Breaking into venture capital when you don't fit the mold

Breaking into venture capital can feel intimidating, especially when you do not see many people who look like you or come from where you come from in decision-making roles. I have spent more than 25 years in finance and venture capital, first in India and then in the United States, and I can say this from experience: venture is hard, but it is also one of the most meaningful places to build a career if you care about shaping what gets built next. READ MORE

Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel

Crunchbase data shows global venture investment totaled $189 billion in February — the largest startup funding month on record — although 83% of capital raised went to just three companies. They include OpenAI, which raised $110 billion, also in the largest round ever raised by a private, venture-backed company.

The record month for venture funding took place against the backdrop of a trillion-dollar stock market drop as AI compute and tooling unsettled leading public software companies. READ MORE

California’s Venture Capital Diversity Reporting Requirements Take Effect

The FIPVCC creates a new venture capital demographic survey and reporting regime administered by DFPI. Under the FIPVCC, certain entities which invest in startup, early-stage or emerging growth companies and have a California nexus (Covered Entities) are required to register with DFPI, circulate a prescribed demographic survey to collect demographic data from founders of portfolio companies in which they invested in the prior year, and submit an annual report of anonymized data collected. The demographic information collected under the FIPVCC includes gender identity, race, ethnicity, disability status, LGBTQ+ status, California residency, and veteran status. The demographic data will be reported to the California Civil Rights Department, and each report will also be made publicly available on the DFPI’s website. READ MORE

Managing Partner at Mighty Capital, on the evolution of the asset management industry

The venture capital industry is at a crossroads. As megafunds grow too cumbersome and niche managers struggle to scale, the traditional model of investing is breaking down. In a recent ION Influencers Fireside Chat, SC Moatti, Managing Partner at Mighty Capital, discussed the future of asset management.

Moatti, a Stanford MBA and former tech executive at Facebook, brings a unique product-led lens to the world of VC. She argues that in an era of AI disruption and commoditized capital, only firms that treat themselves as products will survive. Here are the key insights from their conversation. READ MORE

Why Venture Capital Is Shifting Toward Deep Tech Startups?

After more than a decade dominated by consumer apps, marketplace platforms, and rapid user-acquisition models, venture capital is undergoing a noticeable reallocation of attention and funding toward deep tech — startups grounded in advanced science, complex engineering, and long development cycles — signaling a broader recalibration of risk, value creation, and technological ambition. READ MORE

Ecosystem investing: The art of the invisible handshake

Ecosystem investing is the grown-up version of playing with Legos — except instead of colorful blocks, you’ve got founders, buzzwords, and burn rates. The idea is simple: instead of investing in a random pile of startups that never make eye contact, you build an ecosystem — a connected network of companies that share data, customers, or capabilities to create value greater than any one piece alone. It’s the difference between a group of strangers at a silent yoga retreat and a band of Avengers (if the Avengers had to hit quarterly revenue targets). READ MORE

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: OpenAI Takes The Spotlight With Record-Setting $110B Round

It was going to be a fairly business as usual top 10 list this week until OpenAI decided to disrupt our Friday with news that it raised $110 billion in new funding. Yes, $110 billion. That is so much money, and so record-setting as a private company funding round, that it makes all those other $100 million and $200 million rounds we usually write about look very paltry by comparison.

That said, we did nonetheless see a number of these kinds of rounds, in sectors including semiconductors, AI, healthcare and biotech. READ MORE

Bain finds liquidity pressure rising as private equity capital cycles grow

After a year of bigger deals and rising exits, private equity is moving into 2026 with momentum, though Bain’s Global Private Equity Report 2026 highlights liquidity as a growing focus as investors wait for capital to be returned.

Beneath the rebound in activity, however, the report points to a structural tension shaping the market: Value creation is improving, but the recycling of capital remains slow. Investors continue to hold significant unrealized gains while waiting for distributions, a dynamic that Bain says is influencing fundraising, exit strategies and how sponsors measure performance across their portfolios. READ MORE

The global M&A boom is rolling into 2026 as AI sparks deal frenzy — but cash is getting tight

The global mergers and acquisitions boom that defined 2025 is carrying into 2026, as companies reassess their portfolios and artificial intelligence-led demand fuels large-scale transactions. However, a tightening capital pool is forcing executives to be more selective than ever.

Despite a sluggish start as Trump’s sweeping tariffs early last year briefly scuttled acquisitions and new public listings, the total value of deal-making activity surged nearly 40% to a record of $4.9 trillion in 2025 READ MORE

Private credit in emerging markets surges to record

Investors ploughed a record $22.3 billion of private credit into emerging markets last year, according to data released on Wednesday, amid banks tightening their lending and wobbles in traditionally ​safe markets.

The total is nearly 40% higher than the previous record ‌in 2016, according to the data from the Global Private Capital Association, and provides a window into the private credit pivot into emerging markets as returns on Western projects tighten – and concerns over defaults rise. READ MORE

A Venture Firm’s A-Native Reset

My last post asked, “How would you start your company today from scratch in an ai native world?”. Today I’ll answer it for myself, as a Venture Capitalist (VC).

Because the uncomfortable truth is: VCs often ask founders to adapt much faster than we do. That won’t work anymore.

Harlem Capital is a decade in. We are in a different era with new rules. So we spent three days in a house with one goal: disrupt ourselves. In venture three things matter: sourcing, winning and adding value. We are focused on sourcing because in an ai era, people are the moats. READ MORE

Private Equity Returns Hit 17-Year Low Amid Tariff Troubles

Last year was not an especially good one for the private equity (PE) space.

As Bloomberg News reported Monday (Feb. 23), PE firms returned fewer profits to their investors for the fourth consecutive year, with the industry sitting on $3.8 trillion in unsold assets, and struggling to raise cash for new funds.

Distributions as a percentage of net asset value remained at 14% for 2025, which was the second-lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis, the report said, citing data from Bain & Co. In addition, this rut has persisted for longer than what PE firms faced 17 years ago. READ MORE

Private equity resurgence gathers steam as new era challenges firms to enhance value creation

A resurgence in global private equity is gathering steam after a rebound in dealmaking last year that saw both buyout deals and exits surge ahead to register their second highest values on record. After three prior years in the relative doldrums, the advances mark a turning point for PE and set the stage for a continuing revival in 2026 and beyond, Bain & Company's 17th annual Global PE Report, released today, concludes.

But Bain's analysis tempers this upbeat message on brightening prospects, with a caution that the maturing PE industry has reached a critical inflection point. PE firms confront greatly heightened competition for capital as well as intensified investor demands for high performance – even as they continue to contend with a series of stubborn industry challenges, today's report warns. READ MORE

Private Equity Outlook 2026: Gaining Traction

After three years in the relative doldrums, private equity finally started to build some momentum in 2025. The gains were mixed and propelled by a narrow swath of headline deals. But the industry’s recovery appears to be gaining traction as more general partners (GPs) shake off economic uncertainty and valuation qualms to put more money to work and speed up distributions to investors READ MORE