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Raising money is not an achievement in itself. It is a tool to scale a business.

Tyler Denk, CEO and co-founder of Beehiiv, raised nearly $50M over four different rounds to build one of the most successful newsletter platforms. But the path to securing funding was anything but easy.

For their first round, Tyler and his co-founders were repeatedly turned down by investors. More than 40 said no. They had no product, no revenue, and no customers—only an idea.

Everything changed when Social Leverage agreed to lead the round. Once they committed, other investors followed. Beehiiv secured $2.6M, which gave them the capital to quit their jobs and go all in.

A year later, despite early success, they faced an unexpected challenge. Their CTO and co-founder tragically passed away. At the same time, the investment market had slowed, making fundraising nearly impossible. Investors who had previously shown interest now hesitated.

Eventually, Creator Ventures and Blue Wire Capital stepped up, leading an extension round that gave Beehiiv the runway to continue growing.

By 2023, Beehiiv was generating $300K per month, had reached profitability, and was scaling fast. But the company was stretched thin. Tyler realized that without additional capital, they would struggle to sustain momentum.

In just one week, Beehiiv secured a $33M Series B led by NEA, with support from Lightspeed, Sapphire Sport, and DST. Unlike earlier rounds, this time, investors were competing to participate.

As part of the round, Beehiiv allocated $1M for its most loyal users to invest, aligning its growth with the community that had helped build it.

Key Lessons from Tyler Denk

🐇 Fundraising is about momentum. Investors follow when one commits. Securing a lead investor is critical.

🐇 Raise money when you don’t need it. Having $10M in the bank gave Beehiiv leverage in negotiations.

🐇 Keep investors engaged. Regular updates to potential investors made future rounds much easier.

🐇 Focus on execution. Securing funding is not the goal—building a business that delivers value is.

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Startups Currently Raising

These innovative tech startups are actively fundraising. Who will be the next success story? We believe you can build tech companies all over the world and feature promising projects.

♢ Vermillio (USA) – An AI licensing and protection platform that recently raised $16 million in Series A funding, co-led by DNS Capital and Sony Music.

♢ AgniKul Cosmos (India) – A space technology startup developing small satellite launch vehicles, which raised $26.7 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total capital raised to $40 million.

♢ AI Fit (UK) – AI-powered foot scanning and shoe fitting technology for retailers, reducing returns and improving sales.

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Big Tech News Highlights

♢ DeepSeek Accelerates Next-Gen AI Model
DeepSeek is expediting the launch of its R2 model, expected to introduce enhanced coding and multilingual reasoning capabilities. The move positions it as a direct competitor to GPT-4.5.

♢ Claude AI Playing Pokémon on Twitch
Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 AI is being tested on Pokémon Red in a live Twitch stream. While it has shown some problem-solving capabilities, it struggles with basic navigation.

♢ SpaceX Prepares for Major Launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a lunar lander, asteroid mission, and scientific payloads is scheduled to launch tonight. NASA will be streaming the event live.

♢ Moon-Based Data Centers
Lonestar Data Holdings is testing a small data center on the Moon. The concept could eliminate risks from Earth-based disruptions and offer data storage outside of national jurisdictions.

♢ Gemini Code Assist Now Free for Developers
Google has made Gemini Code Assist available globally in VS Code, JetBrains, and GitHub, offering 180K free code completions per month.

Africa Tech News Highlights

♢ China Expands Space Collaborations in Africa Amid U.S. Aid Cuts: China is strengthening its space alliances in Africa, constructing facilities like a satellite lab in Cairo, supplying satellites, and installing ground stations across the continent. This expansion comes as the U.S. reduces foreign aid under President Trump's administration. ​

♢ Kenya's President Intervenes in Legal Disputes Involving Meta: Kenya's High Court has allowed lawsuits alleging human rights abuses at Sama, a Meta subcontractor, to proceed. The cases claim that content moderators were exploited and unfairly dismissed. President William Ruto has proposed legislation to attract outsourcing companies by limiting their legal liabilities, sparking debate over worker protections. ​

♢ African Video Game Industry Targets Growing Market: Pioneering companies like Cameroon's Kiro'o Games and Nigeria's Maliyo Games are developing culturally relevant video games to capture Africa's expanding gaming market. Despite challenges such as limited investment and infrastructure, the industry shows significant growth potential, drawing interest from global players like Microsoft's Xbox Game Camp. ​

Recent Funding Round Announcements

♢ Anthropic Raises $3.5 Billion, Valuation Hits $61.5 Billion
Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Amazon and Google, secured $3.5 billion in its latest funding round, bringing its post-money valuation to $61.5 billion. The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with additional investors including Cisco Investments, Salesforce Ventures, and Fidelity Management & Research Company. The company plans to use the funds to advance the development of next-generation AI systems, enhance compute capacity, deepen research in mechanistic interpretability and alignment, and accelerate international expansion.

♢ Saronic Secures $600 Million in Series C Funding
Saronic, a developer of autonomous surface vessels, raised $600 million in a Series C round led by investor Elad Gil, valuing the startup at $4 billion. The company plans to use the new funds to build a new shipyard, Port Alpha, to expand its medium and large-class autonomous vessels.

♢ Tyme Group Achieves Unicorn Status with $150 Million Investment
South Africa's Tyme Group received a $150 million investment from Brazilian fintech Nubank, valuing the neobank at $1.5 billion. This funding supports Tyme's expansion into Southeast Asia and elevates it to unicorn status in Africa.

Tech startups can start anywhere.

We believe you can build tech companies all over the world, will you be next?

— Marco Fazio | Founder MVP Templates | Forbes 30 under 30

📩 PS: Hit reply & share your startup story—we’d love to hear it!

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