Fred Wilson

Peak XV’s Groww windfall is sending shockwaves through the venture capital world, effectively resetting the record books. The firm’s journey to this milestone has not been smooth. A high-profile split from Sequoia, clashes with founders, senior-level departures, and a more constrained capital environment all tested the firm’s resilience over the past few years. Yet, with Groww delivering an extraordinary return, Peak XV Partners appears to have turned a corner. This breakthrough not only vindicates the firm’s long-term strategy and investment acumen but also reestablishes its standing as a formidable force in the VC landscape, proving that patience, persistence, and careful judgment can yield historic outcomes. Read more at The Morning Context: https://lnkd.in/gqKD35pQ #PeakXV #Investment #VC #Split #Leadership #Returns #Groww #Pinelabs #IPO #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #FinancialGrowth #MarketTrends #InvestmentStrategy #EquityInvestor #CapitalMarket #TechIPO #InvestmentLeadership #WealthCreation #Entrepreneurship

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New York-based venture capital firm Union Square Ventures (USV) has raised $900 million across two funds as it adapts its investment strategy to the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence landscape. The fundraising includes a $500 million early-stage fund to back emerging companies and a $400 million opportunity fund for later-stage investments and follow-on funding for existing portfolio companies. Alongside the fundraising, USV is streamlining its core investment partnership to four general partners: Fred Wilson, Rebecca Kaden, Nick Grossman and Michael Mignano. The firm plans to focus on high-potential businesses across AI, robotics, energy, enterprise technology and other sectors undergoing technological transformation. Despite the larger funds, USV intends to maintain a disciplined investment pace, prioritising high-conviction opportunities rather than significantly increasing the number of deals. Founded in 2004, USV has backed major technology companies, including Twitter, Etsy, Coinbase, Twilio and MongoDB. The latest fundraising signals USV’s ambition to support the next generation of technology leaders as AI reshapes how companies are built, funded and scaled. Founding Partners: Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham FOUNDERVOX - The Trusted Platform for Global Leaders Read more at www.foundervox.org #UnionSquareVentures #USV #ArtificialIntelligence #AIStartups #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #TechInvesting #Robotics #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #StartupEcosystem #BusinessNews

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At Union Square Ventures, we’ve long been students of the cycles of technology development and deployment, and the way in which value accrues at different layers at different points in the cycle. In the early 2000s, after the deployment of the physical internet, our belief was that value would accrue at the application layer. In the early 2010s, after the invention of bitcoin, our belief was that value would accrue in open source protocols below the application layer. Today, after the invention and deployment of AI foundation models, the question is: will all value accrue to the models, or to a broad ecosystem around them? We call that broad ecosystem -- The Rebel Alliance

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We’re excited to announce a key product launch from one of our portfolio companies — InfinitForm. InfinitForm is for engineers who want to spend more time on high-value innovation and less time on rework. Too often, manufacturability issues only surface after simulations are complete, prototypes are built, or suppliers push back. This is driven by a structural disconnect between design and manufacturing — separate teams, separate incentives, and separate toolchains. InfinitForm changes that with an AI-powered engineering design platform which cuts design cycles by up to 80% to shorten time-to-production. After months of private beta testing with advanced engineering teams at companies like NASA, Google X, and Yamaha Motor Co, InfinitForm is now available to engineers who are ready to eliminate costly late-stage rework and compress design cycles from days to hours. Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/eutFrGWC #Engineering #Manufacturing #AI #ProductDevelopment #InfinitForm

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RADAR raised $170 million in a Series B round led by Gideon Strategic Partners and Nimble Partners, LLC, with participation from Align Ventures, pushing the ceiling-mounted RFID inventory tracking company to a valuation of over $1 billion, according to CNBC. Founded in 2013 by Spencer Hewett, Radar’s system uses overhead hardware to read RFID-tagged inventory in real time, helping retailers track product availability, reduce shrink, and improve order fulfillment accuracy across more than 1,400 store locations, including American Eagle, whose CEO Jay Schottenstein is also an investor in the company. FOUNDER: Spencer Hewett INVESTORS: Gideon Strategic Partners, Nimble Partners, LLC & Align Ventures ROUND: Series B AMOUNT: $170,000,000 HQ: New York City #VentureCapital #Radar #SpencerHewett #TradedVC

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We’re proud to see our Co-Founding Managing Partner Oliver Libby featured in Tech:NYC’s latest #VC Spotlight. Oliver’s path into venture wasn’t traditional — and that’s exactly what makes his perspective so valuable to the founders and partners we work with. With early roots in public service, national security, and social impact, Oliver has built a career centered on backing companies that protect or promote people or the planet. In this interview, he reflects on: • how a non-linear career can shape a differentiated investing lens • why the tech sector has a critical role to play in strengthening civic and economic resilience • the biggest mistake founders make when pitching investors • what he’s seeing across the NYC innovation ecosystem Tech:NYC continues to elevate the leaders shaping the future of our sector, and we’re thrilled Oliver is part of that conversation. 👉 Read the full feature: https://lnkd.in/eYtA6jfV #VentureCapital #ObviouslyNYC

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For investors and founders alike, a constraint driven framework demands a new perspective. In a constraint-defined world, durable compounding is not driven by expansion alone, but by structural positioning. We are betting on four differentiators that, we believe, will separate the winners from the losers: • Resilience as a product • Intelligence as the edge • Constraint as the moat • Mission criticality as the distribution strategy Please see our latest research from Ross Nayler, Jonathan Vickery and the Activant Capital research team. Cc: Richard Benson-Armer https://lnkd.in/exgDFuPM

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Hg makes a $500 million strategic growth investment in Rightsline. Rightsline provides rights and royalties management software to IP-intensive industries globally, processing more than $40 billion in royalties annually across 150 million IP assets in 28 countries. The company serves more than 300 enterprise customers across media and entertainment, publishing, consumer products, life sciences, gaming, music, and franchising. Klass Capital, which has been Rightsline's majority owner since 2020, and Salem Partners invested alongside Hg in the round. The capital will fund Rightsline's AI product roadmap and support further international expansion. As part of the investment, Farouk Hussein and Annie Wei from Hg will join the Rightsline board, with Ron Kasner stepping into the role of independent chair. Hg is included on the Leaderboard (https://lnkd.in/gnwb_XC7), which consists of top tier private equity and growth equity firms vetted and qualified by GrowthCap. Nominate a Top Private Equity Firm of 2026 at https://lnkd.in/g9hfKiY

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A passionate breakfast conversation about #DeepTech at Allocate Beyond Summit sparked some even 🌶️ 🌶️ takes when Samir Kaji Sunil Nagaraj (Ubiquity Ventures) Guy Perelmuter (GRIDS Capital) and UNION Labs recorded the latest episode of Venture Unlocked discussing the current state of #DeepTech VC. A few themes we explored (podcast link in the comments): ⚡ Why DeepTech suddenly feels “mainstream” (Hint: Because SaaS and SoLoMo were so successful!) ⚡ AI as the next infrastructure layer (we began in the physical world by adding IoT to everything) ⚡ Why the venture power law may actually be steepening (is consensus capital plus ballooning firm AUMs picking fewer winners?) ⚡ The growing interdependence between company formation, tech risk mitigation and commercialization trajectories ⚡ What this means for Founders, LPs, and emerging managers My personal view: We are entering a phase where fewer companies *MAY* matter more than ever before; BUT commercialization and execution will increasingly separate durable businesses from technical science projects. Give it a listen and let us know what you think!

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