☕ a16z raised $15 billion fund & SpaceX approved to launch 7500 more Starlink satellites.
Meta signs deals with three nuclear companies & DeepSeek to launch new AI model focused on coding.
Breaking News
Meta has signed nuclear power agreements with Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra to secure more than 6 gigawatts of electricity for its data centers, underscoring how AI growth is reshaping global energy demand. The deals combine near-term power from existing nuclear plants with longer-term capacity from small modular reactors, signaling that access to reliable, large-scale power is becoming a core competitive advantage for AI platforms.
A new study by researchers at Stanford and Yale shows that leading AI models can reproduce nearly complete copies of copyrighted books, challenging a key legal defense used by AI companies. Claude 3.7 Sonnet reproduced over 95% of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with specific prompts, while Gemini and Grok generated large portions without jailbreaking, raising the stakes in ongoing copyright lawsuits that could expose the AI industry to billions in damages.
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🗞️ What Else Is Brewing
Where AI seed investors are most likely to find outliers. (Link)
What 2025 data reveals about raising VC in 2026. (Link)
Are waitlists still worth building in 2026: a16z Guide? (Link)
40 real startup pitch decks that raised $350M+ (Including leading startups decks) (Link)
What founders should know before signing a Shareholders Agreement - Free template. (Link)
Are you overpaying your first hire with equity without realising it? (Link)
Will AI raise the bar for junior engineers faster than anyone expects? (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
i10X, a Singapore-based unified AI platform, closed a USD$1m pre-seed funding round. Backers included Iterative, Antler AI Disrupt, and PPR Ventures.
SEED
encoord, an Edgewater, CO-based provider of a platform for integrated financial and operational grid planning, raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by KittyHawk Frontier with participation from new and existing investors.
Onsetto, a Minneapolis, MN-based provider of a fintech platform for banks and credit unions, raised $2.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by EJF Ventures, with participation from Idea Fund of La Crosse, The Perch Fund, Daren Cotter and Bobby Astrup.
GROWTH
Rain, a NYC-based provider of an enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, raised $250M in Series C funding, at $1.95 Billion valuation. The round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, FirstMark, Lightspeed, Norwest, and Endeavor Catalyst, bringing its total funding to over $338M.
Biller Genie, an Orlando, Florida-based provider of a cloud-based accounts receivable automation platform, raised $22m in Series B funding. The round was by Radian Capital, with participation from existing investors.
Diagonal Therapeutics, a Watertown, MA-based biotechnology company developing disease-modifying clustering antibodies that correct dysregulated signaling in severe genetic diseases, raised $125M in Series B Funding. The round was co-led by Sanofi Ventures and Janus Henderson Investors, with participation from both existing and new investors including Deep Track Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Logos Capital, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Woodline Partners LP, Atlas Venture, BVF Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Apella, a San Francisco, CA-based health technology company, raised $80M in Series B equity and venture debt. The round was led by HighlandX, with returning investors Vensana Capital, Casdin Capital, PFM Health Sciences, Upside Partnership, and Operator Partners, and included new investors K2 HealthVentures, OpAmp Capital, and Houston Methodist.
Canopy, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a connected safety platform for U.S. health systems, raised $22m in Series B funding. The round was co-led by 111° West Capital and ACME Capital, with participation from all existing investors.
Tucuvi, a Madrid, Spain-based developer of a voice AI platform to automate clinical care management workflows, raised $20m in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Cathay Innovation and Kibo Ventures, with participation from current backers Frontline Ventures, Seaya Ventures, and Shilling.
Valinor Enterprises, a Washington, DC-based operational holding company for defense and government technology, raised $54M in Series A funding. The round was led by Friends & Family Capital, with participation from General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Red Cell Partners, Narya, XYZ Venture Capital, and Fifth Down Capital.
BlueNalu, a San Diego, CA-based developer of cell-cultured bluefin tuna, raised $11m in funding. The round was co-led by Agronomics, Siddhi Capital, and Lewis & Clark AgriFood with participation from approx. 40 existing investors.
Flywheel, a Minneapolis, MN-based provider of a medical imaging data management and analysis platform, raised $25M in equity funding. The round was led by Novalis Lifesciences and 8VC.
Corgi, a San Francisco, CA-based startup insurance services provider, raised $108M in funding. Backers included Y Combinator, Kindred Ventures, Contrary, Oliver Jung, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Seven Stars, Leblon Capital, Fellows Fund, Alumni Ventures, Quadri Ventures, Vocal Ventures, Phosphor Capital, SV Angel and others.
Blackbird.AI, a NYC-based provider of solutions protecting organizations and executives from narrative attacks that cause financial, operational, reputational, and physical harm, raised $28M in new funding. The round, which brought total funding from inception to $58M, saw participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, Dorilton Ventures, Dave DeWalt, and Chris Young.
Unusual, a San Francisco, CA-based company developing a platform that helps businesses improve both their AI visibility as well as their AI brand alignment, raised $3.6M in funding. Backers included BoxGroup, Long Journey Ventures, Y Combinator, Max Mullen (co-founder of Instacart), and Phosphor Capital.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
Andreessen Horowitz, raised $15 billion across five new funds, bringing its total AUM to over $90 billion. The new capital includes $6.75B for growth, $1.7B each for apps and infrastructure, $1.176B for American Dynamism, and $700M for biotech. Backed by sovereign wealth funds and institutions like CalPERS, a16z is doubling down on AI, defense, and industrial tech.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
SpaceX gets FCC approval to launch 7,500 more Starlink satellites
SpaceX received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to launch 7,500 additional second-generation Starlink satellites, bringing the approved total to 15,000 worldwide.
The approval allows Starlink to operate across five frequency bands and offer direct-to-cell connectivity outside the U.S., plus supplemental coverage within the U.S., expanding beyond fixed broadband use cases.
The FCC deferred SpaceX’s request for nearly 15,000 more satellites, and set deployment deadlines: 50% of the newly approved satellites must launch by December 1, 2028, with the rest by December 2031.
Amazon launches dashboard to monitor employee productivity
Amazon has launched a new dashboard that lets managers track how often employees come into the office and how long they stay, using badge tap data collected over eight weeks.
The system groups workers into categories like “low-time” and “zero” badgers, and it flags people who frequently enter buildings they aren’t assigned to, though managers decide what action to take.
The stricter tracking follows Amazon’s five-day return-to-office mandate from 2024, when an internal survey found 73% of employees were considering quitting over the policy change.
DeepSeek to launch new AI model focused on coding
Sources say DeepSeek plans to release its V4 model around mid-February, and internal tests reportedly show it outperforms both Claude and ChatGPT, especially when handling extremely long code prompts.
V4 is a hybrid model focused on coding tasks for enterprise developers, and to claim dominance it would need to beat Claude Opus 4.5, which holds the SWE-bench Verified record at 80.9%.
DeepSeek’s potential edge comes from a new training method called Manifold-Constrained Hyper-Connections, which lets models scale larger without becoming unstable, even with limited access to advanced chips due to U.S. export restrictions.
Anthropic blocks unauthorized third-party access to Claude
Anthropic has added new technical safeguards to stop third-party apps from pretending to be its official Claude Code tool, which let users access Claude AI models with better pricing and higher limits.
The crackdown broke workflows for users of OpenCode and similar tools that spoofed Claude Code headers to run automated coding tasks on flat-rate consumer subscriptions instead of paying per-token API prices.
Separately, Anthropic cut off access for staff at Elon Musk’s xAI lab, who had been using Claude models through the Cursor IDE, citing terms of service rules against competitors training rival AI systems.
OpenAI reportedly asking contractors to upload real work from past jobs
OpenAI and Handshake AI are asking contractors to upload real outputs from past and current jobs, including actual files like documents, presentations, code, and spreadsheets, according to a report by Wired.
The effort reflects a wider push by AI labs to collect higher quality, real world work data so models can better learn how white collar tasks are actually performed, beyond synthetic or simulated examples.
While OpenAI says contractors should remove proprietary and personal data before uploading, IP lawyer Evan Brown warned the approach carries significant legal risk by relying heavily on contractors to judge what information is truly safe to share.
OpenAI, SoftBank invest $1 billion in SB Energy as Stargate buildout expands
OpenAI and SoftBank Group will each invest $500 million in SB Energy to expand data center and power infrastructure for the Stargate initiative.
SB Energy will build and operate OpenAI’s 1.2-gigawatt data center in Milam County, Texas, and will also become an OpenAI customer using its APIs and deploying ChatGPT internally.
Stargate is a $500 billion, multi-year effort to build large-scale AI data centers, highlighting how access to power and infrastructure is becoming a key bottleneck in AI expansion.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Disney+ is launching short-form videos this year
Disney announced it will introduce short-form, vertical video content on Disney+ in the U.S. this year, aiming to increase daily engagement, especially among younger users accustomed to TikTok and Reels style viewing.
The feed will feature a mix of original short-form content, repurposed social clips, and scenes from Disney movies and TV shows, designed to feel native and integrated rather than a separate experience.
Disney is following a broader streaming trend after launching a vertical video feed in ESPN and as competitors like Netflix experiment with similar short-form discovery formats.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities
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)
Ventures Analyst/Associate - Plug and Play Tech Centre | USA - Apply Here
Investment Fellowship - H7 Bio Capital | Remote - Apply Here
Analyst - BDC Capital | Canada - Apply Here
Program Manager - gener8tor | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Health Velocity Capital | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Mana Venture | USA - Apply Here
Summer Fellowship 2026 - Coastanova Venture | USA - Apply Here
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