☕ OpenAI hits $12 billion in annualized revenue, Apple continues losing AI experts to Meta & Zuckerberg signals Meta won't open source all AI superintelligence.
Figma’s IPO price hit a $19.3B valuation & More.
Tetris was the first video game played in space.
Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov brought a Game Boy to the MIR space station in 1993.
Forget gravity, he was stacking blocks in orbit.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Bigger moats, OpenAI model breakdown, investor databases, early liquidity, startup valuation, billboard stunts.
Figma’s IPO price hit a $19.3B valuation out of the gate.
Apple says DOJ lawsuit threatens core iPhone principles.
GitHub Copilot crosses 20 million all-time users.
Meta to spend up to $72B on AI infrastructure in 2025.
GenAI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7B downloads in first half of 2025.
Apple continues losing AI experts to Meta.
Zuckerberg signals Meta won’t open source all of its ‘superintelligence’ AI models.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Salient, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of AI-powered financial services technology, raised USD60M in funding. The round was led by Andreesen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, Michael Ovitz, and Y Combinator.
North Pole Security, a NYC-based provider of an enterprise-grade endpoint protection platform for macOS, raised $4M in Seed funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Caseflood.ai, a San Francisco, CA-based human-assisted AI intake team for law firms, raised $3,2M in funding. Backers included Acquisition.com, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Four Cities Capital, Elevation Capital, Amino Capital, Valia Ventures, Pioneer Fund, and angels like Kulveer Taggar, Will Drevno, Ben Bryant, and German Royal family, the Sayn-Wittgensteins.
Prophet Security, a Menlo Park, CA-based provider of an agentic AI for security operations centers (SOCs), raised $30M in a Series A funding. The round was led by Accel, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures.
C8 Health, a NYC-based provider of a practices implementation platform for healthcare, raised $12M in Series A funding. The round was led by Team8, with participation from 10D and Vertex Ventures Israel.
Runloop, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an enterprise-grade infrastructure platform that enables the development, evaluation and scalable deployment of AI coding agents, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by The General Partnership with participation from Blank Ventures.
Observe, a San Mateo, CA-based provider of an AI-powered observability company, raised $156M in Series C funding. The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures with participation from Madrona Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Snowflake Ventures and Capital One Ventures.
Motive, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform for the physical economy, raised $150m in funding. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from both existing investors and new investor AllianceBernstein.
Legion, a NYC-based browser-native AI Security Operations Center (SOC) platform, emerged from stealth with $38M in Seed and Series A funding. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from Accel and Picture Capital (co-leads on the earlier seed round), along with angel investors from leading tech companies, including Google, Crowdstrike, and Wiz.
Trustfull, a Milan, Italy-based provider of frictionless fraud prevention technology, closed €6M funding. The round was led by Seaya Ventures and Elevator Ventures, with the participation of existing investor United Ventures.
Kuvi.ai, a Toronto, Canada-based provider of a platform developing agentic finance services, raised $700K in Seed funding. The round was led by Moon Pursuit Capital.
JotPsych, a Washington, DC-based creator of an AI-powered scribe for behavioral health, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Base10 Partners.
ARO Network, a Singapore-based provider of a decentralized edge cloud platform, raised $2.1M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by NoLimit Holdings and Dispersion Capital, with participation from Escape Velocity, Maelstrom, and angels.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Verified Capital, a San Francisco, CA-based venture capital firm that backs tech companies at any stage of their journey, closed its debut fund, at $175m. LPs include or founders like Instacart cofounder and then CEO Apoorva Mehta, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, Harvey AI’s CEO Winston Weinberg and investors like Elad Gil, and institutions like Adam Street Partners, Commonfund and Northwestern University’s endowment.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Figma’s IPO price hit a $19.3B valuation out of the gate:
Figma priced its IPO shares at $33, raising $1.2 billion and hitting a $19.3 billion valuation, just shy of the $20B Adobe deal that was blocked in 2023.
The IPO was 40x oversubscribed, with high demand driving the final price above its projected $25–$32 range.
Most of the raised funds are going to existing shareholders, including CEO Dylan Field, who are selling roughly twice the number of shares offered by the company.
Apple says DOJ lawsuit threatens core iPhone principles:
Apple argues the lawsuit, which accuses the company of having a “smartphone monopoly", attacks its core design principles, warning a victory for the DOJ would degrade the iPhone’s valued privacy and security while reducing consumer choice in the marketplace.
The company pushes back on accusations about super apps, cloud streaming games, and messaging, stating that its rules already allow these services to be widely available and popular on the iPhone.
Apple further warns the case could set a dangerous precedent, empowering the government to heavily influence technology design and thus limit how companies can build unique, competitive products for consumers.
GitHub Copilot crosses 20 million all-time users:
GitHub Copilot has surpassed 20 million all-time users, with 5 million new signups in the last three months alone, though active user numbers remain undisclosed.
The tool is now used by 90% of Fortune 100 companies and has seen 75% enterprise growth quarter-over-quarter.
Despite competition from Cursor and others, GitHub Copilot remains well-positioned to dominate enterprise AI coding tools, supported by Microsoft’s reach and developer ecosystem.
Meta to spend up to $72B on AI infrastructure in 2025:
Meta plans to invest $66–72 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025, nearly doubling its previous year’s spend, with continued aggressive growth expected into 2026.
Major projects include AI “titan clusters” like Prometheus and Hyperion, with some data centers expected to consume enough power for millions of homes.
Meta is also heavily investing in AI talent through its new Superintelligence Labs unit, while exploring external financing models to support future infrastructure expansion.
GenAI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7B downloads in first half of 2025:
Generative AI apps hit 1.7 billion downloads and $1.87 billion in revenue in H1 2025, more than doubling their metrics from H2 2024.
Asia led download growth, while North America dominated in-app purchase market share; ChatGPT remained the top-grossing GenAI app globally.
ChatGPT usage patterns are nearing those of Google, with growing stickiness and use cases beyond search—covering health, shopping, and entertainment.
Apple continues losing AI experts to Meta:
Bowen Zhang is the fourth researcher to depart Apple’s foundational models group for Meta in a single month, joining the competitor's Superintelligence Labs to work on advanced AI projects.
The other recent departures include Tom Gunter, Mark Lee, and Ruoming Pang, the head of the foundational models team whose reported hiring will cost Meta a total of $200 million.
In response, Apple is marginally increasing pay for its foundational models employees, but the raises do not match the massive compensation packets that are being offered by competing technology companies.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Zuckerberg signals Meta won’t open source all of its ‘superintelligence’ AI models:
Mark Zuckerberg revealed Meta may not open source its most advanced AI models due to safety concerns as it pursues “personal superintelligence.”
This marks a shift from Meta’s earlier stance promoting open models like Llama; the company now signals a mix of open and closed models moving forward.
Meta’s AI strategy now focuses on integrating personal AI into devices like AR glasses, while continuing heavy investment through Meta Superintelligence Labs.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
All-In-One VC Interview Preparation Guide: With a leading investors group, we have created an all-in-one VC interview preparation guide for aspiring VCs. Don’t miss this. (Access Here)
Chief of Staff - Grey Line Partner | USA - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Value Creation - Cadeumen Capital | Spain - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Principal - Al Fund | USA - Apply Here
Fund Analyst - Baird Capital | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff to Founding Partner - One Way Venture | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Baird Capital | USA - Apply Here
Investor (AI) - Samsung Next | USA - Apply Here
Vice President - Baird Capital | USA - Apply Here
Operations Associate - Techstars | USA - Apply Here
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