☕ Musk’s xAI raises $10 billion, Meta launches Meta Superintelligence lab & Apple plans a cheaper MacBook with an iPhone chip.
OpenAI is raising pay to stop Meta talent raids & Apple is reportedly working on 7 new headset products.
Shakespeare made up over 1,700 words, including “eyeball,” “lonely,” and “swagger.”
The man didn’t just write plays. He rewrote the dictionary.
Meanwhile, you’re still deciding if “vibe” is a real word.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Financial model template, rise of AI wrappers, can AI be a VC?, AI agent risks, EU VC list, genAI crash?, legal docs, Jobs on iPhone, AI & education, valuation guide, India VC list, data room kit. Ask ChatGPT
Halogen Ventures, a Los Angeles based firm raised $30M.
Meta launches Meta Superintelligence labs to focus on AGI with new team.
Cursor launches web app to control AI coding agents from your browser.
OpenAI is raising pay to stop Meta talent raids.
Microsoft AI diagnoses 4 times more accurately than doctors.
Apple plans a cheaper MacBook with an iPhone chip.
Elon Musk’s xAI raises $10 billion to fuel AI expansion.
Apple is reportedly working on 7 new headset products.
Apple reportedly considers letting Anthropic and OpenAI power Siri.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
Rise of the AI Wrappers Plus: Google’s Gemini models get their due.
6000+ European VC Firms Contact Database (LinkedIn Links).
Startup legal document pack – essential legal docs for founders.
The Impact of AI on Education & What It Means for Work by Tomasz Tunguz.
The only startup valuation guide you need as a founder.
350+ Indian Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link).
Investor data room guide & templates for founders.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Campfire, a San Francisco, CA-based leader in AI-native enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, raised $35m in Series A funding. The round was led by Accel, with participation from existing and new investors including Foundation Capital, Y Combinator, Capital 49, and angel investors Marten Abrahamsen, CFO at Vercel, Dan Kang, CFO at Mercury, Alex Estevez, Former CFO at Atlassian, Michael Gordon, Former CFO at MongoDB, Sowmya Ranganathan, Former Controller at OpenAI, and Jack Zhang, Co-Founder & CEO at AirWallex.
Loto Biotech Platform, a near L’Aquila, Italy-based biotech startup, raised €600K in funding. Scientifica Venture Capital made the investment.
Levelpath, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native procurement platform provider, raised $55+m in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total raised to $100m, was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, 01A, New View Capital and World Innovation Lab.
Pimentae, a London, UK-based tequila cocktail brand redefining the ready-to-drink (RTD) category, secured £1.5M in funding. The round was led by FIGR Ventures, with participation from Revenge Capital, Solo Investments and entrepreneurs Poonam Gupta OBE and Puneet Gupta OBE.
Lana, a Singapore-based provider of a finance platform for corporate decarbonization, raised an undisclosed amount in funding. Backers included Liminal, a venture creation group founded by Temasek and Twynam Investments.
LogicFlo, a Boston, MA-based provider of an AI agent platform for life sciences organizations, raised $2.7M in funding. The round was led by Lightspeed with participation from healthcare and enterprise AI investors.
Woodchuck, a Grand Rapids, MI-based climate impact startup turning waste into energy with advanced AI, raised $3.75M in Seed Funding. The round was led by an investor syndicate headed by Mason Fink. Additional partners included NorthStar Clean Energy, a CMS Energy company, Alloy Partners (formerly High Alpha Innovation) and Beckett Industries.
Cred, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-powered predictive intelligence platform, raised $15M in funding. The round was led by defy.vc with participation from HOF Capital, Alumni Ventures, LDV Partners, Streamlined Ventures, SilverCircle Ventures, Octopus Ventures, BAM Ventures, Gaingels, and others.
Nascent Materials, a Newark, NJ-based advanced battery materials startup, raised $2.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by SOSV, with participation from the New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund and UM6P Ventures.
RevEng.ai, a San Francisco, CA-based artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company, raised $4.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Sands Capital, with participation from In-Q-Tel Capital, IQ Capital, and Episode 1.
Raphe mPhibr, a New Delhi, India-based aircraft manufacturing company, raised $100M in funding. The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Amal Parikh, Think Investments, and other family offices.
Skarbe, a San Francisco, CA- and Krakow, Poland-based provider of an AI sales assistant service built for founders and small teams, raised $600K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by FIRSTPICK, with participation from Somersault Ventures and angels Andreas Mihalovits and Jeroen Van Ermen.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Halogen Ventures, a Los Angeles, CA-based venture capital firm focused on the $7.5T Future of Family category, closed a third fund, at $30M. Limited Partners include The State of Alabama (Innovate Alabama), Fenwick’s Fund of Funds, Candace Nelson (Founder of Sprinkles), Gingerbread Capital, Mike Evans (Founder of Grubhub) and Lanyon Advisors.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Meta launches Meta Superintelligence labs to focus on AGI with new team:
Meta is restructuring all AI teams into a new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs, focused on building artificial general intelligence.
Alexandr Wang (ex-Scale AI CEO) will serve as Chief AI Officer, while Nat Friedman (ex-GitHub CEO) will lead AI products and applied research.
The move follows Meta’s $14.3B investment in Scale AI and a spree of talent hires from Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and other rivals.
Cursor launches web app to control AI coding agents from your browser:
Cursor, the AI coding editor from Anysphere, launched a browser-based web app to let users manage background coding agents on desktop and mobile.
The app allows users to assign tasks, monitor agent progress, and merge code updates — expanding beyond the original IDE and Slack integrations.
With over $500M in ARR and usage across half the Fortune 500, Cursor’s new web app aims to make AI agents a seamless part of developers’ workflows.
OpenAI is raising pay to stop Meta talent raids:
After Meta successfully poached at least eight researchers in a single week, OpenAI’s leadership is now scrambling to prevent a further staff exodus to the rival.
An internal memo reveals OpenAI is “recalibrating comp” and has already begun offering its researchers increased pay and expanded roles to counter Meta's aggressive offers.
The talent war involves compensation in the $100 million range, with OpenAI warning staff to reject Meta’s high-pressure tactics like “ridiculous exploding offers.”
Microsoft AI diagnoses 4 times more accurately than doctors:
Microsoft's AI system, when paired with OpenAI's o3 model, correctly diagnosed more than eight of ten complex cases from the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the same study, practicing physicians without access to colleagues or textbooks were only able to solve two out of the ten challenging diagnostic case studies.
The approach uses a special "diagnostic orchestrator" AI that mimics an expert panel, deciding which tests to order to reach a final conclusion on a case.
Apple plans a cheaper MacBook with an iPhone chip:
Apple is reportedly planning a new MacBook model powered by the iPhone's A18 Pro chip, offering single-core performance that sits between the M3 and M4 chips.
This machine could feature colorful plastic casings to create a clear visual difference from the standard MacBook Air, potentially targeting a much lower $799 price point.
Alternatively, the new entry-level device might occupy the current $999 slot, enabling Apple to raise the cost of its MacBook Air back to a $1,199 price.
Elon Musk’s xAI raises $10 billion to fuel AI expansion:
xAI has raised $5B in secured debt and $5B in strategic equity, led by Morgan Stanley, to fund its AI infrastructure and Grok platform.
The debt raise was oversubscribed despite earlier concerns about investor demand, while equity discussions reportedly value xAI between $120B–$200B.
The funds will support data center expansion and AI development as xAI ramps up efforts to compete in the intensifying AI race.
Apple is reportedly working on 7 new headset products:
Apple plans an M5 Vision Pro for 2025, followed by a cheaper and lighter Vision Air in 2027 featuring an iPhone processor and fewer sensors.
A redesigned second-generation Vision Pro with a Mac-class processor is planned for 2028, while the first Apple Glasses are expected to enter mass production in 2027.
The company is also developing two XR smart glasses, with the first model expected in 2028 using Liquid Crystal on Silicon and waveguide technology for its display.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Apple reportedly considers letting Anthropic and OpenAI power Siri:
Apple is reportedly in talks with OpenAI and Anthropic to test their AI models on its cloud infrastructure for a future Siri update.
The company’s internal project, “LLM Siri,” has faced delays, pushing the AI-enabled Siri launch to 2026 or later.
This move highlights Apple’s struggle to keep pace with AI leaders like Google and OpenAI in building advanced language models.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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
Investor - Entrepreneur First | USA - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Lumikai | India - Apply Here
Chief of Staff - Pillar VC | USA - Apply Here
Senior Operations Manager - Unusual Venture | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Stepstone Group | USA - Apply Here
Founding Creative Director spacecadet | USA - Apply Here
Principal - TekVenture | USA - 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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