# News

Coverage of the founders and companies we back.

Our approach · Featured essay

### [Inception Investing: the new race to be first in Venture… and Pre-Seed isn’t first any more](/resources/inception-investing-first/)

Our approach to partnering with technical founders before company formation.

Ed Sim · boldstart ventures · October 27, 2023

[Why we start at inception](/resources/inception-investing-first/) 

[News](/news/)[Ideas](/ideas/)

Showing 7 of 12 stories

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- [2026-09-09 Featured Clay raises $115M at a $7.1B valuation, led by Wellington The New York Times News](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/business/dealbook/clay-ai-fundraising.html)

- [2025-07-08 Featured WSJ – Boldstart Ventures Raises $250 Million AI Fund, Looking to Move Fast The Wall Street Journal News](https://www.wsj.com/articles/boldstart-ventures-raises-250-million-ai-fund-looking-to-move-fast-7f20689b)

- [2025-04-28 Featured Protect AI: from inception to a $700M+ exit to Palo Alto Networks Ed Sim · boldstart News](https://boldstart.vc/news/from-inception-to-ai-security-leader-protectais-journey-to-exit-to-palo-alto-networks/)

- [2026-07-15 Spectro Cloud raises over $100M to expand production AI infrastructure Spectro Cloud News](https://www.spectrocloud.com/news/spectro-cloud-raises-100-million-series-d-to-accelerate-production-ai-adoption)

- [2026-06-02 Congrats Generalist AI on $400M raise at $2B valuation Bloomberg News](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-04/nvidia-backed-robotics-startup-generalist-ai-valued-at-2-billion)

- [2025-08-05 NYT – Clay, a Sales Tool for the A.I. Era, Raises $100 Million at $3.1 billion valuation The New York Times News](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/business/dealbook/clay-ai-marketing-fundraise.html)

- [2025-01-23 Clay boosts valuation to $1.3 billion – “a secret weapon for Anthropic and OpenAI” Forbes News](https://www.forbes.com.au/news/entrepreneurs/clay-a-secret-weapon-for-anthropic-and-openai-boosts-valuation-to-1-3-billion/)

- [2024-11-14 Tessl worth a reported $750 million after latest $100 million funding to help it build ‘AI native’ software development platform \(Fortune\) Fortune News](https://fortune.com/2024/11/14/tessl-funding-ai-software-development-platform/)

- [2024-10-02 Snyk Code’s $100 Million Milestone: AI-Driven Growth \(Forbes\) Forbes News](https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2024/10/02/unlocking-the-future-of-enterprise-security-with-ai-powered-innovation/)

- [2023-07-26 Protect AI raises $35M to build a suite of AI-defending tools TechCrunch News](https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/26/protect-ai-raises-35m-to-build-a-suite-of-ai-defending-tools/)

- [2022-12-18 Cybersecurity startup Protect AI launches with $13.5 million in funding SiliconANGLE News](https://siliconangle.com/2022/12/15/ai-ml-cybersecurity-startup-protect-ai-launches-13-5-million-funding/)

- [2022-12-13 Snyk Closes $196.5 Million Series G Funding at $7.4 Billion Valuation Snyk News](https://snyk.io/news/snyk-closes-196-5-million-series-g-funding-at-7-4-billion-valuation/)

- [2021-09-12 Snyk raises $530M at $8.5B valuation reflecting market shift to developer security Snyk News](https://snyk.io/news/snyk-closes-530-million-series-f-investment-at-8-5-billion-valuation/)

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## Press & recognition

[2025 The Wall Street Journal Boldstart Ventures Raises $250 Million AI Fund, Looking to Move Fast Read](https://www.wsj.com/articles/boldstart-ventures-raises-250-million-ai-fund-looking-to-move-fast-7f20689b)
[2026 Business Insider Seed 100 Ed Sim ranked #4 seed investor Read](https://www.businessinsider.com/seed-100-best-early-stage-vc-investors-2026-5)
[2024 Forbes · Midas Seed List cover story No Business, No Problem: The Secrets Of This VC’s Inception Investing Read](https://www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/2024/06/05/how-inception-investing-landed-ed-sim-a-spot-on-the-midas-seed-list/)
[2024 Business Insider Seed 100 Ed Sim ranked #1 seed investor for a second year Read](https://www.businessinsider.com/seed-100-best-early-stage-vc-investors-2024-5)
[2023 Business Insider Seed 100 Ed Sim ranked #1 seed investor Read](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-ed-sim-boldstart-ventures-became-top-seed-vc-2023-5)

[Browse all news →](/news/archive/)   [Browse all resources →](/resources/)

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