Hope you have a wonderful weekend, all! One quick reminder: StrictlyVC is heading to Athens. Join us on May 27th as part of the city's Panathēnea Festival for networking, cocktails, and great conversations with Ben Blume (Atomico), Niko Bonatsos (Verdict Capital), Anastasis Germanidis (Runway), Mati Staniszewski (ElevenLabs), Andreas Stavropoulos (Threshold Ventures), and more. We'll see you there, and if Athens is a bit far, don't forget to sign up for our June 18th StrictlyVC event in El Segundo, a little closer to home.:) — CL

SpaceX has reportedly accelerated its IPO timeline and is now targeting a June 12 Nasdaq debut under the ticker SPCX, with the offering expected to raise roughly $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation that would make it the largest IPO in history. Reuters has more here.

The metrics CFOs and GPs care about, now in one data set 

GAAP financials live in P&Ls and balance sheets. ARR, NRR, and growth metrics live in board decks. Standard Metrics parses both into one structured portfolio data set, so the CFO and the GP have a shared source of truth. 

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By Julie Bort

One of the most entertaining moments in VC this week was a piece of rage bait marketing from General Catalyst.

In a now-viral post on X that parodies the old Mac vs. PC commercials, the venture firm — better known as GC — posted a “VC vs GC” video on Wednesday. The VC was played by a tall actor in a baggy shirt and vest with a distinctly large, bald head — an apparent dig at Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen. (But the real Andreessen never looks that disheveled).

The GC character was played by a man with a thick head of dark hair, white kicks, and a tendency to stare deeply into the camera. He was clearly supposed to represent actor Justin Long’s cooler, “hipper” Mac character from the original commercials, in contrast to John Hodgman’s straight-laced “square” PC persona.

GC asks VC about his robotic dog.

Elliptic, a 13-year-old London company that provides blockchain analytics and compliance infrastructure for digital asset transactions, risk monitoring, and financial crime investigations, raised a $120 million round at a $670 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by One Peak Partners, with Nasdaq Ventures, Deutsche Bank, and the British Business Bank also participating. More here.

Fasset, a seven-year-old Los Angeles and Dubai startup that provides stablecoin-based banking, cross-border payments, and lending services for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $51 million Series B round. Investors included SBI Group, Investcorp, and Arz Portföy. Crypto.news has more here.

Gridcare, a two-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that uses physics-based AI to identify unused electrical grid capacity and accelerate power connections for data centers and AI infrastructure, raised a $64 million Series A round led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with John Doerr, National Grid Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, and Stanford University as well as previous investors Xora, Aina Ventures, Overture, Acclimate Ventures, and Clearvision Ventures also piling on. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Multiverse, a 10-year-old London company that helps organizations identify workforce skill gaps and train employees in data, digital, and AI capabilities, raised a $70 million round at a $2.1 billion post-money valuation. Schroders Capital was the deal lead, with General Catalyst, Lightspeed, D1 Capital Partners, Index Ventures, Bond, and StepStone Group also participating. The company has raised a total of $570 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Rapido, an 11-year-old Bengaluru startup that provides ride-hailing services for motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, and cars, raised a $240 million round at a $3 billion valuation led by Prosus, with WestBridge Capital and Accel also engaging. The financing was part of a larger $730 million primary and secondary transaction. TechCrunch has more here.

Arkeus, a six-year-old Melbourne startup that is developing AI-powered sensing systems that help drones and autonomous military platforms detect, classify, and track objects in low-visibility environments, raised an $18 million Series A round led by QIC Ventures, with R+VC, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Salus Ventures, and Beaten Zone also participating. More here.

Butterfly Medical, a 12-year-old Boston and Israeli company that develops minimally invasive implantable devices that treat benign prostatic hyperplasia by retracting prostate tissue to restore urine flow, raised a $21 million Series C round. Investors included European Innovation Council, Junson Capital, MedVenture, and New Rhein Healthcare Investors. Medical Device Network has more here.

Crew Carbon, a four-year-old Brooklyn startup that uses alkaline minerals to improve wastewater treatment efficiency and remove carbon dioxide during the treatment process, raised a $25 million round led by Burnt Island Ventures, with AP Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Builders Vision, Kibo Invest, Idemitsu Ventures, and New York Ventures as well as previous investors Counteract, ANIMO Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Ponderosa Ventures, and Echo River Capital also taking part. More here.

Nord Quantique, a six-year-old Québec startup that develops superconducting quantum computers, raised a $30 million round from Fidelity at a $1.4 billion post-money valuation. BetaKit has more here.

Novella, a two-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to automate underwriting analysis, policy processing, renewals, inspections, and other wholesale insurance brokerage workflows for complex commercial risks, raised a $21 million round led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with Box Group, Crystal Venture Partners, SV Angel, Avid Ventures, Verissimo Ventures, and Blank Ventures also contributing. CTech has more here.

Osero, a one-year-old Warsaw startup that is building infrastructure that lets wallets, exchanges, neobanks, and asset managers offer yield-bearing stablecoin products, raised a $13.5 million round co-led by Sky Ecosystem and Plasma. CoinDesk has more here.

Tokaido Health, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI and behavioral incentives to help employers steer patients toward lower-cost prescription drugs and care options, raised a $25 million round. Investors included Primary Venture Partners, Norwest, Next Ventures, Constellation, and Scrub Capital. More here.

Turnkey, a four-year-old New York startup that provides wallet and key-management infrastructure for crypto applications, including non-custodial wallets and automated onchain transactions, raised a $12.5 million round. Investors included Archetype and Circle Ventures as well as previous investors Bain Capital Crypto, Lightspeed Faction, Galaxy Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Variant. The company has raised a total of $65+ million. CoinDesk has more here.

Urologic Health, a three-year-old startup based in Jersey City, NJ, that develops non-invasive bladder monitoring systems that collect bladder function data without catheter-based testing, raised an $11 million seed round led by an undisclosed strategic investor and including Edge Medical Ventures, SHD Partners, and Longevity Venture Partners. More here.

Xpanner, a six-year-old startup based in Santa Fe Springs, CA, that develops AI-powered construction automation software and retrofit systems for heavy machinery, raised an $18 million Series B bridge round led by previous investor Korea Investment Partners, with KB Investment also participating. The company has raised a total of $38 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Chromie Health, a two-year-old New York startup that deploys SMS-based AI agents that help hospitals fill open nursing shifts and manage staffing workflows, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by AIX Ventures. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Flick, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that enables filmmakers to direct and iterate on AI-generated films through cinematic editing and storytelling workflows, raised a $6 million seed round. Investors included True Ventures, GV, Y Combinator, Lightspeed, Formosa Capital, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital, and N1. More here.

Ouinex, a four-year-old Paris startup that operates a crypto trading platform for digital assets, forex, stocks, commodities, and derivatives using crypto collateral, raised a $3.5 million round from retail and professional traders using its own platform. The company has raised a total of $9 million. More here.

Twin Prime, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that is developing AI models that analyze and reason across military and security sensor data to support battlefield and operational decision-making, raised a $10 million pre-seed round. Expeditions was the deal lead, with Theon International also pitching in. Resilience Media has more here.

Cake Equity. Legacy platforms stopped listening to founders. Cake didn’t.  

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HSG, the investment firm formerly known as Sequoia Capital China, closed a $3 billion continuation vehicle anchored by a stake in ByteDance, with investors including Abu Dhabi-based Lunate and Singapore state funds. Bloomberg has more here.

Meridian Ventures, a three-year-old New York VC firm, closed a $35 million fund focused on backing pre-seed and seed-stage startups founded by MBA graduates, pushing back on Silicon Valley’s longstanding skepticism toward MBA-trained founders. TechCrunch has more here.

Akamai acquired LayerX Security, a four-year-old Israeli startup that develops browser-based security tools for monitoring employee and AI-agent activity, for approximately $205 million in cash. The company had raised $45 million from investors including Glilot Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, and Jump Capital. Akamai expects the LayerX business to be generating $10 million in ARR by the end of the year. CTech has more here.

Bloomberg profiles Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who is pushing Amazon deeper into the AI race with plans to spend as much as $200 billion this year on AI infrastructure, chips, robotics, satellites, and partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI in an effort to defend Amazon’s cloud dominance against Microsoft and Google. More here.

An anonymous X account tied to a person in India became one of Elon Musk’s most-amplified accounts after relentlessly praising Musk and attacking his critics, highlighting how Musk appears to use fan accounts to help shape online narratives around his businesses and legal battles. The Washington Post has more here.

Matthew McConaughey and Taylor Swift are pursuing an unusual legal strategy to combat AI deepfakes by trademarking their voices, likenesses, and signature phrases in hopes of gaining stronger federal protections against unauthorized AI-generated replicas. Variety has more here.

Kraken parent Payward is reportedly cutting about 150 employees as it streamlines operations after pausing IPO plans because of weak market conditions. CoinDesk has more here.

OpenAI is reorganizing its leadership and product teams, with Greg Brockman formally taking over product strategy as the company moves to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and its developer API into a unified AI platform ahead of a potential IPO later this year. Wired has more here.

Despite Jensen Huang joining President Trump’s delegation to Beijing this week, Nvidia’s prospects in China remained murky after the Trump-Xi summit ended without clarity on sales of the company’s H200 AI chips as Beijing increasingly pushes Chinese firms toward domestic alternatives like Huawei. The New York Times has more here.

After two days of talks with Xi Jinping, Trump and his delegation flew out of Beijing Friday — but not before staffers and reporters had to hand over their burner phones, credential badges, and lapel pins issued by the Chinese government. TechCrunch has more here.

GoPro is attempting to pivot into defense and aerospace applications as the struggling action-camera maker looks to capitalize on booming investor interest in military technology. TechCrunch has more here.

The latest from the Cannes Film Festival.

HBO’s fourth season of “The White Lotus,” which is actually set during the Cannes Film Festival and split between luxury hotels in Cannes and Saint-Tropez, has assembled one of the show’s biggest casts yet, including Laura Dern, Ben Kingsley, Steve Coogan, Kumail Nanjiani, Vincent Cassel, Rosie Perez, and Max Greenfield. (We can’t wait!)

Sony’s Project Ace table tennis robot in action

For all of you survivalists out there, Mammoth Overland has just unveiled a $124,000 “Xtinction-Level Escape” overland trailer featuring bulletproof glass, remote-deployable blast shields, night-vision cameras, bear-spray cannons, a flare launcher, Starlink connectivity, HEPA air filtration, and a Geiger counter. Good times.

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