Best of Venture Capital — June 2025

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   Article

   Hacker News·48w

   The Tech Job Meltdown

   The massive tech layoffs since 2023 aren't primarily due to AI, overhiring, or economic downturns, but rather a tax policy change. Section 174 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the ability to immediately deduct R&D expenses, forcing companies to amortize them over 5-15 years instead. This created immediate cash flow problems and higher tax bills for tech companies, leading to over 500,000 layoffs. The policy was designed to offset corporate tax cuts in 2017 but has driven companies to move R&D operations overseas and cut US-based engineering jobs. The change particularly hurt startups and growth companies that relied on R&D write-offs to manage their tax burden while investing in innovation.

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   Article

   TechCrunch·48w

   11 startups from YC Demo Day that investors are talking about

   Y Combinator's Spring 2025 Demo Day featured 11 standout startups, with nearly all focused on AI development. Notable companies include Anvil (SEO for LLMs), Atum Works (3D chip manufacturing), Den (AI for enterprise knowledge workers), and Eloquent AI (automated customer operations). Several startups are building "Cursor for X" variations, while others explore quantum computing and robotics applications. Investors showed particular interest in companies addressing AI evaluation, enterprise automation, and next-generation computing architectures.

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   Video

   bigboxSWE·47w

   Tech Startups in a Nutshell

   A satirical take on the tech startup ecosystem that humorously breaks down the typical journey from founder mindset to venture capital funding. The piece covers the stereotypical startup founder persona, market targeting strategies (B2B vs B2C), fundraising through PowerPoint presentations, employee equity structures, and the cyclical nature of startup funding rounds. While presented as comedy, it touches on real aspects of startup culture including buzzword usage, the emphasis on growth over profitability, and common business practices in the tech industry.

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4. 4
   Article

   Game Developer·47w

   GenAI animation startup Motorica raises 5 million pounds in investment

   Motorica, a generative AI animation startup, secured £5 million in funding to develop tools that automate tedious animation tasks like keyframing and locomotion. The company claims AAA studios including Quantic Dream are already using their AI mocap technology, which aims to let animators focus more on creative work rather than technical grunt work. The funding will support platform scaling, R&D investment, and team expansion across engineering and animation roles.

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