Amazon reveals new robot that can feel & Apple plans to add AI search engines to Safari.
Zuckerberg wants AI to automate Meta’s entire ad business & CrowdStrike lays off 500 employees.
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Today’s Picks: Financial model, Sequoia runway guide, VC meeting tips, 6000+ Euro VCs, new distribution hack, legal docs, pricing strategy, moats, valuation guide, 350+ Indian VCs, VC interview prep, exit dilemma, data room guide.
Apple plans to add AI search engines like OpenAI and Perplexity to Safari.
Zuckerberg wants AI to automate Meta’s entire ad business.
Amazon building new AI coding tool named ‘Kiro’.
Microsoft adopts Google’s A2A protocol to boost AI agent interoperability.
Amazon reveals new robot that can feel.
New US bill would force Apple to allow third-party app stores.
CrowdStrike lays off 500 employees amid strategic efficiency push.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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The only startup valuation guide you need as a founder.
350+ Indian Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link).
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
SimpleClosure, a Santa Monica, CA-based platform to shut down a startup, raised $15m in Series A funding. The round, which brought SimpleClosure’s total funding to more than $20m, was led by TTV Capital, with participation from existing investors Infinity Ventures, Anthemis, Vera Equity, and new investors The LegalTech Fund and Carta, as well as additional angels.
Gardin Agritech, a UK-based developer of novel optical photosynthesis sensor & AI that measures crop photosynthesis in real time, has raised a $4.5M Seed 2 financing round led by Navus Ventures with participation from new investor Oxford Innovation Finance as well as existing investors LDV Capital, MMC Ventures, Seedcamp, Alchimia Investments and angel investors.
Rove, a San Francisco, CA-based universal airline mile loyalty startup, raised $2M in seed funding from Y Combinator, General Catalyst, and Soma Capital.
Foundation Alloy, a Boston, MA-based advanced metals startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Alumni Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, Engine Ventures, El Cap, Material Impact, and Yamaha Motor Ventures.
Zilia, a Quebec City, Canada-based medical technology company, raised an undisclosed amount in bridge funding. Backers included Linearis Ventures.
Blinq, a Melbourne, Australia-based provider of a digital business card platform, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Touring Capital, with participation from existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Square Peg Capital, and new investor HubSpot Ventures.
FirmPilot, a Miami, FL-based provider of an AI marketing engine for law firms, raised an undisclosed additional amount in funding. Backers included Thomson Reuters Ventures and HubSpot Ventures.
Gardin, an Oxford, UK-based company developing an optical photosynthesis sensor and AI, raised $4.5M in Seed 2 funding. The round was led by Navus Ventures with participation from new investor Oxford Innovation Finance as well as existing investors LDV Capital, MMC Ventures, Seedcamp, Alchimia Investments and angel investors.
Inductive Bio, a NYC-based technology company advancing artificial intelligence (AI) models for small molecule drug discovery, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, Lux Capital, S32, Character, and Amino Collective, alongside angel investors including Oren Etzioni, Jeff Hammerbacher, Malay Gandhi, and Jakob Uszkoreit.
Jericho Security, a NYC-based AI-powered cybersecurity training and conversational phishing defense platform, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Jasper Lau of Era Fund, with participation from Lux Capital, Dash, Gaingels Enterprise and Gaingels AI, Distique, Plug & Play, Henry, Metalab, Fog, Scrum Ventures, KBTG, and Textbook.
Carta Healthcare, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of AI-powered clinical data abstraction solutions, raised $18.25M in Series B1 funding. The round was led by UPMC Enterprises, with participation from MemorialCare Innovation Fund, Rex Health Ventures, Tampa General Hospital Ventures, Memorial Hermann Health System, Frist Cressey Ventures, Storm Ventures, Paramark Ventures, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, and Mass General Brigham Ventures.
WisdomAI, a San Francisco, CA-based company offering business insight agents, raised $23M in funding. The round was led by Coatue Ventures, with participation from Madrona, GTM Capital, The Anthology Fund and angel investors.
OX, a Boston, MA-based provider of a application security platform, raised $60M in Series B funding. The round was led by DTCP with participation from Swisscom Ventures, IBM, Evolution Equity, Microsoft and Team 8.
Wonderskin, a London, UK-based beauty brand, raised $50m in Series A funding round. The round was led by Insight Partners.
StackAI, a San Francisco, CA-based platform provider that enables enterprises to create custom AI Agents, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Lobby VC, with participation from LifeX Ventures, Guillermo Rauch (CEO of Vercel), and Bob Van Luijt (CEO of Weaviate), Gradient, Y Combinator, and Epakon Capital. They joined Soma Capital, True Capital Ventures, and other angel investors.
Nia, a London, UK-based provider of a platform supporting autonomous engineering agents, raised $850K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by LocalGlobe with participation from No Label Ventures, Andrena Ventures, Ventures Together, Eurasian Hub Ventures, and Artificial Societies (YC W25).
Tended, a Lincoln, UK-based provider of wearable safety solutions, raised £2M in funding. The round was led by Praetura Ventures and Blackfinch Ventures.
FoodHealth (fka bitewell), a San Francisco, CA-based nutrition intelligence company, raised $7.5M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $20M, was led by Reach Capital and Ulu Ventures, with participation from Supply Change Capital, ReThink Food, Refinery Ventures, Mudita, Antler, and other returning investors.
WisdomAI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI data analytics startup founded by Rubrik co-founder Soham Mazumdar, raised $23M in a seed round led by Coatue, with participation from Madrona, GTM Capital, and Anthology Fund.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Marathon Venture Capital, an Athens, Greece-based seed-stage venture firm, closed a new €75M fund, bringing its total assets under management to €175M. The fund will back Greek-founded startups targeting global markets, following exits like Augmenta’s $110M acquisition by CNH and a secondary sale of Hack the Box shares to Carlyle.
Ulili Onovakpuri, managing partner at Oakland-based Kapor Capital, is stepping down after more than a decade with the firm. She co-raised a $126M fund and backed over 70 startups during her tenure. Onovakpuri called the move a “purposeful pause” but hinted she’ll return to investing in the future.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Apple plans to add AI search engines like OpenAI and Perplexity to Safari:
Apple is exploring the integration of AI search engines from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic into Safari, according to Eddy Cue's court testimony.
Cue said Safari searches declined for the first time last month due to the rise of AI tools and believes AI search could eventually replace traditional search engines.
While Apple has already spoken with Perplexity, Cue stated these AI tools likely won’t become the default yet, as they still need improvement.
Zuckerberg wants AI to automate Meta’s entire ad business:
Mark Zuckerberg outlined plans to build an end-to-end AI ad tool that lets businesses simply set goals and budgets while Meta handles all creative and delivery.
The system would test thousands of AI-generated ad variations across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to optimize performance without needing manual demographic targeting.
Critics warn the plan could flood platforms with low-quality AI content and further sideline human creatives, sparking backlash from users and ad industry professionals.
Amazon building new AI coding tool named ‘Kiro’:
Amazon Web Services is developing an AI code-generation tool called “Kiro” that can generate code in near real-time and integrate with third-party AI agents.
The tool will include web and desktop apps, multimodal capabilities, and features like technical design document creation, code optimization, and issue detection.
Kiro would complement AWS’s existing Q Developer tool, with a potential launch originally considered for June, as Amazon joins the competitive AI coding tools race.
Microsoft adopts Google’s A2A protocol to boost AI agent interoperability:
Microsoft is adding support for Google’s Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol in Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio, enabling cross-platform collaboration between AI agents.
A2A allows agents to securely exchange goals and perform actions across apps and clouds, facilitating complex multi-agent workflows.
Microsoft joins the A2A GitHub working group, reinforcing industry momentum toward shared agent standards and broader interoperability in the growing AI agent ecosystem.
Amazon reveals new robot that can feel:
Amazon has introduced Vulcan, a new warehouse robot enhanced with AI, which possesses a tactile sense allowing it to handle items with greater precision.
This advanced automaton is designed to pick and place approximately three-quarters of products within Amazon's storage, a task previously performed mostly by human staff.
Currently active in facilities in Washington and Germany, Vulcan is being utilized to manage goods on high and low shelves, aiming to improve worker safety.
New US bill would force Apple to allow third-party app stores:
A proposed US law, the App Store Freedom Act, intends to make large tech companies, such as Apple, allow third-party app marketplaces and external payment processing on their platforms.
This Florida-originated bill specifically targets digital storefronts with over 100 million users, mandating access to sideloading and the same developer technologies available on the primary platform.
The legislation aims to stop platform holders from evading these rules with difficult conditions or high fees, influenced by regulations already implemented in the European Union.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
CrowdStrike lays off 500 employees amid strategic efficiency push:
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is laying off 5% of its workforce, around 500 employees, to streamline operations and aim for $10B in Annual Recurring Revenue.
Despite record cash flow last year, the company plans to rehire selectively in strategic areas throughout FY 2026.
CEO George Kurtz, who earned over $46M last year, said the changes will help CrowdStrike move faster and strengthen its cybersecurity leadership.
Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to join OpenAI as head of applications:
Fidji Simo will step down as CEO of Instacart to become OpenAI’s head of applications, reporting directly to CEO Sam Altman.
Simo, who joined OpenAI’s board in 2023, will transition to her new role later this year while remaining Chair of Instacart during the CEO handover.
The move follows OpenAI’s decision to retain nonprofit control and signals a push to scale its consumer-facing AI products.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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