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Welcome back Chronicler!

Fuel Ventures’ Oliver Hammond joined us to talk startup failure, spoiler: it’s not markets, it’s mediocre execution, OpenAI just rewired itself to raise cash faster, Amazon “only” cut 14k jobs to go full AI mode, and the UAE dropped Nebras, and Nvidia’s fingerprints are all over this week’s $2.9B mega-round spree, from Crusoe to Uniphore.

Plus: 5 AI tools for VCs, 29 VC jobs, and the Wall of Fame grows stronger!

As always, thank you for subscribing and engaging week-in week out with this newsletter, it is still a work in progress but I appreciate all 1,429 of you ♥️

With Love,
Kev

THIS WEEK IN VENTURE CAPITAL & TECH

  1. OpenAI has completed a major restructuring by splitting into a for-profit public benefit corporation and nesting it within a non-profit foundation structure, enabling easier access to investor capital.
    Read More → TechCrunch

  2. More efficient with less workers. After rumors mentioned 30,000 jobs Amazon announced it is cutting “only” around 14,000 corporate jobs globally, representing roughly 4 % of its corporate workforce, as part of a push to streamline operations and focus on automation and AI.
    Read More → AP

  3. OpenAI is offering all users in India a free one-year subscription to ChatGPT Go, its cheapest offering (± $4.5) starting November 4, 2025, unlocking premium features like image generation, file uploads, and memory. The move targets India, OpenAI’s second-largest market, to boost adoption and fend off growing competition from Google and Perplexity. Read More → Reuters

  4. Palantir Technologies ( $PLTR ( ▲ 6.35% ) ) has entered a multi-year deal worth over US$200 million with Lumen Technologies to integrate Palantir’s AI and data-platform tools with Lumen’s high-performance network fabric, enabling enterprises to deploy AI more rapidly and securely.
    Read More → Seeking Alpha

  5. 🇦🇪 The UAE is launching a comprehensive open-finance framework called Nebras that goes beyond traditional open banking, embedding advanced features like variable recurring payments, cross-border transactions and delegated strong customer authentication from day one.

    According to consultancy McKinsey & Company, this transformation could boost GDP by 1 % to 5 % by 2030, the equivalent of $22-25 billion, while enabling new embedded finance business models across sectors.

    The initiative positions the UAE as a regional leader in financial services innovation, leveraging its status as a global trade and investment hub rather than merely trying to catch up with incremental reforms seen elsewhere. Read More → Wamda

FUNDRAISING NEWS

This week’s mega-rounds poured in over US$2.9 billion, spotlighting the AI-infrastructure and autonomous-systems boom, with Nvidia quietly involved in three of the five. From flare-gas-powered data centers in Denver to China’s record-breaking autonomous-vehicle raise, investors doubled down on capital-intensive tech bets shaping the next decade of compute and mobility.

  1. Crusoe Energy Systems – US$1.38 billion Series E. Denver‑based Crusoe Energy Systems, which operates modular data centers powered by flare gas and renewables, closed a US$1.38 billion Series E round. Reuters reported that the round was co‑led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital, with participation from Nvidia, Fidelity Management and Founders Fund, giving Crusoe a valuation above US$10 billion. Read More → Reuters

  2. Neolix – over US$600 million Series D. Beijing‑based autonomous‑delivery company Neolix raised more than US$600 million in a Series D financing led by UAE‑based StoneVenture, with participation from Gaocheng Capital, CITIC Capital, CDH, Sparkedge Capital, and Beijing AI Fund. Neolix plans to use the funds for algorithm improvements, product innovation, commercial expansion and international. PR Newswire noted that the deal set a record for private fundraising in China’s autonomous‑driving sector.
    Read More → PR Newswire

  3. Avride – US$375 million strategic investment. Autonomous‑vehicle startup Avride secured commitments of up to US$375 million from Uber and Nebius. The Nebius press release said the investment will allow Avride to scale its fleet of robotaxis and autonomous delivery vehicles, with a plan to launch a robotaxi service on Uber’s platform in Dallas later in 2025. Read More → Nebius

  4. Redwood Materials – US$350 million Series E. Battery‑recycling and energy‑storage firm Redwood Materials announced it had closed a US$350 million Series E round led by Eclipse Ventures with participation from NVentures (Nvidia’s venture arm). Redwood’s release stated that the new capital will accelerate expansion of its energy‑storage deployments and production of critical battery materials
    Read More → Redwood Materials

  5. Uniphore – US$260 million Series F. Conversation‑intelligence platform Uniphore raised a US$260 million Series F round. The company’s press release listed new strategic investors Nvidia, AMD, Snowflake and Databricks. and financial backers such as NEA and March Capital. The funds will accelerate innovation on Uniphore’s AI Cloud platform and valued the company at around US$2.5 billion. Read More → Uniphore

AI SPOTLIGHT: TOOLS FOR VCs

🔎 Affinity CRM: A relationship-intelligence CRM built for VC firms
📱 Harmonic.ai: A startup discovery engine with 30 M+ companies and 190 M+ people for real-time sourcing.
🧠 Caena: AI tool to automate inbound deal filtering and streamline your deal-flow pipeline.
📊 Quid: AI-powered market & trend intelligence platform to map landscapes and spot signals.
✍️ Visible AI Inbox: Automate parsing of founder updates, emails & files to derive portfolio insights.

PRESENTED BY THE DEEP VIEW

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This daily newsletter condenses everything you need to know about the latest and greatest AI developments into a 5-minute read. Squeeze it into your morning coffee break and before you know it, you’ll be an expert too.

Subscribe right here. It’s totally free, wildly informative, and trusted by 600,000+ readers at Google, Meta, Microsoft, and beyond.

INTERVIEW: OLIVER HAMMOND - FUEL VENTURES

Oliver Hammond, Partner at Fuel Ventures on Startup Failure, Founder Mindset & Lessons from the Portfolio

Failure in venture capital isn’t taboo it’s the unspoken teacher.

In this candid conversation, Oliver Hammond, Partner at Fuel Ventures, opens up about why startups truly fail, how founders can pivot under pressure, and why honesty matters more than success.

What follows isn’t just an interview it’s a playbook on what separates founders who burn out from those who bounce back.

Q1) From your Fuel Ventures experience, what are the most common reasons portfolio startups struggle or fail? Are these reasons consistent across industries?

Oliver:
Patterns exist, but attribution is tricky. Founders often blame “bad hires,” while employees point to micromanagement or weak products. At the early stage, the data is too thin to separate execution from product-market fit. Poor hiring shows up often but it’s a symptom, not the root cause.

Venture Chronicle:
We once surveyed 150 churned customers and got only 3 responses. The limited feedback didn’t reveal all the issues, a reminder that diagnosing failure is rarely straightforward.

❝

💡 Key Learning: Startup failure is rarely about one bad hire it’s about a broken feedback loop between product, people, and truth.

Q2) Can you share a near-miss story a company that almost failed but managed to turn it around?

Oliver:
A great case is Sewport, originally a supply chain marketplace connecting brands and manufacturers. The founder, Boris Hodakel, realized it wasn’t working. Flat revenue, missed KPIs. Instead of forcing it, he pivoted entirely to a multivitamin supplements business using leftover cash. Feel was born and  is now thriving and is many multiples bigger than the original business. His self-awareness and courage to start from zero saved it and we supported that decision because honesty creates optionality.

Venture Chronicle:
That moment of clarity when a founder stops clinging and starts reinventing is often the inflection point between failure and rebirth.

❝

💡 Key Learning: The best founders know when to stop digging and start over. Radical honesty beats blind persistence.

Q3) Do startups fail more because of market factors or founder decisions?

Oliver:
Almost always founder decisions. Maybe one case out of dozens was the wrong market. Usually, someone else wins in the same space. Poor investor advice can play a role too. Over time, we’ve refined our lens for founder quality.

My Rule #1: “Mediocre people with unique ideas don’t work. If the idea is good, mediocre execution will kill it.”
We’ve learned to bet on exceptional operators, not just compelling ideas.

Venture Chronicle:
Agreed it’s execution that kills startups, not markets. Decisions made without validation often become fatal.

❝

💡 Key Learning: Markets don’t fail execution does. Bet on extraordinary operators, not ordinary optimists.

Q4) How many founder reference checks do you run to reach confidence before investing?

Oliver:
Always at least two references. For founder-led bets, I’ll do up to six, including prior investors the founder doesn’t list.
My favorite question: “Would you get back in bed with them?”
If the answer is no, that’s enough. Behavior under stress reveals everything. Bad actors repeat patterns.

Venture Chronicle:
The ecosystem is small one degree of separation, at best. Reputation travels faster than capital.

❝

💡 Key Learning: A founder’s past behavior is the clearest forecast of future crisis management. Always call the people who’ve seen them under pressure.

Q5) Looking back at companies that didn’t succeed, what were the early warning signs?

Oliver:
Two main red flags:

  1. Divided focus. Founders juggling other jobs or side businesses lose conviction when things get hard.

    • Rule #2: “If a founder isn’t 100% engrossed, they may as well be 0%. Missionaries, not mercenaries.”

  2. Withholding information. When a founder delays sending accounts and blames the accountant, that’s an instant red flag. It’s a 30-second Xero export no excuses.

Venture Chronicle:
Exactly the inability to produce basic data on demand usually signals deeper chaos.

❝

💡 Key Learning: True red flags aren’t missed KPIs they’re missing transparency.

Q6) One piece of advice for a founder whose startup is on the edge of failing?

Oliver:
You’re not alone. Most startups fail. Failure handled honestly keeps your reputation intact; hiding it destroys it.
If you shut down cleanly, follow process, and communicate openly, investors will respect you. Dishonesty, denial, or dragging it out that’s what ruins founders.

Venture Chronicle:
Exactly founders remembered fondly are the ones who crash-landed with grace, not those who vanished in silence.

❝

💡Key Learning: Failure is forgivable, secrecy isn’t. How you end defines whether you’ll ever start again. Land the plane the right way.


The lesson from Fuel Ventures’ Oliver Hammond is simple but profound. Success in venture is temporary, but integrity compounds.

Markets shift, valuations fade, and pivots happen. What remains timeless are transparency, accountability, and self-awareness.

These are what separate those who build enduring companies from those who only build rounds.


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That’s it for today, hope you enjoyed this as much as I did curating it, see you next week!
-Kev

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