🧑💻 Developer-First #147 - Tech Due Diligences in the post-AI world
What happens to tech due diligence in a world where most code is AI-generated
Hello friend,
In the latest Y Combinator batch, one in four startups claims that over 95% of their code is generated by AI, with developers simply steering the copilots.
This isn’t just a trend. It’s a shift that could redefine how we evaluate software startups.
Two scenarios are emerging for investors and technical auditors:
1. Due diligence becomes nearly impossible.
Founders can’t fully explain their codebases. They haven’t written—or even deeply reviewed—most of it. Can it scale? Is it secure? No one knows. Good luck auditing that.
2. The exact opposite happens.
VCs prefer AI-generated code. It becomes the new gold standard—because copilots can write safer, more scalable code than 95% of developers.
This would mirror what already happened with cloud infrastructure.
When a startup says it still runs on-prem or private servers, there’s always a pause. Not because it’s bad—but because it’s not standardised. And VCs trust standards more than craftsmanship.
Soon, AI-generated code could be that new standard. And teams still writing everything “by hand” might start to feel as risky as those managing their servers.
Food for thought—for CTOs and investors.
P.S.: I’m doing a limited edition of my Unicorn CTO live training program starting the week of May 5th, and I have a few spots available. Click here to learn more about the program, or contact me directly if you’re interested.
Now, let's dive into last week's developer-first transactions.
💰 Market Summary - Week of March 31st, 2025
10 companies raised $40,7 billion across 8 product categories in 2 countries (including a record-breaking $40 billion raised by OpenAI).
North America-based companies attracted all the funding (except for a $2 million seed for a European company).
AI is obviously the category that attracted the highest funding.
2 companies provide or contribute to an open-source product.
5 companies were acquired this week.
🧩 Funding by Product Category
* I did not include OpenAI’s $40 billion for clarity on other deals
🌎 Funding by Region
🏢 Funding By Company
OpenAI based in San Francisco 🇺🇸 raised $40 billion in a Series D+ funding round led by SoftBank. OpenAI is committed to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity, focusing on AI safety and alignment with human needs. (more)
Runway from New York 🇺🇸 raised $308 million in a Series D+ funding round led by General Atlantic. Runway is pioneering new tools for human imagination, developing multi-modal AI systems to make content creation more accessible and empowering for creatives. (more)
Temporal, based in Bellevue 🇺🇸, raised $146 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global Management. Temporal offers a durable execution system making code fault tolerant, durable and simple, enhancing software development. (more)
Redpanda from San Francisco 🇺🇸 raised $100 million in Series D+ funding led by GV. Redpanda provides a streaming data platform that is fully compatible with Kafka® APIs without the complexity. (more)
Hydrolix, located in Portland 🇺🇸, raised $80 million in Series C funding led by QED. Hydrolix is a streaming data lake optimized for log-intensive use cases, combining data warehouse structure and data lake flexibility. (more)
AutonomyAI from New York 🇺🇸 raised $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Inbound Capital. AutonomyAI is developing context-aware agents to revolutionize front-end development by automating repetitive coding tasks. (more)
Phonic in San Francisco 🇺🇸 secured $4 million in seed funding led by Lux Capital. Phonic is developing a reliable voice AI solution for enhanced digital communication. (more)
Gable, also in Seattle 🇺🇸, raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Crane Venture Partners. Gable provides a B2B data infrastructure SaaS that enables data contract authoring and enforcement. (more)
Opsera based in Palo Alto 🇺🇸 raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Prosperity7 Ventures. Opsera offers a Unified DevOps platform that tackles tool sprawl and accelerates delivery by automating toolchains and pipeline templates. (more)
Prowler from Maine 🇺🇸 secured $12.5 million in seed funding led by Decibel Partners. Prowler offers a comprehensive open-source platform for cloud security, providing teams with confidence in their security measures. (more)
Prowler, from Maine 🇺🇸, raised $12.5 million in seed funding led by Decibel Partners. Prowler offers a comprehensive open-source platform for cloud security, trusted by organisations to protect their digital environments. (more)
Parasail, from San Mateo 🇺🇸, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Basis Set Ventures. Parasail connects AI developers with a vast network of on-demand GPU compute, providing a scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for deploying AI models. (more)
ControlTheory, from Austin 🇺🇸, raised $5 million in seed funding led by Silverton Partners. ControlTheory is advancing observability by focusing on controllability, enabling deeper insights and proactive management of software systems. (more)
Ropes, from New York 🇺🇸, raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by GSV Ventures. Ropes is redefining coding assessments with AI-powered challenges that simulate on-site coding tests. (more)
Peliqan, from Gent 🇧🇪, raised $2.2 million in seed funding led by welovefounders. Peliqan.io offers an all-in-one data platform that merges low-code data warehousing for developers with no-code data access for business teams. (more)
🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions
airfocus, from Hamburg 🇩🇪, has been acquired by Lucid Software. airfocus is a modular product management platform tailored for product teams managing market-facing products, internal product management, and IT portfolio management. (more)
InterCloud, from Paris 🇫🇷, has been acquired by BSO. InterCloud is a leading Software-Defined Cloud Interconnect (SDCI) provider that simplifies global connectivity for businesses, offering secure, quick, and easy transformations. (more)
StormForge, from Arlington 🇺🇸, has been acquired by CloudBolt. StormForge provides cloud optimisation tools that help engineering teams ensure cost-effectiveness and high performance of cloud environments, minimising developer tasks. (more)
DeepConverse, from Sunnyvale 🇺🇸, has been acquired by Workato. DeepConverse specialises in enhancing customer service and support through its AI-driven platform. (more)
DTS Software, from Raleigh 🇺🇸, has been acquired by Precisely. DTS Software is known for its enterprise storage management technology, specialising in products for IBM z/OS, Hitachi VOS3, and Fujitsu MSP operating systems. (more)
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punkpeye / awesome-mcp-servers (✩ 12,589 stars this week) - A collection of MCP servers.
th-ch / youtube-music (✩ 5,834 stars this week) - YouTube Music Desktop App bundled with custom plugins (and built-in ad blocker / downloader).
ahmedkhaleel2004 / gitdiagram (✩ 4,363 stars this week) - Free, simple, fast interactive diagrams for any GitHub repository.
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