☕ Meta explored acquisition of AI video startup Runway & Microsoft plans major Xbox layoffs next week.
ElevenLabs launches mobile voice-generation app & Anthropic scores a legal win
The longest anyone’s stayed awake? 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes.
Robert McDonald set the record in 1986, and somehow didn’t explode.
Anyone else craving McNuggets now?
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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.
A federal judge sides with Anthropic in lawsuit over training AI on books without authors’ permission.
Google rolls out new Gemini model that can run on robots locally.
ElevenLabs launches mobile voice-generation app for iOS and Android.
Google brings historical Street View imagery to Google Earth.
Microsoft plans major Xbox layoffs next week.
Meta explored acquisition of AI video startup Runway.
Sam Altman discusses future of OpenAI–Microsoft partnership in NYT interview.
Apple draws backlash for pushing F1 movie ad through Wallet app.
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
Qunnect, a Brooklyn-based quantum networking startup, has raised an oversubscribed $10 million Series A extension, bringing its total funding to $18 million. The round includes strategic investment from Cisco Investments, Airbus Ventures, and others — marking the first public investment by an enterprise Fortune 500 in quantum networking infrastructure.
Growth equity firm Edison Partners is making a $20M investment in NPHub, the country’s first digital platform helping to expand the country's nurse practitioner population.
Empo Health, a San Bruno, CA-based healthcare technology company, raised $7M in funding. The round was led by Story Ventures, with participation from VTC Ventures, alongside existing investors including Ulu Ventures, SeaX Ventures, Arben Ventures, and Gaingels.
Waltz, a Miami, FL-based provider of a platform streamlining U.S. residential real estate financing for foreign national investors, raised $50M in Funding. The round was led by Setpoint Capital.
Arine, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-driven medication intelligence company, raised $30M in Series C funding. The round was led by Town Hall Ventures, with participation from Kaiser Permanente Ventures and other existing investors.
Blank Metal, a Minneapolis, MN-based an AI-native engineering company, raised $3M in funding. The round was led by Rally Ventures, Traction Capital and Pure Play Partners.
ForSight Robotics, a Yokneam Illit, Israel-based ophthalmic robotic surgery company, raised $125M in Series B funding. The round was led by Eclipse, with participation from Dr. Fred Moll, the Adani Group, Reiya Ventures, and other existing investors.
Zeelo, a London, UK-based transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) provider for employers and schools offering mobility as a benefit, raised $23M in Series B funding. The round was led by Blue Earth Capital, with participation from existing investors including Direttissima Growth Partners and Peter Bauer’s family office.
Digital Asset, the NYC-based blockchain technology company behind the Canton Network, raised $135M in funding. The round was led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with participation from BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Goldman Sachs, IMC, Liberty City Ventures, Optiver, Paxos, Polychain Capital, QCP, Republic Digital, 7RIDGE, and Virtu Financial.
GoKwik, a New Delhi, India-based company that supports commerce enablement with an AI‑powered platform, raised $13M in Growth funding. The round was led by RTP Global with participation from Z47, PeakXV Partners and Think Investments.
Halter, an Auckland, New Zealand-based technology company increasing productivity on US cattle ranches with its virtual fencing and animal management system, raised $100M in Series D funding, at $1Billion valuation. The round was led by BOND, with participation from NewView, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC, Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures and Promus Ventures.
Gemist, a Los Angeles, CA-based jewelry-tech startup, raised $6m in seed funding. Backers included Entrada Ventures, Artemis Fund and Collide Capital.
Eventual, a San Francisco, CA-based company building AI infrastructure purpose-built for multimodal data, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Felicis with participation from M12 Ventures, and Citi. The Seed funding was led by Brittany Walker from CRV, with support from existing investors Y Combinator, Essence VC, and Array Ventures.
Skyramp, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-driven testing and debugging tool for engineering teams, raised $10M in seed funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital.
Delphi, a San Francisco, CA-based company that creates AI digital minds to help people scale communication, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Menlo & Anthropic’s Anthology Fund, Proximity Ventures, Crossbeam, Parable, Abstract Ventures, 49Palms, Gokul Rajaram, Soleio, MVP Ventures, and founders of companies like Zoom, YouTube, Doordash, and Lyft.
BlueRedGold, a Stockholm, Sweden-based AgriTech company for indoor saffron production, raised €2.73M in funding. The round was led by PINC, alongside The Food Tech Lab and PolarVentures.
CubeNexus, a Tulsa, OK-based Techstars-backed spatial data intelligence company, raised $650K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by 46 VC with participation from TitletownTech.
Jobright, a Santa Clara, CA-based AI–native job platform providing Jobright Agent, an AI career agent that finds, customizes, and submits applications on behalf of job seekers, raised $3.2M in funding. The round was led by Translink Capital with participation from HR Tech Investments.
Paraform, a San Francisco, CA-based marketplace built for elite recruiters, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Felicis, with participation from A*, BOND, DST Global, Liquid 2, and angels including the co-founders of Canva, Instacart, YouTube, and xAI along with Shyam Sankar, Harley Finklestein, Mark Pincus, and others.
Pangram, a NYC-based provider of a technology for detecting text created by AI, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round, led by ScOp, with participation from Script Capital, and Cadenza, along with a handful of individual investors, consisted of $2.7M added to the previous pre-seed funding of $1.25M led by Haystack VC.
Chronicle Studios, a Los Angeles, CA-based entertainment studio, raised $11M in Seed funding. The round was led by Patron and Point72 Ventures with participation from Z Ventures, Sands Capital and other investors.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Sentinel Global, a San Francisco, CA-based venture capital firm dedicated to connecting visionary founders with real-world adopters, closed its inaugural fund, Sentinel Fund I, at $213.5m. The fund will invest globally in multi-stage enterprise technology companies, with a focus on technologies built for mission-critical performance, regulatory readiness, and scalable deployment across complex systems.
Kiara Capital, a Miami, FL-based venture capital firm focused on fintech, held the first close of its inaugural fund. After validating its investment thesis using only partner capital, the firm has now opened its first external fundraising campaign targeting $30m, with the potential to close at $40m. Investors include founders, bank CEOs, VC partners, and family offices with interest in fintech and financial innovation. The founding partners remain the largest investors in the fund.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
A federal judge sides with Anthropic in lawsuit over training AI on books without authors’ permission:
A federal judge ruled that Anthropic’s use of copyrighted books to train its AI models falls under fair use, marking a pivotal win for AI firms in copyright disputes.
The ruling may influence similar lawsuits against OpenAI, Meta, and others, though fair use remains a complex and case-dependent area of law.
However, the court will still hold a trial over Anthropic’s alleged use of pirated books to build a “central library,” which could lead to liability for damages.
Google rolls out new Gemini model that can run on robots locally:
Google DeepMind released Gemini Robotics On-Device, a new AI model that lets robots perform tasks locally without internet access.
The model was demoed doing real-world tasks like folding clothes and assembling objects using bi-arm and humanoid robots.
A new SDK allows developers to train robots with 50–100 task demonstrations, marking a major step in practical, on-device robotics.
ElevenLabs launches mobile voice-generation app for iOS and Android:
ElevenLabs released a stand-alone app that lets users generate voice clips from text directly on mobile, available on both iOS and Android.
The app supports the latest v3 alpha models for expressive speech and offers shared credits with the web version, starting with 10 minutes on the free plan.
This move targets creators using tools like CapCut and Instagram, positioning ElevenLabs against rivals like Speechify and Captions.
Google brings historical Street View imagery to Google Earth:
Google Earth now offers historical Street View imagery, letting you explore past views of locations by using a specific menu bar to select different time periods.
To see older images, you drag the pegman icon onto a street, click 'see more dates', and then pick a year from the film strip menu.
This feature integrates Street View's time-travel aspect, known from Maps, into Google Earth, where it pairs with immersive 3D views and satellite imagery.
Microsoft plans major Xbox layoffs next week:
Microsoft is planning major layoffs within its Xbox gaming business as early as next week, with managers reportedly briefed on these upcoming job cuts.
The company is restructuring parts of its Xbox division for next-generation consoles, which includes ceasing some Xbox operations in central Europe.
These new Xbox layoffs follow multiple rounds of cuts at Microsoft, including 1,900 gaming employees in January and several game studio closures in May.
Meta explored acquisition of AI video startup Runway:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly held discussions for a potential acquisition of the AI video startup Runway, aiming to expand the company's work in AI.
These deal talks for Runway did not progress to a formal offer with a specific dollar figure and are no longer active, people familiar told Bloomberg.
Zuckerberg’s exploration of acquiring Runway aligns with his current recruitment drive, meeting AI leaders to build Meta’s "superintelligence" team through high offers.
Sam Altman discusses future of OpenAI–Microsoft partnership in NYT interview:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about their future partnership, amid ongoing talks to revise Microsoft's investment terms.
Tensions exist, but Altman described the collaboration as overall “wonderfully good” for both companies, despite possible disagreements over equity stake.
Altman also said he had productive talks with former President Trump, crediting him for grasping AI’s geopolitical and economic significance.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Apple draws backlash for pushing F1 movie ad through Wallet app:
iPhone users are criticizing Apple for using the Wallet app to send push notifications promoting its original film “F1 the Movie,” offering a Fandango discount.
The move sparked privacy concerns, with users expressing frustration over unsolicited marketing in a core utility app and recalling the infamous U2 album incident.
A new toggle in iOS 26 Beta allows users to disable Wallet promotions, hinting at more in-app marketing to come — a direction many Apple users oppose.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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Associate - Episode 1 Venture | UK - Apply Here
Fund Operations Manager - Teja Venture | Singapore - Apply Here
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VC Associate - Toyota Venture | UK - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Lumikai | India - Apply Here
Senior Operations Manager - Unusual Venture | USA - Apply Here
Founding Creative Director spacecadet | USA - Apply Here
Compliance role - Infoedge Venture | India - Apply Here
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