Startups Weekly: Mixed messages from venture capital

Summary

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week brought us mixed messages. A fresh IPO filing, but a bleak outlook for exits overall. New funding rounds, but founders frustrated over lack of capital. And in the midst of it all, some VCs are still finding ways to create liquidity and raising funding for more bullish times. Most interesting startup stories from the week Image Credits:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images In a week of contrasts, startups exhibited both confidence and insecurity, and even second-time founders weren’t spared from struggles. Fearless or not: Design software company Figma filed its confidential paperwork for an IPO, ignoring the fears that made both Klarna and StubHub pause their IPO plans this month following the stock market crash triggered by tariff announcements. Figma, however, isn’t worry-free: It sent a cease-and-desist letter to fast-rising “vibe coding” rival Lovable over the term “Dev Mode.” Frustrated: U.K. founders expressed frustration at the widening gap between funding raised by British startups and their Silicon Valley peers. According to Dealroom, British startups raised just £16.2 billion (approximately $21.5 billion) last year compared to the approximate $73.8 billion (£65 billion) raised in the U.S. Smashed: Smashing, an AI-powered reading curation app launched last June by Goodreads’ founder Otis Chandler, shut down due to disappointing growth. Suspended: BluSmart, an Indian Uber rival using EVs, apparently suspended service a day after the Securities and Exchange Board of India launched an investigation into Gensol Engineering, which shares its co-founders. Back: One month after reassuming his role as Bolt’s CEO, Ryan Breslow unveiled a new “super app” that reflects his vision for the fintech company he founded in 2014. Investigating: Rippling’s efforts to serve Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz have been signi...