After Factory’s public spat with Khosla, Menlo proudly invests
THE SO WHAT
Menlo leaning into Factory days after a public spat with another investor shows that narrative volatility doesn’t necessarily kill rounds—strong theses still clear the market. Founders should treat public criticism as a signal to sharpen their story, not as a death sentence for fundraising.
READ THE SOURCE
MORE FROM THE WIRE
Startups & VentureOpenAI in Talks With UAE Funds, BlackRock for $30 Billion Round
A potential $30B raise anchored by UAE funds and BlackRock would cement frontier AI as a global, sovereign-scale asset class, not just a VC bet. For enterprises, that means model providers with war chests to vertically integrate — from chips to distribution — and more leverage in pricing and data negotiations.
Startups & VentureSingapore’s DayOne Files for US IPO Joining AI Data Center Rush
DayOne’s US IPO filing shows AI data centers are now a standalone equity story — not just a line item inside REITs and hyperscalers. If you depend on GPU capacity, start tracking these pure-play infra names the way you track cloud vendors; their build schedules and financing cycles will directly affect your expansion plans.
Startups & VentureEtched fields funding offers at $40B+ valuation, sources say
A jump to $40B+ offers just months after the last raise shows public markets are effectively pre-pricing specialized AI silicon as a future oligopoly. If you’re a large buyer of inference, expect more leverage from niche chip vendors—but also more vendor risk that you’ll need to underwrite yourself.
Startups & VentureAt 19, founder raises $11 million for Ghost, maker of a $3,499 computer for personal AI
A $3,499 “personal AI computer” backed by $11 million in seed capital is a bet that some users will pay MacBook Pro prices for local, persistent agents and privacy. If you build AI-native apps, start designing for a world where a slice of your users run heavy models and context locally instead of assuming cloud-only inference.