The Dealflow by Founders Capital - Edition 16

Key News and Trends

Scaling up with Scale AI. Meta has confirmed a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in labelling company Scale AI. As part of the deal, Scale CEO Alexandr Wang will help lead Meta’s newly formed “superintelligence” lab. Read more here.

IP infringement? Let it go. Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, accusing the AI image generator of infringing on their rights by recreating characters like Darth Vader and Elsa. It’s the first significant legal action from major studios addressing generative AI. Read more here.

Plenty of revenue. Profit TBD. Less than three years after the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI has hit $10bn in ARR, nearly doubling its revenue from last year. The company claims to have over 500 million weekly active users, and is targeting $125 billion in revenue by 2029. Read more here.

From Optimus to opportunist? Tesla is suing ex-engineer Jay Li for allegedly stealing Optimus robot trade secrets to launch YC-backed rival Proception. The suit claims Li copied designs for robotic hands and formed his startup days after leaving Tesla. Read more here.

Voyager IPO takes off. Voyager Technologies closed up 82% in its NYSE debut, raising $383M. The space and defence firm, backed by 500+ clients and 1,200 missions, is developing the Starlab space station. While not yet profitable, investors are bullish on its long-term potential. Read more here.

Founder’s Take: Is Crypto Bringing Back the IPO?

Circle’s spectacular IPO, tripling from $31 to over $90 intraday on June 5, has reignited interest in public listings for crypto firms. Now Gemini, Bullish, and even Galaxy Digital have confidentially filed to follow suit. Their timing isn’t random. The Trump administration’s renewed push for crypto-friendly regulation has cleared the runway, with the SEC suddenly looking more like a gatekeeper than a guard dog.

But here’s the kicker, after a two-year IPO drought, it’s crypto companies making some of the most unexpected and headline-grabbing filings. The same industry that once vowed to replace Wall Street is back on Wall Street, poised, proud, and paradoxically right at the front of the queue. 

So yes, crypto might be reopening the IPO window, but not because it found a better way. It’s because, when the markets thaw, even the disruptors want the same exit: liquidity, prestige, and public validation.

The real question is will they make it to the bell before the political mood swings again?

Top Venture Deals

Cyera  –  $540M Series E (Lightspeed, Georgian, Greenoaks)

• Cyera, a data security startup, raised $540 million at a $6 billion valuation just six months after its previous $300 million round. The company, which helps enterprises safely deploy AI by finding and protecting sensitive data, reported 353% year-over-year growth. Read more here.

PostHog –  $70m Series D (Stripe)

• San Francisco-based PostHog has raised a $70 million Series D round led by Stripe, bringing its valuation to approximately $920 million. It offers product analytics tools that help engineering teams track and optimise user behavior across web and mobile apps. Backers include GV, Y Combinator, and Formus Capital. Read more here.

Glean  –  $150M Series F (Wellington Management)

• Enterprise AI startup Glean secured fresh funding at a $7.2 billion valuation - up from $2.2 billion in early 2024. Powering natural language search across platforms like Salesforce, Teams, and Zendesk, Glean also surpassed $100 million in ARR less than three years after launch. Read more here.

Upcoming Public Offerings

Bullish

• Crypto exchange Bullish has confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO that could value the firm at up to $20 billion. Backed by Peter Thiel and seeded with $9.3 billion in Bitcoin from Block.One, the filing comes amid increasingly favourable political sentiment toward crypto regulation in the U.S. Read more here.

Gemini

• At the end of last week, crypto exchange Gemini, founded by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO. The announcement comes amid renewed investor appetite and momentum in crypto markets, following Circle’s strong NYSE debut. Read more here.

See you in the next edition,
Sam Scott and the Founders Capital Team