🕶️ “Just Add AI” Isn’t a Business Model

Ten bullets of updates

1. 🚛 Nikola’s road ends? The EV startup faces potential bankruptcy, highlighting the tough reality for smaller players in an industry dominated by giants.

2. 🏛️ NIST braces for mass layoffs as budget cuts threaten key US cybersecurity and AI research efforts.

3.  🌊 Meta expands undersea cable network to boost internet connectivity in India, strengthening its grip on global data infrastructure.

4. 🏢 Cameo CEO says return-to-office boosted productivity and drew new talent—especially after offering $10K for employees to relocate.

5. 🕵️ Clearview AI CEO resigns as the controversial facial recognition startup faces mounting legal and ethical challenges.

6. 🦄 Six new tech unicorns emerged in January 2025, signaling that investor appetite for billion-dollar startups isn’t dead yet.

7. ⚖️ Frank founder Charlie Javice faces trial as opening statements begin in JPMorgan fraud case over the $175M acquisition.

8. 💰 Coinbase battles SEC in high-stakes lawsuit, arguing crypto regulations remain unclear as the industry watches closely.

9. 🔄 OpenAI eyes SoftBank for cloud computing, signaling a possible shift away from Microsoft’s infrastructure.

10. 🎙️ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismisses DeepSeek’s threat, saying the market overestimated its impact on AI dominance.

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🤖 AI Startups Face a Reality Check—But the Party Isn’t Over Yet

Silicon Valley’s AI boom isn’t over—but the days of “just add AI” and watch the money flow are. After a wild funding spree, investors are getting pickier, asking the once-unthinkable question: Does this AI startup actually make money? 

While AI remains the hottest sector in tech, the easy funding and sky-high valuations of 2023 are cooling off, pushing startups to prove they can do more than generate fancy demos.

The challenge? Running AI at scale is eye-wateringly expensive—from compute costs to talent wars, it’s a game where deep pockets matter. Big players like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have the infrastructure edge, leaving startups to find niches where they can truly shine. The good news? The AI gold rush isn’t dead—it’s just moving from the “spray and pray” phase to something a little more sustainable. Think of it like a dating app: the hype got everyone to sign up, but now it’s time to see who can actually commit.

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The 4 Biggest RED FLAGS on a Pitch Deck

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These companies just raised money

1. 💡 Afore Capital launches $185M pre-seed fund with a new program to help founders brainstorm and validate startup ideas.

2. 🌍 Cherryrock Capital raises $172M fund backed by top investors to support diverse founders and underrepresented entrepreneurs.

3.  🤖 AI hiring heats up as Mercor, a recruiting startup founded by 21-year-olds, raises $100M at a $2B valuation.

4. 📊 SmartSuite raises $38M to redefine enterprise collaboration, aiming to be the all-in-one platform for workplace productivity.

5. 🦠 SporeBio raises $23M to bring machine learning to microbiology testing, aiming for faster and more accurate diagnostics.

6. 💸 Tether backs stablecoin liquidity provider Mansa with $10M seed round to expand DeFi accessibility.

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🧑‍🍼 A Baby, Guaranteed? The Fertility Startup Making a Bold Promise

Fertility treatments have always been a high-stakes, high-cost gamble for families, but Future Family is flipping the script with a bold new promise: Have a baby or get your money back. The startup’s guarantee is a game-changer in the $25 billion fertility industry, where success is never certain and costs can spiral into the tens of thousands. By offering financial predictability in an unpredictable process, Future Family is positioning itself as a disruptor in an industry traditionally dominated by opaque pricing and uncertain outcomes.

But turning fertility into a business model with guaranteed results comes with risks. IVF success rates vary widely depending on factors like age, genetics, and medical history. To protect itself, Future Family will likely have strict eligibility criteria—raising questions about accessibility and fairness. Is this a revolutionary step toward making fertility treatments more consumer-friendly, or just another way to profit from hopeful parents while minimizing risk on the company’s end?

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. NYC B2B: Pre-Seed + Seed Founders & Investors Meetup | Feb 24 | NYC

2. Alchemist Accelerator | Deadline: March 21 | USA

3. Techstars Columbus | Deadline: April 1 | USA

4. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator | Deadline: April 28 | USA

5. Entrepreneur First London - Summer | Deadline: July 1 | UK

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