šŸ•¶ļø Buy or Be Bought: Is Your Startup Next?

Snowflakeā€™s $200M Move Could Change Everything

Author

Paula Echeverria
March 01, 2025

Sponsored by

OpenAI is gearing up for GPT-4.5, and Snowflake just dropped $200M to make a serious push in AI. Meanwhile, Teslaā€™s employee drama, Lucidā€™s CEO exit, and health startups are making waves.

And hereā€™s a curveballā€”when was the last time you used Skype? ā˜Žļø 
Well, itā€™s shutting down, so thereā€™s that.

Enjoy todayā€™s Startup Club, and feel free to share your feedbackā€”just hit reply and let it all out.

-šŸ•¶ļø 

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Nine bullets of updates

  1. šŸ§  OpenAI teases GPT-4.5, promising improvements in reasoning, speed, and multimodal capabilitiesā€”just as the AI race heats up.

  2. šŸš€ Sergey Brin is back at Google HQ, taking a more active role in AI projects as the company ramps up competition in the AI arms race.

  3.  āš ļø Tesla fires an employee who leaked Cybertruck issues, sparking debate over workplace surveillance and Muskā€™s no-tolerance policy on internal leaks.

  4. šŸŽ¾ Venus Williams backs WeWard, a walking app that rewards users for staying active, as the startup raises funds to expand its reach.

  5. šŸ¤ Building a company culture that values individuality: why embracing uniqueness can boost innovation, retention, and overall team success.

  6. šŸ‘‹ Lucid loses its CEO as EV struggles continue, while Mode takes aim at Flexport, shaking up both the electric vehicle and logistics sectors.

  7. šŸ“ž Microsoft is shutting down Skype on May 5, 2025, marking the end of an era for the once-dominant video calling app.

  8. šŸ½ļø Researchers create a device that lets you taste distant foods, simulating flavors like lemonade and coffee.

  9. šŸ§¬ A longevity-focused startup co-founded by Peter Attia emerges from stealth, aiming to push the boundaries of health and lifespan extension.

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ā„ļø Snowflakeā€™s $200M AI Play: Should Founders Pay Attention?

Image credits: Snowflake

Snowflake just threw $200 million into the AI raceā€”because apparently, just being a cloud data giant wasnā€™t enough. Theyā€™re also launching a Silicon Valley AI Hub, designed to bring startups, developers, and enterprises together to push AI innovation forward.

For founders, this isnā€™t just another corporate PR stunt. Snowflake is positioning itself as more than just infrastructureā€”it wants to be a kingmaker in AI. If you're building in AI, this means new funding opportunities, potential partnerships, and a big player actively looking for the next big thing.

Want to get on their radar? Now might be a good time.

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How to Raise Startup Funding: EVERYTHING You Need to Know

In this video, we break down everything weā€™ve learned about startup fundingā€”from launching your company to raising Series A, B, C, and beyond.

Slidebean is a venture-backed company, and helping founders navigate this process is what we do every day. But before anything else, thereā€™s one key question you need to answer: Can your startup actually raise money?

šŸ•¶ļø Subscribe for more videos šŸ•¶ļø 

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Voted "Best Whiskey Gift Of The Year" by Men's Gear.

Blind Barrels connects craft spirit lovers with rare craft bottles from across the country through double-blind tasting experiences at home. Weā€™re shining a light on small distilleries & itā€™s your chance to join us.

Read the Offering information carefully before investing. It contains details of the issuerā€™s business, risks, charges, expenses, and other information, which should be considered before investing. Obtain a Form C and Offering Memorandum at https://wefunder.com/blind.barrels/

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These companies just raised money

  1. šŸ’³ Stripe finalizes tender sale at a $91.5B valuation, reporting $1.4T in payment volume for 2024 as it cements its fintech dominance.

  2. šŸ¤° Millie raises $12M Series A to reinvent maternity care, backed by an all-female VC lineup, aiming to improve pregnancy and postpartum support.

  3. šŸ” Archipelo emerges from stealth with $12M, aiming to secure both human and AI-generated code, tackling the rising risks in AI-driven software development.

  4. šŸ” Just Move In lands $8M Series A to streamline home setup services, helping movers handle utilities, broadband, and more with ease.

  5. šŸŒ™ DeepNight secures $5.5M to revolutionize night vision with AI, aiming to disrupt a multi-billion-dollar industry with smarter, more efficient low-light imaging.

  6. šŸ“Š  Quanta raises $4.7M to push AI deeper into finance, aiming to automate complex accounting tasks that still rely on human oversight.

  7. šŸ”¬ SymbyAI raises $2.1M seed round to simplify scientific research with AI, aiming to streamline data analysis for researchers.

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Join us in satisfying growing energy demands.

Klondike Royalties provides an opportunity to invest in the North Block of the Kitchen Lights Unit in Alaska's Cook Inlet, estimated to contain 300 million barrels of recoverable reserves. Our royalty-based investment model is backed by a team with 4 previous successful projects.

Read the Offering information carefully before investing. It contains details of the issuerā€™s business, risks, charges, expenses, and other information, which should be considered before investing. Obtain a Form C and Offering Memorandum at invest.klondikeroyalties.com.

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A Cap Table Template

A Cap Table tool that helps you estimate how much your equity could be diluted across multiple funding rounds. It supports up to six rounds, whether raised through Convertible Notes, SAFEs, or Priced/Equity Rounds.

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šŸ‘Øā€āš•ļø Healthcare Startups Are Buying Up the Competitionā€”What You Need to Know

If you thought your startup's biggest threat was running out of funding, think againā€”because in healthcare tech, the real game is who buys who first. A wave of startup-driven acquisitions is shaking up the industry, with companies like Caresyntax, Athelas, and Datavant leading the charge.

Why should founders care? Well, if you're building in health-tech or AI, this consolidation wave could either be your biggest opportunity or your worst nightmare. Getting acquired could mean a fat payday (nice), but it also means fewer independent players in the space (we made a video along those lines). For founders, the key takeaway is how to position yourselfā€”whether as an acquisition target or as a company with enough leverage to stay independent.

For anyone in the startup scene, keeping an eye on whoā€™s buying whom could be the difference between scaling up or getting left behind.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

  1. Startup Friends - Coffee & Chill - Satori & SeedLegals | March 2 | NYC

  2. The AI Hustle: Happy Hour for Startup Founders & VCs | March 3 | SFO

  3. Alchemist Accelerator | Deadline: March 21 | USA

  4. Techstars Columbus | Deadline: April 1 | USA

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

  6. Startup Battlefield 200 | Deadline: June 9 | Global

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

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The smartphone story isnā€™t over yetā€¦

Uber did it to taxis, Airbnb to hotels, & now Mode is doing it to the $500B smartphone industry.

Theyā€™ve turned smartphones from an expense into an income stream - donā€™t miss your chance to invest.

*Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
*The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.
*Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com.

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