Hi there,
Welcome to the 125th edition of Heartcore Insights, curated with 🖤 by the Heartcore Team.
If you missed the past newsletters, you can catch up here. Now, let’s dive in!
Do SaaS Founders Dream of System Prompts? – Viet’s Monologues
In a recent essay, Viet Le argues that the future of SaaS may not lie in standalone products, but in AI-native middleware powered by system prompts.
SaaS is collapsing into middleware. Application logic, workflows and even interfaces are being replaced by dynamic prompts processed by AI agents – software becomes reactive, not prescriptive.
Interfaces are ephemeral or vanish entirely. Tools like Cursor, Granola and Langdock generate UIs only when needed, or let agents act invisibly in the background, augmenting user workflows with minimal friction.
AI-native startups wedge in with familiar UX, then take over. Cursor looks like a dev tool; Langdock feels like a chat. But both quickly deepen into orchestration platforms, managing data and workflows across systems.
Legacy SaaS players face a hard choice: open up or get abstracted away. Those who expose their systems of record via APIs or MCP can remain relevant. Others risk becoming invisible behind the middleware.
The entire software stack is shifting. Business rules, once hardcoded, now live inside prompts. Static UI flows give way to real-time logic generation and orchestration.
In this new model, the prompt becomes the product surface. And that redefines what it means to “build software”.
Uncomfortable and Unanswered Questions I Have as an AI Investor – Venture Reflections
The idea that AI is disrupting jobs at an unprecedented speed feels obvious. Charles Hudson argues the reality is even more unsettling: the disruption is already here, and no one is in charge.
We told a generation to learn to code. Now those jobs are disappearing. The promise of tech as a reliable career path is being undermined by rapid advances in automation, especially for junior roles.
Companies are moving faster than the technology itself. CEOs at firms like Shopify and Duolingo are embracing “AI-first” narratives, not always to replace workers directly, but to restructure in ways that reduce headcount.
No one wants to take ownership of the disruption. Companies optimise for efficiency, and governments move too slowly. Displaced workers are left in limbo, with no clear support system.
There’s a growing divide inside companies. Executives see AI as upside; junior employees see it as an existential threat. Many feel they trained for a world that may no longer exist.
This wave feels different. More output, less labor. Unlike past tech shifts that created jobs, this one seems focused on removing them. And the institutions that would normally absorb the shock aren’t ready.
The core question lingers: who’s responsible for navigating this transition? Right now, it feels like no one.
AI Friends Are a Good Thing, Actually, Digital Native
How To Make Money in Venture, Josh Kopelman (First Round Capital)
Meta brings Voice Mode, NotebookLM adds 50 languages, Qwen drops Omni 3B, and more, Voice AI Newsletter
Apple innovation and execution, Benedict Evans (Mosaic Ventures)
Quantifying the Impact of GenAI Developer Tools, Asanka Jayasuriya (8VC)
The Defense Brief: April 2025, Louise Boucher
🇪🇺 Notable European early-stage rounds
Solda.AI, a Germany-based startup specialising in telesales automation, raises $4M with Accel - link
Alice, a Denmark-based learning platform raises $4.8M with Cherry/YC - link
Arondite, a UK-based defence-tech startup strengthening human-machine cooperation in defence, raises $10M with Index - link
Duna, a Netherlands-based business identity platform, raises €10.7M with Index - link
StackOne, a UK-based startup enabling easier API integration, raises $20M with GV - link
IXI 🖤, a Finland-based startup building world’s first autofocus eyewear, raises $36.5M with Plural/Heartcore/Eurazeo - link
🇺🇸 Notable US early-stage rounds
AltaResource, a mineral-extraction startup, raises $4.4M with DCVC - link
Fastino AI, a developer of task-focussed language models, raises $17.5M with Khosla/Insight - link
Wisdom AI, a data startup focussed on reducing hallucinations, raises $23M with Coatue - link
Miden, a zero-knowledge-powered blockchain system, raises $25M with A16Z - link
Blooming Health, a social care technology platform, raises $26M with Insight - link
Nuvo, a social-like network for B2B trades, raises $34M with Sequoia - link
🔭 Notable later stage rounds
NewLimit, a US-based longevity drug startup, raises $130M with Kleiner Perkins - link
Quantum Systems, a Germany-based developer of AI-powered aerial intelligence systems, raises $160M with Balderton - link
Persona, a US-based verified identity startup, raises $200M with Founders Fund/Coatue - link
True Anomaly, a US-based developer of autonomous spacecrafts, raises $260M with Accel - link
Rippling, a US-based provider of HR software, raises $450M with Elad Gil/Founders Fund - link
Wonder, a US-based hybrid food hall and cloud kitchen operator, raises $600M with NEA/Accel/GV - link
🖤 Heartcore News
IXI 🖤 raises $36.5M in Series A to build world’s first autofocus eyewear. 🤓
James Maund, co-CEO and co-founder of Voyfai 🖤 joins Forbes 30U30. 🏆
Blast 🖤 is expanding to the US, with opening of New York office. 🇺🇸
Henley Vazquez, co-founder of Fora Travel 🖤 has been named to the 2024 Entreprenista 100 List. 🥳
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