☕ Meta offering multimillion-dollar pay for AI researchers & OpenAI's unreleased AGI paper could complicate Microsoft talk.
Trump claims a buyer has been found for TikTok & Meta seeks $29 billion for AI data centers.
Platypuses glow under UV light. Their fur lights up green and blue like nature’s own glitch.
Because laying eggs and glowing in the dark just wasn’t weird enough.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Antler’s problem framework, financial model template, viral trap, valuation guide, EU VC list, burnout fix, legal docs, cap table, distribution shift, sales & VC Qs guides.
OpenAI reportedly ‘recalibrating’ compensation in response to Meta hires.
Authors urge publishers to reject AI-created books and narration.
Meta reportedly hires four more OpenAI researchers amid AI talent war.
Trump claims a buyer has been found for TikTok.
Tesla completes first fully autonomous delivery.
OpenAI's unreleased AGI paper could complicate Microsoft talk.
Germany asks Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek over China data transfer concerns.
OpenAI turns to Google for AI chips.
Meta seeks $29 billion for AI data centers.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
⏱️ Read Time: 3 minutes
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Return rate under 5% (vs. 17.6% industry average)
Gaining traction in both consumer and hospitality markets
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
Antler’s framework to find the right problem to solve.
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
The hidden trap of going viral: why it brings the wrong users.
The only startup valuation guide you need as a founder.
Vampire Attacks: The growth strategy behind billion-dollar marketplaces.
6000+ European VC Firms Contact Database (LinkedIn Links).
Startup burnout is real — here’s how to reset before it takes you down.
Startup legal document pack – essential legal docs for founders.
Building Cap Table as a founder: template to download.
The next distribution shift is here — what founders need to know.
Market command matrix: when (and when not) to fight your competitors.
The three sales frameworks every early-stage founder needs.
Questions VCs may ask you - The only guide you need.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Foresight, a New York City based software company on a mission to connect the private market through data, closed a $5.5m seed funding. The round was led by NEA with participation from KDX Ventures.
Skyways, an Austin, TX-based designer and manufacturer of long-range autonomous unmanned cargo aircraft systems, received $5M in debt facility from Leonid Capital Partners.
Clearspeed, a San Diego, CA-based voice-based risk assessment technology company, raised $60M in Series D funding. The round was led by Align Private Capital, with participation from IronGate Capital Advisors, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, and KBW Ventures.
Vellum Health, an Austin, TX-based provider of a mobile healthcare platform, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round was led by FCA Venture Partners, with participation from Green Park & Golf Ventures, and Seed round angel investors.
NiaHealth, a Toronto, Canada-based health tech startup providing proactive care, raised $5.75M in Seed funding. The round was led Golden Ventures, with participation from investors including Kyle Braatz, Satish Kanwar and Arati Sharma, Jonathan Ehrlich, Zach Coelius, The51 women-focused venture fund, Jason Smith, Kathy Butler, and returning investors Boris Wertz, ScaleGood Fund, Garage Capital and Ivan Yuen.
Gensmo, a NYC-based AI-native company developing an AI-powered fashion agent service, raised $60M+ in Angel funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Flowstep, a Tallinn, Estonia-based design-tech startup building an AI-native canvas for product design teams, raised $2.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Supernode Global with participation from Adesso Ventures, Angel Invest, Dnipro VC, Iron Wolf Capital, Anton Borzov and existing investors Tera Ventures, Specialist VC, Thomas Wolf and Elias Aalto.
2wai, a Los Angeles, CA-based company developing AI avatars, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Xona, a Burlingame, CA-based company which specializes in company satellite navigation, raised $92M in funding. The round was led by Craft Ventures and other investors including Stellar Ventures, Seraphim Ventures, Toyota Ventures, First Spark, Industrious Ventures, Future Ventures, and NGP Capital.
Nephrolytics, Inc., a Chubbuck, ID-based provider of an AI-powered clinical intelligence platform for kidney care, raised $2.5M in SAFE funding. Backers were not disclosed.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Sorenson Capital, a venture capital firm with offices in Palo Alto and Salt Lake City, announced the launch of its third early-stage fund, Ventures III, with $150M in capital commitments. This new fund will be focused on cybersecurity and B2B software companies ranging from pre-revenue up to $5M in ARR. Led by Rob Rueckert, and Ken Elefant, Sorenson Capital remains committed to partnering with founders who are innovating across AI, B2B Software, Cybersecurity, and DevOps & Infrastructure, helping them through the entire company lifecycle.
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. This new fund would follow Lakestar’s recent $600M fund closed in 2024 targeting deeptech, AI, and digital infrastructure in Europe.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI reportedly ‘recalibrating’ compensation in response to Meta hires:
After Meta hired eight OpenAI researchers, Chief Research Officer Mark Chen told staff the leadership is “recalibrating” compensation and finding new ways to retain talent.
Chen described the situation as feeling like “someone has broken into our home,” while Sam Altman and others are working “around the clock” to counter Meta’s offers.
Meta’s reported $100M+ packages have sparked tension, though Meta insiders dispute the figure; OpenAI is now urgently revamping incentives to stay competitive.
Authors urge publishers to reject AI-created books and narration:
Over 1,100 authors, including Lauren Groff and R.F. Kuang, signed a letter urging publishers to limit AI use, including a pledge to only hire human audiobook narrators.
The letter criticizes AI companies for building tools on “unpaid labor” by using authors' work without compensation.
This comes as courts recently sided with tech firms like Meta and Anthropic in lawsuits over AI training on copyrighted books.
Meta reportedly hires four more OpenAI researchers amid AI talent war:
Meta has hired four additional researchers from OpenAI, following earlier poaching of high-profile talent including Trapit Bansal.
The hires come after Meta’s Llama 4 models underperformed expectations, prompting a push to strengthen its AI research team.
The rivalry has sparked debate over compensation, with Sam Altman claiming $100M offers, while Meta insists the deals are more nuanced.
Trump claims a buyer has been found for TikTok:
Donald Trump said a group of “very wealthy people” is set to buy TikTok but didn’t reveal their identities.
He suggested the deal may require approval from China’s President Xi Jinping and promised more details “in two weeks.”
Trump previously proposed a joint venture and mentioned allies like Larry Ellison or Elon Musk as potential buyers.
Tesla completes first fully autonomous delivery:
Tesla says it completed its first fully autonomous delivery, sending a new Model Y from its Austin Gigafactory to a customer with no one inside.
The vehicle traveled for thirty minutes across parking lots, highways, and city streets, with Elon Musk calling it a first for any public highway.
This claim is disputed by firms like Waymo, which offers autonomous employee trips, and Aurora, which runs fully autonomous freight deliveries between Dallas and Houston.
OpenAI's unreleased AGI paper could complicate Microsoft talks:
A contract clause limits Microsoft's access to new tech if OpenAI's board declares it has developed artificial general intelligence, which has now become a flashpoint.
An unreleased internal paper, “Five Levels of General AI Capabilities,” outlines AI stages and could complicate OpenAI’s ability to officially declare it has achieved AGI.
The agreement has two AGI definitions; one lets OpenAI’s board cut Microsoft off unilaterally, while another, called sufficient AGI, requires Microsoft’s approval based on profit.
OpenAI turns to Google for AI chips:
OpenAI is now running its AI products on Google's Tensor Processing Units, marking the first time it is using chips besides Nvidia's GPUs at scale.
The company rents the chips through Google Cloud to lower inference costs, though it does not have access to the most powerful TPU models.
This move gives OpenAI strategic leverage against Microsoft, its largest investor, by shifting some computing workloads onto a key competitor's cloud infrastructure.
Germany asks Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek over China data transfer concerns:
Germany’s data protection commissioner has requested Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek from their app stores, citing illegal data transfers to China.
DeepSeek allegedly stores personal user data in China and failed to meet EU standards or voluntarily withdraw its app.
Other European countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, have also taken steps to block or restrict the AI app due to security concerns.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Meta seeks $29 billion for AI data centers:
Meta is seeking $29 billion from an investor consortium to build new data centers specifically designed for running artificial intelligence workloads.
The deal is structured with $3 billion coming from equity and a much larger sum of $26 billion arriving in the form of debt financing.
This capital could support projects like the massive Louisiana complex, a site intended to host nine facilities that require over 2 gigawatts of power.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff to Founding Partner - One Way Venture | USA - Apply Here
Operations Associate - Techstars | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Episode 1 Venture | UK - Apply Here
Fund Operations Manager - Teja Venture | Singapore - Apply Here
Associate - Entrepreneur First | USA - Apply Here
Associate (Software Infrastructure) - Omerse Venture | USA - Apply Here
Partner 36 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
VC Associate - Toyota Venture | UK - Apply Here
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)
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