Astera Labs going public and the Inflection-Microsoft AI saga

Today we have a grip of startup stories, and a venture capital item that isn’t as bad of news as it seems at first blush. Here’s the rundown:

Astera Labs is going public after pricing above-range. We’ll see how it trades today, but it’s good news that the first real tech IPO of the year set its share price at $36, higher than even its raised price interval.TigerEye’s $35 million round for business intelligence gives us a peek at how tech could help businesses navigate the future. There’s a YC connection as well, which is worth keeping in mind.Pocket FM’s mega round shows that consumer-focused technology plays can still pay handsomely. Even more notably, Pocket FM’s business model is contra-subscription, which is delightfully different.And then there’s the Inflection AI-Microsoft-saga, which is part startup story, part corporate venture capital story, and part antitrust story.We also touched on the boom in two-wheel electric vehicle companies in India, and why one pension fund’s move to lower its venture allocation isn’t as worrying as it might sound.

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