The first time you sit in a room with investors, advisors or other founders, it can feel like everyone is speaking a secret language. Someone mentions their CAC, someone else asks about your ICP, and a third person wants to know if you have found PMF yet. Good news: none
The quickest way to waste a good investor introduction is to pitch a firm that doesn't invest at your stage, in your sector, or in your kind of business. Plenty of strong startups hear “not a fit” for exactly that reason, and it has nothing to do with
Most founders don’t have a mentor who has seen a thousand pitch decks. LinkedIn is the next best thing, because a handful of investors and venture operators explain how they think there, for free. This list covers 16 people worth adding to your feed. Not all of them are
The 25 startups on this list were all founded by AI lab alumni, and each raised $20M or more in 2026, for about $10.4B combined. Three companies took 55% of that total, the US has the most companies, and Nvidia backed at least 11 of them. The headline number
Some of the most interesting startup opportunities are emerging in industries that have traditionally relied on manual processes, complex software and specialized expertise. From warehouse robots and AI-powered creative tools to legal technology, healthcare automation and financial software, startups are finding new ways to solve problems that businesses face
Thirty-one cybersecurity startups closed rounds of $20 million or more between July and September 2026. Together, the 29 rounds reported in US dollars add up to roughly $3.08 billion, before counting a €28M round in France and a £24M round in the UK. The headline number is less
LA Tech Week puts a lot of investors within walking distance of a lot of founders. That sounds great until you're standing at a crowded happy hour with 40 minutes and no idea who is worth talking to. This guide groups 38 early-stage venture funds by what
For a HealthTech founder, finding investors is rarely as simple as searching for firms that have "healthcare" somewhere on their website. Healthcare startups operate differently from many conventional software businesses. Depending on the company, founders may need to deal with clinical validation, regulation, reimbursement, healthcare procurement, provider adoption,
Germany has one of Europe's deepest startup and early-stage investment ecosystems, with investors spanning software, AI, fintech, industrial technology, climate, deep tech and life sciences. For founders, however, the challenge isn't simply finding a long list of venture capital firms. The harder question is finding
Twenty-two new European venture capital funds were announced in September 2026, with roughly €1.6 billion in committed capital between them. Eighteen invest at seed and fourteen at pre-seed, which makes this a useful month for any founder building an early-stage investor list. The headline hides a
Most founders build their fintech investor list the same way. They screenshot a “top fintech VCs” graphic, paste the names into a spreadsheet, and start sending emails. We took two lists like that and did the unglamorous work. We merged them, checked each firm’s stage focus and thesis against
Most founders treat a big startup week like a lottery. They show up, collect a pile of business cards, and hope one of them turns into a term sheet. That's the wrong approach, and the list of VC firms hosting or speaking at a16z Tech Week shows why.