EverythingStartups

Most VCs wouldn’t touch Anthropic in 2023. Yasmin Razavi did. The Spark Capital partner led a $450M round when Anthropic had no public product, no revenue and a massive capital need. Now the AI giant’s rise has landed her on the Forbes Midas List 2026 for the first time. Anthropic wasn’t her first big swing. She also led Spark’s Series B in Deel, now valued at $17.3B, and backed companies like Marqeta, MatX, Pika, Qdrant, Optimism and Uniswap. Her path is just as interesting: → Grew up in Tehran → Studied engineering at the University of Toronto → Worked at McKinsey → Invested at Index Ventures in London → Worked on monetization at Snap → Joined Spark Capital in 2017 → Became one of the firm’s key growth partners Her investment philosophy is also worth noting: Razavi is strictly anti "gut-driven" investing because it can reward “performer” founders and overlook strong entrepreneurs who don’t fit the pattern. She sees herself as a student of go-to-market, who studies growth mechanics, customer demand, and execution quality before writing the check. The best venture bets often look uncomfortable at the time (high conviction + low consensus). 🦄 Nice to see her get the Midas List recognition. PS: Track newly launched VC funds + contact details here: https://linktr.ee/ivelinad I also put together an extensive list of active Pre-seed to Series A investors you can get over here: https://lnkd.in/eTKS-apX

30 New Funds, $17.5B Raised: Everything That Happened in Venture Capital in April 2026 👇 April 2026 was quieter than Q1's record-shattering pace, but $17.5 billion raised across 30 new venture capital funds in a single month is still impressive. Four funds alone accounted for roughly 83% of all capital deployed. The rest of the field? Mostly sub-$100M vehicles writing $500K–$3M checks into niche sectors and underserved geographies. Both ends of the market are active, but the gap between them has never been wider. Here's everything you need to know about April's VC fund activity, the numbers, the themes, the firms, and what it all signals about where startup funding is heading. https://lnkd.in/eSGnpD6K

A number that surprises even Stanford MBA students: by Series B, the average founding team owns 40% of their company. by IPO, it’s often below 20%. (and that’s for successful companies) That’s from Ilya Strebulaev’s latest VC 101 breakdown. Take Uber, at IPO, all three founders together owned 17%. Travis Kalanick had 8.6% Garrett Camp had 6% Ryan Graves had 2.4% So while most founders understand dilution in theory, what they miss is how FAST it compounds. Here's what the math shows: After Series A → founders own around 75% After Series B → around 61% in an up round, or 37.5% in a down round After Series C through E → even successful founders can land around 35% And that assumes every round goes well. 5 things that can save your cap table: 1️⃣ Compare the right numbers. Pre-money of the new round vs. post-money of the previous round is the only comparison that actually means something. 2️⃣ Watch the ratio. Dilution is determined by investment amount divided by post-money valuation. Raise more, you need a proportionally higher valuation to keep dilution flat. 3️⃣ Don’t underestimate down rounds. Anti-dilution provisions transfer even more ownership away from founders on top of the headline hit. 4️⃣ Don’t optimize for ownership alone. 35% of a $3B company beats 75% of one that never scaled. 5️⃣ Expect six-plus rounds. The average unicorn raised six-plus rounds, which means dilution at each round. PS: If you're a founder, you might find these resources helpful 👇 45+ startup accelerators: https://lnkd.in/egQJgetD 60+ active Pre-seed to Series A investors: https://lnkd.in/eTKS-apX New VC funds database: https://linktr.ee/ivelinad

The question that can save a founder from taking the wrong VC money: “Would you take money from this investor again?” VCs reference check founders before writing a term sheet. But founders should be reference checking VCs just as seriously. 👀 Because once a VC invests, they may be on your cap table for 7 to 10+ years, it's basically a marriage. VC reference checks usually fall into 6 categories: → Founder conversations: previous founders the VC backed → Failed companies: founders whose startups struggled/missed targets → Board behavior: how they show up in meetings and hard conversations → Use of power: how they handle board seats, approval rights, etc → Actual value add: do they help when the founder actually needs them → Founder loyalty: whether founders would choose them again Ask them simple, but brutal questions like: Did they use their power responsibly? Would you take money from them again? What were they like when things got hard? Did they help when the round got difficult? Were they useful in board meetings, or just performative? Most founders won’t openly trash an investor, especially if they still work with them. So listen for hesitation & read between the lines. ✖The wrong VC can make a hard company even harder. ✔ The right VC will still be respected by founders after the company goes through pressure. Remember: by the time the term sheet is on the table, the investor is no longer the only one doing diligence. You should be doing yours too. PS: if you're looking for a list of active Pre-seed to Series A investors, I have put together an extensive list over here: https://lnkd.in/eTKS-apX You can also track newly launched VC funds + contact details here: https://lnkd.in/d7X8up9h

The question that can kill a VC deal, and most founders have no idea it's even being asked: "Would you work with this founder again?" Top-tier VCs actually run 15-25 reference checks before writing your term sheet. 👀 Reference checks usually fall into 5 categories: → Character references: former managers, mentors, board members → Customer references: real users who can validate product value → Former colleagues: people who know your leadership style up close → Co-investors: earlier backers who can confirm the real story → Backchannels: people the VC finds independently through their own network They ask simple, but brutal questions like: Would you work with this founder again? How do they handle conflict? What is their biggest weakness? Firms like Sequoia and a16z don't just call the people you give them, they go looking for people you didn't name, former CTOs, early employees, co-investors, through LinkedIn, portfolio networks, and mutual connections you'll never hear about. This is why founder reputation compounds long before fundraising starts. It is built through how you hire, lead, communicate, handle conflict, and close loops with people. Remember: by the time the term sheet is close, the pitch is no longer the only thing being evaluated, YOU are. Hope this was helpful & thanks to SheetVenture for the graphic idea. PS: Join the weekly EverythingStartups newsletter for more on where early-stage capital is flowing + tech insights across USA, Europe, and Israel: https://lnkd.in/dyNtt9s4 PPS: Track new VC fund announcements + full details here:  https://lnkd.in/d7X8up9h

Notable new VC fund highlight of the week 🔥 Playground Global | $475M | Fund IV Playground Global is a Palo Alto-based deep-tech firm that has spent a decade proving that the most important bets in venture aren't software; they're silicon, atoms, and physics. Quick breakdown: 🔥 Raised $475M for Fund IV, up from $410M in its 2022 Fund III close 🔥 Deliberately contrarian in a conformist VC market: while peers chase orbital data centers and hyperscale AI infrastructure, Playground bets on earthbound alternatives 🔥 Thesis is captured in co-founder Peter Barrett's line: "When software ate the world, Silicon Valley forgot about silicon", the firm invests at the physical layer, backing founders building the foundational hardware and science that the next era of computing will run on 🔥 Portfolio speaks for itself at scale: unicorns include Agility Robotics, Ayar Labs, d-Matrix, NextSilicon, PsiQuantum, Skydio, Ultima Genomics, and Virta Health Congrats to the whole team! Peter Barrett Pat Gelsinger Bruce Leak jory bell Benjamin Kim Kendra Perlitz 🥂 Track more newly launched VC funds over here: https://lnkd.in/dy-YFKjY #venturecapital #startups #funding #investing

Your pitch deck is your first investor meeting. Here are 5 ways your pitch deck is costing you investor meetings, and what to fix: 1. 𝐍𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 The investor wonders something on slide 4, but you never hear about it. The doubt does not get resolved, so the next call does not get scheduled. 2. 𝐍𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 You sent the same deck to 30 firms. You have no idea which 3 partners read past slide 5 and which 27 bounced on slide 2. No way to know who to follow up with. 3. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 The number on slide 9 changed last week. Every old PDF in every inbox still shows the old number. There is no way to push the update. 4. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 The PDF was paginated for 16:9. The investor is squinting at footnote 4 of the financials on a Tuesday commute. 5. 𝐋𝐋𝐌𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 Some firms summarize inbound decks with Claude before a partner ever opens them. Affinity's 2026 survey of nearly 300 dealmakers found 82% now use AI tools for deal sourcing. The hero chart on slide 7 becomes "the company shows growth." Nothing of the story carries. → The investor inbox is more crowded than it has ever been. → Your deck is competing with 20 to 30 others the same week. → Interaction and analytics are no longer nice-to-haves. FluidDocs rebuilds the deck as an interactive document that: • answers reader questions in the founder's voice • generates IC memos on demand • tracks per-investor activity And I have organized for their team to run free onboarding for EverythingStartups readers/founders. If your deck is getting opened but not getting replies, this is worth fixing. 🟣 PS: Free onboarding for EverythingStartups readers: https://lnkd.in/eUqNkR5p 🟣 PPS: Join the weekly EverythingStartups newsletter for more on where early-stage capital is flowing in 2026: https://linktr.ee/ivelinad

Anthropic just dropped a founder playbook for building an AI-native startup, from idea to exit. And the core idea is: AI-native startups are fundamentally transforming what it means to be a founder. This playbook remaps the four core stages of the startup journey according to these new realities: 🚀 Idea stage • the biggest trap isn't bad ideas, it's building before you validate • a working demo is not validation, conversations with real humans are 🚀 MVP stage • speed is guaranteed when AI is building • the question is whether you're building the right thing • scope creep is now invisible until it's too late 🚀 Launch stage • this is where founders who found real traction still fall apart • you can hand the operational weight to AI, but only if you've built the systems first 🚀 Scale stage • your moat isn't the product, it's the accumulated depth: data flywheels, workflow lock-in, domain expertise encoded over time • a well-funded competitor starting today couldn't replicate it in under two years. PS: If you're a founder building, you might find this database of 45 startup accelerators useful: https://lnkd.in/egQJgetD Join the weekly EverythingStartups newsletter for more on where early-stage capital is flowing and tech insights, and track new VC funds launched over here: https://linktr.ee/ivelinad

45 startup accelerators with funding terms founders should know: Y Combinator | $500k for 7% + MFN SAFE Sequoia Capital Arc | $1M for approx. 10% a16z speedrun | $500k for 10% + $500k follow on South Park Commons | $400k for 7% + $600k follow on HF0 Residency | $1M for approx. 5% 43North | $1M for 5% Antler | Up to $500k to $1M, terms vary by region Techstars | $220k, minimum 5% equity 500 Global | $150k for 6% Boost VC | $500k for approx. 15% PearX | $250k to $2M SAFE NEO Residency | $750k uncapped SAFE, variable equity AI Grant | AI focused funding, terms vary Forum Ventures | $100k SAFE LAUNCH Accelerator | Funding available, terms vary Startup Wise Guys | Up to €100k, equity varies Entrepreneurs First| Funding pathway varies by region SOSV HAX | Deep tech funding, terms vary NFX FAST | $150K SAFE or $1M to $3M SAFE | up to 15% | pre-seed and seed Techstars | $220K investment | 3-month accelerator | Min. 5% equity 🟣 I compiled a database with more info on all 45, you can get it right here (it's free!): https://lnkd.in/egQJgetD PS: You can also subscribe to the weekly EverythingStartups newsletter and track new VC funds launched over here: https://linktr.ee/ivelinad

JUST IN: OpenAI just offered YC startups $2M in API credits for ~2% equity each. That’s roughly $800M in credits across 400 startups. Sam Altman announced the deal at YC’s Tuesday event, with Tyler Bosmeny calling it a “mic drop moment,” comparing it to Yuri Milner’s 2011 move of investing $150K into every YC company. The upside is obvious: - more compute runway - more AI experimentation - more startups building on OpenAI from day one. Garry Tan called it “tokenmaxxing.” But not everyone is convinced, Jason Calacanis warned about the obvious risks: • ecosystem lock-in • OpenAI getting too close to startup ideas • founders trading equity for credits instead of capital Still, one thing is clear: Compute is becoming the new seed capital. Join the EverythingStartups newsletter for the latest startup and VC updates: https://lnkd.in/dKtJKsHp