Tech and startups: 27th May 2025

• OpenAI acquired Jony Ive's hardware startup io for $6.4bn (theguardian.com), with the former Apple designer promising a revolutionary AI device beyond screens and wearables (theguardian.com).

• Crusoe Energy secured $11.6B for a massive OpenAI data center in Texas (news.crunchbase.com) as part of the $500B Stargate Project, highlighting the massive infrastructure investments flowing into AI.

• Airwallex raised $300M at a $6.2B valuation (news.crunchbase.com) leading a strong week for fintech funding, while LM Arena landed $100M at a $600M valuation (techcrunch.com) for its AI benchmarking platform.

• Since 2023, 259 new unicorns have been created with Sequoia and Lightspeed leading investments (news.crunchbase.com), particularly in AI chips, while Series B funding shows a clear shift towards AI and clean tech (news.crunchbase.com).

• Hinge Health went public with shares popping 17% (techcrunch.com) but joined the growing ranks of down-round IPOs with a market cap significantly below its 2021 private valuation of $6.2B.

• The EU plans to establish a Scaleup Europe Fund (politico.eu) targeting AI, quantum tech, and biotech startups to reduce dependency on U.S. technologies and address European funding gaps.

• Belgian AI startup Ravical raised €7.3M (thenextweb.com) claiming its agents can automate 80% of work at expert firms, while French AI security company Veesion secured €38M (thenextweb.com) to expand theft detection cameras in the US.

• Gouach introduced swappable cell technology for e-bike batteries (arstechnica.com) and Valve CEO Gabe Newell's Starfish Neuroscience plans to unveil its first brain chip (theverge.com) challenging Neuralink's dominance.

Infrastructure in the Age of AI Gatekeepers (tanayj.com, 2025-05-20). AI agents significantly influence tech infrastructure decisions, with platforms like Neon, Replit, and Stripe becoming default choices. Dev-tool builders must adapt for agent integration and visibility in AI-driven environments

Tailor Made (davidsj.substack.com, 2025-05-21). Recent advancements in coding automation are examined, focusing on Windsurf's acquisition by OpenAI, the decline of StackOverflow, and the integration of AI tools such as Cursor and nao to enhance developers' workflows

Building AI products with Kapa.ai (generational.pub, 2025-05-21). Kapa.ai, founded by Emil Sorensen and Finn, specializes in building RAG assistants for technical companies, leveraging deep expertise in documentation while addressing quality challenges in AI model deployment

Pt 1: Building an AI Native Company (kermankohli.substack.com, 2025-05-22). Kerman Kohli outlines a system for building AI-native companies using context, business model canvases, ChatGPT, git repositories, and Windsurf, advocating for a code-first culture for effective collaboration

We need more than Vibe Coding, we need an entire Vibe Pipeline (conoroneill.net, 2025-05-26). Vibe Coding accelerates app development, but an entire Vibe Pipeline is needed for secure deployments including Auth, CI/CD, and open standards, as demonstrated through various projects with Node.js, Python, and cloud hosting services

Clouded Judgement 5.23.25 - AI Grows the Size of the Prize (cloudedjudgement.substack.com, 2025-05-23). The analysis discusses venture capital scalability, highlighting a growing exit market for VC-backed companies, trends in long-term yields, and the importance of valuation multiples and growth metrics in SaaS businesses

How Anduril Is Reimagining the Defense Industry: Faster Tech, Ethical AI, and a New Kind of Deterrence | Trae Stephens (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Anduril) (thegeneralist.substack.com, 2025-05-20). Trae Stephens discusses Anduril's mission to innovate defense with Silicon Valley speed, ethical AI, and automation, exploring tools like Lattice and addressing gaps in military intelligence amidst rising global tensions

On 1,145 pull requests per day (saile.it, 2025-05-22). In 2024, Stripe averaged 1,145 pull requests per day with under a minute of API downtime, showcasing elite software delivery performance, strong engineering culture, and reliance on automated testing and deployments

Notes from Simon Willison's Interview on Software Misadventures (mtlynch.io, 2025-05-23). Simon Willison discusses plugins in software, LLMs as powerful tools, his unique workflow, blogging strategies, and the complexities of indie development in a recent interview on Software Misadventures

After months of coding with LLMs, I'm going back to using my brain (simonwillison.net, 2025-05-20). Alberto Fortin reflects on using LLMs like Claude and Cursor for coding, finding inconsistencies in generated code, and reverting to traditional methods with pen and paper for improved productivity

Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools? (news.ycombinator.com, 2025-05-24). Discussion on whether to deeply learn AI/LLMs or use them as tools emphasizes understanding neural networks, prompt engineering, APIs, and developing practical integration skills for future software engineering roles

On Microsoft Employees dealing with Github Copilot PR - May 2025 (blog.vslira.net, 2025-05-21). Microsoft employees are facing scrutiny over GitHub Copilot's evolving capabilities, highlighting concerns among software engineers about potential threats to their jobs and the system's rapid improvements fueled by new training data

195 / The Copilot Delusion (arne.me, 2025-05-25). Discussion on Copilot and LLMs in software development, customer support conversations, and cognitive impacts highlights the ongoing debates in AI, including frameworks like dependency injection and the decline of curation due to social media

SWE Agents Too Cheap To Meter, The Token Data War, and the rise of Tiny Teams (latent.space, 2025-05-24). Small teams are generating millions in ARR with cheaper SWE Agents, reflecting on the impact of tools like OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, and LMArena's $100m raise in the evolving coding agent ecosystem

A 3-step AI coding workflow for solo founders | Ryan Carson (5x founder) (lennysnewsletter.com, 2025-05-26). Ryan Carson shares a 3-step AI coding workflow for solo founders, utilizing tools like Cursor, ChatGPT, and model context protocols (MCPs) to enhance product development efficiency and autonomy in software building

Joy & Curiosity #40 (registerspill.thorstenball.com, 2025-05-24). An experienced engineer seeks guidance amidst rapid changes in tech; discussions on prompt engineering, the evolution of tasks, and new tools like Amp, Go, and Aider unfold, revealing the shifting landscape of software development

Fix the new things first! (antithesis.com, 2025-05-22). Fixing new bugs first can exponentially improve team productivity and decrease backlog issues, transitioning teams from a 'Death Spiral' of bugs to a 'Zero Bugs Promised Land' using intelligent bug tracking features

Thinking has no replacement (antithesis.com, 2025-05-23). Ankush Desai advocates for the integration of formal methods in software development, emphasizing their role in improving system reliability and encouraging deeper thinking in developers to catch design flaws early

Refresh of Agile Threat Modeling (martinfowler.com, 2025-05-20). Threat modeling integrates security into development processes, utilizing frameworks like STRIDE to identify vulnerabilities through data flow analysis and encourages incremental, collaborative efforts for effective risk management

The fundamental misunderstanding in Team Topologies (patricia.no, 2025-05-24). Patricia Aas critiques 'Team Topologies,' arguing it perpetuates harmful ideas by promoting organizational silos, misinterpreting Conway's Law, and advocating for a rigid structure that contradicts agile and devops principles

Confidence, agile values, and startup ideas 💡 (refactoring.fm, 2025-05-26). Explore AI code reviews with CodeRabbit, the Dunning-Kruger effect on confidence, key Agile values, and tips for selecting effective startup ideas focused on market and execution risks

Chris’ Corner: Doing a Good Job (blog.codepen.io, 2025-05-26). The impact of measuring developer performance through metrics, featuring Tim MacKinnon who prioritizes team growth over individual output, alongside insights on cognitive load, collaboration in development, and innovations in JavaScript debugging tools

Embrace Boring Technology (dontbreakprod.com, 2025-05-23). Choosing boring technology over trendy options can lead to more reliable projects, as established tools are well-documented and robust, allowing developers to concentrate on building rather than troubleshooting new tech

What I Learned Building My First Self-Hosted App (selfh.st, 2025-05-20). Sean Morley shares his journey building AdventureLog, a user-friendly self-hosted app utilizing Docker, highlighting the importance of community, practical problem solving, and authenticity in development

Data Engineering: Now with 30% More Bullshit (blog.det.life, 2025-05-20). Data engineers face overwhelming marketing buzzwords like 'Data Fabric,' 'Medallion Architecture,' and 'Zero ETL' that often mislead and complicate real engineering challenges, emphasizing the need for practical solutions over flashy trends

None (dbushell.com, 2025-05-21). Ryan Dahl addresses recent criticisms of Deno, highlighting concerns about its Deploy, KV, and Fresh features, while questioning the necessity of public responses to online critiques

Good vibes only (brokenco.de, 2025-05-21). A Principal Infrastructure Engineer discusses deploying software on Fridays, the evolving role of developers, and the impact of AI and better abstractions on job security, from database management to modern application development

You are one use case away to start developing your internal platform (learnings.aleixmorgadas.dev, 2025-05-22). Start developing your internal platform by addressing the top three developer pain points through automation, leveraging tools like Jira, and engaging early adopters for effective feedback and improved developer experience

Licensed Engineers (friendgineers.rosenshein.org, 2025-05-23). The article discusses the discrepancy between licensed and non-licensed engineers, emphasizing that while many software developers create valuable work, not all are classified as engineers, highlighting distinctions between engineering and related fields

Product Pseudoscience (blog.jim-nielsen.com, 2025-05-20). Product building often uses pseudoscientific methods, relying on inconsistent analytics data without the necessary rigor of independent corroboration found in true scientific practices, emphasizing the blend of art and science in software development

Rude Q&A: The constructive devil's advocate (longform.asmartbear.com, 2025-05-25). Utilizing Scott Berkun's 'Rude Q&A' concept, this piece explores how to challenge assumptions and refine business strategies, emphasizing the importance of constructive criticism in pitching ideas and addressing customer needs

Unconventional product lessons from Binance, N26, Google, more | Mayur Kamat (CPO at N26, ex-Binance Head of Product) (lennysnewsletter.com, 2025-05-22). Mayur Kamat shares unconventional product strategies from his experience at Binance and N26, emphasizing daily decision-making, rapid experimentation, and tools like Statsig for optimizing fintech product management

The Feature Fallacy by Daniel McNamee (blog.scottlogic.com, 2025-05-23). Balancing feature-driven development with foundational infrastructure is crucial in software. Examples like Friendster and Digg illustrate risks of neglecting scalability, while companies like Google and Netflix emphasize robust engineering practices for sustained success

Obstacles to Good Problem Definition (belowwaterlevel.com, 2025-05-22). Exploring obstacles in problem definition: abstractions, communication gaps, and cultural barriers that prevent effective problem-solving in product development

3 Years of Extremely Remote Work (brendangregg.com, 2025-05-22). Brendan Gregg shares insights on remote work from Australia for Intel, including experiences with extreme meeting hours, necessary tools like Samson Meteor mic and Logitech BRIO camera, and tips for maintaining productivity

Stuff I learned at Carta. (lethain.com, 2025-05-23). Will Larson shares insights from his two years as CTO at Carta, focusing on engineering strategy, LLM adoption, communication clarity, and organizational structures like the Navigator program

OpenAI & Meta Distinguished Engineer (IC9) On Working With Zuck, Carmack & Career Growth | Philip Su (developing.dev, 2025-05-23). Philip Su, a rare IC9 Distinguished Engineer, shares insights on career growth, working with Zuck and Carmack, writing well, and shifting between IC and EM roles while scaling teams at OpenAI and Meta

Refactored in prison (changelog.com, 2025-05-23). Preston Thorpe discusses his transformation while in prison, embracing his identity as a software engineer and open source contributor, alongside tools such as Retool and Outshift by Cisco during his journey of redemption

My Wildly Incorrect Bias About Corporate Engineers (inessential.com, 2025-05-23). Brent Simmons shares his realization that corporate engineers at Audible possess exceptional skills, professionalism, and teamwork, challenging his previous bias that independent engineers were superior, highlighting diversity and the value of collaboration in software development

Brent on Biases and Retirement (shapeof.com, 2025-05-25). Brent Simmons reflects on his assumptions about corporate engineers, praising their talent at Audible, while also sharing his excitement about retirement and the freedom it brings to work on personal coding projects

Embarking on a New Adventure! (readsuperfluid.com, 2025-05-21). Abhishek Maran shares his transition to London, reflections on taking risks, and aspirations to support startup founders while exploring Europe, emphasizing the idea of mini retirements for personal and professional growth

Brent Simmons on corporate developers (jarretthousenorth.com, 2025-05-25). Brent Simmons reflects on corporate developers, comparing them to indie developers while highlighting his experiences with tools like NetNewsWire and MarsEdit, showcasing the significance of effective management in the hiring process

Dragoncatcher: Software People and the rate of change (robinsloan.com, 2025-05-26). Robin Sloan explores Douglas Carlston's 'Software People', highlighting the transformative tech era from 1977-1984, the rise of microcomputers like the Apple II, and the casual wealth of early hobbyists in the industry

The Value Isn't in the Code (jonayre.uk, 2025-05-20). Jon Ayre discusses the importance of skill and time over code in software development, emphasizing that true value is derived from the team, business logic, design, and experience rather than the actual code itself

Reinvent the Wheel (endler.dev, 2025-05-24). Reinventing the wheel fosters learning in software development, encouraging curiosity and understanding of complex concepts like protocols, cryptography, and web servers through hands-on experimentation and innovation

Question Driven Development (kinduff.com, 2025-05-22). Exploring the significance of asking the right questions in software development, particularly through examples involving Ruby on Rails and background job processing while emphasizing documentation and planning

Note on The Magic of Software; Or, What Makes a Good Engineer Also Makes a Good Engineering Organization via Moxie Marlinspike (joshbeckman.org, 2025-05-21). Explores the intertwined relationship between understanding and engineering in software, emphasizing the role of prototyping in the discovery process and how it parallels pure scientific disciplines