☕ XOXO, VC Tea 👑
October 31, 2026 | Sand Hill Road's Daily Digest
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Hey Upper East Siders, the Halloween costumes are cute, but the cap tables are scarier: Kalshi is wearing a $40B valuation, Salesforce is shopping in defense tech, and the people funding VC funds have a very polite yellow light flashing. Here’s today’s tea—receipts first, rumors labeled.
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💰 The big checks
Kalshi’s $40B glow-up
Kalshi announced a $1B Series G at a $40B post-money valuation, co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management. [Crunchbase (funding roundup)]
Hex keeps the data party funded
AI analytics startup Hex secured $100M in new financing at a $1.2B valuation, with Peak XV and 137 Ventures leading. No series label was disclosed in the roundup, so we’re not inventing one. [Crunchbase (funding roundup)]
Salesforce shops in defense tech
Salesforce agreed to acquire Rune Technologies, whose AI software helps the U.S. military forecast supply needs and manage logistics from the field. Salesforce confirms the deal; TechCrunch, citing Resilience Media, reports a $375M price in cash and stock. [TechCrunch (Rune), Salesforce (Rune)]
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🗺️ New funds, fresh passports
BY Venture plants a Lisbon flag
Dubai-based BY Venture Partners closed its $60M Fund III and opened a European office in Lisbon. The fund targets pre-seed through Series A AI-native startups focused on enterprise workflows. [IT Brief (BY Venture)]
Nclude closes above $112M
DPI Venture Capital reached the final close of its Nclude Fund at more than $112M, broadening an Egypt-born fintech strategy across Africa and the Middle East. [AVCA (Nclude)]
25Madison’s next fund is still at the starting line
A fresh SEC Form D sets a $50M target for 25Madison Ventures Fund II, but reports no first sale and $0 sold so far. That’s a fundraising target—not a closed fund. [SEC (25Madison Form D)]
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🎭 The Halloween plot twists
Northflank’s security incident hits the front page
Northflank’s status page labels a major security incident after users reported unauthorized use of AI API keys supplied to its platform; the investigation is ongoing. A discussion about the incident reached Hacker News’ front page. [Northflank Status, Hacker News (incident thread)]
Anthropic gets a credit-rating warning, not a rating
In a new post-S-1 development, TechCrunch relays Financial Times reporting that Blackstone now expects Anthropic to receive a double-B ‘high junk’ rating after an IPO—reversing an earlier investment-grade forecast. This is Blackstone’s prediction, not an agency rating; Anthropic and Blackstone declined to comment. [TechCrunch (Anthropic)]
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🎙️ Three investor tells
Beezer Clarkson: one-year fund pacing is fast
The LGT Capital Partners investor says funds returning to raise after a year are moving much faster than the two-to-two-and-a-half-year norm—and that concentrated, big-check investing at that speed can be worrisome. [TechCrunch (LP interview)]
Amit Bhatti: concentration is a feature, but the clock is ticking
TrueBridge’s venture-focused investor says concentration fits venture’s power-law math, not an immediate panic signal. Still, 12-to-18-month deployment, bigger mid-cycle funds, and the ‘yellow light’ pace give him ‘a little bit of heartburn.’ [TechCrunch (LP interview)]
Ashley Lewis: discipline is the assignment
DPI Venture Capital’s managing partner says Nclude is appropriately sized for today’s market, giving the team room to invest with discipline and help ambitious local companies become regional technology leaders. [AVCA (Nclude)]
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🔎 The bottom line
AI is not a rising tide for every sector
Crunchbase’s latest figures put travel-tech funding at $2.2B across 302 rounds through Q3, on pace for its lowest annual total since at least 2018. The AI label may get a meeting; it does not guarantee a check. [Crunchbase (travel tech)]
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Today’s lesson, darlings: a dazzling term sheet is not a business model, and a hot sector is not a diversified portfolio. The real plot is whether the cash, controls, and conviction can keep up with the headlines.
You know you love me,
XOXO
Your VC Gossip Girl 💋
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Sources:
Crunchbase (funding roundup)
TechCrunch (Rune)
Salesforce (Rune)
IT Brief (BY Venture)
AVCA (Nclude)
SEC (25Madison Form D)
Northflank Status
Hacker News (incident thread)
TechCrunch (Anthropic)
TechCrunch (LP interview)
Crunchbase (travel tech)
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