🕶️ Survival of the funded: 2025 startup reality check

Six bullets of updates

1. 🏙️ Real estate embraces energy development as data centers boom and solar solutions gain traction, even as office vacancy rates hover at 20%.

2. 🤖 DeepSeek shakes up AI norms, launching a top app powered by a $5.6M model, despite U.S. sanctions and industry buzz.

3. 🔄 Perplexity AI revises its bid for TikTok, proposing up to 50% U.S. government ownership following an IPO.

4. 🛠️ OpenAI unveils its Operator AI agent, offering autonomous task execution through the $200/month ChatGPT Pro plan.

5. 🌱 Tesla, ICL Group, and First Solar lead clean energy innovation, targeting a green future by 2030 with scalable tech.

6. 🛠️ Humanity Protocol valued at $11 billion after its latest fundraise, emphasizing the rise of "ho-hum" businesses with strong market potential.

✦

Survival of the funded: 2025 startup reality check

The startup ecosystem is bracing for another tough year in 2025, as data indicates a sustained wave of failures. In 2024, closures spiked compared to the prior year, fueled by dwindling venture capital activity and tightened financial conditions. The number of active U.S. venture capital firms has dropped sharply from its 2021 peak, with capital increasingly concentrated among a few large players. This shift has left early-stage and emerging startups struggling to secure funding, limiting their runway and growth potential, while forcing many to shut down prematurely.

Adding to the challenges is a stagnation in exit opportunities, with IPOs and acquisitions for private tech companies hitting historic lows. Despite a global unicorn count exceeding 1,200, the market remains oversaturated with high valuations and limited paths to liquidity. This bottleneck has reduced returns for investors, leading to further constraints in funding availability. With no immediate relief in sight, the forecast for 2025 suggests that startups will continue to face high risks of failure in a climate of economic uncertainty and investment fatigue.

✦

Startup Events and Deadlines

1. CTO Talks. | January 30 | NYC

2. Entrepreneur First Bangalore - Core | Deadline: Feb 11 | India

3. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator | Deadline: Feb 11 | NYC

4. Techstars New York City Accelerator | Deadline: Feb 11 | NYC

5. Y Combinator | Deadline: Feb 11 | Silicon Valley

✦

✦

✦

✦

TikTok tango: Trump, Oracle, and the art of the deal

The Trump administration is reportedly negotiating a deal for Oracle to take over TikTok, alongside new U.S. investors, as ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, retains a minority stake, according to NPR. This follows a law passed last year requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban. The app briefly went offline before an executive order delayed the ban, with Trump proposing a joint venture where the U.S. would hold 50% ownership.

Oracle has been involved with TikTok before, hosting its U.S. traffic on Oracle servers after an earlier sale attempt during Trump’s first term fell through. At a recent press conference, Trump mentioned being open to Oracle chairman Larry Ellison or Elon Musk acquiring the app. However, some senators are questioning this plan, emphasizing that the law mandates ByteDance’s full divestment.

✦

✦

TikTok: The END of Social Media

TikTok might just be the last new social media giant we’ll ever see. Every major platform before it—MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Vine—was built on the back of groundbreaking tech innovations. But with no new waves to ride, social media as we know it is hitting a plateau. What comes next for our online behavior, and will platforms ever truly evolve again? Let’s break it down 🕶️ Subscribe for more videos 🕶️ 

✦