At least, that seems to be the case with companies like Airtable, Handshake, and Opendoor, which all announced in recent months that they are 'refounding.' As reported in The New York Times these announcements are usually tied to new business models or the launch of new AI products. The startup's co-founder and CEO Howie Liu told the NYT that this is not a pivot because it's not about changing direction after getting something wrong. Liu said the company considered calling it a relaunch or transformation, but ultimately chose 'the language of founding because the stakes feel the same.' Similarly, Handshake's chief marketing officer Katherine Kelly said the company is trying to bring startup culture 'back into an existing business.' That can also mean harder work ' Kelly said handshake told employees they have to be back in the office five days a week, 'operating with a pace and number of hours that is meaningful and will help us hit goals.' Show your CFO the marketing proof they want!Join a free webinar hosted by Pantheon on Tuesday December 9 at 10am PT to learn where spend delivers & how to build a 2026 strategy grounded in real results....

The funding round included different valuation tiers, these people said. Although some equity was acquired at a $1 billion valuation, a lower valuation for other investors resulted in a blended valuation below $1 billion, according to people familiar with the deal. Multi-tier valuations within the same round are an unusual mechanism in venture capital, but investors say they are becoming increasingly common for desirable AI startups in the current market. This approach allows the company to report a higher 'headline' valuation while simultaneously offering better terms to specific investors. The exact round size couldn't be learned, but one person said that it is above $50 million. Another source said that the startup is growing quickly, but its annual recurring revenue (ARR) is still below $10 million. The startup's prediction model generates thousands of AI agents that simulate human behavior using public and proprietary data. Aaru replaces traditional market research methods, which generally include surveys and focus groups, by using agents to predict how groups in specific demographics or geographies will respond to future events....

The New York Times filed suit Friday against AI search startup Perplexity for copyright infringement, its second lawsuit against an AI company. The Times joins several media outlets suing Perplexity, including the Chicago Tribune, which also filed suit this week. The lawsuit ' filed even as several publishers, including The Times, negotiate deals with AI firms ' is part of the same, ongoing years-long strategy. Recognizing the AI tide cannot be stopped, publishers use lawsuits as leverage in negotiations in the hopes of forcing AI companies to formally license content in ways that compensate creators and maintain the economic viability of original journalism. Perplexity tried to address compensation demands by launching a Publishers' Program last year, which offers participating outlets like Gannett, TIME, Fortune and the Los Angeles Times a share of ad revenue. In August, Perplexity also launched Comet Plus, allocating 80% of its $5 monthly fee to participating publishers, and recently struck a multi-year licensing deal with Getty Images....

We took a break from covering the largest U.S. startup investments over Thanksgiving week, which was just as well, given that it was a predictably slow period for big deal announcements. Now, with just a few weeks left in 2025, things are picking up again. Predictions market Kalshi led the list after confirming its already widely reported $1 billion fresh financing. Other big rounds came from sectors including defense tech, AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and biotech. 1. Kalshi, $1B, predictions market: A couple weeks ago, we included Kalshi in our Top 10 after the company reportedly secured $1 billion in fresh funding. Well, now it's official, with confirmation from the fast-growing New York-based predictions marketplace. Crypto-focused investor Paradigm led the financing, with participation from a long list of venture firms. 2. Castelion, $350M, defense tech: Castelion, a developer of hypersonic munitions, says it raised $350 million in Series B financing led by Altimeter Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Torrance, California-based company was founded by SpaceX alum in 2022....