Startups Weekly: Tech IPOs and deals proceed, but price matters

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 confirmed that deals can still happen in a troubled world, but price considerations and adjustments are now part of the picture. Most interesting startup stories from the week Image Credits:Ather Energy Uncertain times are rarely good for M&As, which raises fears that tariff turmoil may have compromised the startup exit outlook for 2025. But don’t expect a total deal drought — as confirmed by this week’s news. Price conscious: Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, is growing so fast that an acquisition by OpenAI is reportedly off the table. Whether OpenAI will acquire Windsurf instead remains to be confirmed, but the competition between the two AI coding assistant rivals is heating up. Plane view: Datadog acquired AI-powered data observability startup Metaplane, a YC alum that has raised some $22.2 million to date. Deal terms were not disclosed. Hired: Erik Torenberg became a16z’s newest partner after the VC firm acqui-hired him and his podcast network, Turpentine, whose shows are set to continue. Downsized: Ather Energy, an Indian EV startup seeking to go public, trimmed its IPO size and target valuation, citing market conditions. Most interesting VC and funding news this week Image Credits:Supabase This week confirmed that vibe coding is as hot as can be, but startups in several other sectors also raised funding. Plus, there’s still money to be deployed into emerging markets. Vibe coding: Supabase, an open source database startup that benefits from the hype around vibe coding tools, raised a $200 million Series D just seven months after its C round at a reported $900 million valuation, which now officially increased to $2 billion. Adaptive Computer, a vibe coding startup that differentiates itself by focusing on non-programmers from day 1, also raised funding: a $7 million seed round led by Pebblebed. T...