VideoVerse’s promised $250 million exit to Minute Media unraveled, leaving investors unpaid and the startup’s founder facing fraud, forged‑signature, and loan‑default lawsuits. The fallout shows massive deals can collapse without solid due diligence, warning VCs about trusting charismatic founders in fast‑growing markets.
Founders get dozens of positive investor meetings but no round because no one will set terms, anchor valuation, and commit as lead. A lead investor provides structure, validates the deal, and signals confidence, turning interest into funding.
The Crunchbase Unicorn Board added 195 new unicorns in the first half of 2026, eclipsing the entire 2025 total of 193. AI, robotics and chip firms dominate, with China’s DeepSeek topping the list at a $50B valuation. The boom signals accelerating private‑market capital despite broader funding headwinds and a US‑China race for high‑valued tech.
Thrive Holdings raised over $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation, backed by SoftBank, D1 Capital and Altimeter Capital. The cash lets the OpenAI‑backed firm scale AI‑powered upgrades across its 70+ portfolio businesses and launch a new platform targeting the fragmented built‑environment services market, a sector ripe for AI efficiency gains.
Cognition, maker of the Devin AI coding agent, is already courting investors for a round that could lift its valuation to $40 billion, up from $26 billion after a $1 billion raise in May. The push depends on hitting a $1 billion revenue run rate, a target the startup says it’s near after reporting $492 million ARR and adoption by Mercedes‑Benz, NASA and Goldman Sachs.
Lovable closed a $400 million Series C led by Menlo Ventures, pushing its valuation to $13.3 billion. The funding follows a $500 million annualized run‑rate revenue milestone and fuels its AI‑powered vibe‑coding platform serving 60 million projects and 900 million monthly visitors.
PostHog earmarks $45 K each month for ‘weird’ marketing projects that most teams would deem too risky. Anyone can pitch an idea in Slack, and a small ‘Council of Weird’ vets cost, effort, and demand, turning oddball concepts into funded experiments. The budget forces the team to stand out in a noisy market and embeds a culture of purposeful experimentation.
A product that runs without user login, think email deliverability or backups, defies traditional engagement metrics. The author shows that no 30‑day usage pattern predicts 12‑ to 24‑month renewals, so teams must shift from DAU tracking to renewal‑centric health signals and AI‑driven self‑serve analytics.
Jason Lemkin warns that the surge of B2B-AI startups is spawning a wave of recycled “zombie” executives, leaders with flashy resumes but no real AI-product or go-to-market experience. In a market where product cycles move 3‑5× faster than traditional SaaS, these hires waste months, mis-hire teams, and become a drag on growth.
Rubrik is expanding at 46% YoY, double CrowdStrike’s 23% rate, yet trades at a third of CrowdStrike’s revenue multiple. The gap underscores how investors still crown CrowdStrike as the category leader despite Rubrik’s faster growth. This valuation split signals where capital is still chasing perceived AI‑driven security wins.
You’re caught up.
That was all 10 stories in the 13 August issue.