Weekly Digest: OpenAI goes on an acquisition spree, AI startups hit $14B valuations, Andreessen Horowitz raises $15B, and $100M rounds become the new normal
January ecosystem highlights — AI momentum, mega funding rounds, VC power moves, acquisitions, and must-watch interviews.
Welcome to our first digest of the year — sharing the latest startup and venture news that you may have missed.
As we know, the startup ecosystem is shifting fast. The AI bubble is in full swing, $100M ARR is the new badge of honor over unicorn status, startups are raising record rounds, new VC funds are emerging, and acquisitions are heating up.
To help you make sense of it all, we’ve rounded up the most talked-about startup stories from the past few weeks — broken down into these categories:
🔔 The Latest Trends
🗝️ Read of the week
🔍 Top tech news
💰 Startup funding news
👀 New VC funds
🤝 Acquisitions
🎤 Must-watch interviews
Let’s dive in 🚀
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🔔 The Latest Trends
🗝️ Read of the week
🔍 Top tech news
Andreessen Horowitz raises another $15 billion.
OpenAI and others invest $252M in Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs.
Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI.
Robotics software maker Skild AI hits $14B valuation, having just raised $1.4B from the likes of SoftBank.
💰 Startup funding news
Blackstone, General Atlantic-backed Liftoff Mobile files for IPO.
LMArena lands $1.7B valuation four months after launching its product having just raised $150M Series A co-led by Felicis.
AI security firm, depthfirst, announces $40 million Series A led by Accel.
Shopify competitor Swap (the agentic commerce OS that unifies global compliance, returns, and inventory so you can scale from one platform) raises $100M six months after raising $40M. The round was led by DST Global and ICONIQ Capital.
VoiceRun raises $5.5M to build a voice agent factory — the round was led by Flybridge Capital.
Converge Bio, which is accelerating drug development through GenAI-powered innovations in discovery, molecule design and manufacturing to create the therapies of tomorrow, today — has just raised $25M, led by Bessemer.
Terra re-enters Africa’s defence market as it raises $11.75 million led by 8VC, founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.
Chubbies cofounder Kyle Hency is back in startup world, announcing his new startup Good Day that just raised $7 million Seed led by FirstMark and Ridge Ventures
Bill Gates-backed Type One Energy raises $87M ahead of $250M Series B.
Harmattan AI raises $200M Series B led by Dassault Aviation, becomes defense unicorn.
👀 New VC funds
Andreessen Horowitz alum maps out new VC firm with focus on AI, consumer health.
Solo GP Andreas Klinger raises €15m for European robotics, automation and AI.
Arkin Capital Closes $100M Biotech Fund.
Lux Capital lands $1.5B for its largest fund ever.
Vanagon Ventures closes €20M fund to fill Europe’s deep tech pre-seed gap.
Ananda Impact Ventures closes €73m for new deeptech fund.
Company Ventures Raising Up To $80M for Third Fund.
Superorganism Closes Maiden Fund, at $25.9M.
German growth investor DTCP raises €300m for new defence fund — it hopes will be Europe’s largest.
Rosberg Ventures Closes Fund III, at $100M.
🤝 Acquisitions
OpenAI acquires health records startup Torch for, reportedly, $100M.
OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo.
🎤 Must-watch interviews
The latest must-watch interviews from our podcast show:
Forget AI: Inside the Meltdown That Made Airalo #1 eSIM Unicorn | Ahmet Bahadir Ozdemir.
The Hidden Skill Behind Every Successful Founder | Lindsay Kaplan.
The Harsh Truth About Building a Startup in the AI Era | Anish Acharya.
The AI Version of You Will Outperform You — Emad Mostaque.
How Solana Survived When Most Other Coins Fell | Anatoly Yakovenko.
This Is How AI Will Reshape Startups Forever | Henry Ward, Co-Founder of Carta.
Spotify’s Early Investor Shares His Blueprint for Outlier Founders | PJ Pärson (Northzone).
Watch now!
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