Twenty former Snap employees have established Ghost Angels, a new investment fund focused on backing the next generation of social media startups.
The fund represents a coordinated effort by veteran Snap staff to identify and support emerging social platforms. The group brings collective experience from one of social media's most influential companies, positioning them to identify promising founders and technologies in the space.
Ghost Angels joins a crowded landscape of venture capital focused on social platforms, where competition for quality deal flow remains intense. The fund's emphasis on "next generation" social media suggests the backers are seeking alternatives to incumbent platforms and novel approaches to social interaction.
Snap alumni have historically been active investors and founders themselves. The formalization of their efforts into a dedicated fund signals confidence in emerging opportunities within the social media sector, despite broader economic uncertainty in venture capital.
Top venture capitalists are raising concerns about irrational exuberance in AI funding, where even teenage founders are receiving Series A offers based on age rather than merit.
OpenRouter, an AI routing platform, secured $113 million in Series B funding. The round positions the company to expand its API infrastructure for large language models.
Picogrid, an El Segundo-based startup building hardware and software integration layers for military systems, closed a $45M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The funding supports the company's push to unify disparate military technologies.
London-based Gigaton has raised $26 million in Series A funding to deploy AI systems that automate control operations across cement, steel, glass, and chemicals plants.