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The week after Thanksgiving is usually rich in announcements, and this year was no exception. Blame it on the holiday season, but we would even go as far as saying that several funding round announcements were truly heartwarming.
Most interesting startup stories from the week
This week brought us a new company to track closely, salary insights, a bunch of new YC grads, and more.
New page: Three members of Google’s NotebookLM team left the company to create their own startup, following in the footsteps of AI pioneer François Chollet.
Pay gaps: Kruze Consulting, a CPA firm that specializes in venture-backed startups, shared insights on the average salary of early employees and confirmed that the Bay Area still commands higher figures. There, very senior engineers enter seed startups with salaries ranging from $180,000 to $235,000, compared to $160,000 to $210,000 in other areas.
Arm wrestling: Fitness startup Ladder, which recently raised $105 million in Series B funding, pointed out similarities between its strength-training app and Peloton’s new Strength+ app, turning it into a marketing and advertising opportunity of its own.
Back IRL: As announced, Y Combinator’s latest Demo Day for its Fall 2024 class of startups took place in person.
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Join 10k+ tech and VC leaders for growth and connections at Disrupt 2025
Netflix, Box, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just some of the 250+ heavy hitters leading 200+ sessions designed to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech. Grab your ticket before Sept 26 to save up to $668.
San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 REGISTER NOWMost interesting fundraises this week
This week, we have funding news about several startups working on big problems — and one allegedly making popcorn.
Clean atmosphere: Heirloom Carbon secured $150 million in Series B funding to help scale up its carbon-capture technology.
Heart health: Cleerly, a cardiovascular imaging startup, is applying AI to detect coronary artery disease early on and raised a $106 million Series C extension round to keep on working toward this mission.
Fighting cancer: Orakl Oncology, a French lab spinoff that combines data and biology to bring new drugs to cancer patients, raised nearly €15 million to date, including nondilutive funding from Bpifrance and more recently, an equity round led by European VC fund Singular.
Fighting fires: Named after Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, FireDome, a startup that uses projectiles filled with fire retardants to stop wildfires, raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by Third Sphere and Gravity Climate.
Popcorn time: According to an SEC filing, Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner are looking to raise $10 million for Khloud, a consumer startup that is rumored to be a protein popcorn brand.
Most interesting VC and fund news this week
Scoring again: Former NBA athlete Omri Casspi raised $60 million for his new venture fund, Swish Ventures, which will back cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. The Israeli player previously launched $36 million fund Sheva Capital, whose investment period has concluded.
Going public: Dutch investment group Prosus expects five potential IPOs from its Indian portfolio over the next 18 months. This would represent a significant share of the 20 Indian startups that are looking to go public in 2025.
Time for funding: French VC firm Daphni teamed up with partners to launch Time4, a fund with a target of €100 million and a mandate to invest in entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds and impactful projects.
Last but not least
Voyager Ventures investment director Leonardo Banchik and other climate tech investors are cautiously optimistic about policy changes being considered by the second Trump administration. These won’t be universally detrimental to the sector, and some might even stand to benefit climate tech, TechCrunch heard.