Issue #44 • October 17, 2025
Hi Seedradar Squad! This week proved that the highest valuations are being reserved for companies building the core infrastructure of the future, whether in compute or commerce. Nscale announced a staggering deal to supply Microsoft. Simultaneously, Deel cemented its status as a sustainable giant, raising a significant round based on its profitable business model. This capital deployment into foundational layers is matched by R&D breakthroughs, as Google DeepMind partnered with Commonwealth Fusion Systems to use advanced AI to accelerate the timeline for clean fusion energy.
💰 Deel Raises $300M at $17.3B Valuation, Cementing Profitable Growth
Global HR and payroll platform Deel announced a $300 million Series E round, significantly increasing its valuation from $12.6 billion earlier in the year.
The funding follows a period of massive growth, with the company surpassing $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and achieving its third consecutive year of profitability, validating a sustainable growth model in the late-stage market.
💰 Snapshots: What Else Is Happening?
• General Intuition raised $133.7 million to develop "agentic" AI capable of spatial and temporal reasoning. The company will leverage a massive, proprietary dataset of gameplay clips from the platform Medal to train its models, highlighting the strategic value of unique data moats in the AI era. - Read More
• Nscale announced a staggering $14 billion deal to supply Microsoft with Nvidia GPUs. The deal highlights the colossal capital investments being made by hyperscale cloud providers to build out the infrastructure required for the AI boom, with Nscale also eyeing a 2026 IPO. - Read More
• Google DeepMind announced a partnership with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to use advanced AI to accelerate the development of commercial fusion energy. DeepMind will apply its reinforcement learning expertise and open-source plasma simulator to optimize the operation of CFS's compact tokamak, SPARC, aiming to shorten the timeline for a clean energy breakthrough. - Read More
• Kardigan Therapeutics closed a massive $254 million Series B round from a syndicate of premier institutional and venture investors. The capital will be used to advance a portfolio of late-stage clinical assets, including a cardiac myosin activator licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb. - Read More
💰 Sharks of the Week!
️🔥 ARCH Venture Partners - Co-led a $120 million Series B for Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a regenerative hair loss treatment. - Read More
️🔥 NVentures (NVIDIA) - Participated in a $115 million Series A extension for Lila Sciences, a company aiming to automate the scientific method with autonomous, AI-powered research labs. - Read More
️🔥 Accel - Co-led a $65 million Series B for Campfire, an AI-powered accounting and ERP startup, marking its second lead investment in the company in under four months. - Read More
🔥 Igniting the Future: Seedradar Ventures Syndicate!
At Seedradar Ventures, we back relentless founders at the earliest stage, investing in teams solving big problems with solutions that deliver a 10–20x greater impact.
Our syndicate offers investors access to a curated pipeline of early-stage startups, sourced through our network.
🚀 Startup Radar: Movers, Shakers & Future Makers
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🛠️ Trending AI Tools to Supercharge Your Workflow!
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💼 Join the Revolution: Hot Startup Jobs!
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💼 Resource of the Week: Check the list!
🔄 Best Practices for Fine-Tuning LLMs
A guide to the best practices for fine-tuning large language models, including how to define the task, select the right pre-trained model, set hyperparameters, and evaluate performance to adapt a general-purpose model for a specialized use case.
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Disclosure: Seedradar Ventures and/or its general partner may hold investments in some of the companies mentioned in this newsletter. This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.
