The Myth of the Unicorn Founder🦄, How Female Founders Can Access Capital👩‍💼, Europe’s Top 25 Angel Investors 💼

If you're building, investing, or just trying to stay ahead of the curve, you're in the right place. Every week, we break down the latest insights, funding news, and founder-friendly gems—no fluff, just what matters. Plus, we track the freshest VC funds deploying capital so you know where the money’s moving.

Let’s get into it 👇

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In-Depth Insights 🔍

• Slack’s $3B Growth Strategy 💡

  How Slack scaled to a $3B business—lessons in product-led growth, customer obsession, and market positioning.

  

• Step 1 of Product Making: Guide to PRFAQs ✍️
  How to plan for new product or startup ideas. [Building Hardware]

• 7 Psychological Drivers of Referral Behavior to Accelerate B2B Growth 📈
  Best practices and pitfalls from Cello, Airtable, Canva, Asana and more.

  

• The Myth of the Unicorn Founder 🦄
  Stanford’s Ilya Strebulaev debunks the myth that elite education is a prerequisite for startup success. Spoiler: Grit and execution matter more.

  

• Why data centre startups might not be VC-backable 🏗️
  VCs report getting lots more pitches for physical data centre startups amid the AI boom — but they're largely waiting to invest

• How Female Founders Can Access Capital In A Tight VC Funding Market 👩‍💼
  Even though women-led startups consistently show lower failure rates and higher returns, startups with only female founders still consistently receive less than 2% of VC funding.

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Trending News ⚡

• Hitachi ups startup investment to $1bn as AI wave grows 💰
  The Japanese industrial conglomerate raised a fourth, $400m fund, which will focus on AI, frontier tech and push further into India.

  

• Doge’s HR Email Gets Spammed 📧
  Federal employees received an email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) this weekend, requesting their weekly list of accomplishments by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday.

• Anthropic Launches New AI Model 🤖
  Anthropic introduces a groundbreaking AI model that can think for extended periods, pushing the boundaries of AI capabilities.

  

• Europe’s Top 25 Angel Investors 💼
  Meet the top 25 angel investors in Europe and the startups they’ve backed, showcasing the continent’s vibrant startup ecosystem.

• Together AI’s Valuation Soars 🚀
  Together AI sees a significant valuation jump, backed by General Catalyst and NVDA, highlighting the growing interest in AI infrastructure.

• Coinbase SEC Lawsuit: Big Crypto Questions ⚖️
  The ongoing Coinbase SEC lawsuit raises critical questions about the classification of cryptocurrencies as securities.

• Prosus to Take Just Eat Takeaway Private in $4.1B Deal 💸
  Prosus announces a $4.1 billion deal to take Just Eat Takeaway private, reshaping the food delivery landscape.

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Social Media Gems 💎

• Mistral's latest move: the launch of 'Le Chat,' their challenger to ChatGPT.” 👏
  Mistral AI didn't just drop a new product; they orchestrated a strategic masterstroke in European tech.

  

• American humanoid robot startup 1X has just unveiled their next-gen robot, NEO Gamma 🤖
  NEO can now walk with a natural human gait and arm swings. The humanoid can squat down to pick things up from the ground and sit in chairs.

• 9 pitch decks that raised $463M+ in total 🔥 💰
  Discover where to find them (and why they worked):

  

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New Funds 💰

• Co-Ventures raises $5 million for Fund I, targeting early-stage startups in emerging markets.

• Hort Innovation launches a $60 million fund to support startups in the horticulture sector.

• BIM Ventures and SBI Holdings launch a $100 million fund to back Saudi-based startups.

• Khosla Ventures is raising $3.5 billion for its latest fund, focusing on deep tech and climate investments.

• Afore Capital closes Fund IV at $185 million, targeting pre-seed and seed-stage startups.

• Foresight Ventures commits $25 million to incubate innovation on the BNB Chain ecosystem.

• Cambridge Innovation Capital launches a $100 million opportunity fund to support high-growth UK startups.

• Raisewell Ventures launches as a multi-stage venture capital firm, focusing on global tech investments.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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See you next time 🚀