Sequoia Capital

Klaviyo Acquires Agency, Hires Elias Torres as CPO

Klaviyo has agreed to acquire the team, proprietary software and intellectual property of Agency, an AI-native customer success startup founded in 2023 that had raised $32 million from investors including Sequoia, Menlo Ventures and Felicis. The transaction, with terms undisclosed, is expected to close in Q3 2026 and the Agency team (about 25 people) will join Klaviyo after closing. Agency co-founder Elias Torres will become Klaviyo’s Chief Product Officer, reporting to co-founder and co-CEO Andrew Bialecki, and will lead Klaviyo’s agent product line, including Composer and Customer Agent. Klaviyo says the acquisition will accelerate its AI-driven customer experience efforts as it aims to scale the combined agent products to hundreds of thousands of businesses, leveraging infrastructure that stores over nine billion consumer profiles.

European tech show raises $1.6M, launches five-day live show

London-based European Technology Network (ETN), founded by Luke Knight and Ronan Chambers, is expanding from a two-day to a five-day-a-week live show beginning June 27. ETN has live-streamed on X and YouTube and has amassed more than 5 million views. The network announced a $1.6 million seed round led by investors including Powerhouse Capital, Axel Springer SE, LadBible and angel investors from OpenAI and DeepMind, and is moving into a larger Kings Cross studio, expanding its eight-person team and launching a newsletter. ETN aims to be a regular press-stop for European startups, hosting interviews, debates, roundtables and pitching segments; sponsors include Polymarket, Base and ElevenLabs. The founders position ETN as a faster-paced regional counterpart to US shows like TBPN and say they intend to amplify discourse around AI, venture capital and European tech success.

David Vélez and Robin Vince Join OpenAI Boards

OpenAI announced the appointment of David Vélez and Robin Vince to the boards of the OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC. Vélez is the founder, Chairman, and Global CEO of Nubank, a major Latin American digital bank, while Vince is Chairman and CEO of BNY, a long-established global financial services company. OpenAI says both bring experience in technology-driven transformation, governance, philanthropy, and expanding access to services. Bret Taylor, Chair of the OpenAI boards, welcomed the appointments. The announcement highlights the executives' prior roles and philanthropic and board activities.