Announcing Inspired Fund IV: $450M to back early-stage founders:

Thanks @TradedVC for the shoutout!

Thanks @Cookie for chatting with @alexavontobel on @InspiredCap Fund IV!

I prefer to say "east coast hair, west coast flair" but alas thanks to @Cookie for the coverage of our newest fund

Run your entire business on Rho. Introducing LLC formation. Form your company and apply for business banking in one flow. Then send invoices, pay bills and manage cards and expenses in the same place. Start your business today.

Congrats to the @standinsurance team on their $70M Series C at a $1B valuation! Since backing Stand in 2024, we’ve watched them rebuild home insurance from first principles, using physics and AI to simulate how each home will perform in a wildfire, hurricane, and beyond, then helping make it more resilient. With a billion-dollar weather disaster now striking the U.S. every 10 days, insurance can’t keep pricing risk by looking backward. Stand’s approach is working, now insuring more than $10B in property, up from $1B a year ago. We’re so excited to keep backing @danpres, @jasonxmueller, @samshank, and @billclerico as they build the future of home insurance.

Today @standinsurance announced $70M at a $1B valuation, led by @Saga_Ventures. A year ago, we insured $1B of property. Today it's $10B. Disasters follow the laws of physics. Insurance should too. Here's what our team is building:

Next week, season 2 of our podcast—Inspired—launches! We have a truly INCREDIBLE line up and I couldn’t be more excited. The next decade is being built *right now.* We sit down with the founders building the future in AI, rebuilding the industries we depend on most, like healthcare and defense. We'll dig into what's actually coming, what keeps them up at night, and what the most AMBITIOUS version of the future could look like. If you’re looking to be Inspired by the next decade, this is the place to tune in. Subscribe to Inspired with Alexa von Tobel: YouTube: ordnl.link/Aw8eig7 Spotify: ordnl.link/A8jH6Rw Apple: ordnl.link/uVnJX9Y @InspiredCap

AI agents can do a lot, but they still hit a wall when the work moves into the real world. Someone has to make the call, handle the payment, confirm the booking, or run the errand. That is the problem our portfolio company @duckbillai has been solving behind the scenes, powering 30M+ real-world interactions for several of the AI agents you may already use. Today they're opening it up to everyone as @getseaworthy, a single API integration that lets any agent complete real-world tasks reliably and at scale, with humans as the backstop. We're proud to back the team and excited to see what builders do with it. If you're building agents, or know someone who is, we'd love to make an introduction!

Our founder and managing partner, @alexavontobel, sat down with @WallStManeet at the @Forbes Future of Work Summit to talk investing in the future of work and building a human economy in the age of AI. It’s something we’ve thought about for a long time at @InspiredCap, and it’s a big reason we invested in @trywindmill, an AI company that bets on humans. They’re rethinking performance reviews so companies can see and grow talent they already have! Thank you @Forbes and @WallStManeet for having us, and was so fun meeting @RealColinRocker backstage!

If you're an engineer who wants to build AI, from physical automation to insurance to customer experience, check out these roles: BrightAI — Senior/Staff Firmware Engineer | SF @KalepaInsurance — Forward Deployed Engineer | NY @Scowtt2025 — Senior Staff / Staff Software Engineer | SF/Seattle @regal_ai — Engineering Manager | NY Share or tag someone who might be a good fit. Join our talent portal to stay on our radar for roles across Inspired's portfolio. ordnl.link/ApchEks

Introducing agentic engagement surveys from Windmill 🎉 Slack-native. Easy to complete. Easy to analyze. Plus MCP support, so you can answer or analyze from your own agent. Blog: to.gowindmill.com/d9H46hK Live demo + Q&A with our CEO next Friday: to.gowindmill.com/GUonmYB

Everyone's asking what AI is going to replace. We've been asking what it can't for years. It can't automate real human connection. The experiences we share. The memories that come from them. That's why we bet on the experiential consumer, businesses built around real spaces and real people. We're already backing companies like @arketafitness and Buywander because of it. Read the full thesis: ordnl.link/Qe5Tdg2

Every morning, 1 in 8 Americans put their teeth in. Today, our founders, @danielmhanover and @tonioloko, wrote to them. A full-page ad in The New York Times on why we built Dandy Fusion™ Dentures. If you wear dentures, love someone who does, or fit them for a living, this letter is for you. meetdandy.com/nyt

Founders ask me when they should invest in brand. My honest answer: as an early-stage investor at @InspiredCap, the most important thing to me is the founder. But as AI makes it easier to start anything, brand becomes one of the few things that actually sets you apart. So, built credibility first. Brand next. Get the order right.

The world is obsessed right now with what AI can automate, optimize, and predict — and rightly so, given how much is changing. But in all that focus on artificial intelligence, it's easy to lose sight of something simpler: real joy, in real life, for real people. Not every great business is trying to replace a human task. Some of the best ones are just trying to make an ordinary day a little more fun. That’s where Buywander comes in. Buywander is an auction-based marketplace connecting value-seeking buyers with returned and overstocked goods from vetted retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Home Depot - and the best part is that every auction starts at $1. We're thrilled to announce that Inspired led Buywander's $21M Series A. We've been impressed by Jordan and Brock's leadership since we first started talking with them over a year ago, and it shows in how far they've taken this. Buywander started as one warehouse in Spokane and has now grown to eight cities nationwide, with recent launches in Denver and Chicago and an upcoming opening in Minneapolis. Excited to welcome Jordan, Brock, and the Buywander team to the portfolio! Read why we invested here: ordnl.link/waTg2MW Read more in Axios here:ordnl.link/JztOEnR