The last week of 2024 was filled with significant news from the startup world, including major fundraising announcements, notable acquisitions, and industry-shaping developments. As the year comes to a close, startups and venture capital firms are making moves to position themselves for success in 2025.

One of the most interesting stories of the week was the Clean Capital Certification, which saw over 20 venture capital firms, many of which invest in defense tech, self-attest that they have not and will not take money from U.S. geopolitical adversaries such as China and Russia. This move highlights the growing importance of ethical considerations in startup funding.

Meanwhile, the AI hype continues to distort aggregate VC data, according to Tribeca Venture Partners co-founder Brian Hirsch. Digging deeper, the fundraising landscape is radically different for non-AI startups, with many that raised a Series A round 18 months ago likely facing challenges in raising Series B funding. This serves as a reminder to look beyond the headlines and examine the underlying trends shaping the startup ecosystem.

In acquisition news, Grammarly is expanding its scope by acquiring productivity startup Coda, with Coda CEO and co-founder Shishir Mehrotra set to become the new CEO of Grammarly. Additionally, Perplexity acquired Carbon, a Seattle-based startup that connects large language models to external data before generating an answer, which could help Perplexity tap into "internal databases, cloud storage, or document repositories."

The week also saw several massive fundraising announcements, including Databricks' $10 billion Series J round, one of the largest in VC history. This mammoth round might be Databricks' last fundraiser before its highly anticipated IPO, although the CEO hasn't ruled out a 2026 IPO. Other notable fundraises included South African fintech Tyme Group's $250 million Series D round, Finnish wearable startup Oura's $200 million Series D funding round, and Canadian travel startup Hostaway's $365 million round.

In venture capital news, Marcy Venture Partners, Jay-Z's VC firm, merged with Pendulum Opportunities to form MarcyPen Capital Partners, which now has $900 million in assets under management. Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton announced that she's moving on to an advisory role, with 360 Venture Collective acquiring a significant stake in Backstage's management entity. G2 Venture Partners, a spinout of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers investing in climate and sustainability startups, is raising $750 million for a third fund, confirming LP bullishness for its thesis.

Finally, TechCrunch released a list of the 51 most disruptive startups of 2024, a collective effort with contributions from several members of the TechCrunch team. The list highlights the innovative companies that are shaping the future of technology and entrepreneurship.

As the year comes to a close, these developments demonstrate the dynamic nature of the startup ecosystem and set the stage for an exciting 2025. With major fundraises, strategic acquisitions, and industry-shaping trends, the future of startups looks bright.