This Week’s Talent Pools

SpaceX tweeted that it has secured an option to acquire Cursor for $60 billion, deepening a partnership that pairs Cursor’s developer reach with Musk’s xAI-powered “Colossus” supercomputer as SpaceX positions itself for an AI push ahead of a potential IPO. TechCrunch has more here.

  1. Arvid Lunnemark in SF (Founder @ Integrous Research)

    1. Role: Co-Founder @ Anysphere (3.5 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Quant @ Jane Street, SWE @ Stripe, MIT CS

    3. Description: “We are a research lab devoted to protecting individual human freedom before, during, and after the start of the superintelligence era.”

    4. Contact: Site

  2. Shayan Pardis in SF (Stealth)

    1. Role: Research Engineer @ Cursor (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Undergraduate Researcher @ MIT CSAIL, ML Research Intern @ Backflip, SWE Intern @ Citadel

    3. Description: “Something new”

    4. Contact: [email protected], Site

  3. Colin Zhao in SF (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Engineering and Research @ Anysphere (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: MTS @ Etched, Co-Founder & CTO @ Toppings

    3. Description: Left Etched 1/25. UCLA class of ‘27

    4. Contact: [email protected]

Canadian AI model company Cohere is combining with Germany's Aleph Alpha, in a deal that Axios has learned will value it around $20 billion after a concurrent Series E closes.

  1. Jaron Waldman in Toronto (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: CPO @ Cohere (3 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Co-Founder & CEO @ Curbside (acquired by Rakuten), CEO Rakuten Ready, Founder & CEO @ Placebase (acquired by Apple), Head of Engineering Geo @ Apple, UCLA

    3. Description: "Builder, Founder & Product Executive in AI and Geospatial”

  2. Dustin Z. in NYC (Stealth)

    1. Role: Head of Strategy & Operations @ Cohere (3 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Chief of Staff @ Skild AI, Senior Associate Consultant @ Bain & Company

    3. Description: Left Skild AI 2025

Polymarket, the NYC-based prediction markets site, is in talks to raise $400M at a $15B valuation, per The Information.

  1. Samuel Hatem in NYC (Founder @ notional.xyz)

    1. Role: Blockchain Developer @ Polymarket (1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: CTO & Co-Founder @ Slide ($12M from Framework Ventures, Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures), Columbia BS CS

    3. Description: "100x leverage on Hyperliquid"

    4. Contact: [email protected]

  2. Aditya Gupta in US (Student)

    1. Role: First Intern @ Polymarket (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Intern @ Jump Trading and Bridge, FTTP @ Jane Street, Stanford CS, Chess National Master, USA Computing Olympiad Platinum, 5x AIME

    3. Description: Stanford CS Undergrad

    4. Contact: [email protected], Site

Skydio, the leading U.S. autonomous drone manufacturer based in San Mateo, CA, raised a $110M Series F at a $4.4B post-money valuation. The round was led by existing investors. The company has raised a total of $856M+.

  1. Austin Charles Stone in SF (Stealth)

    1. Role: FTE #15 & Research Engineer @ Skydio (1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Researcher @ Google DeepMind, Sr Research Engineer @ Google Brain, Technical Staff @ Inceptive, UT Austin MS CS

    3. Description: Stealth since 9/25

  2. Varun Jain in SF (Stealth)

    1. Role: Computer Vision Engineer @ Skydio (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Co-Founder @ Viva Labs (YC W22), Co-Founder @ ZeusCloud, SWE @ Neeva, Harvard BA/MS CS

    3. Description: "Building AI for Enterprises"

Loop, an SF-based platform for logistics and supply chains, raised a $95M Series C led by Valor Equity Partners and the Valor Atreides AI Fund. 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, JPMorgan Growth Equity Partners, and Tao Capital Partners joined.

  1. Scott Auslund in Greenville (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Chief Operating Officer @ Loop (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: CEO @ Data2Logistics (acq. by Loop), VP Supply Chain Solutions @ Covenant Transport Services

    3. Description: Left Loop 1/26

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