Little more than one year ago, New York City’s Vestar Capital sent a surprising message to its limited partners. After decades of growth, it was scrapping plans for its eighth private equity fund and would instead focus on improving its existing portfolio of companies. Its most recent fund, Vestar Capital Partners VII, launched in 2018 with $1.1 billion but has been limping along with an internal rate of return of 7.7%, significantly lagging the S&P’s average return of 14% over the same period. READ MORE
A Potential Fundraising Boost for Venture Capital Investing: U.S. House Passes INVEST Act
On December 11, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Incentivizing New Ventures and Economic Strength Through Capital Formation Act[1] (“INVEST Act”) by a bipartisan vote of 302 to 123. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by the President, the INVEST Act would, among other things, enable certain venture capital fund managers to remain unregistered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) while raising more capital from more retail investors and deploying capital in the booming secondaries market for private venture investments. READ MORE
Life Sciences Funding in View
Global funding activity across the life sciences sector was mixed in 2025. Venture capital (VC) activity was slightly higher, while the initial public offering (IPO) market experienced a down year. M&A deals accelerated sharply as pharmaceutical companies increased acquisition activity. Investor sentiment weighed on funding early in the year but improved meaningfully in the second half, driving a pickup in activity and signaling stronger momentum heading into 2026. READ MORE
Update on California’s Venture Capital Companies Diversity Reporting Program
California’s Fair Investment Practices by Venture Capital Companies Law (FIPVCC), commonly referred to as SB 54, as amended by SB 164, requires certain venture capital companies (including venture capital funds) with a California nexus to register with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), and to collect and annually report anonymized, aggregated demographic data about the founding team members of businesses in which they invest. The first registration is due March 1, 2026, and the first annual report is due April 1, 2026. READ MORE
California easily maintains its startup crown
Some of California's most prominent venture capitalists are quick to slam their state, arguing that fiscal mismanagement and high taxes will cause startups to form elsewhere.
So far that doesn't seem to be happening. READ MORE
Broad coverage, rising losses: Inside the growing D&O challenge for VCs
For years, venture capital (VC) firms were considered relatively benign risks in the directors and officers (D&O) insurance market.
Compared to traditional buyout private equity, VCs generated fewer claims, fewer losses, and generally enjoyed broad coverage, healthy capacity, and competitive pricing. READ MORE
A Growing Share Of Seed And Series A Funding Is Going To Giant Rounds
Among startup investors, the prevailing mantra has long been that the greatest returns accrue to those who are earliest in finding and funding the most promising founders.
Sounds simple enough. But there’s a twist: What if a lot of well-capitalized investors identify those same founders around the same time?
In that case, being early can still have advantages. However, it can also be very expensive. READ MORE
Private Equity Investors Are Taking Losses to Cash Out of Investments in Aging Companies
Evidence of a slowdown in private equity fundraising continues to accumulate as concerns about lack of liquidity remain top of mind for institutional investors. Last year, global private equity fundraising across private equity strategies fell 12.7 percent to $480.29 billion, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. This was the third consecutive year that global fundraising declined. The slowdown is confirmed in data from Pitchbook, a data analytics firm. Using somewhat different definitions of PE strategies and data, its Global PE First Look report found that funds raised $407.5 billion globally across 2025, down from $611.6 billion raised in 2024. READ MORE
Billionaires Are Making a Huge Bet in 2026—and It’s Not Stocks
Billionaires are betting big on private markets in 2026. By prioritizing investments in private equity, hedge funds, and private credit, they’re leaning into risk even as high interest rates and market volatility loom.
Private equity is the most favored asset class, according to data from the UBS Billioniare Survery 2025. Almost half of billionaires plan to heighten their exposure to direct private equity investments this year, while another 37 percent plan to boost allocations in private equity funds. READ MORE
Most scientific inventions don’t leave the lab. This VC firm is changing that
While working as an engineer at Tesla, Niccolo Cymbalist never planned to start a business. But he’d been considering an idea for new technology—an autonomous, wind-powered cargo ship. Then, while on paternity leave in 2024, he discovered a free program that helps scientists and engineers launch businesses for the first time.
Weeks after finishing the program, called 5050, Cymbalist had launched a startup called Clippership. The company’s first ship is being built in the Netherlands this year. Without the accelerator, he says, the company likely wouldn’t exist. READ MORE
The Critical Pre-Signing Phase of Joint Venture Investments
Joint ventures (“JVs”) are enjoying renewed popularity1 as firms confront rising capital demands, political uncertainty and rapid technological change. For investors and corporate leaders, they offer a middle path: faster than going it alone, less capital-heavy than buying outright and sometimes the only viable way to gain access to markets, skills or technology. Yet while the idea is attractive, performance has been mixed.2 Many JVs disappoint not because the market case was weak, but because assumptions about alignment, governance and execution were left untested. A methodical diligence process can tilt the odds towards success. READ MORE
How startups can 'break through the noise' and grab attention, according to a marketer-turned-VC
Startups don't just need cash to be successful. Like many of us, they also thrive on attention.
Lindsay Kaplan, a former marketing executive and cofounder of Chief, a networking company for women, wants to coach startup founders on what it takes to build culture-driving brands. READ MORE
Memecoin venture capital surges as investors chase crypto hype
Memecoins have always lived at the intersection of internet culture and speculative finance—but the latest cycle feels different. What began as community-driven tokens powered by jokes and viral momentum is now attracting serious venture capital interest, with investors aiming to capture upside in a market where attention can convert into liquidity overnight. As funding rounds, influencer-driven launches, and meme-native ecosystems multiply, the memecoin narrative is evolving from “just a joke” into a high-risk, high-reward subset of crypto venture investing. READ MORE
From generalist to deep: Why venture is being forced to specialize
For more than a decade, I invested as a generalist, backing exceptional founders across enterprise software and fintech. That model worked extraordinarily well for a long time. But over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that the ground beneath venture capital is shifting.
California’s New Diversity Reporting Law Imposes Obligations on a Wide Array of Asset Management Firms
Beginning in 2026, a new law — the Fair Investment Practices by Venture Capital Companies Act (“FIPVCC”) — imposes new obligations on a wide array of asset management firms that operate in California, make investments in California, and/or solicit investment and/or receive revenue from California — regardless of whether they are based in or outside of California. Specifically, the new statute requires covered entities to register with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”) by March 1, 2026, and, beginning in April 2026, annually report aggregated demographic information about the founding teams of the companies in which they have invested during the preceding year. READ MORE
8 AI Unicorns Transforming Venture Capital
The amount of capital that flowed into AI startups in 2025 was nothing short of astonishing. Of the $512.6 billion venture capital firms deployed in the U.S. last year, more than half went to AI companies, according to Pitchbook estimates.
So which AI companies brought in the most cash? A whopping 55 startups raised $100 million or more, TechCrunch reported—up from the 49 that closed nine-figure funding rounds the previous year—and among those 55, nearly 10 raised $1 billion or more. Here are the eight AI unicorns from that group that raised the most capital in 2025. READ MORE
Continuation Vehicles: An Evolving Frontier in Private Equity Liquidity
Continuation vehicles (CVs) have evolved from niche solutions into mainstream strategies in private equity. These structures—new funds typically managed by the same sponsor that acquire assets from an older fund—are no longer just a workaround for stalled exits. They’ve become a strategic tool for unlocking liquidity while preserving upside on high-conviction investments.
Traditional exit routes like IPOs and M&A have faced headwinds, leaving sponsors searching for alternatives that don’t force premature sales. CVs offer a solution: extend ownership, optimize timing, and keep compounding returns alive. When executed well, they’re not a one-off fix but a scalable capability that differentiates sponsors. READ MORE
Private equity’s strategic pivot
Private equity (PE) firms are undertaking a strategic pivot as they respond to market pressures, geopolitical uncertainty and ageing portfolios. With trillions in dry powder, sponsors are accelerating monetisation strategies, favouring take-private deals and sponsor-to-sponsor transactions. This shift reflects a broader recalibration of risk, valuation and exit timing. As regulatory scrutiny eases in some regions, PE firms are targeting resilient sectors such as infrastructure, energy and technology, reshaping the M&A landscape with bold, capital-intensive plays and long-term value creation strategies. READ MORE
Private Equity And Venture Capital: How AI Changes Value Creation
Artificial intelligence is forcing a fundamental rethink of how Private Equity and Venture Capital firms evaluate and create value in their portfolio companies. Traditional investment metrics need updating as AI transforms industries.
In interviews with Caroline Ohlsson, who leads AI initiatives at European private equity firm Verdane, and Sanjot Malhi, a partner at venture capital firm Northzone, both offer contrasting but complementary perspectives on how investors are adapting to create value in the AI era. READ MORE
Defense tech startups had their best funding year ever in 2025
Defense-technology startups had their best funding year ever in 2025, with investors keen to finance autonomous systems and artificial intelligence for the battlefield, according to data from business-intelligence providers that track venture capital funding.
The value of venture capital deals in defense technology jumped to a record $49.1 billion last year from $27.2 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by PitchBook and shared with Defense News. The PitchBook data includes startups that provide dual-use technology, including companies whose primary markets are civilian but also have defense applications. READ MORE