Hearts & Minds' Howes on Private Credit
THE SO WHAT
Public market volatility is pushing more capital toward private credit as a yield and diversification play. If you’re a growth-stage operator, expect more structured, covenant-heavy term sheets from credit funds sitting on fresh dry powder.
READ THE SOURCE
MORE FROM THE WIRE
Thinking Machines Lab is closing in on a new $5 billion funding round at a $40 billion valuation
A $5B round at a $40B valuation for a single AI lab shows capital is still willing to underwrite massive, concentrated bets on frontier model platforms. If you’re building on top of these labs, this kind of war chest lengthens their roadmap and makes platform dependency more durable, not less.
Startups & VentureSources: cloud security startup Cyera is planning to raise around $800M in a round led by Cyberstarts at a $20B valuation, up from $12B in June
An $800M raise at a $20B mark for a five-year-old cloud security vendor says more about boardroom fear than SaaS multiples. If your product touches data security, expect budget to consolidate around a few perceived “platform” bets and scrutiny to rise on everyone else.
Startups & VentureSources: Unity has held talks to be acquired by a consortium including Silver Lake, which owns 8% of Unity, and Saudi Arabia's PIF, discussing a ~$25B valuation
A potential $25B take-private of Unity by a Silver Lake–PIF consortium would move a core 3D and real-time engine into tighter financial and geopolitical hands. If you build on Unity, you should scenario-plan around pricing, licensing, and data-location changes under new ownership.
Startups & VentureSources: NYT has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd for roughly $330M; A24 dropped out of negotiations after price expectations rose
NYT moving to buy Letterboxd for ~$330M is another data-and-community land grab—own the niche graph, then layer subscriptions and recommendations. Media and streaming operators should assume the most valuable fan communities will get consolidated into a few cross-media stacks.