AI Venture Stream

Canada Puts Up to C$1.6 Billion Into Cohere: State Anchoring Moves From Chips to Models

On October 29 Cohere announced the initial close of its Series E at a C$35.7 billion valuation. The Canadian government is putting in up to C$1.6 billion, the largest disclosed check in the round, on condition that headquarters, jobs and domestic compute stay in Canada. According to the SVTR AI Venture Database, Korea's National Growth Fund this year provided 40% or more of the rounds of chipmakers Rebellions and FuriosaAI, while government money in model companies had only ever followed. Our view: state anchoring has moved from chips to models, and what it buys is where a company is based and where it lists.

The Ledger of 158,000 Startups: 88% of Founders Walk Away With Nothing

A Wharton and Zurich paper assembled records for about 158,000 US venture-backed companies: 88% of founders got nothing when their company was acquired or went public. Even in successful exits, investor-protection terms left 19% of founding teams with zero ownership, and 39% of founders were no longer shareholders at the IPO; earlier research overstated the returns to entrepreneurship nearly sevenfold. In China, buyback clauses in RMB financings mean many founders' worst case is personal debt.

Inside Draper University Hero Training 33 Demo Day: the early-stage investment signals behind 36 startups

Field notes from Draper University's Hero Training cohort 33 Demo Day on October 28: all 36 startups broken down by product, team, on-stage claims and public funding. For the 27 AI companies, the type of progress claimed is listed separately from how far it could be verified (7 have funding records we could cross-check; government contracts, revenue and customer counts are so far self-reported). Includes takes on four groups, the different roles of entities in the Draper network in early funding, and a quick-reference table of all 36.

After 21 VCs Turned Down Anthropic, Spark Bought In at SBF's Price

Anthropic's prospectus shows its Series B and Series C were both priced at $11.23 a share. In 2023, when most VCs saw Anthropic as an also-ran chasing OpenAI, Spark Capital partner Yasmin Razavi wrote two memos and the firm's biggest check ever, buying in at SBF's price from a year earlier and adding in every round after; FTX's stake was sold off in bankruptcy. Returns depended not only on direction but on whose money lasted to the end.

Funding More Than Doubled, and Valuations Crowded Toward $1 Billion

The SVTR AI Venture Activity Index rose 8.9% to 169.5 this week. 111 confirmed AI rounds totaled $7.9B, more than double last week. Fifteen were valued at $1B or more, and seven landed between $1B and $1.5B, against 1 to 4 a week over the previous nine weeks.