will more than double this year — from $5B to $13B
🖱 Anysphere (Cursor) leads with $500M ARR, 5x ahead of peers
🖱 Top startups match or exceed Microsoft’s $1.8M revenue per employee
🖱 42% of AI agent firms are already operating at commercial scale
🖱 Half of the top 20 by revenue were founded in just the past 3 years
🖱 Customer support agents generate a 127x revenue multiple vs. the average 52
AI agents aren’t just experiments anymore, they’re becoming real businesses at lightning speed.
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📊 VC money is now top-heavy
PitchBook shows how concentrated US venture has become. During COVID, investors spread capital across the long tail - top-10 deals took only a small share.
Now, with AI leading, nearly half of all VC dollars go to just 10 companies.
🖱 OpenAI alone represents ~20% of the 2025 market
🖱 Other giants include Scale AI, xAI, Anthropic
🖱 Billions are piling into a few AI leaders while the rest see shrinking access
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PitchBook shows how concentrated US venture has become. During COVID, investors spread capital across the long tail - top-10 deals took only a small share.
Now, with AI leading, nearly half of all VC dollars go to just 10 companies.
🖱 OpenAI alone represents ~20% of the 2025 market
🖱 Other giants include Scale AI, xAI, Anthropic
🖱 Billions are piling into a few AI leaders while the rest see shrinking access
The VC pie is getting smaller for everyone outside the top tier of AI.
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🤑 OpenAI hits first $1B month, but compute can’t keep up
OpenAI logged its first-ever $1 billion revenue month in July, driven by GPT-5 subscriptions, yet CFO Sarah Friar says the company’s biggest challenge is a shortage of computing power.
🖱 Demand for GPUs is “voracious,” forcing massive new builds like Stargate
🖱 Microsoft remains a core partner, alongside Oracle and CoreWeave
🖱 Annual recurring revenue has hit $10B, with 2025 revenue expected to triple to $12.7B
🖱 CEO Sam Altman says trillions will be spent on data centers to meet growth
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OpenAI logged its first-ever $1 billion revenue month in July, driven by GPT-5 subscriptions, yet CFO Sarah Friar says the company’s biggest challenge is a shortage of computing power.
🖱 Demand for GPUs is “voracious,” forcing massive new builds like Stargate
🖱 Microsoft remains a core partner, alongside Oracle and CoreWeave
🖱 Annual recurring revenue has hit $10B, with 2025 revenue expected to triple to $12.7B
🖱 CEO Sam Altman says trillions will be spent on data centers to meet growth
The milestone shows how fast AI demand is scaling, but also how fragile the supply side remains.
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❕ India bans real-money gaming
India’s parliament has passed a bill banning all real-money games - whether skill or chance based - in a move that threatens a $23B industry employing over 200,000 people.
🖱 Bill blocks transactions for real-money games and ads
🖱 Offenders risk 3 years jail or ₹10M ($115K) fine
🖱 Celebrities promoting such games also face penalties
🖱 Industry warns of 400+ companies shutting down
🖱 Stakeholders argue offshore gambling apps, not local startups, drive the harm
Supporters say it protects society from addiction, but critics warn it will kill regulated firms while fueling illegal offshore betting. The bill still needs upper house and presidential approval.
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India’s parliament has passed a bill banning all real-money games - whether skill or chance based - in a move that threatens a $23B industry employing over 200,000 people.
🖱 Bill blocks transactions for real-money games and ads
🖱 Offenders risk 3 years jail or ₹10M ($115K) fine
🖱 Celebrities promoting such games also face penalties
🖱 Industry warns of 400+ companies shutting down
🖱 Stakeholders argue offshore gambling apps, not local startups, drive the harm
Supporters say it protects society from addiction, but critics warn it will kill regulated firms while fueling illegal offshore betting. The bill still needs upper house and presidential approval.
A $23B sector could vanish overnight, or just move underground.
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🌍 Crusoe eyes $10B valuation with clean power data centers
Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems is in talks to raise over $1B at a ~$10B valuation, up from $2.8B last year.
Backed by Founders Fund, Nvidia, and Fidelity, the startup converts stranded fuel into computing power for sustainable data centers.
🖱 Prevented 22B cubic feet of gas flaring - equal to 630K cars off the road annually
🖱 Abilene site: 1M sq ft, up to 100K GPUs, powered by 1.2 GW of clean energy
🖱 Key player in $500B Stargate project with $11.6B already secured
🖱 15+ GW of clean energy projects in development worldwide
🖱 Acquired Atero (GPU infra management) for $150M
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Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems is in talks to raise over $1B at a ~$10B valuation, up from $2.8B last year.
Backed by Founders Fund, Nvidia, and Fidelity, the startup converts stranded fuel into computing power for sustainable data centers.
🖱 Prevented 22B cubic feet of gas flaring - equal to 630K cars off the road annually
🖱 Abilene site: 1M sq ft, up to 100K GPUs, powered by 1.2 GW of clean energy
🖱 Key player in $500B Stargate project with $11.6B already secured
🖱 15+ GW of clean energy projects in development worldwide
🖱 Acquired Atero (GPU infra management) for $150M
Crusoe’s push shows how scaling AI compute and cutting emissions can align, but this round will test if green data infra can draw capital as fast as it burns energy.
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🦄 In venture, it’s not just about finding unicorns - it’s about growing them
Capital alone rarely makes the difference. The biggest returns go to investors who help their portfolio companies scale when it matters most.
🖱 Shopify — early investors built out the developer partner network that became the core of its ecosystem.
🖱 Tesla — backers who supported Musk through the Model 3 production crisis earned far more than passive funds.
🖱 Stripe — YC investors funneled their startup network as first customers, giving Stripe instant scale.
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Capital alone rarely makes the difference. The biggest returns go to investors who help their portfolio companies scale when it matters most.
🖱 Shopify — early investors built out the developer partner network that became the core of its ecosystem.
🖱 Tesla — backers who supported Musk through the Model 3 production crisis earned far more than passive funds.
🖱 Stripe — YC investors funneled their startup network as first customers, giving Stripe instant scale.
The lesson: venture isn’t a lottery ticket, it’s active work to turn early bets into enduring giants.
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