Startups & Ventures
The products, people and decisions behind technology businesses.
Latest news
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Sundial Acquisition: Meta Buys AI Analytics Startup
Sundial's co-founders return to Meta to lead AI analytics tooling and agents. No price was disclosed.
Salesforce Agrees to Acquire Braze for $5.66 Billion
Salesforce will buy customer engagement platform Braze for $47.50 a share in cash, about $5.66 billion.
Oxide Raises $445 Million Series D to Fill a Hardware Backlog
Oxide raised $445 million, led by Eclipse, to buy parts and build racks as orders outrun supply.
doxx.net Raises $38 Million for Agentic Defined Networking
doxx.net raised $38 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz, for a private network that people and AI agents configure.
Island Raises $400 Million at a $6.4 Billion Valuation
The company plans to expand controls for enterprise work performed by people and AI agents.
Tolmo Raises $22 Million for Production Security
The startup connects production context to security agents and says its first pentesting agents are live.
Explainers & guides
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Convertible Note vs SAFE: Interest, Maturity and Conversion
A note is a loan that can become shares; a SAFE promises shares later. What interest and a maturity date change.
Tender Offers for Employees: Shares, Limits and Cash
Check eligible shares, sale limits and deductions before treating an employee offer as cash.
Down Round Explained: Price, Dilution and Options
See how a lower share price changes ownership, investor rights and employee options.
Startup Runway Calculation: Burn Rate and Cash
Calculate startup runway from cash and net burn, with worked numbers and a check for uneven payments.
Employee Stock Options Vesting: Cliff, Strike and Window
How the strike price, vesting cliff and exercise window decide what an option grant is worth, with worked numbers.
Pro Rata Rights Explained: What Early Investors Keep
How a pro rata right lets an investor keep its stake in the next round, with worked numbers.
Liquidation Preference Explained, With Worked Numbers
Who is paid first when a startup is sold, worked through 1x, 2x and participating terms at four exit prices.
SAFE valuation cap explained: conversion and dilution
A SAFE valuation cap affects conversion. It is not the company's current valuation or guaranteed ownership.
How Funding Changes a Software Product
Customer cash and outside investment create different room to hire, price and wait for growth.
About this desk
A funding announcement can explain what resources a company has raised and what it plans to build. It rarely explains the whole business. This desk follows startups with attention to products, customer needs and the economics of delivering a service.
Start with what a funding round does not tell you. For AI companies, our revenue-per-user explainer shows why the cost of a heavy user’s workload can change the picture.
We also look at the choices created by different financing models, including customer-funded growth and outside investment. Neither label guarantees good software. The more useful evidence is how a company supports its users, prices the service and makes product changes. News reports below preserve the distinction between disclosed figures, company ambitions and outcomes that still need to be observed.