After decades at the helm, the 94-year-old investing icon passes leadership to Greg Abel — but plans to stay involved.

💬 What’s happening
• Buffett will step down as CEO at the end of 2025
• Greg Abel, vice chairman for non-insurance ops, will take over as CEO
• Buffett plans to remain with the company in a yet-to-be-defined advisory role
• The board will finalize his future responsibilities this weekend

📊 What it means for Berkshire
• Ends long-running speculation around succession at the $900B conglomerate
• Abel inherits control of major businesses across energy, railroads, insurance, and tech
• Despite trimming its Apple position, AAPL still makes up over 20% of the company’s equity portfolio
• Investors will be watching Abel’s capital allocation decisions — and how closely he mirrors Buffett’s playbook

The handoff is quiet, calculated, and classic Buffett — now all eyes are on what comes next.

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🧩 Fivetran acquires Census to complete the data stack loop

After 13 years of ETL dominance, Fivetran is becoming a full-stack data movement platform — acquiring reverse-ETL startup Census to offer true end-to-end sync.

✅ What’s inside the deal
• Fivetran acquires Census (last valued at $630M in 2022) for undisclosed terms
• Census raised $80M+ from Sequoia, a16z, and Tiger Global
• Entire Census team, including CEO Boris Jabes, joins Fivetran
• Census brand to be phased into the Fivetran platform

⭕️ Why it matters
• Fivetran has long been the go-to for ETL (into warehouses) — now adds reverse-ETL (out to tools)
• Customers wanted end-to-end sync; Fivetran had a prototype but went the M&A route instead
• Deep product and cultural alignment: “People who like Fivetran also like Census”

🧠 Backstory and synergy
• Founders have known each other since YC Winter ‘13 — Census was still just a whiteboard idea
• Shared vision, shared customers, shared philosophy
• Fraser: “In some ways, this has been fated”

Fivetran just closed the loop — pulling data in, pushing insights out, and keeping itself right in the middle.

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has partnered with Japan’s SBI Investment to create a $100M co-GP fund aimed at solving the UK’s chronic Series A–B funding gap — a stage where many startups stall or exit too early.

✅ What’s inside the deal
• $100M co-GP fund backed by SBI, targeting FinTech, AI, and SaaS
• Focused on UK startups with £5M+ ARR, post-Series A and ready to scale
• Leverages SBI’s corporate network and Japan’s $3.6T pension ecosystem
• Builds on Volution’s first fund, which saw 300% average revenue growth across 11 portfolio companies

🌎 Why it matters
• UK Series A funding dropped 44% in 2024; A→B conversion rates down over 50% in five years
• The fund provides long-term capital and operational support to fill this structural gap
• UK startups gain access to Japan’s $5T economy amid deepening UK-Japan tech ties
• ESG-aligned with carbon carry scheme and net-zero reinvestment from AI-heavy portfolios

A timely bet on UK productivity, cross-border VC alignment, and AI-driven scale-ups — just when the Series B void is at its peak.

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startup Lightrun has raised a $70M Series B round to scale its AI-powered debugging and observability platform, helping enterprises catch and fix software issues before they reach production.

✅ Inside the deal
• $70M Series B led by Accel and Insight Partners
• Strategic participation from Citi, Glilot Capital, GTM Capital, and Sorenson Capital
• Total funding raised now $110M
• Serving major clients like Microsoft, Salesforce, ADP, and ICE/NYSE

🔍 What makes Lightrun stand out
• AI-based "Runtime Autonomous Debugger" integrated directly into IDEs
• Observes code in development and predicts production failures
• Enables fixes before code goes live, minimizing downtime and risk

🚀 Why it matters
• AI-driven code boom is flooding production with new bugs
• Demand for proactive observability and remediation tools is surging
• Lightrun addresses critical gaps that existing players like Datadog haven't solved

Is Lightrun building the future of zero-downtime software — or will the complexity of AI coding outpace even today's smartest tools?

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💧 Flow raises $100M+ at $2.5B valuation as Neumann returns to the spotlight

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann’s new venture, Flow, has raised over $100M, doubling its valuation to $2.5B. Flow is reimagining residential real estate with a vertically integrated platform combining AI, property management, and community building.

✅What’s inside the deal
• $100M+ raised with Andreessen Horowitz increasing its stake from 20% to 25%
• $2.5B current valuation, up from $1B in 2022
• Active expansion in Miami with major property acquisitions
• International footprint with teams in New York, Palo Alto, and Riyadh
• Focus on AI-driven residential management without third-party operators

📈 Why it matters
• Investors are betting on Neumann’s "second act," seeing potential beyond his WeWork legacy
• Flow’s model targets the $3.5T residential real estate market, far larger than WeWork’s office niche
• Heavy integration of AI signals a shift toward fully automated community management
• A patient, cashflow-positive approach could avoid WeWork’s hypergrowth mistakes

Neumann is making a comeback — but will investors’ patience outlast the ghosts of WeWork?

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, a Colorado-based climate tech startup, has closed a $186M Series B to scale its clean iron production platform — pulling in major names across climate, industry, and capital.

✅ What’s inside the deal
• $186M Series B co-led by Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek
• Backed by Breakthrough Energy, Lowercarbon Capital, BHP Ventures, Rio Tinto, Toyota Tsusho, Nucor, and others
• Total funding to date: $214M

🧠 Why it’s interesting
• Electra makes 99% pure iron using low-grade ores and renewable electricity, no blast furnace
• Its modular electrochemical process slashes emissions and enables local, distributed production
• Already securing downstream integration across mining, steel, and EV supply chains

🚀 Why it matters
• Iron and steel = ~10% of global CO₂ emissions
• Automotive and construction giants are hunting for clean feedstock
• Investors are betting this is the climate tech wedge into one of the dirtiest industrial sectors

Steel’s getting a software-style reset. Electra wants to be the Stripe of green iron.

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🌎 Fluent Ventures bets on startup clones—with a twist

San Francisco–based Fluent Ventures is out to prove that the best startup ideas aren’t born—they’re adapted. The firm backs founders in emerging markets who localize proven models from the West, a strategy it proudly calls “geographic alpha.”

❓ What they’re doing differently
• Backing founders in Latin America, Africa, MENA, Southeast Asia, and select U.S. markets
• Investing $250K to $2M in early rounds via a $40M fund + co-investment vehicle
• Focusing on fintech, healthtech, and commerce, but with local product-market fit
• Portfolio includes Sabi (Nigeria), Prima (Brazil), BRKZ (Saudi Arabia), and Minu (Mexico)

🎤Not just copy-paste, says founder Alexandre Lazarow
Fluent avoids simple cloning and looks for deep local adaptation—like how Go-Jek built a motorbike-based super app in Indonesia rather than replicating Uber directly.

🧠 Why this matters now
• Unicorns are now emerging from 150+ cities globally
• IPOs like Nubank, UiPath, Swiggy show global outcomes are real
• Fluent’s backers include Nubank’s David Vélez, Sea Group’s Nick Nash, and LPs across multiple continents

📣Takeaway:
In a world oversaturated with U.S.-centric VC bets, Fluent is placing smart capital where localized innovation is just getting started. Are clone+local wins the future of global venture?

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