Thank you to everyone who joined us in Palo Alto tonight! The conversations were incredibly rich, ranging from the future of chip design to navigating deals with the Trump administration, and why the simpler the hardware idea, the more compelling it tends to be. We also dove deep into why all this talk about brain-computer interfaces is much more than talk (steel yourselves!). For those who couldn't make it, we'll have extensive coverage coming soon, so stay tuned. And a huge thank you to Playground Global for hosting us in your wonderful space; it was the ideal setting for wine, food and thought-provoking discussions. 💚

Meta has hired longtime Apple design chief Alan Dye to revamp its consumer devices with AI features, a high-profile poach that signals Meta’s push into hardware while deepening Apple’s leadership churn as more senior executives head for the exits. Bloomberg has more here.

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By Marina Temkin

In early October, DualEntry, an AI enterprise resource planning (ERP) startup, announced a $90 million Series A round led by Lightspeed and Khosla Ventures, valuing the one-year-old business at $415 million.

The company seeks to replace legacy software like Oracle NetSuite with its offering that can automate routine tasks and provide predictive insights. The massive funding round from top-tier VCs signaled that the startup is likely experiencing phenomenal revenue growth.

However, one VC who declined to invest told TechCrunch that DualEntry’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) was just around $400,000 when he reviewed the deal in August. DualEntry’s co-founder, Santiago Nestares, denies that number. When asked about revenue when the deal closed, Nestares said it was “considerably higher than that.”

Even so, an extremely handsome valuation relative to revenue is becoming an increasingly common investment strategy among top-tier VC firms. The tactic is known as “kingmaking.”

This approach involves deploying massive funding into one startup in a competitive category, aiming to overwhelm rivals by granting the chosen company a bank-account advantage so significant that it creates the appearance of market dominance.

Kingmaking isn’t new, but its timing has shifted dramatically.

“Venture capitalists have always evaluated a set of competitors and then made a bet on who they think the winner is going to be in a category. What’s different is that it’s happening much earlier,” said Jeremy Kaufmann, a partner at Scale Venture Partners.

Angle Health, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI-native health benefits platform, raised a $134 million Series B round led by Portage, with Blumberg Capital, Mighty Capital, PruVen Capital, SixThirty Ventures, TSVC, Wing VC, and Y Combinator also investing. The company has raised a total of nearly $200 million. More here.

Curative, a six-year-old Austin startup that provides a $0-out-of-pocket employer health plan tied to annual preventive visits, raised a $150 million Series B round at a $1.275 billion valuation. The deal was led by Upside Vision Fund, with JAM Fund, Galaxy Digital, Duquesne Family Office, DCVC, and Martin Varsavsky also participating. More here.

Mujin, a 14-year-old Tokyo company that develops an intelligent robotics platform for industrial automation, raised a $133 million Series D round and $100 million in debt. The deal was co-led by NTT Group and Qatar Investment Authority, with Mitsubishi HC Capital Realty, and Salesforce Ventures also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $411 million. More here.

PermitFlow, a five-year-old startup based in Milpitas, CA, that provides workflow and automation software to manage construction permitting, raised a $31 million Series A round led by Kleiner Perkins, with Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, Felicis Ventures, and Altos Ventures also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Verkada, a nine-year-old startup based in San Mateo, CA, that makes cloud-connected cameras, sensors, and other physical security hardware for 30,000 customers, raised a $100 million round at a $5.8 billion post-money valuation. CapitalG was the deal lead. CNBC has more here.

Bitstack, a four-year-old Paris startup that provides a Bitcoin savings app, raised a $15 million Series A round led by 13books Capital, with AG2R LA MONDIALE, Plug and Play Ventures, Serena, Stillmark, and Y Combinator also engaging. EU-Startups has more here.

Clover Security, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that embeds AI agents into developer tools to automate product-security work, raised a $30 million round led by Notable Capital, with Team8 and SVCI also participating. CTech has more here.

Gradial, a three-year-old Seattle startup that builds AI agents to automate enterprise marketing workflows, raised a $35 million Series B led by VMG Partners, with Madrona and Pruven Capital also digging in. The company has raised a total of $55 million. GeekWire has more here.

Simular, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup that builds AI agents that operate Macs and Windows PCs, raised a $21.5 million Series A round led by Felicis, with NVentures and South Park Commons also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Supper, a three-year-old New York startup whose AI-driven data platform cleans and normalizes company data so teams can quickly get trusted answers about revenue, customers, and product usage without writing SQL, raised an $11 million seed round led by Union Square Ventures and including BoxGroup, Inspired Capital, Torch Capital, and Avid Ventures. More here.

Unlimited Industries, a San Francisco startup that uses AI to design and build large-scale infrastructure projects, raised a $12 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and CIV. More here.

Donna, a two-year-old startup based in Ghent, Belgium, that provides an AI assistant to automate administrative work for field sales teams, raised a $4.8 million round led by Frontline Ventures. Tech.eu has more here.

Junevity, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops cell-reprogramming therapeutics with siRNA, raised a $10 million seed round extension co-led by Goldcrest Capital and Godfrey Capital. The company has raised a total of $20 million. More here.

LizzyAI, a one-year-old New York startup that provides an AI-driven interviewing system that conducts role-specific conversations and delivers structured assessments, raised a $5 million seed round led by NEA, with Speedinvest and Zero Prime Ventures also participating. More here.

Orq.ai, a four-year-old Amsterdam startup that helps enterprises build, test, deploy, monitor, and safely scale AI agents, raised a $5.8 million seed round co-led by seed + speed Ventures and Galion.exe. The company has raised a total of $8.5 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Quickture, a three-year-old Los Angeles startup that uses AI to structure and surface story beats from large volumes of unscripted footage, raised a $1.9 million pre-seed round led by Kickstart Ventures, with Forward VC and Arts Alliance also opting in. Forbes has more here.

Sober Sidekick, a seven-year-old startup based in Bentonville, AK, that uses AI to predict and prevent substance-use relapse in real-time, raised a $7.6 million seed round led by HealthX Ventures, with Nina Capital and American Heart Association Ventures also taking part. More here. HIT Consultant has more here.

Trial Library, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI-enabled platform to expand access to clinical trials as a care option, raised a $10 million Series A co-led by SemperVirens Venture Capital and Next Ventures, with Sanofi Ventures, Lux Capital, Civilization Ventures, How Women Invest, and Overwater Ventures also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $15 million. More here.

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Future Energy Ventures, a nine-year-old Berlin VC firm that invests in software-driven and asset-light energy-transition technologies such as grid intelligence, storage optimization, and climate forecasting, raised a $270 million second fund. ESG Today has more here.

OpenAI has agreed to acquire Neptune, a five-year-old Polish startup that builds monitoring and debugging tools for training AI models. Terms were not disclosed. CNBC has more here.

Sam Altman quietly explored raising billions so that OpenAI could take a controlling stake in rocket maker Stoke Space, a SpaceX competitor. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Waymo’s once-cautious robotaxis are now driving more like impatient humans as the company tunes them to be “confidently assertive.” The Wall Street Journal has more here.

A new report found that 354 AI-driven TikTok accounts amassed 4.5 billion views in a month by flooding the app with unlabeled synthetic content, underscoring how quickly AI spam is overwhelming social feeds and testing TikTok’s moderation. The Guardian has more here.

Quentin Tarantino’s top ten movies of the 21st century.

This U.S. airport was named the most stressful in the entire world.

An Upper West Side brownstone restored by VC Dylan Hixon and artist Camomile Hixon just hit the market for $10 million, featuring 6,500 square feet, six bedrooms, eight fireplaces, and four outdoor spaces, including a 28-foot garden and rooftop deck.

A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon 1961 specially bottled for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana is heading to auction in Denmark for as much as $95,000.

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