Listen Labs, a market research startup that uses voice AI to conduct customer interviews, recently signed a term sheet for a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Menlo Ventures set to lead the round, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. But that round never closed, the people said.
Stripe’s multi-billion-dollar pursuit of AI model marketplace startup OpenRouter isn’t just creating one of the biggest AI acquisitions of the year; it’s minting venture capital firms’ speedy wins. Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures are poised to turn investments made less than two years ago into payouts worth nearly $2 billion combined if Stripe acquires the
Investors are hunting for social media startups that can spark new connections and nurture existing ones. “Social media companies started based on connection,” Shawn Carolan, a partner at Menlo Ventures, said of the previous wave of giants like Facebook and Instagram. Carolan said these companies “evolved into media companies” and abandoned that connection. That leaves
