☕ Amazon plans to launch AI content marketplace & Anthropic closes in on $20B round.
ChatGPT rolls out ads & More.
Breaking News
OpenAI has begun rolling out ads inside ChatGPT for users on its Free and Go tiers in the U.S., marking its first real move toward ad-based monetization. OpenAI says ads will be clearly labeled, kept separate from answers, excluded from sensitive topics, and won’t use personal conversations for targeting, as the company looks to fund broader access without pushing all users toward paid plans—while reigniting public tension with rival Anthropic over whether ads belong in AI at all.
Anthropic is closing in on a $20 billion funding round at a $350 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg, doubling its original target amid surging investor demand. Backers are expected to include Sequoia, Lightspeed, Menlo, Coatue, Iconiq, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with strategic capital from Nvidia and Microsoft, underscoring how compute costs and the race toward IPO-scale dominance are driving unprecedented capital concentration in frontier AI.
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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.
ThrowMeNot, a Dubai, UAE-based sustainability-focused online food marketplace, raised $550K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mana bin Khalifa Saeed Al Maktoum.
Alcove, a NYC-based developer of private Pods for neighborhoods or hotels, raised $1m in pre-seed funding. Backers included Christine Wendell (Pronto Housing) and former Congressman Patrick E. Murphy (Togal AI).
SEED
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.
Pluto.markets, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based developer of an investment platform, raised $6m in Seed funding. The round was led by Seed Capital, with participation from Thomas Delaney, and founders of Danish companies such as Flatpay, Podimo, Zendesk, Synthesia, Pleo, and Sitecore, among others.
Runeasi, a Leuven, Belgium-based provider of an AI platform for running and gait analysis, raised €1m in funding. The round was led by Smarter Ventures, with participation from existing investors Freshmen Fund, Gemma Frisius Fund, the company’s founders, and angel Sean Gourley.
Berget AI, a Stockholm, Sweden-based AI sovereignty startup unlocking innovation and growth, raised €2.1m in seed funding. Backers included Luminar Ventures, Wellstreet, and Norrsken Evolve.
Safqah Capital, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based provider of a fintech and proptech platform, raised $15.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Shorooq, with participation from anb Seed Fund and Rua Growth Fund, alongside Sharaka Capital, COTU Ventures, Sadu Capital, 500 Global, Suhail Ventures, MEVP, Waad Invest, JOA Capital, and others.
Sentra.app, a San Francisco, CA-based enterprise general intelligence company, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by a16Z speedrun and Together Fund with participation from Parable, Precursor Ventures, Inovia, Backwards Capital, Antigravity Capital, and angels.
Phylo, a South San Francisco, CA-based developer of an integrated environment for AI-native biology, raised $13.5m in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures’ Anthology Fund, with participation from Zetta Venture Partners, Conviction, SV Angel, and other investors.
Uptool, a San Mateo, CA-based developer of an AI platform designed to accelerate manufacturing productivity, raised $6m in Seed funding. Backers included Khosla Ventures, Eclipse, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Kleiner Perkins.
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.
Microsynetics, a Soest, Germany-based startup that develops an AI-powered senior safety solution called Gardia, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round was led by Peak, with participation from Amberra and Butterfly & Elephant, as well as existing backers.
Bound, a London, UK-based developer of an automated foreign exchange (FX) hedging platform, raised $24.5m in Series A funding. The round was led by AlbionVC, with participation from Notion Capital and GoHub Ventures.
Galux, a Seoul, South Korea-based biotech company developing an AI-driven protein therapeutics design, raised $29M in Series B funding. The round was led by InterVest, with participation from existing and new investors.
Gather AI, a Pittsburgh, PA-based company providing a physical AI platform for logistics, raised $40M in Series B funding. The round was led by Smith Point Capital Management with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, Bling Capital, Dundee Venture Capital, XRC Ventures, and new investor The Hillman Company.
Pandorum Technologies, a Bangalore, India-based biotechnology company developing programmable regenerative medicine, raised US$18M in Series B funding. The round was led by Protons Corporate, with participation from Galentic Pharma and other investors.
Aerska, a Dublin, Ireland-based biotechnology company using brain shuttle technology to develop RNA medicines for CNS diseases, raised $39M in Series A funding. The round was led by EQT Dementia Fund and age1, with participation from Iaso Ventures, alongside existing investors.
ElevenLabs, a London, UK and NYC-based provider of audio AI and conversational voice platform, raised $500m in Series D funding at an $11 billion valuation. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, ICONIQ Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, and BOND.
Tactful AI, a Cairo, Egypt-based provider of an agentic customer experience (CX) platform, raised $1m in Pre-Series A funding. The round was co-led by Foras AI and M Empire, with participation from founders and angel investors.
Midas, a NYC-based company that provides AI verification layer services, raised $10M in funding. The round was led by Valor Equity Partners and Nova Global.
Tomorrow.io, a Boston, MA-based provider of space-based weather intelligence and climate resilience solutions, raised $175m in equity financing. The round was led by Stonecourt Capital and HarbourVest Partners, with participation from existing investors.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
2048 Ventures, a NYC and Boston, MA-based thesis-driven earliest stage venture capital firm, closed its third fund, at $82M. Fund III is backed by fund-of-funds, family offices, founders and executives from DigitalOcean, Duolingo, Duo Security, Google, IG Group, Kelso, MongoDB, Reddit, Red Hat, Tiger Global, Twitter, Tempus and others. The fund will lead pre-seed and seed rounds with $500K – $3M checks in Vertical AI, Deep Tech, Healthcare and Biotech startups in NYC and Boston.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Anthropic’s India expansion collides with a local company that already had the name
Anthropic’s push into India has triggered a legal challenge from an Indian firm, Anthropic Software, which says it has used the name since 2017 and that Anthropic’s recent entry is causing customer confusion.
The complaint, filed in a Karnataka commercial court, seeks recognition of prior use and ₹10 million (~$110K) in damages. The court has issued notice to Anthropic but declined an interim injunction, with the next hearing set for February 16.
The dispute comes as Anthropic ramps up India operations, including opening a local office and appointing Irina Ghose to lead the market, highlighting how fast global AI expansion can clash with existing local businesses.
Sam Altman says ChatGPT is “back to exceeding 10% monthly growth”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that ChatGPT has returned to exceeding 10% monthly growth, signaling a rebound in user activity for the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot.
The update was shared internally, with Altman communicating the growth milestone directly to OpenAI staff rather than announcing it through a public channel or press release.
The phrasing “back to” suggests ChatGPT’s monthly growth had previously dipped below the 10% mark before recovering to its current pace, though specific earlier figures were not provided.
Amazon plans to launch AI content marketplace
Amazon is planning a marketplace where publishers can sell content directly to AI companies, according to a report by The Information cited by Reuters.
The initiative is being developed under Amazon Web Services, with internal slides grouping the content marketplace alongside core AI products like Bedrock and Quick Suite.
The move comes as publishers push for clearer licensing and usage-based fees for AI training and generation, following a similar step by Microsoft, which recently announced work on its own Publisher Content Marketplace.
Apollo, xAI near $3.4 billion deal to fund AI chips
Apollo Global Management is close to finalizing a ~$3.4B loan to an investment vehicle that will buy Nvidia AI chips and lease them to xAI, according to The Information.
The deal, arranged by Valor Equity Partners, would allow xAI to scale compute quickly without tying up capital in hardware purchases, a common strategy for fast-growing AI labs.
This would mark Apollo’s second major chip-leasing investment tied to xAI, following a similar $3.5B financing in November, as demand for AI compute surges alongside Musk’s push into massive and even space-based data center infrastructure.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
MrBeast’s company buys Gen Z-focused fintech app Step
Beast Industries, founded by YouTube creator MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), has acquired Step, a fintech app focused on helping Gen Z users build credit, save money, and invest.
Step has raised around $500 million in funding and grown to more than 7 million users. Its backers include celebrities like Charli D’Amelio, Will Smith, The Chainsmokers, and Stephen Curry, alongside firms such as General Catalyst, Coatue, and Stripe.
The acquisition aligns with Beast Industries’ push beyond YouTube, where its most profitable business today is the chocolate brand Feastables. Step founder and CEO CJ MacDonald said the deal will help expand Step’s platform and product offerings for young users.
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