☕ Cursor raised $900 Million, Amazon tests humanoid robots for package delivery & Trump–Musk clash wipes out $150B in Tesla’s market value.
Peter Thiels' Founders Fund Invested $1 Billion in defence startup, OpenAI challenges order to save all ChatGPT logs.
Falling asleep too fast is a red flag. If you knock out in under 5 minutes, you’re probably sleep-deprived. Ideally, it should take 10-15 minutes, so if you’re out cold the second your head hits the pillow, your body is basically begging for rest.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: MVP test, ICP guide, big problems, funding template, PE drop, fractional execs, 100T tokens, Cursor’s rise, seed tips, legal docs.
Anysphere startup behind the coding assistant Cursor has raised $900 million.
North America dominates AI VC funding despite political uncertainty.
WWDC 2025: what to expect from Apple’s biggest developer event.
Perplexity hits 780M queries in May, plans browser to boost growth.
Google updates Gemini 2.5 Pro, boosts coding and reasoning skills.
Amazon forms new R&D group to explore agentic AI and robotics.
Apple loses bid to pause app store reform.
OpenAI challenges order to save all ChatGPT logs.
Amazon tests humanoid robots for package delivery.
Trump–Musk clash wipes out $150B in Tesla’s market value.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
⏱️ Read Time: 3 minutes
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Anduril, a U.S.-based defense tech startup, raised $2.5 billion in Series G funding at a $30.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Founders Fund, which invested $1 billion—the largest check in its history. Existing investors also participated.
Anysphere, a San Francisco-based AI startup behind the coding assistant Cursor, has raised $900 million at a $9.9 billion valuation. The round was led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and DST Global.
Shield Technology Partners, a NYC-based managed service provider platform, raised an initial funding of over $100M. The round was led by founding investors Thrive Holdings & ZBS Partners.
bolttech, a Singapore-based global insurtech company, added Sumitomo Corporation, and Iberis Capital as strategic investors. Sumitomo Corporation and Iberis Capital, which joined Dragon Fund, Baillie Gifford, Generali’s Lion River, and others. Their participation marked the close of bolttech’s Series C funding round, with shares acquired by Series C investors in the amount of US$147m, reflecting a valuation of US$2.1 billion.
Signify Bio, a Dallas, TX-based biotechnology company harnessing the human body for the production of in situ protein therapeutics, raised $15M in initial funding. The round was led by Actium Group with participation from the Gates Foundation Strategic Investment Fund, Danaher Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, and BrightEdge, the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) venture capital arm.
Cosm Medical, a Toronto, Canada-based medical device company, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed+ funding. The round was led by iGan Parters with participation from Spring Impact Capital and angels.
Flank, a Berlin, Germany-based company building an autonomous AI legal agent for enterprise teams, raised $10M in funding. The round was led by Insight Partners with participation from Gradient Ventures.
Thread AI, a NYC-based AI powered platform for enterprises to build, connect, and manage workflows and agents, raised $20m in Series A funding. The round was led by Greycroft with participaiton from Index Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Meritech Capital, and Homebrew.
Nectar Social, a Seattle, WA-based provider of an agentic social commerce platform for brands, raised $10.6M in Pre-Seed and Seed funding. The rounds were co-led by True Ventures and GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Trust Fund by Sophia Amoruso, BAM Ventures, Mercury Fund, Charge Ventures, Flying Fish Ventures, XRC Ventures and FAB Ventures.
Crabi, a Mexico City, Mexico-based provider of an auto insurance platform, raised $13.6M in funding. The round was led by Kaszek and IGNIA, with participation from 30N Ventures, Redwood Ventures, Carao Ventures, Azuro Capital, Newtopia VC, and other investors.
OBT Live, a Liverpool, UK-based company dedicated to helping businesses with their LivOps, raised £2.25M in Series A funding. The round, which valued the business at more than £10M, was led by NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance.
Filament Syfter, a London, UK-based provider of an AI-enabled data engine for private market dealmakers, raised $4.8M in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP Capital.
Aeon, a Zurich, Switzerland-based AI preventive health platform, raised €8.2m in seed funding. The round was led by Concentric, with participation from Calm/Storm Ventures, GoHub, Kadmos, EWOR and angel Daniel Gutenberg.
Paytient Capital, a Columbia, MO-based healthcare payments company, received $40M from Trinity Capital. The company intends to use the funds to support its expansion into large group employer-sponsored plans, alternative health plans, the ACA marketplace, and Medicare.
Aive, a Paris, France-based provider of a video post-production automation platform, raised €12M in Series A funding. The round was led by Invus.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
North America dominates AI VC funding despite political uncertainty:
North American AI startups raised $69.7B across 1,528 deals from February to May 2025, far outpacing Europe ($6.4B) and Asia ($3B).
Despite Trump-era policies cutting research grants and tightening immigration, U.S. innovation still attracts the majority of global AI venture capital.
In 2025 so far, North America has claimed 86.2% of global AI VC funding — up from 75.6% in 2024 — cementing its lead in AI investment.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
WWDC 2025: what to expect from Apple’s biggest developer event:
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 19 (possibly renamed iOS 26), marking the most significant design overhaul since iOS 7, with visual elements inspired by visionOS.
New AI features may include smarter Siri, health insights, app enhancements, and improved Shortcuts, though overall AI progress remains underwhelming.
Apple may launch a new gaming app, AI-powered AirPods features like live translation and sleep detection, and updates across macOS, tvOS, and watchOS — but no major hardware announcements are expected.
Perplexity hits 780M queries in May, plans browser to boost growth:
AI search engine Perplexity processed 780 million queries in May, with 20% month-over-month growth, CEO Aravind Srinivas said.
The company is developing a browser called Comet, aiming to transition from answering queries to completing actions—calling it a “cognitive operating system.”
Comet will help Perplexity track user behavior more deeply, enabling premium ad sales similar to Google’s strategy; launch expected in coming weeks.
Google updates Gemini 2.5 Pro, boosts coding and reasoning skills:
Google has released an updated preview of Gemini 2.5 Pro, with improvements in coding, math, science, and reasoning benchmarks.
The model now delivers better-formatted, more creative responses, following developer feedback on the earlier version.
Available immediately on AI Studio, Vertex AI, and the Gemini app, with general rollout expected in a few weeks.
Amazon forms new R&D group to explore agentic AI and robotics:
Amazon is launching a new R&D group focused on agentic AI, housed within its hardware division, Lab126.
The initiative aims to develop AI frameworks for robotics, particularly to enhance the capabilities of Amazon's warehouse robots.
This move signals Amazon's growing investment in AI agents with real-world applications in automation and logistics.
Amazon tests humanoid robots for package delivery:
Amazon is reportedly developing artificial intelligence software for humanoid robots designed for package delivery, testing them in a dedicated "humanoid park" in the US.
The company is testing if humanoid robots in Rivian vans can speed drop-offs by making package deliveries while human drivers serve other addresses.
Following tests in the "humanoid park," Amazon plans "field trips" for the robots to attempt delivering packages to homes in real-world environments.
Apple loses bid to pause app store reform:
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Apple's emergency bid to suspend App Store modifications stemming from its legal fight with Epic Games.
Apple sought to pause an order preventing it from charging its commission on payment links inside apps or dictating how those links appear.
This ruling means developers like Amazon can continue using external payment links, bypassing Apple's commission, while the main legal appeal is ongoing.
OpenAI challenges order to save all ChatGPT logs:
OpenAI is fighting a court order to preserve all ChatGPT user logs, including deleted chats and output log data from its API business offering, amid copyright claims.
The AI company contends the rushed order prevents respecting privacy for ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and application programming interface users without established substantial need.
News organizations' concerns about destroyed evidence led to the order, which OpenAI says risks the privacy of hundreds of millions of users globally.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Trump–Musk clash wipes out $150B in Tesla’s market value:
Tesla shares dropped 14% after Elon Musk publicly clashed with President Trump over a new budget bill that would cut EV subsidies, costing the company ~$150 billion in market value.
The feud raises regulatory risks for Tesla, especially around its autonomous driving ambitions and reliance on government contracts and approvals.
Tesla’s stock had surged after Musk endorsed Trump in 2024 but is now facing mounting political and sales headwinds, particularly in key markets like California, Europe, and China.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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Investor (AI) - Samsung Next | USA - Apply Here
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Investment Analyst - Moonfire | UK - Apply Here
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Associate / Sr. Associate - Moneta Venture | USA - Apply Here
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