☕ Meta poaches three OpenAI researchers, China reveals tiny mosquito-sized spy drones & Bumble to lay off 30% of staff .
Google launches Gemini CLI: a free, open source coding agent & OpenAI goes after Docs and Word.
It took just 66 years to go from the Wright brothers’ first flight to the Moon landing.
One moment: wooden glider in a field. Next: humans walking on lunar dust.
That’s not progress, that’s sci-fi speed.
Love or hate this intro? Hit reply and tell us why!
📬 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.
Meta hires three OpenAI researchers despite Altman’s digs at Zuck’s recruiting.
Sam Altman lashes out at The New York Times over AI lawsuit.
Google launches Gemini CLI to bring AI coding to the terminal.
Bumble to lay off 30% of staff amid strategic overhaul.
China reveals tiny mosquito-sized spy drones.
Google’s new AI will help researchers understand how our genes work.
OpenAI goes after Docs and Word.
Judge rules in Meta’s favor over training AI on books, citing fair use.
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
Jaan Health, a NYC-based provider of an AI-powered proactive care platform, raised more than $25m in funding. The financing was capped by $15m in non-dilutive growth capital from Level Structured Capital (an affiliate of Level Equity).
EverDye, a Paris, France-based developer of an energy-efficient dyeing process to make sustainable fashion accessible, raised €15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Daphni, with participation from Ring Capital, EIC Fund, 212 Next, Asterion Ventures and Maki.VC.
Elfie, a NYC-based digital health app that rewards people for taking care of their health, raised $12M in Series A funding. The round was led by White Star Capital with participation from LifeX Ventures, Integra Partners, FEBE Ventures, and Hustle Fund.
Bruce Markets, a Chicago, IL-based trading platform provider, raised an undisclosed amount in funding. Backers included Apex Fintech Solutions, Fidelity Investments, Nasdaq Ventures, NH Investment and Securities, PEAK6 Investments, Robinhood, tastytrade, and Webull.
Lux Aeterna, a Denver, CO-based space infrastructure company which specializes in orbital operations through reentry and reusability, raised $4M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Space Capital with participation from Dynamo Ventures, Mission One Capital, Alumni Ventures, Service Provider Capital, and strategic tech angels, including the co-founders of Dive Technologies (acquired by Anduril).
Centific, a Seattle, WA-based AI data foundry, raised $60M in Series A funding. The round was led by Jenny Lee.
Mahalo, a Chicago, IL-based provider of an end-to-end post-purchase experience (PPX) platform, raised $2.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Motivate Venture Capital, with participation from Diagram and Bridge Venture Fund.
Swave Photonics, a Leuven, Belgium-based holographic display company, raised additional €6M in Series A funding. The round was led by IAG Capital Partners and included an investment from Samsung Ventures.
Zama, a Zug, Switzerland-based open-source cryptography company, raised $57M in Series B funding. The round was led by Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital, bringing total funding to over $150M.
Synthflow AI, a Berlin, Germany-based voice AI platform for automated phone calls, raised $20M Series A funding. The round was led by Accel, with participation from existing investors Atlantic Labs and Singular.
Novoloop, a Menlo Park, CA-based advanced chemical recycling company, raised $21M in Series B funding. The round was led by Taranis.
Metaview, a London, UK-based provider of an AI platform that turns job interviews into actionable hiring intelligence, raised $35M in Series B funding. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures), with participation from existing investors including Plural, Vertex Ventures, Seedcamp, Coeluis Capital, True Equity, Victor Riparbelli, and Barney Hussey-Yeo.
AllSpice.io, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a platform for electronics teams to collaborate and automate their workflows, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Rethink Impact, along with L’ATTITUDE Ventures, GingerBread Capital, and DNX Ventures, with participation from Root Ventures, Benchstrength, and Flybridge.
Qunnect, a NYC-based company providing quantum entanglement-based protocols over commercial fiber, raised $10M in Series A extension funding. The round was led by Airbus Ventures, with additional participation from Cisco Investments and Quantonation.
Pro Athlete Community, a Wilmington, DE-based provider of a global education and community platform for current and former professional athletes, raised $7.6M in Series A funding. The round was led by GSV Ventures, with participation from Maveron and strategic investors.
BackOps AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI operations platform for supply chain workflows, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Construct Capital, with continued support from existing investors Gradient, and 10VC.
Neuron23, a San Francisco, CA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for genetically defined neurological and immunological diseases, raised $96.5M in Series D funding. The round was led by a healthcare investor with participation from existing investors Westlake Village BioPartners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Redmile Group, Blue Owl, Kleiner Perkins, HBM Healthcare Investments (Cayman) Ltd., and Acorn Bioventures.
Obviant, a Washington, DC-based provider of a data intelligence platform for defense acquisition and GTM, raised $7.1M in funding. The round was led by Shield Capital with participation from Motivate Venture Capital, A*, New Vista Capital, Aloft Venture Capital, and Underdog Labs.
chatlyn, a Vienna, Austria-based AI communication hub for hotels, raised €8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Smedvig Ventures with participation from Andreas Burike, Blaguss, business angel Mathias Hiebeler and others. It also received a grant from the FFG.
Claira, a NYC-based provider of an AI-powered deal intelligence platform for financial institutions, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Barclays, Citi, and Reimagine Tech Ventures, with additional participation from Activant Capital, KDX, and OPCO Ventures.
Kognitos, a San Jose, CA-based company which specializes in AI automation for business operations, raised $25M in Series B funding. The round was led by Prosperity7 Ventures, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Wipro Ventures, Engineering Capital, Dentsu Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
SuperDial, a San Francisco, CA-based voice AI company automating the phone calls, raised $25M in funding. The debt and equity series A round was led by SignalFire, with participation from Slow Ventures, BoxGroup, and Scrub Capital. It included $3M in venture debt.
PhysicsX, a London, UK-based physical AI company, raised $135M in Series B funding. The round was led by Atomico, with participation from Temasek, Siemens, Applied Materials, July Fund, and continued support from existing investors including General Catalyst, NGP, Radius Capital, Standard Investments, and Allen & Co.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Traction Capital, a Minneapolis, MN-based venture capital and growth equity firm, launched Fund II, its second investment fund focused on scaling early-stage businesses in Minnesota and neighboring states. Since its March launch, Fund II has raised over $30M, with a final target of $40M-60M. Building on its first fund, Traction Capital will continue to invest in and acquire high-potential businesses, offering “smart” capital, financial backing combined with strategic guidance to help founders grow.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Meta hires three OpenAI researchers despite Altman’s digs at Zuck’s recruiting:
Meta poached three OpenAI researchers—Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—who helped set up OpenAI’s Zurich office.
The hires follow Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive talent blitz, offering $100M+ packages and personally messaging researchers.
Despite CEO Sam Altman mocking the tactics, Meta’s superintelligence team continues to attract top-tier AI talent.
Sam Altman lashes out at The New York Times over AI lawsuit during live podcast:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman used a live podcast to criticize The New York Times for its lawsuit, especially the demand to retain user logs even in private mode.
Altman and COO Brad Lightcap addressed growing tension with Microsoft and mocked Meta’s AI recruiting spree, calling Zuckerberg’s strategy aggressive.
The interview highlighted rising pressure on OpenAI amid legal battles and competition, with Altman acknowledging challenges in moderating harmful AI use cases.
Google launches Gemini CLI to bring AI coding to the terminal:
Google introduced Gemini CLI, an open source terminal-based AI tool that integrates Gemini models directly into developer workflows.
The tool supports natural language commands for explaining, debugging, and generating code, and also enables tasks like video creation and research reports.
Released under the Apache 2.0 license, Gemini CLI offers generous free usage limits to boost adoption and directly competes with tools like Codex CLI and Claude Code.
Bumble to lay off 30% of staff amid strategic overhaul:
Bumble is laying off 30% of its workforce (around 240 roles) to streamline operations and reinvest in product and tech, expecting $40M in annual savings.
The company will incur $13M–$18M in one-time charges for severance and benefits, while raising its Q2 revenue forecast to up to $249M.
This follows a previous 30% layoff in early 2024 and the recent return of founder Whitney Wolfe Herd as CEO to help reverse Bumble’s declining performance.
China reveals tiny mosquito-sized spy drones:
A team from China's National Defense University of Science and Technology developed a tiny drone, mosquito-sized and explicitly designed for spy tasks.
One version has four wings and is controllable using mobile devices like a smartphone, primarily for collecting information reconnaissance data.
This mosquito-sized spy drone is currently a research project from the Hunan Province team, with no confirmation of active use by Chinese military.
Google’s new AI will help researchers understand how our genes work:
Google's AlphaGenome AI predicts how single variants in human DNA sequences impact many biological processes regulating genes, analyzing long DNA inputs for high-resolution predictions.
The AI model analyzes DNA sequences up to one million letters long, predicting where genes start and end, how RNA gets spliced, and RNA production amounts.
AlphaGenome efficiently scores genetic variant impacts on many molecular properties and, for the first time, models RNA splicing junction locations and expression levels from sequence.
OpenAI goes after Docs and Word:
OpenAI is developing collaborative document editing and integrated chat functions for ChatGPT, directly positioning it against Google Workspace and Microsoft Office suites.
These new tools will resemble functions in Office 365 and Google's Workspace, potentially making businesses reconsider their current software subscriptions from major providers.
This expansion aims to transform ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into an integrated work platform, which could alter how companies use everyday office applications.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Judge rules in Meta’s favor over training AI on books, citing fair use:
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by 13 authors, including Sarah Silverman, ruling that Meta’s AI training on their books was “fair use.”
The decision follows a similar win for Anthropic but emphasizes that each case is unique and this ruling doesn’t legalize all such training.
The court found Meta’s use transformative and said plaintiffs failed to show any real market harm caused by the AI’s outputs.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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Compliance role - Infoedge Venture | India - Apply Here
Venture Capital Junior Analyst - Stepstone Group | USA - Apply Here
Controller - NFX | USA - Apply Here
Seed investor – US Investment Team - Founders Future | USA - Apply Here
Investment Lead (Partner Track) - Augmenta Venture | USA - Apply Here
VC Investor - Founders Factory | Itly - Apply Here
Investment Associate - Agronomics | UK - Apply Here
Associate - B Capital. Group | USA - Apply Here
Writer - First round capital | USA - Apply Here
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