Slapping “AI” on your startup’s pitch deck is basically table stakes right now. When a founder raised $20 million from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest for an eSports gamification loyalty startup without those two letters in the spotlight, it got us wondering how the conversation even started — especially when ARK had already been burned by a company operating in the same space.  On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Julie […]

The venture capital landscape on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, is defined by an aggressive transition from model experimentation to industrial-scale deployment. This shift, colloquially termed the “Agentic Infrastructure Super-Cycle,” follows a historic first quarter where global venture investment surged to […]

The post Venture Capital & Startup Funding Roundup, May 19, 2026 first appeared on Tech Startups.

"There's a common refrain among [young] people in this world that it's easier to raise money for a startup right now than to get an internship. Which is remarkable, right?"