Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Global Venture Funding In 2025 Surged As Startup Deals And Valuations Set All-Time Records
Venture and growth investors poured $425 billion into more than 24,000 private companies in 2025, per Crunchbase data. Funding gained 30% year over year, up from $328 billion in 2024.
The data center rebellion is reshaping the political landscape – The Washington Post
Anger over the perceived trampling of communities by Silicon Valley has entered the national political conversation and could affect voters of all political persuasions in this year’s midterm elections.
Nike sells RTFKT: Digital products subsidiary quietly offloaded in December – oregonlive.com
The company last month quietly sold RTFKT, pronounced “Artifact.” The sale came roughly a year after Nike shuttered the subsidiary.
Transcript: ‘Reid Hoffman Makes Five Predictions About AI In 2026’
By the time this podcast comes out, it will be 2026. So for all of our purposes it is 2026. And I think this time of year is such a good time to look back and look forward. So I want to start with a couple of, you know, pre-2026 predictions that you made, and reflect a little bit on how things went in 2025 and what might be different about how you’re seeing things.
Things I Think I Think – Q4 2025 — Chris Neumann
Now that we’ve made it through our backlogged inboxes, let’s reflect on Q4 and kick off the new year with my latest homage to legendary sports columnist Peter King.
How AI Made Pricing Hard Again
In traditional software as a service, once you have paid your developers and Amazon Web Services for storage, it doesn’t cost you any more if more people use your product. But AI companies pay LLM providers per use. Growth is expensive.
Don’t Outsource Your Thinking
The middle man will eventually be cut out, the productivity of knowledge workers will explode, Anthropic might be more like AWS one day or it will be absorbed into Amazon. You, however, cannot outsource your thinking.
McKinsey and General Catalyst execs say the era of ‘learn once, work forever’ is over | TechCrunch
In a live taping on Tuesday of the All-In podcast, co-host Jason Calacanis interviewed Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, and Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst. Their discussion focused on how AI is transforming investment strategies and the workforce.
Vol. 1: First Seating – by Angel Medina – Between Courses
We’re combining seven publications into one: Curada, SORBIDO, Holy Spirits, One Last Thing, Cocina Noroeste, Humble Kitchen, and Portraits Of A City. Music and spirits. Memory and migration. Coffee and contemplation. The humble and the elevated, all on the same plate.