Private Markets
Venture capital and startup funding
Not on the starting list: Claude named it and a second pass merged look-alike labels into it.
- Episodes
- 49
- Share
- 5.2%
- Shows
- 42
- Net sentiment
- +0.10
Up from 4.8% of episodes in the weeks before; net sentiment was +0.41.
Bullish 11Mixed 11Neutral 19Bearish 8
5 weeks
Share of each week's episodes, and net sentiment.
0%2%4%
Sep 21Sep 28Oct 5Oct 12Oct 19
Net sentiment
−10+1
Sep 21Sep 28Oct 5Oct 12Oct 19
The episodes behind it
Why each one was bullish, bearish or in between. Most time on the theme first.
Bullish 11
- Spinouts raised record-level funding, with growing late-stage rounds and strong international investor participation.IP Group highlights £1.56B UK spinout investment as scale-up funding gap widens · Proactive - Interviews for investors · Oct 22
- Record UK VC fundraising and Ramp's huge round signal strong capital availability for fintech startups.1108. News: Ramp hits $60bn valuation, UK venture capital breaks records, and Bank of America and Amex face AML fines · Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS · Oct 19
- Raise at a modest premium to market price funds commercial expansion and removes the need for the large trial.Ondine Biomedical targets US regulatory milestone after £10m raise and positive Phase 3 results · Proactive - Interviews for investors · Oct 21
- MidiHealth's $100M raise above $1B valuation shows strong investor appetite for midlife health startups.Why Serena Williams Is Backing Menopause Clinics, Free Egg Freezing With a Catch & Why Oura’s $15B IPO Stalled · This Week in Longevity · Oct 19
- Describes VC scouting and growing UK startup ecosystem, including recent unicorns, as valuable to corporations.Crossing Deep Tech’s Two Valleys of Death with Dr. Gaetano Arena, Rolls-Royce · The Innovation Brief · Oct 21
- Seed and early-stage founder quality remains strong, and AI lowers capital needs for startups.Where Is The Crypto Alpha Hiding This Cycle? · Forward Guidance · Oct 20
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- Argues venture offers unique innovation exposure that public markets miss, and that building access to top managers is valuable.E444: President of NEPC on Picking Fund Managers, Venture Capital, and AI Risk · How I Invest with David Weisburd · Oct 19
- Venture money is shifting from humanoid bodies toward specialized end-effectors that touch products.Why Robot Hands Fail At Everyday Tasks · The Robotics Podcast with Fexingo: Autonomous Systems, Industrial Robots, and Hardware · Oct 24
- Inspired Capital raised a $450M fund with steady LP support, signaling continued venture appetite.CoreWeave’s Debt Reckoning, Meta’s AI Strategy and Big Tech Earnings · The Information's TITV · Oct 20
- Kalshi's valuation rose from about $2 billion to $22 billion on rapid user growth.Is Kalshi Gambling? The Billionaire Founder Answers | Fortune Daily · Fortune Daily · Oct 20
- Companies staying private longer makes pre-IPO investing valuable for public-market insight.S4 | Episode 3: Exploiting the Convergence of Public and Private Markets with Wellington Management CEO, Jean Hynes · Capital Decanted · Oct 20
Bearish 8
- Storonsky criticizes VCs who take board seats and push bad conditions, arguing they add little operational value.Competition, Intensity & Building a $115 Billion Global Bank | Nik Storonsky, Revolut · David Senra · Oct 25
- Hosts note 2021 valuations were bubble prices and many startups will need to re-rate sharply lower.The Chopping Block: Black October, Banks Blocking AI Agents, Hyperliquid's Blockchain-Not-Bitcoin Moment, and the Visa-Fireblocks Rumor · Unchained · Oct 24
- Hosts criticize founder fraud and lax scrutiny of hard tech startups, as in the Theranos story.Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, AI Data Center Forecast Jumps, Call of Duty Review | Diet TBPN · TBPN · Oct 20
- VC-style funding models in insurance have underwhelmed returns, with founders distracted by constant fundraising.Ep321 Dave Walsh & Graeme Newman Kantara Capital: Pull, not Push · The Voice of Insurance · Oct 20
- Frothy rounds, tenders and talent wars pressure companies to chase AI-linked valuations unhealthily.Christina Cacioppo - Building an Enduring Software Company in the Age of AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP.496] · Invest Like the Best · Oct 20
- Roughly $12 billion invested in SMR firms, concentrated in few companies, seen as small for scale-up.251. Fission Impossible: the SMR Gamble - Oct26 · Redefining Energy · Oct 19
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- Lawson views the current AI market as hot and frothy, making it a poor time to start an AI company.The 20-Year Bet to Make Fusion Energy Work | Jeff Lawson · Grit · Oct 19
- VC investors pay sky-high prices for AI startups with little revenue, detached from public-market pricing.The AI Bubble Isn't Where You Think It Is · Prof G Markets · Oct 24
Mixed 11
- Speakers argue access and power-law returns drive outcomes, while noting late-stage valuations can run ahead of fundamentals.E445: AngelList: Why Picking Winners Is the Wrong Way to Invest in Startups · How I Invest with David Weisburd · Oct 21
- Speakers debate pro rata rights, due diligence rigor and the health of the seed ecosystem with differing views.We asked 3 VCs: would you invest in Elizabeth Holmes’ next startup? | E2353 · This Week in Startups · Oct 22
- Speaker sees fat right-tail upside for top early-stage managers but doubts mega funds can deliver venture-style returns.Carnegie Mellon's Miles Dieffenbach: Can Mega Funds Still Produce Venture Returns? · Origins: Inside Venture Capital · Oct 20
- Europe lags US venture funding at scale-up stage, with fund sizes too small and reliance on American capital.Equity finance for defence and innovation · The Sound of Economics · Oct 21
- Capital is concentrating into a few categories and billion-dollar positions, leaving many startups unfundable.20VC: Trillion or Bust: The New VC Game | Coreweave Sell-Off Creates Panic | Town at $1B, Anduril at $90B: Revenue Multiples Out of Control | General Atlantic Eyes IPO & Modal Raises $750M at $15.75B · 20VC · Oct 22
- Early-stage insurance distributors offer growth but a less proven track record and uneven outcomes.B.P. MARSH & PARTNERS PLC - Half Year Results for the year ended 31 July 2026 · Investor Meet Company - Audio Archive · Oct 21
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Heavy deep tech funding could pay off, but hosts warn the bets are spread thin and many lack revenue.Investors Shoot for the Moon · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Oct 19
- Mega-funds need scale or specialization; middle-sized funds struggle, and seed checks have grown sharply.20VC: You Need $1BN To Do Seed Today: The Untold Truths of Venture | Who Wins and Who Loses in the Next Decade of VC | Why Margin and Price Matter Less in a World of AI with Sameer Dholakia, Bessemer · 20VC · Oct 19
- Ondas raised heavily to fund acquisitions, raising dilution concerns alongside growth potential.Ondas Is Building the Next Anduril With 20 Acquisitions in 2 Years · The Deep End: Stock and Earnings Analysis from Futurum Equities · Oct 19
- Venture firms rejected Theranos after diligence, a positive process lesson, yet angel investors were fooled.What It Took to Tell the Truth About Theranos | Whistleblower Tyler Shultz · The Heart of Healthcare | A Digital Health Podcast · Oct 21
- Development fees offer capital-light upside, but construction funding needs and IPO timing remain unresolved.PETRO MATAD LIMITED - Renewable Energy joint venture investor Presentation · Investor Meet Company - Audio Archive · Oct 20
Neutral 19
- Discusses crafting a long-horizon vision and telling it to investors, without a market angle.Carriers wouldn't talk to him, so he started with kids' smartwatches—then landed AT&T, Revolut and Klarna and now wins 90% of deals. | Hermann Frank, Co-Founder & CEO of Gigs · A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders · Oct 19
- Discussed how VC changes with AI and the momentum role investors play for founders.What It Takes to Win as a Founder | Ben Horowitz · The a16z Show · Oct 24
- Anecdotes about angel checks, pulled term sheets and investor behavior are told largely as founder stories.Airwallex Founder Jack Zhang's Crazy Journey: Saying No to >$3B of Stripe Stock & the $1M Angel Cheque Worth $500M · Giant Ideas · Oct 22
- Discussion of VC cycles, LP pressure, deployment timing and venture's public image.Which Businesses Will Survive AI? | Michael Dempsey · Empire · Oct 19
- Founder walks through abandoning a tax product after one year to pursue a more scalable AI opportunity.What Happens When Al Agents Can Spend Your Money? · The a16z Show · Oct 19
- Discussion of spin-out structures and royalty company creation is factual rather than an investment call.Eagle Plains Resources (TSXV:EPL) - Strong Revenue Year, Partner-Funded Drill Programme Advances · Company Interviews · Oct 24
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Covers MatrixSpace's investors, fundraising difficulty, and the VC pro-rata dispute.Distributed Radar, AI, and the Future of Counter-UAS | Matt Kling, MatrixSpace · The Drone Ultimatum · Oct 23
- Discussion of founding a data company and the Fulbright path into the US startup scene.You are the Team — Anekha Sokhal, Moshi · Latent Space · Oct 22
- Wolff describes his dot-com venture work, including a sale of a startup to T-Mobile.How Toto Wolff built the most valuable team in F1 · Cheeky Pint · Oct 20
- Hosts draw analogies between the Seinfeld cap table and Silicon Valley power-law startup economics.Seinfeld · Acquired · Oct 19
- Discussion of Emesent's Series A, its VC backers, and the Australian VC scene.The Business of Drone Autonomy: Hardware, Defense, and AI | Stefan Hrabar, Emesent · The Drone Ultimatum · Oct 19
- Discussion of how AI lets startups launch and monetize within minutes.Bitcoin Isn't an Anti-Government Trade. It's an AI Trade. · Less Noise, More Signal · Oct 25
- Discussion of how corporate VCs differ from Sand Hill Road firms and how they source and support deals.Stanford Seminar - Silicon Valley and The U.S. Government: Lockheed Martin Ventures’ Chris Moran · Stanford Online: University Courses & Lectures · Oct 22
- Discussed as part of the broader competitive deal and fundraising landscape without a clear investment call.[REPLAY] DealCloud - Ben Harrison (Dealcloud), (S3. Sponsored Insight) · Capital Allocators · Oct 22
- Startup exposures such as SpaceX and Stripe are tracked through the platform with secondary pricing data.Streamlining of Alternative Investments · Wealth Actually · Oct 23
- Brief mention of business model innovation and incentives for pooling pre-competitive data.298: 10,000 Structures Are Not Enough: The Data Gap Limiting De Novo Antibody Design with David Younger - Part 2 · Smart Biotech Scientist | The CMC and Bioprocessing Podcast for Process Development and Manufacturing Leaders · Oct 22
- Discussion of the company's early pivot and YC origins.The Missing Infrastructure for AI Agents: Documents | Reducto’s Adit Abraham · The a16z Show · Oct 21
- Founders recount earlier careers in venture and investment banking as background for the company.Olivier Babin & Naunidh Nallah – Tetrix (EP.87) · Investment Management Operations · Oct 20
- Mentions raising funding and investor relationships, including Sequoia Capital, as background.From NASA's Mars Lander to a $1B Startup: Why Engineers Will Run the Next Decade · TruthWorks · Oct 20
Around it
Companies named
- Anthropic 2
- OpenAI 2
- Sequoia2
- Theranos 2
- Gigs1
- Ramp 1
Shows that covered it most
- The a16z Show3
- 20VC2
- How I Invest with David Weisburd2
- The Drone Ultimatum2
- Investor Meet Company - Audio Archive2
- Proactive - Interviews for investors2
Themes, sentiment and reasons are AI-written paraphrases, checked so they never quote an episode. They may contain errors. Not investment advice. Episodes remain the property of their creators.
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