Happy Monday!

Here are a few great things to read/watch this week:

💪 Founder’s Mode by Paul Graham — VC’s who haven't been founders themselves don't really know how founders should run their companies. C-level execs, as a class, include some of the most skillful liars in the world. There are things founders can do that managers can't, and not doing them feels wrong to founders, because it is. Read more on PG’s blog.

📺 Solana vs Ethereum is like Android vs iOS — Thank you Bloomberg for having me on the show! Solana vs Ethereum, is like Android vs iOS: It’s not a zero sum game. iOS developers focus on building on iOS and vice versa. I want to see all L1 ecosystems flourish. SOL and ETH both need to thrive! Watch my segment on Bloomberg.

💰 Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Nvidia are Distorting VC market — The Magnificent 7 have been pouring billions of dollars to fuel the growth of capital-intensive companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Scale AI and CoreWeave. With some of the most well-capitalized companies on the planet flinging open their wallets to fund the generative AI craze, the normal pressures to go public don’t apply. And even if they did, this batch of startups is nowhere near showing off the profitability metrics that public investors need to see before taking the plunge. Read more on CNBC.

⛓️ Pavel Durov’s Declaration — Last month founder of Telegram was arrested and was interviewed by the police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. He was told he may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram. Here is his public announcement on Telegram.

🤼‍♂️ Clash of the Tech Titans: Silicon Valley Fractures Over Harris vs. Trump — An extraordinary public “war of words” is brewing in Silicon Valley, as some of the biggest names in technology take shots at former friends and colleagues in the run-up to the presidential election. This kind of infighting has been rare in previous presidential elections as the tech industry has historically leaned left. We are seeing tension between Silicon Valley billionaires because, for the first election cycle in my memory, some of them are leaving the herd and thinking and acting for themselves. Read more on WSJ.

This week a total of 14 startups raised $677.4M in funding, 1 M&As:

• $90.5M goes to 5 Enterprise startups

• $3.2M goes to 1 FinTech startup

• $78.4M goes to 3 Healthcare startups

• $482M goes to 3 BioTech startups

• $17M goes to 1 AgTech startup

• $6.3M goes to 1 Logistics startup

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Edith
X, LinkedIn

Funding (300 miles radius from Silicon Valley)

Enterprise

• Cortex (internal developer productivity platform) raised $60M Series C led by Scale Venture Partners

• Mintlify (software documentation platform) raised $18.5M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz

• Acuvity (AI governance and adoption platform) raised $9M Seed led by Foundation Capital

• Paradigm (generative AI spreadsheet) raised $2M Seed from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Pioneer Fund and more

• Approveit (operations and automation platform) raised $1M Seed led by 10vc, Telegraph Hill Capital, Verras Capital

FinTech

• Flex (HSA and FSA online payments ecosystem) raised $3.2M Seed from Y Combinator, SV Angel, Precursor, Liquid 2 Ventures

Healthcare

• Thatch (personalized healthcare benefits platform) raised $38M Series A led by General Catalyst, Index Ventures

• Venova Medical (vascular access device for dialysis patients) raised $30M Series B led by Catalyst Health Ventures

• Segmed (medical imaging) raised $10.4M Series A led by Advocate Health, iGan Partners

BioTech

• ArsenalBio (advanced cell therapy) raised $325M Series C from ARCH Venture Partners, Milky Way Investments Group, Regeneron Ventures, NVentures, Luma Group, T. Rowe Price, Rock Springs Capital

• Circle Pharma (oral macrocycle therapies) raised $90M Series D led by The Column Group

• OrsoBio (obesity treatments) raised $67M Series B led by Ascenta Capital, Woodline Partners

AgTech

• Switch Bioworks (sustainable fertilizers) raised $17M Seed led by Change Capital Partners

Logistics

• Portex (freight management automation) raised $6.3M Seed led by Footwork

IPO & M&A (300 miles radius from Silicon Valley)  

• Salesforce acquired TENYX (AI-powered voice assistant)