‘SPAC King’ Chamath Palihapitiya is back with a new one

Silicon Valley investor Chamath Palihapitiya has filed documents with the SEC for a new special purpose acquisition company, this time mainly focused on energy, AI, decentralized finance and defense.

Palihapitiya, dubbed by many in the industry as the “SPAC King,” was early in promoting SPACs as an IPO alternative. He was eventually criticized for helping usher in a flood of capital and deals that fared poorly. READ MORE

For Startup Funding, Every State Brings In A Pittance Compared To California

For as long as anyone covering the U.S. startup investment space can remember, there have been exhortations to spread the wealth in a more geographically diverse manner.

A handful of coastal metros, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, have long swallowed up the lion’s share of venture funding. While Austin, Denver, Chicago and other inland cities do boast sizable and diversified startup scenes, they’ve generally captured no more than a single-digit percentage of investment. READ MORE

America’s Top Venture Capital Firms of 2025

Over the past 50 years, venture capital firms have shaped the U.S. economy into the capitalist behemoth it is today. Many of the biggest companies in the world by market cap, including Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, owe their success in part to VC firms that funded them as they were just starting out, making the VC firms themselves some of the most influential businesses on the planet.

To spotlight the names molding the business landscape, TIME and Statista ranked 350 VC firms at the forefront of catalyzing innovation, supporting emerging startups, and driving the next generation of economic growth. These firms provide direct venture capital funding to companies and startups in various venture stages and sectors as a core part of their business model, and have been ranked based on their fundraising strength in the last five years, their investment capacity, as well as the volume and efficiency of their exits through IPOs and acquisitions. READ MORE

This Overlooked Strategy Is Becoming a Game-Changer in Private Equity

In private equity, the smartest general partners (GPs) are realizing that co-investments aren't just a fundraising sweetener; they're a strategic lever. Done right, they strengthen the portfolio, deepen LP relationships and reduce overall risk exposure. Yet many GPs still treat co-investing as an afterthought rather than a core element of fund strategy.

In today's climate, where LPs are more selective, underwriting standards are higher and trust is harder to earn, co-investments can be the edge that separates high-performing GPs from the pack. Here's how the most sophisticated firms are using co-investing not just to raise capital, but to build resilient portfolios and tighter LP alignment. READ MORE

Here’s what it’s like to invest in private equity — and why you don’t want it in your 401(k)

or every public company in the U.S. whose stock you can buy directly or through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, there might be 25 or more private companies that are also seeking investment. These range from major operations like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to family-owned factories. There are no public filings for these companies, few analyst reports and generally little in the way of hard data to develop a real valuation of these entities. READ MORE

1st-time VCs face 2nd-fund slump

First-time VC managers who raised their inaugural vehicles during the flush years of 2021 and 2022 are finding that fundraising isn’t as easy the second time around.

Compared with past cohorts, they’re raising fewer second funds than ever before, further evidence that emerging managers in the US continue to struggle as economic uncertainty roils the VC landscape. READ MORE

Venture capital is scarce in Alaska. A business professor in Fairbanks hopes to change that.

Kim McGinnis is passionate about boosting Alaska’s economy. And she hopes a recent award from the University of Alaska Fairbanks will allow her to help entrepreneurs in the state by connecting them with venture capital.

In late July, she was awarded the Harold T. Caven Professorship in Business and Finance. The professorship started in 1974, and is a memorial gift by the Caven family in honor of Harold, a former director and president of First National Bank Alaska. READ MORE

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of VC “Mega-Rounds”

Over time, there have been huge shifts in the amount of financing required to start and scale businesses. Advances such as cloud computing and open-source software have enabled technology startups to commence and grow their operations with less funding than historically required. At the same time, newly formed life sciences companies and AI-driven companies have not been so fortunate and can remain capital-intensive enterprises. READ MORE

2025 Venture Capital Report

The number of reported venture capital financings decreased by less than 2% from 2023 to 2024, and the decline is likely to be largely erased once all 2024 deals have been reported. Total reported financing proceeds increased 31%, from $163.6 billion in 2023 to $214.3 billion in 2024, the third-highest annual proceeds figure on record, behind only 2021 and 2022. READ MORE

Fundraising in an Era of Change

To note that today’s fundraising climate is changing is a vast understatement. Among the top challenges, traditional venture capital is increasingly concentrated. Mega-funds are snapping up the lead positions on the hottest new offerings, while pushing smaller investors aside. For founders and funders alike, the traditional playbook is an increasingly high barrier for rising innovators to reach, resulting in fewer deals and fewer opportunities to scale. READ MORE

The Art of Trump’s Private Equity Deal

President Trump in a matter of months turned from a private equity critic to champion and much of that has come because of a deal involving AI, sources told JOBs.

Back in February when Trump was threatening to end one of private equity’s big tax loopholes, the treatment of carried interest, leading private equity moguls and their lobbyists told the White House they would rather work out an investment plan to boost US energy dominance – an important goal for the President, insiders with direct knowledge of the situation told me at the time. READ MORE

What Trump's 401(k) executive order could mean for investors

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that will let Americans invest their 401(k) retirement savings in cryptocurrency, private equity and real estate, marking a major shift in retirement investment options.

The order directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Labor Department and Treasury to update their rules to give investors access to these alternative assets. READ MORE

This VC has invested in crypto for a decade. He has 3 pieces of advice for those getting into the market

Jake Brukhman is a computer scientist who worked at Amazon and on Wall Street before founding CoinFund, one of the first venture capital firms dedicated to cryptocurrency investing. He is also the latest guest on Fortune’s new podcast Crypto Playbook (available on Spotify, Apple and YouTube) where Brukhman shared his insights based on a decade of investing—and offered some very practical tips for those coming to this market for the first time. READ MORE

How AI became the ultimate partner for venture capitalists

"AI has impacted all walks of life, and investing is no exception. We see AI transforming all elements of the investment process," declared Rotem Shacham, Director at PSG Equity. This statement encapsulates the profound shift occurring within venture capital firms, as artificial intelligence moves beyond a mere buzzword to become an indispensable tool deeply integrated into the day-to-day work of partners and team members. READ MORE

The venture capital money machine is spinning again

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
https://www.ft.com/content/354af7fa-c406-4e29-8628-3bbce223b2d9

There’s been much talk about the Silicon Valley venture capital model being broken given the scarcity of successful exits over the past few years. But the standard VC playbook can still sometimes work as written, as shown by the blockbuster flotation of Figma on the New York Stock Exchange last week from which the design software company’s market value surged to more than $60bn on its opening day. The VC playbook goes as follows: READ MORE