Samantha Stokes

Midwest, New York

reporting on tech and startups @businessinsider (dm for signal) and organizing semi-infrequent journalism parties. marathoner x3.

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Articles

Gaurav Jain wrote the playbook for pre-seed investing. A decade later, he's running one of the industry's most prolific early-stage funds.

1 day ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

For Gaurav Jain, there's no such thing as "too early" when it comes to making a VC investment. During the last decade, he's built a reputation as one of the most influential early-stage investors in venture capital: first at Founder Collective, and, since 2016, at Afore Capital, the fund he cofounded to make pre-seed investments at a time where rounds of at that size and dollar amount had a negative connotation in the industry.
Gaurav Jain wrote the playbook for pre-seed investing. A decade later, he's running one of the industry's most prolific early-stage funds.

1 day ago | flipboard.com | Samantha Stokes

NowThe Three Archetypes To Fintech Success In LatAM (& Emerging Markets)Latin America is among the most dynamic fintech regions in the world. In 2024 alone, LATAM fintechs raised +$2.6 billion in venture . There are over 30 fintech unicorns across the region. While global attention focuses on the "what" of these startups, the "how" is equally revealing. How do these …19 hours agoBuild Your Passive Money MachineSmall businesses investing can help build high returns.
Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck Palantir and Google alums used to raise $1.2 million to build an AI agent that acts like a junior product manager

1 day ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

AI agents are launching into product management, and one startup in the space is super-charging its growth with a fresh round of funding. The startup, ThriveAI, just launched from stealth and announced it raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding, Business Insider has learned exclusively. 500 Global led the funding round, which was oversubscribed. Iterative and Hustle Fund also participated.
Check out the exclusive pitch deck that landed no-code AI agent startup StackAI a $16 million funding round from Lobby VC

5 days ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

Agentic AI continues to be a bright spot for VC investing in 2025, and one startup in the space just landed a fresh round of funding to bring no-code agents into the workplace. The startup, StackAI, just raised a $16 million Series A funding round led by Lobby Capital. LifeX Ventures, Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch, Weaviate CEO Bob Van, Gradient, startup accelerator Y Combinator, and Epakon Capital also participated in the round.
Unicorn enterprise startup Sentry is acquiring Emerge Tools, a YC-backed suite of mobile app developer tools that counts OpenAI as a customer

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

Josh Cohenzadeh and Noah Martin have been building startups together since they were young teenagers and co-founded Emerge Tools in 2020. Sentry 2025-05-06T13:00:01Z Facebook Email X LinkedIn Copy link An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? .
Mit diesem Pitchdeck hat ein KI-Adtech-Startup 6 Millionen Dollar eingesammelt

1 week ago | businessinsider.de | Samantha Stokes

Paramark-Mitbegründer Pete Belknap (CTO) und Pranav Piyush (CEO) sowie Gründungsingenieur Hourann Bosci. Paramark In einer schwierigen Wirtschaftslage, in der sich viele Amerikaner auf eine Rezession gefasst machen, haben es die Marketingteams der Unternehmen schwerer denn je, ihren Wert zu beweisen. Ein Startup arbeitet daran, dies zu ändern.
Here's an exclusive look at the 34-slide deck this generative AI adtech startup used to raise $6 million from Greylock

1 week ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

Paramark co-founders Pete Belknap (CTO) and Pranav Piyush (CEO), and founding engineer Hourann Bosci Paramark 2025-05-01T15:00:02Z Facebook Email X LinkedIn Copy link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? . AI startup Paramark has raised $8 million total from Greylock and other investors.
Meet Mira Murati, the former OpenAI CTO raising $2 billion for her secretive AI startup

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

Mira Murati is working on a secretive AI startup called Thinking Machines Lab. Philip Pacheco/Bloomberg via Getty Images 2025-04-23T09:00:02Z Facebook Email X LinkedIn Copy link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? . Murati founded her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, in 2024 and seeks a record-breaking $2B seed.
Millionen für Artisan: Startup will Mitarbeiter durch KI-Agenten ersetzen

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.de | Samantha Stokes

Artisan-Gründer Jaspar Carmichael-Jack und Sam Stallings. Artisan Artisan hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, eine Reihe von repetitiven Aufgaben zu ersetzen, die von Menschen erledigt werden. Dafür plant es, die Mitarbeitenden durch KI-Agenten zu ersetzen.
AI cybersecurity agent startup Reco just raised $25 million from Insight Partners

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.com | Leena Rao |Samantha Stokes |Henry Blodget

Reco co-founders Ofer Klein, Gal Nakash, and Tal Shapira Reco 2025-04-22T11:45:02Z Facebook Email X LinkedIn Copy link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? . AI startup Reco just raised a $25 million extension round from Insight Partners and other investors.

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Samantha Stokes @stokessamanthaj

23 Apr 25

New for @businessinsider - Everything you need to know about Mira Murati, the former OpenAI CTO who's now raising $2 billion for her new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab https://t.co/KkGBUOETTe

Samantha Stokes @stokessamanthaj

27 Jan 25

RT @julia_hornstein: i’m @BusinessInsider covering vc/startups! investors and founders, say hi: [email protected] 👩‍💻📈

Samantha Stokes @stokessamanthaj

10 Jan 25

RT @resolveai: Proud to be featured in the latest @BusinessInsider article spotlighting the transformative potential of AI agents in tech.…

Samantha Stokes

Articles

Gaurav Jain wrote the playbook for pre-seed investing. A decade later, he's running one of the industry's most prolific early-stage funds.

Gaurav Jain wrote the playbook for pre-seed investing. A decade later, he's running one of the industry's most prolific early-stage funds.

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck Palantir and Google alums used to raise $1.2 million to build an AI agent that acts like a junior product manager

Check out the exclusive pitch deck that landed no-code AI agent startup StackAI a $16 million funding round from Lobby VC

Unicorn enterprise startup Sentry is acquiring Emerge Tools, a YC-backed suite of mobile app developer tools that counts OpenAI as a customer

Mit diesem Pitchdeck hat ein KI-Adtech-Startup 6 Millionen Dollar eingesammelt

Here's an exclusive look at the 34-slide deck this generative AI adtech startup used to raise $6 million from Greylock

Meet Mira Murati, the former OpenAI CTO raising $2 billion for her secretive AI startup

Millionen für Artisan: Startup will Mitarbeiter durch KI-Agenten ersetzen

AI cybersecurity agent startup Reco just raised $25 million from Insight Partners

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