| Hi, Agen. Twenty-three years ago, we had the Dot-Com Bubble. In 2008-2009, it was The Great Recession. But what do we call the current tech and startup market downturn? Perhaps one option is the “Unicorn Collapse,” posits Hans Swildens of Industry Ventures, an active investor during both prior downturns that’s now looking to acquire stakes in many of the heavily funded startups that have seen their valuations recede sharply. Industry Ventures is busier than ever, recently closing on a record $1.7 billion-plus across two new funds as it looks to buy up stakes of startups at discount prices. And these days, the cast of industry players looking to offload their stakes is quite wide — ranging from corporate investors to pension funds. See also: The Crunchbase Unicorn Board What do we mean when we call a company a startup? AI-focused investor Mikhail Taver of Taver Capital poses that question as he ponders whether a venture-backed company that’s established enough to buy other VC-backed companies is really a startup anymore and why those words matter anyway. Nobody could beat OpenAI rival Anthropic when it came to the largest U.S. startup funding deals this week, but a few tried. They include a startup building a commercial space station, other AI companies, and, of course, a slew of biotech startups. See also: The Crunchbase Megadeals Board The gaming sector was hardest-hit on our tech layoffs tracker last week, with nearly 900 workers in the industry losing their jobs. Need to pivot your startup, but scared to talk to your investors about it? Entrepreneur Artem Semjanow, who’s navigated two successful pivots — from from B2C to B2B, and then from a sneakers company to an AI health app — shares five strategies to help you gain investor support when navigating pivots. | 
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