Issue #67 • January 03, 2026
Hi Seedradar Squad! If 2024 was the year of the Chatbot, 2025 was the year of the Agent. For the last decade, "Tech" has meant software—clean, high-margin code living in the cloud. But this year, the industry hit a wall: Physics.
We realized that infinite intelligence requires finite resources. That’s why 2025 wasn't defined by a new iPhone app, but by Microsoft restarting a nuclear plant, Tesla mass-producing robots, and Anduril reshaping modern defense.
The "Wrapper" era is dead; the "Infrastructure" era has begun.
🚀 The "Big Three" Shifts
If 2024 was the year of the Chatbot, 2025 was the year AI got heavy. For a decade, "Tech" meant software—high margins, low overhead, and infinite scale. In 2025, that era ended. The biggest checks weren't written for algorithms; they were written for steel, uranium, and silicon.
🥇 The Physical Pivot — From Chatbots to Gigawatts
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☢️ Energy
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🦾 Robotics
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🛡️ Defense
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🥈 The Agentic Age — From Chatting to Doing
The collapse of the workflow
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🧠 Models
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🖱️ Agents
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💼 Workforce
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🥉 The Control Plane — Regulation & Reality
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🏛️ Regulation
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🔐 Security
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🆔 Identity
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🔥 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.
⚡ The Revenue Kings: The Biggest Checks of 2025
While the giants fought over $100B valuations, a new wave of startups rewrote the playbook on how to improve revenue. In 2025, these companies didn't just grow; they conquered.
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🦄 The Unicorn Class: Where the Smart Money Went
While early-stage founders fought for millions, the giants raised billions. 2025 was the year of the "Sovereign Round"—checks so large they reshaped the global economy.
💸 OpenAI (Valuation $500B 10/25) -In the largest venture capital transaction in history, OpenAI has secured $41 billion to capitalize the next generation of physical AI infrastructure. - Read More
💸 xAI (Valuation $230B 11/25) -Elon Musk’s AI lab has closed a $15 billion Series E round to double the capacity of its Memphis-based "Colossus" GPU cluster. - Read More
💸 Anthropic (Valuation $183B 09/25) -Raised $13 billion to cement its position as the "safety-first" alternative for the Fortune 500. The round vaults their valuation to $183 billion and funds the development of "Claude Enterprise." - Read More
🔭 The 2026 Watchlist!
Everyone is looking at Agents. We are looking at what comes next.
🧠 Agent Ops: Reliability wins. The money is in the "safety layer"—evals, monitoring, and logs that make agents production-ready.
📱 On Device AI: Offline-first is the new edge. Secure, local vertical apps will replace generic cloud chat subscriptions.
✅ Verified Humans: Identity is currency. "Proof of Personhood" APIs will become essential infrastructure to fight fraud and spam.
💸 AI Spend Control: CFOs demand limits. Routing, caching, and strict budget caps are now mandatory for the enterprise.
🔎 Provenance by Default: "Real" requires proof. Content credentials and tamper-proof logs are moving from optional to required.
💧 Power and Water: The grid is the bottleneck. Software that optimizes energy and cooling is the new "Infrastructure OS."
We'll be here in 2026 to help you distinguish the signal from the noise.
Happy New Year,
The Seedradar Team
🔎 Powered by Seedradar Ventures
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.
