☕ Alphabet selling very rare 100-year bonds & Half of Musk's xAI founding team has now left.
ByteDance is developing its own AI inference chip & SoftBank Group to report a multibillion-dollar paper gain.
Breaking News
ByteDance is developing its own AI inference chip, codenamed SeedChip, and is in talks with Samsung Electronics for manufacturing, aiming to produce at least 100,000 units this year. The company plans to spend over $22B on AI-related procurement in 2026, splitting capital between Nvidia H200 chips and in-house silicon, as Chinese tech giants accelerate vertical integration amid U.S. export controls and global chip shortages.
SoftBank Group is expected to report a multibillion-dollar paper gain driven by its more than $30B investment in OpenAI, with analysts estimating roughly $4.45B in quarterly upside. SoftBank now owns about 11% of OpenAI and is reportedly considering investing up to another $30B, effectively turning itself into a public-market proxy for OpenAI—while raising investor concerns over leverage, asset sales, and concentration risk as AI capital spending accelerates globally.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Qontext, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of an independent context layer for artificial intelligence, raised $2.7m in Pre-seed funding. The round was led by HV Capital, with participation from Zero Prime Ventures and angels including Jan Oberhauser (n8n), Emil Eifrem (Neo4j), and Bastian Nominacher (Celonis).
Willo Technologies, a Helsinki, Finland-based startup that develops alignment-free wireless power systems, raised €2.9m in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by byFounders, with participation from Interface Capital, Unruly Capital, and Wave Ventures, as well as founders from Pleo, Wolt, and Varjo, among others.
ZeroDrift, a NYC-based provider of an AI-native communication solution, raised $2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by a16z speedrun.
SEED
Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke’s startup Entire, a remote-first provider of a developer platform designed for human-agent collaboration, raised $60m in Seed funding at a $300m valuation. The round was led by Felicis, with participation from Madrona, M12, Basis Set, 20VC, Cherry Ventures, Picus Capital, and Global Founders Capital, alongside strategic angels including Jerry Yang (AME Cloud Ventures), Garry Tan (Y Combinator), and Olivier Pomel (Datadog).
Chiral, a Zurich, Switzerland-based nanotechnology company developing semiconductor and quantum technologies with nanomaterials, raised $12M in Seed funding. The round was led by Crane Venture Partners, with participation from Quantonation, HCVC, and Founderful, as well as public funding from Innosuisse.
Linkup, a San Francisco, CA-based developer of a web search and retrieval platform for AI products, raised $10m in Seed funding. The round was led by Gradient, with participation from Elaia, Leblon Capital, Weekend Fund, Seedcamp, Axeleo Capital, Motier Ventures, OPRTRS CLUB, and several angel investors including founders from Datadog, Mistral, Deel, and Dataiku.
Pelgo, a NYC-based company providing an AI-powered career transition agent service, raised $5.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Flybridge Capital Partners, with participation from ENIAC Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, and 645 Ventures.
Dono, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of an AI-powered property records platform that turns county records into usable ownership data, raised $6.5m in seed funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $10.2m, was led by Link Ventures with participation from lool VC and Alumni Ventures.
Vesiro, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based company that develops software improving plug-in for Elasticsearch, raised €1.6M in Seed funding. Backers included Chalmers Ventures, Industrifonden, Länsförsäkringar Göteborg & Bohuslän, Yuncture, First Gate Invest, E14 Invest, Mach One, and angel investors.
BotGauge AI, a Dover, DE-based autonomous quality-assurance-as-a-solution startup, raised $2M in funding. The round was led by Surface Ventures, with participation from IA Seed Ventures and Saka Ventures.
GROWTH
Geolinks Services, a Paris, France-based underground geophysical monitoring platform provider, raised $7.1m in funding. Backers included Calderion, the French Tech Seed Fund managed by Bpifrance, BRGM Invest, and InnoEnergy.
Topview, a Singapore-based developer of an all-in-one collaborative AI content workspace, raised $5.5m in funding to close its $14m Series A round. The round was led by Kamet Capital.
Newo, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform that turns customer conversations into revenue, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Ratmir Timashev, co-founder of Veeam Software and OH.io, with participation from Aloniq, Constructor, Acrobator, and s16vc.
Backslash Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based vibe coding security company, raised $19M in Series A funding. The round was led by KOMPAS VC, with participation from Maniv, Artofin Venture Capital, and existing investors StageOne Ventures and First Rays Capital.
Algorized, an Étoy, Switzerland-based company developing layer services for Physical AI, raised $13M in Series A funding. The round was led by Run Ventures, with participation from the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund and Acrobator Ventures, and existing investors.
Matia, a Miami, FL-based provider of a unified data operations platform, raised $21M in Series A funding. The round was led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Leaders Fund, Secret Chord Ventures, Cerca Partners, Caffeinated Capital, VelocityX, and angel investors.
Natilus, a San Diego, CA-based aerospace manufacturer of blended-wing aircraft, raised $28M in Series A funding. The round was led by Draper Associates with participation from Type One Ventures, The Veterans Fund, Flexport, New Vista Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 VC, VU Venture Partners, and Wave FX.
Bretton AI (fka Greenlite AI), a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform for financial crime operations, raised $75M in Series B funding. The round was led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from existing investors Greylock, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Canvas Ventures, and Y Combinator, and new investor TIAA Ventures.
tem, a London, UK-based energy transactions company, raised $75M in Series B funding. The round was led by Lightspeed, with participation from Hitachi Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Schroders Capital and Allianz.
Naboo, a Paris, France-based provider of a platform to book and manage corporate events, raised $70M in Series B funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Notion Capital, ISAI and Ternel.
Positron AI, a Reno, NV-based technology company building energy-efficient AI inference hardware, raised $230M in Series B funding, at over $1 Billion valuation. The round was led by ARENA Private Wealth alongside Jump Trading and Unless, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Arm Holdings, Helena, and existing investors.
Garner Health, a NYC-based health technology company, raised $118M in Series D funding. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Redpoint, Maverick, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Mercy, Plus Capital, and other existing investors.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
Primary Ventures, a New York-based early-stage VC firm, has raised $625M for Fund V to double down on seed and pre-seed investing across the U.S.. The fund plans to back 40–50 startups with $5M–$10M checks and expand beyond NYC into markets like Chicago and Seattle. With $1.65B AUM, Primary has backed companies like Etched, Alloy, Chief, and Dandelion Health, and sees seed investing evolving into its own institutional asset class.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
OpenAI policy exec fired amid dispute over planned ‘adult mode’
OpenAI reportedly fired Ryan Beiermeister, its VP of product policy, in January after a male colleague accused her of sex discrimination. Beiermeister denied the allegation, calling it “absolutely false.”
The termination followed internal criticism over a planned ChatGPT feature dubbed “adult mode,” which would introduce erotica into the chatbot experience. OpenAI Applications CEO Fidji Simo has said the feature is expected to launch in Q1.
OpenAI said Beiermeister’s departure was not related to concerns she raised about the feature. She previously worked at Meta and Palantir, per her LinkedIn profile.
Half of xAI’s founding team has now left
Two more co-founders, Yuhuai (Tony) Wu and Jimmy Ba, announced their departures this week from xAI. Ba had reported directly to Elon Musk and thanked him publicly in his exit note.
With these exits, 6 out of 12 founding team members have now left. Earlier departures included Kyle Kosic (to OpenAI), Christian Szegedy, Igor Babuschkin, and Greg Yang. Five of those exits happened within the past year.
While many splits appear amicable — and the upcoming IPO plus SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI likely created financial upside — the pattern raises concerns. Grok has faced product controversies, model competition is intensifying, and with IPO scrutiny ahead, retaining top AI talent is becoming mission-critical for xAI.
Apple AirPods may get built-in cameras
Apple is rumored to be working on new AirPods with built-in cameras, a long-standing idea now backed by multiple leakers including Mark Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, possibly arriving this year.
Speculation about the cameras centers on three possibilities: internal infrared sensors for health data like heart-rate readings, visual Apple Intelligence features, or recognizing hand gestures similar to Vision Pro.
Hand gestures could replace the current mix of taps and head gestures for controlling AirPods, which the article describes as clunky and error-prone because one tap handles many functions.
Meta and Google built 'digital casinos'
Meta and Google are now facing a first-of-its-kind trial in Los Angeles, where a jury will decide whether their social media platforms were designed to be addictive and harmful to children.
The plaintiff’s lawyer called Instagram and YouTube “digital casinos,” arguing features like endless swiping work like slot machine handles, while Meta’s lawyers blamed the plaintiff’s mental health struggles on home conditions.
This bellwether trial represents roughly 1,200 similar lawsuits and avoids Section 230 protections by focusing on app-design flaws rather than user-generated content, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to testify.
Alphabet selling very rare 100-year bonds to help fund AI investment
Alphabet is selling a very rare 100-year bond in British pounds as part of a broader borrowing push to help fund the massive AI investments that Big Tech companies are making.
The company also sold $20 billion in dollar bonds on Monday, upsized from $15 billion due to strong demand, and is lining up a Swiss franc bond sale as well.
Century bonds are highly unusual in the tech sector, but a banker said issuing in the sterling market is more cost-effective than in dollars, where the interest rate is higher.
OpenAI delays Jony Ive AI device to 2027
OpenAI’s AI hardware device, designed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and originally expected before the end of 2026, has been pushed back to at least the end of February 2027.
The delay follows a trademark infringement lawsuit from Google-backed earpiece startup iyO, and OpenAI has now confirmed it won’t use the name “io” for any AI hardware products.
The screenless, pocket-sized device is reportedly code-named “Dime” or “Sweetpea,” and OpenAI has not yet created any packaging or marketing materials for it, according to court filings.
ByteDance developing AI chip, in talks with Samsung for manufacturing
ByteDance is developing its own AI inference chip, codenamed SeedChip, and is in talks with Samsung Electronics for manufacturing. The company aims to receive sample chips by end-March and plans to produce at least 100,000 units this year, potentially scaling to 350,000.
Negotiations reportedly include access to scarce memory chip supplies, a major bottleneck in the global AI build-out. ByteDance plans to spend over 160 billion yuan ($22B) on AI-related procurement in 2026, with more than half going toward Nvidia chips (including H200) and its in-house chip efforts.
The move follows similar vertical integration by global tech giants like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft to reduce reliance on Nvidia. For Chinese firms, U.S. export controls add urgency, with rivals Alibaba and Baidu already advancing their own AI chip programs.
SoftBank earnings set for OpenAI boost, funding risks in focus
SoftBank Group is expected to post a strong quarterly profit driven by gains on its more than $30 billion investment in OpenAI. Analysts estimate a $4.45B paper gain from a $22.5B tranche completed in December, as OpenAI’s valuation continues to climb.
SoftBank now owns roughly 11% of OpenAI and is reportedly in talks to invest up to another $30B. That heavy exposure has turned SoftBank into a public-market proxy for OpenAI, raising concentration and balance-sheet risk concerns among investors.
Funding future bets is the key question. SoftBank has already sold its $5.8B stake in Nvidia and trimmed its position in T-Mobile, while increasing debt. Leverage has risen meaningfully, and analysts expect more asset sales and borrowing as AI capex competition intensifies globally.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Facebook rolls out AI animated profile photos and restyle tools
Facebook is introducing AI-powered animated profile pictures, photo restyling for Stories and Memories, and animated backgrounds for text posts. The goal is to make self-expression more playful and appealing, especially to Gen Z users.
The new animated profile photos add motion effects like waving or virtual party hats. The Restyle tool, powered by Meta AI, lets users transform images with prompts or presets such as anime, ethereal, and illustrated, along with mood, lighting, and background changes.
Text posts can now include animated backgrounds like falling leaves or ocean waves via a new rainbow “A” icon. With 2.1B daily active users, Facebook is leaning on AI features, redesigns, and nostalgic tools like poke to stay relevant among younger audiences.
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