Best of LinkedIn: Venture Capital CW 23/ 24

VC market is becoming more concentrated, more AI-led and more demanding on proof before capital. At the same time, founders, funds and LPs are expanding the playbook, with sharper round design, alternative capital sources, new fund discovery tools, NAV lending and stronger portfolio platform models.

Date

June 18, 2026

Venture Capital

Thomas Allgeyer

Methodology: Every two weeks we collect most relevant posts on LinkedIn for selected topics and create an overall summary only based on these posts. If you´re interested in the single posts behind, you can find them here: https://linktr.ee/thomasallgeyer. Have a great read!

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Market Momentum and Capital Concentration

AI remained the dominant market signal, with posts pointing to AI capturing a major share of VC value, Q1 momentum, mega-rounds and heavy concentration around a limited set of winners
Capital concentration was framed as structural, with the power law sharpening and broad “spray-and-pray” strategies becoming less attractive
Liquidity moved back into focus through discussions on mega IPOs, secondaries, DPI and the gap between paper valuations and cash returns
Hardware and physical-world startups re-entered the VC narrative, supported by claims that capital flows into physical sectors have grown materially since 2017
NYC tech activity, US fundraising momentum and European AI investment all reinforced a market where funding is available, but increasingly selective

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Founder Fundraising Playbook

⁠Fundraising advice shifted from generic outreach to deliberate round architecture, combining micro-VCs, domain angels, family offices and syndicate vehicles with clear roles
Warm relationships and pre-round staging were presented as decisive, with one seed round closed in 11 days after months of credibility-building
Proof quality became the core fundraising currency, especially at pre-seed, where investors now expect traction, customers, segmentation clarity and an IC-ready proof stack
Term sheet discipline stood out as a recurring risk area, especially around exclusivity, liquidation terms, investor rights and founder dilution
Founder updates after a pass were positioned as a long-game conversion mechanism, turning “no” into later conviction

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New Products, Tools and Capital Access Infrastructure

⁠Metal introduced a “New Funds” feature to help founders discover recently launched VC funds by sector, stage and geography
Turbine launched NAV lending for VC funds, enabling managers to keep supporting winners without immediate exits or new fund capital
Investor discovery tools gained visibility, including large verified databases of family offices, funds of funds, VCs and AI investors
Data products around VC ecosystems became more prominent, including interactive mapping of Nordic VC deals and warm-introduction paths
AI productivity stacks also entered the fund operating discussion, with examples of Claude, Notion and other tools used to run fund operations, content and research more efficiently

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Fund Formation, LPs and Emerging Managers

Emerging managers were a major theme, with new European fund launches, AI-focused micro-funds and discussions on small fund viability
Funds of funds and family offices were framed as increasingly important LP channels, particularly for emerging managers seeking capital beyond traditional institutional routes
LP conversations focused on strategy, access, risk, differentiation and the need for GPs to be clear about why venture belongs in a portfolio
Fund sizing discipline became a sharper topic, especially where large funds face pressure to produce DPI in a constrained exit environment
Junior VC participation also surfaced, with SPVs and alternative investment vehicles presented as routes to start investing before becoming a check-signing partner

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Portfolio Value Creation and Fund Operating Models

⁠VC platform functions were positioned as a performance lever, with structured founder support, onboarding, talent, customer access and operating expertise becoming part of the return model
“Value-add” moved from marketing language to operating requirement, with posts challenging VCs to prove where they have helped or disappointed founders
Venture studios were separated from traditional VC funds, with studio overhead reframed as a production capability rather than passive management cost
Biotech and Flagship Pioneering were used as examples of repeatable venture creation, portfolio design and founder-market orchestration
Fund performance evaluation shifted toward founder engagement, post-investment support and cash realization rather than headline markups

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Europe, Ecosystems and Policy

⁠Europe’s VC agenda centered on AI concentration, the scale-up funding gap, new fund formation and the need for better cross-border company infrastructure
EU-INC was highlighted as a policy priority to make European startup formation and scaling more competitive
Italy appeared as an overlooked VC opportunity, with lower valuations, rising foreign investor interest and renewed ecosystem confidence after NY Tech Week
Norway and the Nordics were discussed through the lens of strong startup supply, constrained local capital and emerging dry-powder opportunities
Greece, London Tech Week, Slush and Nordic ecosystem events reinforced Europe’s active but fragmented VC landscape

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Deals, Exits and Company Highlights

⁠WeRoad announced a $58M Series C with Airbnb backing, positioning community-led travel as a venture-scale consumer category
Funambol highlighted a long-build exit journey after more than two decades of company development
Nebius was used as an AI infrastructure case study, with hyperscaler competition, capex intensity and infrastructure differentiation in focus
Anthropic and Yasmin Razavi’s Spark Capital bet were framed as a lesson in high-conviction, low-consensus investing
SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI were repeatedly linked to the liquidity conversation through expected mega IPOs and secondary-market implications

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Founder and Investor Behaviour

⁠The relationship between founders and VCs was framed as increasingly asymmetric, with founders advised to understand what game they are entering before taking venture capital
Investor feedback was treated as often incomplete or indirect, with founders encouraged to look beyond stated rejection reasons
VC diligence was described less as pure company evaluation and more as founder understanding, conviction-building and pattern recognition
Women founders and female LP participation were raised as underpriced opportunity areas, with the capital allocation gap framed as structural rather than performance-driven
Market segmentation, customer proof and self-awareness were positioned as practical foundations for venture readiness

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