Good morning 👋
And happy Tuesday.
It’s truly insane how much more productive I am when I wake up early. Nobody else awake, no distractions, and I feel like I can get 4 hours of work done in an hour.
Switching gears - CVCs are making bigger bets, and Meta’s acquisition of Scale AI is the latest example.
We cover that with some data from Pitchbook in today’s piece …
TOP
big swinging CVCs
Last month when Meta invested $10b for 49% of Scale AI, it was the latest example of a trend that has been playing out this year: corporates are taking bigger swings at a more targeted list of companies.
Corporate participation in AI funding rounds has been growing, going from 54.3% of all US VC AI deals in terms of transaction value in 2022 to 74.7% so far this year, according to PitchBook data. Big tech companies are placing their bets on the select AI companies they believe will win the current boom.
Overall, the number of corporate investments into AI startups dropped 81% from its peak of 2,767 deals in 2021 to only 515 so far this year. However, total deal value has already hit $66.9 billion, surpassing 2022 and 2023 and on track to beat 2024.
Other AI companies that have raised from big tech companies include Anthropic, which raised a $3.5 billion Series E in May from backers like Cisco and Salesforce; and Together AI, which had Salesforce among investors for its $305 million Series B in February. OpenAI also received $10 billion in commitments from Microsoft in 2023.
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HEADLINES
Why Cloudflare wants AI companies to pay for content (TechCrunch)
Cashmere Fund’s strategy to lure retail investors: celebrities (Pitchbook)
At least 36 new tech unicorns were minted in 2025 so far (TechCrunch)
AngelList CEO feels like Q2 was a turning point for emerging managers (TBPN)
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LINKS
👤 Mastering Executive Presence—A Guide for Aspiring Leaders: The Founders Corner offers advice on how to learn and build, conversation by conversation, meeting by meeting, executive presence
🖥️ How Zoom Took Over the World: This interview covers how Zoom grows, how they build product, and how to use Zoom like a pro
🗣️ How to Talk to Investors—What to Say (and Avoid) in Your First VC Meeting: What to expect during a VC intro call, commonly asked questions, how to prepare, and mistakes to avoid
💰 Self-Made vs Inherited Wealth: Visual Capitalist charts the Forbes billionaires list and finds that globally, 67% of billionaires are self-made
🚩 10 Startup Fundraising Scams to Know (and How to Avoid Them): The VC Corner tells you how to spot the red flags before they cost you time, money, or equity and how to vet investors while protecting yourself
📶 The Death of Collaborative Capital?: Lead investors of seed rounds are taking down 61% of the round (up 9% from four years ago), leaving less for other co-investors to divvy up
Thanks for reading this far and giving us a little bit of your attention this week.
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- Clay
(Founder @ Confluence.VC | GP @ Outlaw)
