VC Cafe

Key takeaways Capitolis secured $220 million in financing, including a $120 million Series E, to support its expansion into securities lending. Rein Security raised $25 million as companies seek greater control over AI agents operating inside their systems. Phantom GI raised $5 million to develop a less invasive option for bowel obstruction patients unable to undergo conventional surgery.

Yesterday was not just another day in the calendar for most Israelis and much of the Jewish diaspora. Three years ago, Hamas carried out the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. We remember those murdered, the suffering of the hostages and their families, and the communities whose lives were shattered. The passage of time has not made that loss smaller and the wound is still open.

Key takeaways The rogue-agent incidents of 2026 came from goal-seeking agents with too much access, not malice, and that kind of failure is fixable. Misalignment startups fall into four groups (control, evaluation, interpretability, manipulation), plus liability for when prevention fails, and each group is at a different stage of maturity. Irregular is reportedly raising at a $1.5B valuation despite hosting several of the breakouts, which shows how much demand there is for independent AI testing.

Key takeaways Israel’s startups raised $2.77B in September, but five companies captured 69% of the capital. Reco’s $55M round and Rig Security’s $12M seed highlight investor demand for securing AI agents. Nebius’s reported $100M–$150M acquisition of Inferize underscores the strategic value of faster, more efficient AI inference. OpenAI’s DevDay launches signal a shift from standalone AI models toward agents that execute complete workflows.

Key takeaways Higher valuations don’t mean easier fundraising: capital is concentrating in fewer deals. Pre-seed can happen before revenue, but founders still need evidence of demand, a credible team and a prototype. Seed valuations rose 33% between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, while Q2 2026 median dilution remained substantial at 19.4%. Series A requires stronger evidence of repeatable growth, retention and sustainable economics; ARR alone is insufficient.

Key takeaways A model upgrade can improve your product without strengthening your competitive position. Competitors with access to the same model can make the same improvement. Distribution deserves a place on the product roadmap. Reaching buyers, earning trust and reducing adoption friction require deliberate investment. Allocate runway against the actual bottleneck.

Eze Vidra is the founder of VC Cafe and the co-founder and managing partner of Remagine Ventures, a pre-seed fund investing in ambitious founders at the intersection of AI, technology, entertainment, gaming, and commerce with a spotlight on Israel. He is a former General Partner at Google Ventures (GV) in Europe, former head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, and founding head of Campus London, Google's first startup hub.

Key takeaways Thinking Machines Lab and World Labs have moved furthest from research promise to public product, releasing models, developer tools and APIs. A research paper, benchmark or partnership is evidence of activity, but it should not be confused with an independently usable model or commercially validated product. Neo-lab investors are financing technical discovery before normal startup feedback loops exist, making verifiable research milestones crucial between rounds.

Key takeaways Jev separates judgement from generation, returning bounded choices, scores and yes-or-no probabilities that software can use directly. Its speed and cost could improve startup unit economics and make it economical to classify, route and verify every item or agent action rather than sampling a small subset. Jev is not an LLM replacement or a guarantee of correctness. Its strongest role is as a decision and control layer around generative models and conventional code.

It’s #Firgun time! The original version of this newsletter was published to 8,400 subscribers on Linkedin. Sign up for free to get the next edition in your inbox. Related Hubs Keep reading this theme through Pre-Seed Funding and AI Agents and Vertical AI. Firgun (pronounced “feer-goon”) is the Hebrew word for taking genuine pleasure in someone else’s success. Every week since March 2020, we’ve made time to celebrate the people building, creating and moving our startup community forward.