☕ Databricks, Perplexity co-founder launches $100M AI research fund & OpenAI’s first AI device with Jony Ive won’t be a wearable.
Meta held acquisition talks with Thinking Machines, Perplexity, and Safe Superintelligence & Tesla launches long-awaited Robotaxi.
Japan has a word for eating when you’re not hungry, just bored.
It’s called kuchisabishii, meaning “lonely mouth.”
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: 3 sales frameworks for early founders, startup valuation guide, 2700+ US VC contacts, pricing strategy check, investor Q&A prep, VC question guide, why competitors matter, pitch deck guide, financial model template.
Databricks, Perplexity co-founder launches $100m AI research fund.
Apple refines Liquid Glass interface in iOS 26 Beta 2 after early backlash.
OpenAI’s first AI device with Jony Ive won’t be a wearable.
Leak reveals Grok might soon edit your spreadsheets.
Tesla launches long-awaited Robotaxi.
US accuses DeepSeek of military aid and chip ban evasion.
Amazon launches another 27 Kuiper internet satellites.
Meta held acquisition talks with Thinking Machines, Perplexity, and Safe Superintelligence.
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
VoiceCare AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a healthcare administration general intelligence (HAGI) company, raised $4.54M in funding. The round was led by Caduceus Capital Partners, with participation from Bread and Butter Ventures, Mayo Clinic, and a strategic revenue cycle management (RCM) company.
Botpress, a Montreal, Canada-based provider of a platform for building and deploying AI agents, raised $25M in Series B funding. The round was led by FRAMEWORK with participation from Inovia Capital, Deloitte Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Decibel, and existing investors.
Blueprint Finance, a NYC-based multi-chain DeFi infrastructure company and the core developer of both the Ethereum-based Concrete and Solana-based Glow Finance, raised additional $9.5M in funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital, including a strategic investment from Yzi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) and participation from other investment and venture capital firms including VanEck, Selini Capital, Portal Ventures, Auros, Halo Capital, Leadblock Bitpanda Ventures, BitGo, and Gate Ventures, among others.
Conquest Planning, a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada-based provider of a technology platform for financial planning, raised $80M in Series B funding. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. with participation from new investors, including Canapi Ventures, BDC Capital, Citi Ventures, TIAA Ventures and USAA and existing investors BNY and Portage.
Snowcap Compute, a Palo Alto, CA-based startup building a commercially viable superconducting compute platform, raised $23M in Seed funding. The round was led by Playground Global. Other investors included Cambium Capital, and Vsquared Ventures.
Veda, a NYC-based provider of a DeFi vault platform enabling crypto applications, asset issuers, and protocols to build enterprise-grade cross chain yield products, raised $18M in funding. The round was led by CoinFund, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, GSR, Maelstrom, Animoca Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, BitGo, Credibly Neutral, Draper Dragon, Heartcore, PEER VC, Relayer Capital, Nathan McCauley, Mike Silagadze, and Sandeep Nailwal.
Spinwheel, an Oakland, CA-based company empowering the consumer credit ecosystem for the workflows, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by F-Prime with participation from QED Investors, Foundation Capital, and Fika Ventures.
Qualytics, an Atlanta, GA-based provider of an enterprise platform for augmented data quality, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by BMW i Ventures, with participation from Conductive Ventures, The Hill Fund by Firebrand Ventures, and existing investors Tech Square Ventures, Knoll Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, SaaS Venture Capital, and Rich Family Ventures.
MDA – Medical Decision Alliance, a Leipzig, Germany-based healthcare company developing decision-making algorithms, raised €3.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) with participation from private investors and entrepreneurs.
YieldClub, a Washington, DC-based provider of a mobile app for crypto savings, raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Pharsalus, Flex Capital, The House Fund, and Superlayer, with angel investments from Kevin Chou, Sam Shank, Charlie Songhurst, and early Solana contributors.
CloEE, a Helsinki, Finland-based provider of an AI-powered platform for discrete manufacturing, raised $600K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Miro Vertanen and the Innovestor Angel Co-fund, with participation from Cariplo Iniziative and three Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN) members.
LiveDrop, an Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based company which specializes in secure offline data transfer, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Value Creation Capital with participation from Secfund, Kadmos Capital, Patronum Investment, and Cees Links.
Stackup, a Culvert City, CA-based provider of a digital asset management platform, raised $4.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by 1kx, with participation from Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, Amino Capital, and Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Meridian, a NYC- and Miami, FL-based provider of an AI-powered deal management platform, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by 645 Ventures with participation from existing investor Chaac Ventures.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Lakestar, a leading European VC firm, is reportedly raising $300 million for a new defense-focused fund. Founder Klaus Hommels has begun pitching investors to support Europe’s growing defense tech sector, following a record $5.2B in investments across the space in 2024. Hommels previously pledged €100M of his own capital toward defense and has backed German unicorn Helsing. He also chairs the NATO Innovation Fund.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Databricks, Perplexity co-founder launches $100m AI research fund:
Andy Konwinski, co-founder of Databricks and Perplexity, launched the Laude Institute with a $100M personal pledge to fund AI research focused on beneficial outcomes.
The institute’s first major initiative is a $15M grant to UC Berkeley for an AI Systems Lab led by Ion Stoica, opening in 2027.
Laude operates as a nonprofit with a public benefit arm and venture fund, blending grant-style funding and strategic startup investments in AI infrastructure.
Apple refines Liquid Glass interface in iOS 26 Beta 2 after early backlash:
Apple addressed major usability concerns in iOS 26 Beta 2, improving readability in the Liquid Glass UI by adjusting background blur in the Control Center.
Notifications are now sharper, though still need refinement for legibility on bright backgrounds, with more changes expected before the fall public release.
Other Beta 2 updates include App Store accessibility info, iCloud sync for Journaling on iPads, order tracking in Wallet, and a new Apple Music Radio widget.
OpenAI’s first AI device with Jony Ive won’t be a wearable:
Legal filings from a trademark lawsuit reveal that OpenAI and Jony Ive’s io explored in-ear devices but are developing a non-wearable prototype, possibly a desktop or pocketable AI gadget.
Former Apple execs leading io researched dozens of headphone models and met with iyO, a Google-backed startup, but declined acquisition or partnership offers.
OpenAI’s first AI hardware may launch in 2026 and is positioned as a “third device” beyond phones and laptops, focused on environment-aware AI experiences.
Leak reveals Grok might soon edit your spreadsheets:
Leaked code suggests xAI is developing a spreadsheet-compatible editor for Grok, enabling users to interact with AI while editing files.
The feature appears similar to Google’s Gemini Workspace but could expand beyond Google’s ecosystem and integrate into Elon Musk’s broader “everything app” vision for X.
xAI has already launched tools like Grok Studio and Workspaces, hinting at its intent to build a comprehensive AI productivity suite.
Tesla launches long-awaited Robotaxi:
Tesla's Robotaxi service has launched in Austin using Model Y SUVs, with each vehicle surprisingly including a human "safety monitor" in its front passenger seat.
These robotaxis are current 2025 Model Y vehicles equipped with "unsupervised" Full Self-Driving software, rather than the previously teased futuristic Cybercabs for this initial program.
Early access to the Austin service, operating daily with a limited fleet in a defined zone, costs a flat fee of $4.20 per ride.
US accuses DeepSeek of military aid and chip ban evasion:
A senior U.S. official alleges AI firm DeepSeek willingly supports China's military and intelligence operations, a commitment extending beyond its open-source AI model access.
The U.S. claims DeepSeek tried using shell companies and sought remote access to U.S. chips via Southeast Asian data centers to evade export controls.
U.S. officials also say DeepSeek shares user information with Beijing’s surveillance apparatus and is linked to China's People's Liberation Army through numerous procurement records.
Amazon launches another 27 Kuiper internet satellites:
Amazon successfully launched a second batch of 27 Project Kuiper internet satellites using a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
These latest additions join 27 previously deployed satellites, expanding the Project Kuiper constellation in low Earth orbit to 54 spacecraft for its network.
Today's launch proceeded after a one-week delay, caused by an earlier observation of an elevated purge temperature within the rocket's booster engine.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Meta held acquisition talks with Thinking Machines, Perplexity, and Safe Superintelligence:
Mark Zuckerberg explored acquiring top AI startups — Thinking Machines Lab, Perplexity, and Safe Superintelligence — though no deals advanced due to pricing and strategic disagreements.
Meta has instead hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and is building a new AI assistant team, potentially led by SSI’s Daniel Gross and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
Despite rejecting Meta’s advances, founders like Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever raised billions at soaring valuations, with both Meta and Google investing in SSI.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
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Impact Investment Intern - Bharat Climate Startup | India - Apply Here
Senior Associate - Hubspot Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investor Relations Intern - Qualgro Venture | Singapore - Apply Here
VC Associate - Breega | UK - Apply Here
Venture Investments Associate - GSR | USA - Apply Here
Analysts - Healthquad | India - Apply Here
Venture Investments Analyst - GSR | USA - Apply Here
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