Do names of VC Rounds Matter?

 

Companies raising the same amount of money have different post-money valuations depending on the round name.

Eg. If a seed-stage round raises $15M, that company is likely valued at $58M post-money. Whereas if a Series B company does so, the startup is typically worth $93M.

Why?

1. The companies that are raising Series B have likely raised more capital over multiple rounds than the earlier stages. So the valuation 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 be higher accounting for the excess capital already on the books.

   

2. The later the stage, the higher the traction / underlying business metrics needed to justify the next round (typically). 

   

3. Some round name fraud happening? Founders do sometimes choose to raise a "seed" when they've already raised significant capital in order to stand out relative to their peers..

#startups #Seed #SeriesA #SeriesB #founders

Lorikeet raises $54m after 2 years of starting up

 Lorikeet,  an AI company providing AI agents for customer service and founded by  Steve Hind (ex Stripe) and Jamie Hall (Google AI) in 2023,  has raised $54 million (US$35 million) in Series A funding at a valuation north of $200m . This is after receiving US$5m in seed funding in Oct 24 and growing revenue 10x 

Investors 

Investment was led led by QED Investors, with participation from Square Peg, Blackbird, Airtree, Skip Capital, Capital 49ers, Operator Partners and Athletic Ventures.

Canva’s husband-and-wife cofounders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht also joined the Series A. Several ex Stripers are also angel investors in the platform, which uses AI agents to deal with intricate customer problems.

Customers 

Customers include Lorikeet’s agents, or ‘concierges’, are used by several Australian unicorns, including Airwallex, Linktree and Eucalyptus, as the startup takes on global customer service giants Intercom, Zendesk, Decagon and Sierra.

What Lorikeet Does 

If you’ve dealt with a chatbot at Airwallex, Linktree, Flex or Eucalyptus, you’ve probably engaged with a Lorikeet AI concierge  – which answers questions, makes judgment calls and takes action to solve problems across chat, email, and voice.

Hond says “Customers don’t want to be told how to fix their problems. They want a concierge that actually solves them.”

One of Lorikeet’s first deployments was end-to-end handling of lost, stolen, and missing debit cards—with the AI used to determine eligibility, updatethe customer’s address, and send a replacement card without human intervention.

Application of Funds 

The money will be spent by R&D and global go-to-market efforts in the next five months. The business already has customers in US, Europe, and Australia.

Kanwal Rekhi - 7 unicorns and 2 IPOs talking about his Excelan story

Love this insight from Kanwal 

“I was never meant to be the CEO, but the board had no choice…

40 years ago, the company I had co-founded, Excelan, was close to shutting down. With just eight months of cash left, the board took some drastic measures. They named me Interim CEO.

To the outside world, it looked like a long-overdue promotion. To the board, I was a last resort. They wanted someone who was Wall Street-friendly and polished. A White Knight. Not an Indian engineer with dark skin, a thick accent, and a pocket protector.

I still remember the day, walking out of the meeting and stepping into my office. I stared at the painting of a bull charging through the currents, as doubts swirled in my mind. 

It’s a temporary arrangement, I remember saying to myself.

But I still said yes. Why? 

Because I’d been here before, underestimated and overlooked. And this was my chance to prove them all wrong. 

And so, I stepped out of my office, ready to take up the challenge and figure out how to turn the company around.

Once or twice in everyone’s life, there comes a moment when the tide finally turns in your favor. And when it does, it’s on you to take the wheel and steer it with everything you’ve got.”

Kanwal’s LinkedIn post 

Send your vCard and refer your network with www.referron.com 

Why Tim Draper invested in Elon Musk

Tim Draper invested in  Elon Musk because he trusted him based on the 6 investable traits  

1. He was Passionate about the industry 
2. He put his own money on the line
3. He had a clear roadmap and was willing to sleep on factory floors to get there.
4. He had a clear vision while remaining flexible on tactics 
5. He had done it before - a proven ability to execute in that domain
6. He was confident . He unashamedly asked investors  if they’d like to come for the ride 

#Passionate #confidence #vision #goals #trackrecord #backedhimself

Performance PR Reimagined: Linkby Raises US $15 M Series B to Accelerate U.S. Expansion & AI Platform

(Picture from AFR)

Here’s a cool LinkedIn post - to comment

Sydney‑based adtech startup Linkby, co‑founded in 2020 by Chris Wirasinha (ex‑Pedestrian), Andrew Chak, and Adrian Fagerlund, has secured a US $15 million (≈AUD 23 million) Series B round led by Boston’s Volition Capital—marking their first investment in Australia. The round also included Perennial Private Investments and OIF Ventures  .

Volition Capital stepping  in as a lead investor in their first Australian deal is something to be noted!!

What They Do

Linkby is a performance‑driven editorial platform that enables brands to pitch content directly to a network of over 600 premium publishers, paying only on cost‑per‑click or CPM engagement. This approach merges PR credibility with marketing accountability  .

To date, the platform serves more than 3,800 brands (e.g., Charlotte Tilbury, Beyond Meat, Lululemon, Disney+) and works with major publishers like Daily Mail, Condé Nast, Morning Brew, Substack creators, and News Corp  

Why It Matters

• Measurable PR: By paying for engagement rather than impressions, Linkby brings outcome-based tracking to editorial campaigns—helping brands measure visits, conversions, and awareness .
• Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): In stepping into the emerging space of LLM‑driven search (e.g., ChatGPT), Linkby ensures brand content surfaces in AI summaries—positioned as “SEO 2.0”  .
• Publisher support: With click-based compensation, publishers can monetize independent editorial with confidence—especially amid declining Google search traffic  

• Linkby employs teams in Sydney, UK, and U.S.; a new New York office serves as US HQ, with US headcount set to double to 40+  .
• The platform handles tens of thousands of features and collects millions of data points—fueling its GEO and recommendation engine roadmap  .

What’s Next?

1. Expand U.S. GTM & engineering: Double North American team and scale product development  .
2. GEO & AI‑powered recommendations: Build intelligent tools to assist in campaign setup, publisher selection, and budget allocation—leveraging machine learning models on rich engagement data  .
3. Enhance measurement attribution: Incorporate fraud detection and deeper conversion tracking, including Shopify integration beta  .

Takeaway

Linkby is at the vanguard of a new marketing paradigm—bridging high-trust editorial with performance marketing that measures real engagement. Their cost-per-click model aligns incentives across brands and publishers while positioning them as a leader in AI-era content discoverability.

With robust traction, global expansion plans, and technology investment in GEO, Linkby is not just evolving PR—it’s reinventing it as a scalable, measurable channel for growth in the age of AI.

Your Thoughts

• Are you rethinking PR strategies to include measurable engagement outcomes?
• How is AI‑mediated content discovery changing your marketing tactics?
• Could engagement-first models replace traditional affiliate or sponsorship deals?

Let’s connect and discuss.

Why Bitcoin is still a great investment!

Tim Draper nails it when he shares his reason why Bitcoin will grow in value !!

Bitcoin is incredible. It’s transparent, keeps perfect records, immutable, transparent, global, accepted everywhere and has a 63% market share in crypto.

One thing people don’t focus on is that Bitcoin is a tool that allows for innovation.

Bitcoin is about investing in a great future where:

• Artists get paid instantly for their work

• Small businesses access global markets without banks

• Creators own their audiences directly without having to pay platforms 30%

• Innovation moves at the speed of code, not committees

Innovation/Progress is the goal.

Underground Mapping Company raises $96m at an $800m valuation

Jeremy Suard, Ido Gonen, and the team at Exodigo, an Israeli underground mapping company , have raised $96M at an $800m valuation (double that of 2 years ago) ,  in a Series B funding round, to pioneer a new era of underground intelligence and scale the future of AI for megaprojects. 

Founders and veteran employees will be cashing out to the time of $15m as part of the deal .

Investors include Square Peg (Philippe Schwartz, Justin Liberman and Paul Bassat) , Zeev Ventures (Peter Thiel ), Greenfield Partners, 10D , Jibe Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and Leblon Capital.

What it does

Exodigo has developed a groundbreaking multi-sensor system that scans and maps underground infrastructure with 99% accuracy—without digging. Their cloud-based platform decodes underground data to support on-demand field services, setting a new global standard in 3D underground intelligence.

Trusted by DOTs, utilities, and transit leaders worldwide, Exodigo helps developers and engineers de-risk projects, avoid costly delays, and build safely. Their system detects hidden cables, pipes, and now subsoil layers like clay, rock, and groundwater—critical insights that reduce risk, cost, and construction time.

Exodigo’s two core products—underground utility mapping and geophysical scanning—pave the way for a smart recommendation engine that turns underground data into actionable insights.

What’s the opportunity for Entrepreneurs and VC’s in the next decade?

The biggest opportunities and great innovations  happen in times of disruption and recessions …..

💥The dot com crash in 2001 so the beginning of exponential growth of companies such as Amazon , Google, eBay , Apple and Cisco to name a few !!

💥The Banking Crisis of  2008 when people lost faith in the dollar - Satoshi created Bitcoin

💥The Tariff crisis of 2025; global wars; ;#fud  fear, uncertainty and doubt .  ; #ai Artificial Intelligence in its infancy

 

I share  Tim Draper’s enthusiasm  when he says that he s excited to be in venture capital at this time …. He and many VCs have  front row seats to watch brilliant minds solve problems that everyone else sees as obstacles.

The entrepreneurs and VCs who  see these sea changes first and have the #mad (motivation , ability and desire)  to adapt fastest - will build the companies that define the next decade.

Bring on the journey to 2035 I say 

❓What’s the opportunity? What’s ripe for disruption ? 

Best comment wins a prize! 🏆 comment below 👇

Tim Draper - a VC legend

Tim Draper is one of the most iconic people in the venture world who has been a part of creating $3 trillion in value 

Tim’s superpower

• His incredible ability to see the future, 
• To spot crazy ideas before they become obvious, 
• To recognize founders bold enough to build them.

Tim’s  Values

Tim is not just as an investor, but as a person driven by deep values.

Values like beff 

• Breaking down borders between countries. 
• Empowering global entrepreneurship.
• Freedom
• And — above all — family.

Tim’s  mission 

To make world a better place through technology and innovation

Thanks Chingiz Dauletbayev for sharing this post 

Climate Tech Partners Raise $50m in Unique Vc Fund

Patrick Sieb and Tom Kline of Climate Tech Partners raise $50m for their first close of their fund 

Investors include 

•  Ludovic Theau  CIO of Australian Ethical Investment, 
• Ian Learmonth, CEO Clean Energy Finance Corporation, 
• Daniel BESEN Family Office,
• Qantas, and 
• Airbus

The fund will focus on  #GridTech, #DER, and #storage #lowcarbonfuels and #climateadaptation, 

Patrick and Tom led set up a climate tech fund at Investible and grew it to $32 million, before striking out to set up Climate Tech Partners in early 2023.

Alliance Partners and players in the mix include 

Emily Bjorklund Drake Juliette Bourgeois Topaz Conway Noga Edelstein Duncan Murray Adam Roberts Malcolm Thornton Zoe Parkin Neil Stanford Fiona Messent Jonathon Curry Harry Jobberns Jorge Caro Terrón Julie Kitcher Fanny Mattens Stephen Forshaw  Julian Richman, CFA Adam Lindell Polar 993 PMC Legal Ranya Alkadamani

#climatetech #investment #VC #CorporatePartnership #Startup

Onwards and upwards 

Source afr

Russian Billionaire Fires VCs. Raises $250m and Hires Algorithms and uses #ai Instead.

In 2022 Nik Storonsky , the founder of Revolut launched QuantumLight, an AI-driven investment platform that replaces traditional investors with machine intelligence and not only scaled a $45B fintech company - he’s now raised $250m and is challenging the entire venture capital model.

No coffee meetings.

No partner pitches.

No “gut feel.”

Instead, the system ingests over 10 billion data points across 700,000+ venture-backed startups. It looks for correlations, anomalies, and signals that even the sharpest GPs might miss.

So far?

It’s working. Their AI-led investments are outperforming top-tier VCs by 2x.

We already rely on #AI in trading, underwriting, even diagnosing disease.

So why are we still backing startups with human bias, pattern recognition, and anecdotal conviction?

versus 

a system that’s less emotional, more scalable, and possibly more accurate.

“Should we remove humans from the investment decisions entirely.”

Will QuantumLight  replace humans or enable humans to make investment decisions 

How important is human bias, pattern recognition, and anecdotal conviction?

Can AI truly understand the founder journey?

The vision, resilience, and timing that often live between the data points?

What happens to VC when the pitch deck matters less than the dataset?

Would love to hear your take in the comment 👇

Source Valerie Bartel - venture Capital Invedtor in Silicone Valley

 Substack for more news on #AI, #Investing and #Innovation 🧠

Airwallex raises $300m at a $6.3b valuation - here’s the story!

Airwallex, founded by Jack Zhang is on track to reach a $1b revenue in 2025, and has just completed a $300 million Series F funding round at a $6.2 billion valuation.

Investors

Series F investors include: Square Peg, DST Global, Lone Pine Capital, Blackbird, Airtree, Salesforce Ventures, and Visa Ventures with participation from several leading pension funds in Australia.

Airwallex has a great Vision 

To create the largest money movement network

 in the world to completely displace Swift! 

(See full podcast with Jack Zhang below)

What Airwallex does 

Airwallex is a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses with a mission to redefine global banking, and to empower businesses everywhere to grow without limits.

“The global financial system wasn’t built for today’s borderless economy,” said Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. “Too many businesses are held back by legacy infrastructure that’s slow, costly, and fragmented. At Airwallex, we’re building a new foundation for the global economy – one that’s fast, seamless, and built for scale.”

Airwallex has built a tech-led global financial infrastructure from the ground up, with direct integrations into local clearing systems and card networks, and one of the most comprehensive licensing portfolios in fintech. 

This proprietary network gives Airwallex’s customers the unique ability to instantly generate local account numbers in 60+ countries and to send and receive funds across more than 150 countries, faster and more efficiently than traditional banks. Today, 95% of Airwallex transactions arrive within a few hours or the same day – 68% are processed instantly.

• Global Business Accounts: An all-in-one multi-currency account to manage ‌global banking, FX conversion, and international transfers and to earn competitive rates on stored funds. 
• Payments: Helping businesses accept online and in-store payments from their customers around the world with cards and 160+ local payment methods, all with a localized, multi-currency shopping experience.
• Spend: Giving customers a single platform to efficiently manage all types of company spend across their global business, including multicurrency corporate and employee cards, expense management, and bill payments – all powered by AI. 
• Platform APIs & Embedded Finance: Delivering Airwallex’s financial capabilities via API to tech-forward companies and marketplaces that want to embed and monetize financial services on their own platforms.

Rapid Growth and Global Expansion 

The company grew its customer base by 50% in 2024 – now serving 150,000 businesses worldwide. In 2025, Airwallex expects to hit $1 billion in annual run rate revenue.

In 2024, Airwallex moved into a permanent U.S. headquarters in San Francisco and recently opened new offices in New York and Toronto. 

Following the receipt of a payment institution license in Brazil and approval to close its acquisition of MexPago, a Mexico-based payment service provider, Airwallex is poised to launch services in Latin America’s two largest economies. 

In Europe, Airwallex recently opened a new office in Paris and made a series of senior hires in London and Amsterdam. In the Middle East, Airwallex made its first hires in the United Arab Emirates – in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai – and continued to grow strongly in Israel. 

Airwallex will use the funding to continue expanding its financial infrastructure into new markets including Japan, Korea, the UAE, and Latin America, and to accelerate go-to-market efforts in Europe, North America, and South East Asia.

Airwallex is well on the way to provide a global financial infrastructure to power the future of banking 

Interview with Jack Zhang and Brex by and Marcel van Oost of HD in HD

Sharing Jack and Airwallex story