TL;DR

EliseAI raises $250M at $2.2B; Canva hits $42B in secondary; Vantage, Oracle commit $26B+ to AI data centers.

Highlights

• Andreessen Horowitz led a $250M Series E in EliseAI, doubling its valuation to $2.2B; Bessemer and Sapphire Ventures joined, with ARR over $100M and plans to expand in real estate and healthcare AI1.
• Canva’s employee share sale values the company at $42B (up 30% YoY); secondary liquidity provided to staff and existing investors, with IPO speculation ongoing2.
• Authentic Brands Group and Guess co-founders are taking Guess private in a $1.4B deal (26% premium), continuing retail sector consolidation3.
• Upstage, a Korean AI document intelligence startup, raised a $45M Series B bridge (total $157M) led by KDB, Amazon , and AMD , targeting US and Asia-Pacific expansion4.
• Intel is seeking additional discounted equity after SoftBank’s $2B stake; US government may seek up to 10% equity in exchange for $8B in CHIPS Act grants5.
• Vantage Data Centers will invest $25B in a 1.4GW Texas campus; Oracle is building a $1B/year gas-powered AI data center for OpenAI model training, both with major private equity backing6.
• Kraken acquired Capitalise.ai for no-code trading automation and is expanding tokenized equities (xStocks) to the TRON blockchain; SkyBridge Capital will tokenize $300M in hedge fund assets on Avalanche 78.
• Wormhole Foundation is preparing a counter-offer to LayerZero’s $110M bid for Stargate Finance , highlighting competition in cross-chain infrastructure9.
• Circle minted $1.25B USDC on Solana last week (2025 total: $24B), with stablecoin transfers on Solana surging and institutional demand rising10.
• Crypto VC activity: Legion raised $5M for a tokenized equity platform (VanEck, Kraken, Coinbase Ventures ); Cointel secured $7.4M for AI analytics (Avalanche Foundation ); StableStock and o1_exchange also closed rounds12.
• Lowe’s is acquiring Foundation Building Materials for $8.8B to expand in the pro contractor segment, intensifying competition with Home Depot 13.
• TIME released its first ranking of 350 US VC firms; Accel, General Catalyst, and a16z lead, with methodology drawing industry debate15.

Commentary

Today’s news flow is led by large, late-stage AI and SaaS financings, with Andreessen Horowitz doubling down on vertical AI via EliseAI’s $250M Series E at a $2.2B valuation1. This, alongside Canva’s $42B secondary-driven valuation2 and Upstage’s $45M bridge round4, signals that investors remain willing to pay a premium for sector-specific AI platforms with strong recurring revenue and clear expansion plans. These rounds also provide liquidity options for early employees and investors, keeping late-stage private markets active even as IPO timelines remain uncertain2.

In digital infrastructure, hyperscale capital commitments continue to escalate. Vantage’s $25B Texas data center campus and Oracle ’s $1B/year gas-powered facility for AI workloads (notably OpenAI training) reflect sustained demand for compute capacity and the willingness of private equity and debt providers to back these projects6. Meanwhile, Intel ’s discounted equity raises—following SoftBank’s $2B investment and potential US government equity via CHIPS Act grants—underscore the capital intensity and strategic importance of semiconductor and foundry capacity, with implications for supply chains and downstream AI startups5.

Crypto and digital asset infrastructure remain active, with Kraken’s acquisition of Capitalise.ai and expansion of tokenized equities to TRON7, SkyBridge’s $300M hedge fund tokenization on Avalanche 8, and a cluster of early-stage deals (Legion, Cointel, StableStock, o1_exchange) highlighting continued VC appetite for platforms bridging TradFi and DeFi12. The Wormhole-LayerZero bidding contest for Stargate Finance further demonstrates ongoing M&A interest in cross-chain infrastructure9. Circle’s $1.25B USDC mint on Solana and surging stablecoin volumes point to growing institutional adoption of blockchain-based cash equivalents10.

Strategic M&A continues in traditional sectors as well, with Lowe’s $8.8B acquisition of Foundation Building Materials intensifying competition in the pro contractor segment and Authentic Brands’ $1.4B take-private of Guess adding to retail consolidation313. These exits offer liquidity for late-stage and PE investors amid a shifting macro environment.

Finally, TIME’s inaugural VC firm ranking may influence LP perceptions and fundraising, though its methodology has already sparked industry debate15. Investors should watch for continued late-stage AI dealmaking, infrastructure buildouts, and regulatory signals in both chips and digital assets as key drivers for deal flow and valuations through year-end.