Skims, Scribe, Slay
Skims hits $5B and Scribe joins the unicorn club. Cursor, YC trends, and Fei-Fei Li's World Labs. Plus fresh roles and events for Hustlers!
This is Teli Labs’s weekly newsletter: Her Hustle, a place to learn all about the new and the next in female entrepreneurship. We highlight the women who are building startups—from those launching from dorm rooms to experienced professionals turning their bold visions into reality.
Welcome to the new readers who have joined us since the last issue!
If you haven’t yet, join our community of readers by subscribing below.
To read the full newsletter, please access it through our Substack site here.
Kim Kardashian & Emma Grede, Co-Founders of Skims, a shapewear and apparel brand, raised $225M at a $5B valuation led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
Jennifer Smith, Co-Founder & CEO of Scribe, an AI-powered workflow platform that turns processes into shareable playbooks, raised $75M at a $1.3B valuation led by Silversmith Capital Partners.
Amanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO of 1mind, an AI sales agent platform, raised $30M in Series A funding led by Battery Ventures.
Melisa Tokmak, Founder & CEO of Netic, an AI revenue engine that automates outreach, bookings, and analytics for home-service businesses, raised $23M in Series B funding led by Founders Fund.
Christine de Wendel, Co-Founder & CEO (US) of sunday, a scan-to-pay and ordering platform for restaurants, raised $21M in Series B funding led by DST Global Partners.
Emily Greenberg, Co-Founder & President of Joy, an AI-powered parenting support app, raised $14M in Series A funding co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Raga Partners.
Liz Dennett, Founder & CEO of Endolith, a bio-intelligence platform that uses AI-guided microbes to extract copper and critical minerals, raised $13.5M in Series A funding led by Squadra Ventures.
Jenny Shao, Founder & CEO of Robyn, an emotionally intelligent AI support app, raised $5.5M in seed funding led by M13.
Melissa Pancoast, Founder & CEO of The Beans, a financial wellness platform for frontline workers, raised $5.4M in seed funding led by Alloy Alchemist Fund.
Anna-Julia Storch (CEO) & Leonie Freisinger (CTO), Co-Founders of Dryft, an AI operating system automating manufacturing decisions, raised $5M in seed funding led by General Catalyst.
Gamma’s CEO shared the playbook behind scaling from $0 to $100M ARR and 70M users in under 2.5 years, covering one-day feature loops (masterclass in execution!), hiring top 0.01% talent, and influencer-driven growth.
World Labs, led by Fei-Fei Li, launched Marble, a 3D world-generation model that lets anyone create persistent, high-fidelity 3D worlds from a single image, video, or text prompt.
Cursor raised $2.3B at a $29.3B valuation, nearly triple its June valuation, to accelerate development of its in-house model Composer. Cursor also acquired Growth by Design Talent, a startup recruiting firm, amid media discussion about Cursor’s hiring practices, which reportedly include posting candidate names in a #hiring-ideas Slack channel, swarming consensus “yes” candidates with attention, and running two-day onsites for engineering and design roles.
YC has shifted under Garry Tan. Founders are younger (avg 26), over 50% now come from top-20 universities, more previously worked at YC-backed startups, and nearly 85% of new YC companies are based in the Bay Area.
Forbes highlighted the top startups from YC’s Fall 2025 batch, noting the rise of B2B AI infrastructure companies including Multifactor (zero-trust security for AI agents), Metorial (MCP infrastructure), Unsiloed (unstructured data APIs), Hyperspell (AI memory layers), and Lightberry (humanoid interaction software).
Creators already have what most founders fight for: trust and built-in distribution, with new support from Slow Ventures’ $60M creator fund, a16z’s New Media Fellowship, and Erica Wenger’s Park Rangers Capital.
Rudiment Skincare, a woman-founded biotech company, is pioneering the first non-invasive RNA patch test that uses mRNA analysis and AI to create precision skincare formulas tailored to your unique skin biology. Use code EARLY2929 for 30% off your first order.
Vine is back! diVine, a reboot that restores 150k+ archived Vines and lets users post new ones, uses decentralized tech and blocks suspected AI-generated content.
Fireflies’ CTO revealed their “AI notetaker” began as two founders manually joining 100+ meetings as “Fred from Fireflies,” silently taking notes by hand while living on pizza. Wow.
🗂️ DonorAtlas is hiring a Software Engineer and Founding Customer Success Manager in NYC for its donor intelligence platform.
📅 Luma is hiring a Chief of Staff in NYC to help scale its platform powering millions of event each month.
🎨 Icon is hiring Creative Strategists to help build AI-powered advertising products for brands.
📈 IntentPost is hiring a Head of Growth + interns for its platform that turns digital intent signals into direct mail for B2B teams.
📞 Traba is hiring SDRs in NYC to start in January 2026 for its staffing platform helping businesses fill hourly shifts.
📊 Ramp is hiring a Summer 2026 Economist Intern to analyze spend data and build economic indicators
📣 Vocal is hiring part-time meme makers, fan-cam editors, social media fellows, and early-career community/partnerships roles at its creator-driven social impact media company.
🎬 Golpo (YC S25) is hiring Marketing & Content Interns to help grow its AI platform that turns any script or document into an explainer video.
📍 Unfabled is hiring a Founder’s Associate at its London-based women’s health startup transforming access to wellness products.
✍️ Canary Technologies is hiring a freelance Content Marketing Editor to support its hospitality software platform.
💁♀️ Teli Labs matches and introduces young talent to founders at top early-stage startups & SMBs. Apply to join our talent pool!
November 16 | ⚙️ Dex Cafe: Productivity Hackers Meetup (SF)
November 18 | 🧠 AI & Early-Stage Tech in Decarbonizing the Built World (Boston)
November 18 | 🛠️ Bessemer Builders Night (Boston)
November 19 | 💻 Cursor Women in AI (SF)
November 19 | 🧘 Recovery Night: Sauna, Cold Plunge & Founder Mixer (NYC)
November 21 | 💡 AI for Social Good: Women’s Vibe Coding Hackathon (SF)
Hosting an event for women in entrepreneurship? Share the details with Her Hustle’s community by filling out this form!
🚀 Share this newsletter with a friend and start growing your network.
💁♀️ Connect with me on LinkedIn for daily insights on women in entrepreneurship.
📈 Partner with Teli if you are a early-stage startup interested in hiring top talent.
🌟 Promote yourself to our subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
Feel free to share your feedback on this newsletter with me by filling out this form!
Love,
Daniela, Adrian, & The Teli Team