Augment

Excited to welcome Samantha Gamboa to Augment as our new Marketing Manager 🪴 📈 Samantha joins Augment to help scale our retail marketing efforts across channels, working directly with our CMO to drive high-quality, high-volume campaign execution. As Marketing Manager, she’ll be leading production timelines, coordinating across creative and media partners, and ensuring our marketing operations stay sharp, compliant, and on pace with our growth goals. 🎯 A proud Texas Ex, Samantha brings experience from her work at Sangfroid!, where she led digital marketing initiatives for B2B tech and professional-services clients. Previously, she helped build a startup, Lynx, from the ground up, designing its brand, growing its partnerships, and cultivating a strong network of founders and operators. 🌍 Based in Austin, Samantha brings an adventurous mindset to both her work and life, whether she’s exploring new cities or hiking off the grid. 🚀 Welcome to the team, Samantha!

They raised $560M to bring back the dodo. We're here for it. Colossal Biosciences announced they’ve successfully grown pigeon primordial germ cells for the first time in history. Translation: They figured out how to culture the cells that become sperm and eggs in pigeons. Why does this matter? The dodo was essentially a giant pigeon, and the Nicobar pigeon is its closest living relative. Their plan: → Gene-edit chickens to serve as surrogate mothers → Inject them with modified Nicobar pigeon cells → Use CRISPR to edit the genes for dodo traits → Create thousands of dodos with genetic diversity Timeline: 5–7 years. The company is now valued at $10.2B. Peter Jackson (yes, that Peter Jackson from Lord of the Rings) is an investor. What do you think… are we witnessing the future of conservation?

📣 This week on The Pulse 💸 OpenAI signs a $38B deal with AWS just days after going for-profit, scaling up its compute firepower beyond Microsoft Azure. 🔐 Google’s $32B acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz clears a key U.S. antitrust hurdle, moving one step closer to the finish line. ⚙️ Microsoft and Lambda strike a multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure deal powered by Nvidia chips, as the AI arms race shows no signs of slowing.

Thanks to Jaime Catmull at Forbes for covering! “Here's the shift: these companies will hit historic valuations years before they go public. For the first time, new infrastructure is making pre-IPO access possible for accredited investors without institutional connections or six-figure minimums.” See the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/g9iU9TXN

When the SEC sets accredited investor requirements… Reminder: Accreditation is not a certificate or a plaque you hang on a wall. It’s a self-declared designation if you meet any of these qualifications: → Individual income: Over $200k in each of the past two years (with the expectation of the same in the current year). → Joint income (spouse or spousal equivalent): Over $300k in each of the past two years (with the expectation of the same in the current year). → Net worth: Over $1M, alone or with a spouse/spousal equivalent, excluding the value of the primary residence. → Certain financial licenses qualify you regardless of income or net worth: ➡️ Series 7 (General Securities Representative) ➡️ Series 65 (Investment Adviser Representative) ➡️ Series 82 (Private Securities Offerings Representative) → Entities can qualify if they meet thresholds: ➡️ Banks, insurance companies, registered investment companies, business development companies, or small business investment companies ➡️ Entities (LLCs, trusts, corporations, partnerships) with over $5M in assets, not formed solely for a specific investment ➡️ Family offices with at least $5M in assets under management

Replit raised $250M at a $3B valuation. Their AI app developer: → Is already generating $150M in revenue → Builds a prototype in 10 minutes → Counts Anthropic, Coinbase, and Zillow as customers → Tests the apps it builds, finds bugs, and fixes them automatically We went from “learn to code” → “no-code” → “AI codes for you and debugs itself.” Impressive? No question. Worth $3B? Time will tell. Vibe away 👌

📣 This week on The Pulse 🚨 OpenAI’s $1T IPO blueprint may be taking shape. A major restructure clears the path for what could be the most anticipated public debut in decades. ☁️ Anthropic lands a multibillion dollar cloud deal with Google to supercharge Claude’s growth and meet soaring enterprise demand. 🏗️ Nvidia, Microsoft, xAI, and BlackRock are acquiring Aligned Data Centers for $40B in what may be the biggest data center deal to date.

The Q3'25 Power 20 Report is live. We analyzed 50,000+ data points across market signals and commercial traction to rank the most promising pre-IPO names. What we found: The top 5 companies (SpaceX, Anduril Industries, Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks) averaged 63% share price growth. They account for 60% of the Power 20's $2.22T aggregate market cap. That's bigger than Meta. Almost as big as Amazon. Full breakdown and report in the comments. 👇 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 20 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺.

Anthropic's share price jumped 145.7% in Q3. That’s… a lot for three months. Here's what happened: → They closed a $13B Series F in September at a $183B valuation (that's nearly 3x higher than their $61B valuation just 6 months earlier). → Their run-rate revenue surged from $1B in December to over $5B by July. → Anthropic was also the 2nd most-active name on secondary markets in Q3 (they were #1 the previous two quarters). Claude 4.1 dropped in August. The foundation model race is far from over. Our Q3 Power 20 Report breaks down the top names in private companies. Full report available in comments. 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 20 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺.