The Dealflow by Founders Capital - Edition 17

Key News and Trends

Who needs a horn at $80M? In a headline-grabbing exit, Wix has acquired six-month-old AI coding startup Base44 for $80M in cash. Founded and bootstrapped by Israeli developer Maor Shlomo, the company scaled rapidly to 250,000 users and turned a profit within months. Though not a true solo operation, Shlomo had eight employees, the deal fuels hype around the rise of “solo unicorns” in the AI era. Read more here.

AI’s power couple hits turbulence. Microsoft is threatening to walk from its $13B partnership with OpenAI unless it secures better equity and revenue terms, as tensions flare over OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model. The standoff puts billions in fresh funding at risk and underscores deepening cracks in one of AI’s most high-stakes alliances. Read more here.

Big cheques, no culture. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has accused Meta of attempting to poach top AI talent with jaw‑dropping signing bonuses of up to $100 million, though he says none of their best people have accepted the offer. Altman criticised Meta’s compensation-heavy approach, suggesting it lacks cultural depth. Read more here.

From chatbots to combat ops. OpenAI has secured a $200 million, one-year contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop “prototype frontier AI capabilities” aimed at enhancing both warfighting and administrative operations, marking its first formal military deal - part of its new OpenAI for Government initiative. Read more here.

Founder’s Take: The Solo Unicorn Fantasy

There’s a lot of noise about “solo unicorn” founders - one-person startups hitting $1B valuations thanks to AI. Is it real? Probably not anytime soon. But let’s do the maths: Maor Shlomo just built and sold Base44 for $80M in six months. That’s around $444,000 per day.

So sure, it wasn’t technically solo, he had eight employees. And no, it wasn’t a billion-dollar exit, and Shlomo didn’t walk away with the full $80M. But when a bootstrapped side project turns into a multi-million dollar acquisition in half a year, does it really matter? Some might call it a step closer to the solo unicorn dream - but it’s still a mile off. Either way, it’s hard not to be impressed.

Top Venture Deals

Applied Intuition –  $600m Series F (BlackRock, Kleiner Perkins)

• Applied Intuition, a Mountain View-based startup building software for autonomous vehicle development, raised $600M in a Series F round co-led by BlackRock and Kleiner Perkins. The raise values the eight-year-old company at $15B, more than double its Series E valuation just a year ago, as it expands its footprint across automotive and defence sectors. Read more here.

TerraPower  –  $650M Series D (NVentures)

• Bellevue-based nuclear innovator TerraPower, has closed a $650M funding round led by NVIDIA’s venture arm NVentures - with continued participation from Bill Gates and HD Hyundai. The company is pushing forward with advanced Natrium reactor technology and has now secured over $3B in equity and grants. Read more here.

Ramp  –  $200M Series E (Founders Fund)

• Ramp has raised $200 million at a $16 billion post-money valuation, marking a sharp jump from the $13 billion valuation just three months prior and more than doubling its $7.65 billion valuation from last year. The six-year-old New York fintech offers an integrated finance suite - including corporate cards, bill pay, automated expense reporting, cash-flow planning, and yield-earning treasury tools, tailored for mid-sized and enterprise finance teams. Read more here.

Upcoming Public Offerings

Tron

• Tron, the blockchain network founded by Justin Sun, is going public via a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment in a $210M deal brokered by Trump-linked Dominari Securities. The newly named Tron Inc. will add $100M in TRX tokens to its treasury. Read more here.

Eagle Football Holdings

• Eagle Football Holdings, one of the most active investors in global football clubs, has confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, working with UBS on the listing. The firm holds stakes in teams including Olympique Lyonnais, Crystal Palace, and Botafogo, and aims to bring its multi-club ownership model to the public markets. Read more here.

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