Top Talent Pools of the Week

Simile, the Palo Alto AI simulation startup founded by Stanford's Joon Sung Park, raised a $200M Series B at a $2B valuation led by Greenoaks, joined by Definition and insiders Index Ventures, Hanabi, Bain Capital Ventures, A*, Factory, and CVS Health Ventures. Its first hire and its fifth member of technical staff both departed before the round was announced.

  1. Carolyn Zou in SF (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: 1st Hire & Product / Research @ Simile (1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Stanford PhD CS, Northwestern BA Communication Studies

    3. Description: Left Simile on 3/26 with no updates

  2. Akaash Kolluri in Houston (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: 5th Member of Technical Staff @ Simile (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Research Assistant & MS @ Stanford University Department of CS, Research Assistant @ Stanford GSB

    3. Description: Left Simile on 6/26 with no updates

    4. Contact: Site, Twitter

Gravis Robotics, a Swiss developer of construction robots, raised $200M in Series A from SoftBank. Axios

  1. Burak Çizmeci in Zurich (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Co-Founder @ Gravis Robotics (4 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Postdoctoral Researcher @ ETH Zurich

    3. Description: Left Gravis on 6/26

Higgsfield, an SF-based AI video generation startup, raised $400M at a $5.4B post-money valuation. DST Global led, joined by Tribe Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Intel Capital, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, NTT Docomo Ventures and insiders Accel, Menlo Ventures, AI Capital Partners, GFT Ventures, Capra Ventures, BAM Corner Point, and BroadLight Capital. Axios Pro

  1. Azat Khairov in London (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Founding Research Engineer @ Higgsfield AI (1.5 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Research Engineer @ ElevenLabs, Sr SWE @ PwC

    3. Description: Left ElevenLabs on 11/25

  2. Rakhim Baimurzin in Kazakhstan (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Machine Learning Engineer @ Higgsfield AI (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: IMO medalist + ICPC semifinalist

    3. Description: Left Higgsfield on 2/26

Fish Audio, the one-year-old Palo Alto voice-model startup (legal name Hanabi AI), raised a $52M seed co-led by Coreline Ventures and Capital Today, with 359 Capital, Parable, Play Time, Alphalist Partners, Bayhouse Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, and HF0 also participating. The company disclosed $21M ARR and 8M+ users, with OpenAI, HeyGen, LiveKit, and Sanas as customers.

  1. Helena Z. in SF (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Co-Founder @ Fish Audio (1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Head of Growth @ OpenArt AI, Founding Engineer @ Corgi Labs ($268M from TCV, YC, Kindred, Contrary), UCLA BS Electrical & Computer Engineering

    3. Description: Left Fish Audio in 2026 with no updates

  2. Zhizhuo Z. in SF (Stealth)

    1. Role: Co-Founder @ Fish Audio (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Research Assistant @ CMU, Researcher @ MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, Stanford PhD CS, CMU MS Robotics

    3. Description: "Building on the intersection of Generative AI and 3D experiences"

    4. Contact: Site

  3. Kyle Cui in US (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: Founding Engineer @ Fish Audio (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: Co-Founder @ Bonemeal ($0→$100K ARR in one month), Co-Founder & CEO @ CTRL Sheet (acquired), UC Berkeley BA Computer Science & Physics

    3. Description: Left Bonemeal on 7/26 with no updates

Neros Technologies, the Torrance-based drone manufacturer, raised $250M in Series C funding at a $2.5B post-money valuation. Sequoia Capital and American Strategic Technology Fund led, joined by Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Thiel Capital, and Spark Capital.

  1. Sean Wood in LA (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: COO @ Neros Technologies (2.5 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Manager, Solar and Battery Engineering, Starlink @ SpaceX

    3. Description: Stepped from COO to advisor 6/26

Paradigm, the crypto VC firm founded in 2018 by Matt Huang (ex-Sequoia) and Fred Ehrsam (Coinbase co-founder), raised $1.2B for its third venture fund and fourth overall — targeting the "technical frontier" and expanding beyond crypto into AI and robotics.

  1. Charlie Noyes in SF (Potential Founder)

    1. Role: 1st employee & General Partner @ Paradigm (7.5 yrs)

    2. Description: Left Paradigm on 12/25

    3. Contact: [email protected], Twitter

  2. Sudhanshu Mishra in SF (Co-Founder & CEO @ Demi)

    1. Role: Investor @ Paradigm (2 yrs)

    2. Other Experience: Growth @ Windsurf, Investor @ Sequoia Capital, PM @ Uber, KP Product Fellow, HBS MBA, MIT CS

    3. Description: "Your proactive assistant in Slack"

  3. Calder White in US (Founder & CEO @ Voluntas)

    1. Role: Fellow @ Paradigm (<1 yr)

    2. Other Experience: CTO @ Vigil Labs ($6M from Nova, Lux, Soma), UWaterloo CS

    3. Description: "Setting the standard for infrastructure in prediction markets"

    4. Contact: [email protected]

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