Venture capital funding for startups surged to $91.5 billion in Q1, marking the second-highest quarterly investment in a decade, according to PitchBook. However, Kyle Stanford, lead US venture capital analyst at PitchBook, remains pessimistic for 2025 due to market volatility and recession fears triggered by President Donald Trump's tariff policy. Major IPOs, including those of Klarna and Hinge Health, have been postponed, highlighting the uncertain environment.
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Creating a culture-first company where your teams look forward to working each day involves setting clear expectations up front, introducing changes in increments, offering shared learning experiences and creating accountability methods, writes Thiru Thangarathinam, the founder and CEO of KeenStack. "A culture-first company is a business that is built around people and, therefore, built to succeed," Thangarathinam notes.
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Strategic planning is vital after securing pre-seed funding, writes Sergei Bogdanov, a co-founder of the Pre-Seed to Succeed investment program, who highlighs the need to prioritize sales, manage resources efficiently and prepare for future funding rounds. Bogdanov also warns against common financial pitfalls such as overpaying for talent and underestimating the burn rate.
Entrepreneurs often hesitate to share equity due to ownership dilution concerns, but adding the right partners can drive growth and success, writes Nellie Akalp, the CEO of CorpNet.com. Akalp outlines scenarios where equity partnerships make sense, such as expansion, recruitment, funding and succession, while emphasizing the importance of aligning values and goals with new partners.
According to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, the first quarter of the year saw bifurcation in the market. "The 10 transactions exceeding $500 million accounted for 61.2% of the total VC investment during the quarter." Also in the report, NVCA President and CEO Bobby Franklin outlines a number of policy developments and priorities related to taxes, crypto and other topics.
Italian fashion mogul Renzo Rosso, Diesel jeans founder and OTB holding chairman, remains focused on acquiring new brands despite a failed attempt to acquire Versace. Rosso's strategy is to pursue acquisitions that align with the bold brand identity of OTB, which includes brands like Maison Margiela and Jil Sander. While an IPO is possible, the "Jeans Genius" states that OTB is growing in Japan and North America and doesn't need an IPO to fund acquisitions.
The design platform Figma has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. Adobe had previously planned to acquire the business, but the transaction fell through amid regulatory hurdles. Figma, which received a $12.5 billion valuation last year, has customers such as Google, Spotify and Uber.
