20250503 - Venture capital can't pretend everything is fine any more

A bubble in guillotines. Text version: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/03/in-2025-venture-capital-cant-pretend-everything-is-fine-any-more/ Sources: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor https://nvca.org/pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor/ I never thought leopards would eat MY face https://twitter.com/Cavalorn/status/654934442549620736 Federal Funds Effective Rate (FEDFUNDS) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS Here are the 19 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2025 https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/here-are-the-19-us-ai-startups-that-have-raised-100m-or-more-in-2025/ AI eats up 58% of global venture dollars as fear of missing out drives up dealmaking https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ai-startups-57-9-percent-global-venture-dollars-fear-of-missing-out-drives-up-dealmaking-q1-2025 A Venture Capital Firm Does Something Rare: Give Money Back (2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/technology/crv-vc-fund-returning-money.html 2025 will likely be another brutal year of failed startups, data suggests https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/26/2025-will-likely-be-another-brutal-year-of-failed-startups-data-suggests/ Ed Zitron: CoreWeave Is A Time Bomb https://www.wheresyoured.at/core-incompetency/ The group chats that changed America https://www.semafor.com/article/04/27/2025/the-group-chats-that-changed-america Decapitatr, the AI driven guillotine sharing ap https://furs.social/@Rycochet/114440592779018690 Previously on Pivot to AI: Venture capital is having a bad time — and AI isn't going to fix it https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/10/21/venture-capital-is-having-a-bad-time-and-ai-isnt-going-to-fix-it/ Does AI startup Extropic actually ... do anything? https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/12/01/does-ai-startup-extropic-actually-do-anything/ OpenAI signs its $40 billion deal with SoftBank! Or maybe $30 billion, probably https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/04/02/openai-signs-its-40-billion-deal-with-softbank-or-maybe-30-billion-probably/ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aP1zUUcmjk&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA a16z raising fresh $20b to keep the AI bubble pumping https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/04/10/a16z-raising-fresh-20b-for-ai-bubble-investments/ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7a1-6MU3QA&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA Buy me nice things: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Please send money! It's very helpful! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5