profile

Always Be Trending

Trend Radar: VC Wednesday Update

Published about 1 month ago • 3 min read

VC Wednesday's Update (Mar. 12th)

Hello Reader,

Here’s a summary of Venture Capital (VC) developments from March 6 to March 12, 2025, focusing on North America and Europe:

  • AI, Fintech, and Infrastructure Funding Dominated: Major AI and fintech startups continued to attract high valuations and funding rounds (“Eye on AI Fortune”, 06.03.2025).
  • Early-Stage Fintech & Insurtech Remained Attractive for Investment: Fintech & Insurtech remain attractive for early-stage investment, with multiple Series A rounds in insurance-related infrastructure (CoverForce) and capital markets (Grain) (FinSMEs, 07.03.2025).
  • AI-Driven Startups Attracted Substantial Investment: AI-driven startups continued attracting substantial investment, particularly in insurance and recruitment (Drake Dukes, 06.03.2025).
  • Startups Aggressively Entered the M&A Space: Over one-third of 2024 startup acquisitions were by fellow VC-backed buyers, marking a trend shift as Big Tech firms reduced acquisitions due to regulatory pressures (StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025).

Biggest Deals (By Value):

  • CoreWeave Acquired Weights & Biases for $1.7B: AI cloud computing giant CoreWeave acquired Weights & Biases, a deep learning developer platform, as part of its expansion ahead of a planned Nasdaq IPO (PitchBook News, 06.03.2025).
  • Anysphere Expected to Raise Hundreds of Millions at $10B Valuation: Anysphere’s Rapid Valuation Growth: AI-powered coding startup Anysphere is raising new funding at $10bn valuation, only three months after being valued at $2.5bn (Benedict Evans, 11.03.2025).

Early-Stage Rounds (Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A):

  • Grain (Tel Aviv, Capital Markets platform for microtransactions): Raised $33M in Series A, led by Bain Capital Ventures (StrictlyVC, 08.03.2025).
  • August (NYC, Crypto Prime Brokerage): Raised $10M Series A led by Dragonfly Ventures (StrictlyVC, 08.03.2025).
  • Outmarket AI (SF, AI for Insurance Workflows): raised $4.7M seed round led by Fika Ventures (Phil Rosen, 07.03.2025).

Fintech/Insurtech Deals Under $20M:

  • Grain (Tel Aviv, Capital Markets platform for microtransactions): Raised $33M in Series A, led by Bain Capital Ventures
  • August (NYC, Crypto Prime Brokerage): Raised $10M Series A led by Dragonfly Ventures
  • Outmarket AI (SF, AI for Insurance Workflows): $4.7M seed round led by Fika Ventures

Notable Exits (IPOs, M&A) and Company Shutdowns:

  • ServiceNow Acquired Moveworks for $2.85B
  • Klarna Planned $1B U.S. IPO Filing Next Week: The Swedish buy-now-pay-later fintech aims to raise at least $1 billion in an expected initial public offering (IPO) that could be filed as soon as next week (Sifted Newsletter, 07.03.2025). Klarna is aiming to raise $1B at a $15B valuation in a long-awaited IPO (Exec Sum - Litquidity, 10.03.2025).
  • Discord in Early U.S. IPO Talks
  • CoreWeave Founders Sold $488M in Stock Ahead of Expected IPO
  • Canoo (Bankrupt EV Startup): CEO buying company assets for $4M in cash.

VC Ecosystem Updates:

  • New VC Fund Launches and Capital Raises:
    • 8VC ($1B Fund): Joe Lonsdale’s firm closed a new fund focused on deep tech, healthcare, and national security investments (StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025). 8VC Raised $1B for Its Sixth Fund [https://www.strictlyvc.com/] (StrictlyVC, 07.03.2025). 8VC (Austin, TX & San Francisco, CA) raised $998M for its 6th flagship VC fund (FinSMEs, 07.03.2025).
    • Foundation Capital (Palo Alto-based VC firm) raised a $600M fund focused on fintech, enterprise, and crypto StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025). Foundation Capital (Palo Alto, CA) raised $600M for its 11th flagship VC fund (FinSMEs, 07.03.2025).
    • Fusion Fund IV (Palo Alto, CA) closed at $190 million, investing in enterprise AI, healthcare, and industrial automation (Term SheetFortune, 11.03.2025).
    • Pamlico Capital: Pamlico Capital raised a $1.8 billion sixth fund focused on communications, IT, and information services (Term SheetFortune, 11.03.2025).
  • New VC Talent:
    • Eniac Ventures (NYC-based VC) promoted Kristin McDonald to Partner
    • Zeal Capital Partners (Washington, DC-based VC) promoted Stefanie Thomas-Martin to Partner
    • Former General Catalyst and La Famiglia investor Judith Dada joined Berlin-based Visionaries Club as a General Partner (Tech.eu”, 10.03.2025)

Sector-Specific Insights:

  • Insurance Carriers:
    • AXA Climate's Involvement in South America: AXA Climate is expanding globally and played a role in Ecuador’s first parametric insurance product for smallholder farmers
    • FWU Life Insurance Lux Ordered into Liquidation: FWU Life Insurance Lux has been ordered into liquidation by the District Court of Luxembourg due to insolvency
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI):
    • Anthropic Raised $3.5B
    • AI Investment Cycle Continued: AI continues to be a major investment focus, with increasing competition in consumer AI products—early winners are emerging (Finanz und Wirtschaft, 06.03.2025).
    • AI Dominating Funding: AI & ML Deployment remains a hot investment area, with Ceramic’s $12M funding leading the way (Drake Dukes, 06.03.2025).
    • OpenAI Introduces Premium AI Agents: OpenAI is launching high-end AI agent subscriptions for enterprise use, with prices ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 per month. These agents are designed for skills from business expertise to advanced research and could potentially replace traditional knowledge workers
  • Cryptocurrency:
    • US Creating a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve”: The U.S. government will store seized crypto assets, (CEO DailyFortune, 07.03.2025).

Significant Macroeconomic Developments:

  • Recession Concerns: Stock Market Turmoil due to President Trump’s refusal to rule out a potential U.S. recession triggered by tariffs and spending cuts (StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025).
  • Economic Slowdown: Analysts warned of a slowdown in VC-backed deals due to recession fears (StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025).
  • Market Plummets: Market plummeted after President Trump refused to rule out a potential U.S. recession triggered by tariffs and spending cuts (StrictlyVC, 06.03.2025).
  • U.S. Market Crash: The U.S. market, particularly the tech sector, is plunging on deteriorating economic sentiment (Phil Rosen, 11.03.2025).

​
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Always Be Trending

Be the most informed in the room

Consolidated reports on important developments in Venture Capital, Macro Environment, Insurance, Finance, as well as on-demand reports

Read more from Always Be Trending

VC Update: April 14th Hello Reader, Welcome to the new name for the newsletter: Always Be Trending!Here is a summary of key economic developments and their impact on Venture Capital from April 10th to April 14th, 2025, focusing on North America and Europe, as requested: Big Economic Developments (April 10th - April 14th): Tariff Reversal and Market Rally: President Trump reversed course on his blanket tariff policy on April 10th, announcing a 90-day pause for most countries, reducing tariffs...

6 days ago • 4 min read

Extra Edition VC Update (Friday, Apr. 11th) Hello Reader, Can you believe it's been a week?? Here are the latest developments and various takes on the current Economic situation, along with their implications for venture capital (April 6th to Friday, April 11th, 2025): Public Markets and Asset Valuations (with VC Relevance): Significant market volatility, driven by tariff announcements, continued to create a challenging environment for public market exits, impacting VC liquidity. [Natasha...

8 days ago • 3 min read

VC Update (April 8th) Hello Reader, Here is a summary of important Venture Capital developments from April 1st to April 8th, 2025 (focus areas fintech and insuretech): Venture Capital Trends & Deals: AI startups continued to command high valuations, as seen with Runway raising a $308M Series D (StrictlyVC, 04.04.2025; PitchBook News, 04.04.2025) and Unframe securing $50M (StrictlyVC, 04.04.2025). The announcement of new tariffs by the Trump administration caused significant market volatility,...

12 days ago • 3 min read