Tracksuit raises mammoth $42m Series B
Plus: One piece of new research throws cold water on A.I hype while another makes us even more concerned.
Happy Thursday!
We are almost to the weekend team. Let’s not waste too much time and just get into it. Slightly shorter newsletter today but with an absolute banger of a headline startup story in the form of Tracksuit’s recent spectacular raise.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Tracksuit raises mammoth $42m Series B
Event: Innovate and elevate: Workshop for startups and SMEs
Apple research paper throws some cold water on A.I hype
ChatGPT is showing some alarming self preservation instincts, former researcher claims
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or simply recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Finn and the CAFFEINE team
Tracksuit raises mammoth $42m Series B: One of the absolute shining startup success stories of the past year is been Tracksuit, the always-on brand tracking platform that helps marketers and agencies measure and communicate the value of brand-building.
Today they announced a $42 million Series B funding round – one of the largest to ever Series B rounds to be raised by a Kiwi business. The round was led by commerce enablement and consumer brand investor VMG Partners, with participation from existing backers Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, Altos Ventures, and Footwork.
“Tracksuit is a great product serving a larger market. But that’s true for many companies that never come close to Tracksuit’s growth. The magic in this case is their execution. It is unmatched,” says Icehouse Ventures CEO Robbie Paul
“Of the 360 companies we have funded, Tracksuit has been fastest to $1m, fastest to $10m, and fastest to $20m revenue. And they don’t appear to be slowing down.”
I caught up with co-founder Connor Archbold for a quick chat yesterday, who was feeling understandably elated.“I feel grateful for the team and honored to be able to lead it. It's just really exciting to be able to lean into this incredible opportunity even more,” Connor said.
Check back next week on Caffeine for a longer form interview with Connor, including his advice for founders looking to replicate Tracksuit’s success and the challenges that come with scale.
Event - Innovate and elevate: Workshop for startups and SMEs: Great event for our Auckland startup community coming up next week. A dynamic, one-day workshop from Dentons and our friends at MoA tailored specifically for startups and SMEs. Join on Wednesday 18 June 2025 in Auckland for a high-impact event designed to equip you with the legal and strategic tools you need to take your business to the next level.
What you’ll get:
Expert speakers – Hear firsthand from business and legal experts with deep experience in startups.
Interactive sessions – Participate in engaging, solution-focused discussions of the problems that startups face.
Networking opportunities – Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, potential collaborators, and industry mentors.
Innovative strategies – Explore proven and emerging techniques for growth, innovation, and long-term success.
Register interest here.
Apple research paper throws some cold water on A.I hype: It’s Thursday and the day we like to check in on the wider ecosystem and surprise surprise, there’s an ocean of A.I news to parse. One that caught my eye in particular was Apple researchers publishing a fairly devasting paper called ‘The Illusion of Thinking’.
The paper calls into question the capability of so-called ‘LRMS’ or Large reasoning models, the latest A.I models which take longer to ‘think’ through solutions and have been touted as the biggest recent step toward AGI or artificial general intelligence. The paper shows that when faced with puzzles of a certain style and complexity, the models have a ‘complete accuracy collapse’.
For mega nerds who want to read the full paper, or ironically put it through their A.I assistant of choice, it’s here. For those old school people who want to read what a real human summarised of the report, check out Stuff’s piece here.
We’re excited to partner with BNZ. As New Zealand's largest business bank, BNZ shares our mission to support the next wave of founders and operators. Over the coming months, we’ll be working together to share insights, tools, and stories that help you grow smarter and faster. Keep an eye out every Thursday for content powered by BNZ.
ChatGPT is showing some alarming self preservation instincts, former researcher claims: Just incase you were feeling quite secure that the future of A.I might not be as scary as you think, adding some balance with this parting shot. In a blog post, Steven Adler makes the unsettling claim “My latest research finds that ChatGPT prioritizes its survival over preventing harm to users, in some simulated tests.”
He’s careful to point out that this is a problem not just in the still relatively unlikely ‘A.I takeover’ scenario but could cause serious issues well before that point if A.I models act unpredictably to preserve themselves over following direction. Read the full post here.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co