Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
A Delaware court reinstated Elon Musk’s $56bn pay package after axing it in 2024. Looks like Christmas for him came early this year, though we’re sure there will be legal sequels. Meanwhile, former ComplYant founder Shiloh Luckey is under investigation for allegedly spending VC money on a lavish Caribbean wedding and Super Bowl tickets. This might be a good week to reread your expense policy. If none of that screams ‘festive cheer,’ our handpicked books and videos below are a far safer way to spend the holidays. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Lovable triples valuation to $6.6bn after explosive growth
Swedish AI coding startup Lovable raised $330m at a $6.6bn valuation, just five months after a $1.8bn Series A. The 2024-born company hit $100m ARR in eight months, then doubled it four months later. With Klarna, Uber, and Zendesk onboard, it now sees 100K+ new projects daily. Despite pressure to move to Silicon Valley, CEO Anton Osika says staying in Sweden paid off.
Yann LeCun seeks €3bn valuation for stealth AI startup
Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun is raising €500m for a new venture (Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs) targeting a €3bn pre-launch valuation. The Turing Award winner is bringing on Nabla CEO Alexandre LeBrun to lead the company, which aims to build AI systems that understand the physical world.
Oracle to lead TikTok US buyout in $14bn joint venture
TikTok is forming a US-based joint venture with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, set to close by January 2026, in a long-awaited move to separate from ByteDance. The deal values TikTok US at $14bn, gives American investors majority control, and installs a US board, while ByteDance retains 19.9% and profits from licensing its algorithm.
Germany launches €130bn fund
Germany unveiled the Deutschlandfonds, a €130bn fund-of-funds designed to channel pension and private capital into energy, defence, and DeepTech. Anchored by a €30bn state guarantee, the fund targets SMEs and scale-ups starved for growth capital. It's a major play to plug funding gaps and revive industrial competitiveness.
What do you meme?
Food for thought
Is AI rewriting rules on growth?
Loveable’s Head of Growth Elena Verna’s podcast appearance at Lenny’s is a look into the future on how growth will look like in the AI era:
“The channels in which marketing right now works are changing quite a bit. […] When you’re talking about organic strategy, if you asked me that five years ago, I would have said: 'that’s SEO. […]'. If you ask me, what’s your organic marketing strategy right now To me, it’s all about social. What is my CEO posting? My team posting? What is my creator economy doing across all of the social platforms?”
Her episode is a gem for all things growth. We can wholeheartedly recommend it, find it here.
