Friday, May 23, 2025

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can't miss from the world of startups.

Despite Google I/O capturing as much attention as anticipated, some startups still took their chances and shared announcements this week, while others simply had to go with the flow when their news made headlines.

Most interesting startup stories from the week

Image Credits: OpenAI

This week's most interesting startup stories came from current and former IPO hopefuls, some of which also provided exits to earlier-stage ventures.

Billion-dollar hire? Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom will lead creative and design work at OpenAI after the company acquired io, the AI device startup he co-founded with Sam Altman, in an all-equity deal valuing that startup at $6.5 billion.

Million-dollar employees: BNPL giant Klarna is on track to reach $1 million in revenue per employee, up from $575,000 a year earlier, after its AI-driven efficiency push reduced its customer service costs. To further showcase its use of AI, Klarna's quarterly earnings were presented by an AI avatar of its CEO.

Brex for Zip: Brex is partnering with former competitor Zip, a 5-year-old procurement startup, with hopes to grow its enterprise customer base and keep on reducing its cash burn, one of the boxes to tick for a potential IPO.

Running out of money: Microsoft-backed AI software company Builder.ai entered insolvency proceedings despite having raised more than $450 million in funding at a unicorn valuation.

New ride: Einride founder Robert Falck transitioned from CEO to executive chairman as the electric and autonomous trucking startup works toward scaling, fundraising, and a potential IPO.

Fresh lights: Luminar, a lidar company whose billionaire founder was recently replaced as CEO following an ethics inquiry, could secure up to $200 million through the sale of convertible preferred stock.

Open road: The Breakaway, a Y Combinator alum that makes a popular cycling app, was the second startup to get acquired by social fitness company Strava in the last few weeks.

Most interesting VC and funding news this week

Image Credits: Affiniti

Here are some VC and funding news that cut through the noise this week.

Seed, not a typo: LM Arena, a benchmarking project known for its AI leaderboards, reportedly raised a $100 million seed round at a $600 million valuation.

Grounded: Gravitee, a company whose platform helps companies manage their APIs, landed a $60 million Series C led by Sixth Street Growth, bringing its total raised to just over $125 million.

Strong signal: Siro, a startup developing AI-powered tools for sales reps, locked in a $50 million Series B led by SignalFire.

Renewed: Subscription management startup RevenueCat raised a $50 million Series C led by existing investor Bain Capital. Now valued at $500 million, the company is seeking to expand beyond app monetization by solving a wider range of problems facing mobile developers.

Reinforced: Affiniti, a fintech startup founded by Aaron Bai, 20, and Sahil Phadnis, 22, who raised an $11 million seed round a few months ago, now closed a $17 million Series A led by SignalFire for its expense-management software targeted at traditional small businesses.

More to deploy: Headline Asia raised $145 million for Headline Asia Fund V, dedicated to early-stage startups across Asia-Pacific. It has already funded 17 investments.

Scribble network: Scribble Ventures, the venture firm of early Twitter executive Elizabeth Weil, secured $80 million for its third fund.

Creative capital: Creator Ventures, a seed and pre-seed venture capital fund focused on consumer internet companies, raised a second fund of $45 million, more than double its previous $20 million fund.

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Last but not least

Image Credits: Paul Clarke

At a TechCrunch StrictlyVC event in London, Accel general partner Sonali De Rycker said she was bullish about Europe's prospects in AI but wary of regulatory overreach. "We're in a supercycle," she said. "These cycles don't come often, and we can't afford to be leashed."