☕ Anthropic raised $13 billion, Musk reveals Tesla's fourth Master Plan & OpenAI acquires product testing startup for $1.1B.
China's plan to outpace Neuralink & More.
Puma and Adidas were built by two brothers.
Adolf and Rudolf Dassler ran a shoe factory together, but split after World War II, Rudolf created Puma, Adolf created Adidas.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Growth model vs freemium, legal docs, market study tactics, SaaS financial model, a16z hiring guide, cap table template, EU VC database, investor CRM, US VC midyear outlook.
Anthropic raised $13 billion in a Series F at a $183 billion valuation.
OpenAI to add GPT-5 routing and parental controls after teen suicide case.
Musk reveals Tesla's fourth Master Plan.
Google denies Gmail breach for 2.5 billion users.
China's plan to outpace Neuralink.
Apple suppliers must invest in automation or face losing orders.
OpenAI buys Statsig for $1.1B and reshuffles product leadership.
Google and Apple’s $20B Safari search deal upheld in court.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
The counterintuitive model: The growth model that outperforms freemium and free trials.
Startup legal document pack – essential legal docs for founders.
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SaaS startup financial model: All-in-One excel template.
a16z guide: How to hire a strong founding team?
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6000+ European VC Firms Contact Database (LinkedIn Links).
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US Venture Capital Outlook: Midyear Update.
40 real startup pitch decks that raised $350M+ (Including leading startups decks)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Anthropic, a leading AI company, has raised $13 billion in a Series F at a $183 billion valuation. The round was co-led by Iconiq, Fidelity, and Lightspeed, with participation from BlackRock, Blackstone, Qatar Investment Authority, Altimeter, Coatue, Insight Partners, and others.
Predoc, a NYC-based full-service, AI-native platform for Health Information Management, raised $30m in Series A + Seed funding. The round was led by Base10 Partners, with participation from Northzone, ENIAC Ventures, and ERA Ventures. Seed funding included angel investments from Operator Partners (Flatiron Health founders), Travis May (Datavant founder), Demetri Karagas / Steven Gutentag (cofounders of Thirty Madison) and Bill Murphy (Former CTO of Blackstone.)
Tangany, a Munich, Germany-based BaFin-regulated digital asset custodian preparing for EU-wide expansion under MiCA, closed a €10m Series A funding round. The round was led by Baader Bank, Elevator Ventures, the venture capital arm of Raiffeisen Bank International, and Heliad Crypto Partners, the digital assets investment arm of Heliad AG, with participation from HTGF and Nauta Capital.
Bayes Market, a Hong Kong-based provider of a prediction platform, received $2M in funding. Backers included GreenVision Fund, Jkapital Ltd., and Bearcat, alongside U.S. public company chairman.
Leo AI, a Cambridge, MA-based AI company for physical product design, raised $9.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Flint Capital, with participation from an a16z scout, TechAviv, Two Lanterns VC, Bertrand Sicot, and Prof. Yossi Matias.
WheelsOn, a Dubai, UAE-based provider of a mobile-first car rental platform, raised $12.5M in funding. The amount consisted of $2.2M in equity from a group of MENA-focused private investors, including partners of Xploration Capital, $6.5M for a fleet expansion round and $4M financing from local banks. This latest round brings WheelsOn’s total funding to $12.5M, pushing its valuation near $30M.
Professional.me, a Dover, DE-based provider of an AI-powered recruitment platform, raised $3.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by UAE based Raha Beach Ventures.
Cyted Health, a Cambridge, UK-based gastrointestinal (GI) molecular diagnostics company, raised USD44M in Series B funding. The round was led by EQT Life Sciences.
Seraya, a Dubai, UAE-based hospitality startup, raised $1.8M in seed funding (equity + debt). The round was led by KSA family office and German family office DLL, bringing total funding to $2.15M.
Munify, a Cairo, Egypt-based fintech company, raised $3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Y Combinator, with participation from BYLD and Digital Currency Group, alongside other strategic investors.
Hubert, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of an AI hiring platform for the high-volume recruitment, raised €2.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Spintop Ventures with participation from Jakob Tolleryd, Peder Bonnier, and Joen Bonnier.
Charm Therapeutics, a London, UK-based biotechnology company which specializes in precision oncology treatments, raised $80M in Series B funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and SR One, with participation from existing investors OrbiMed, F-Prime, Khosla Ventures and NVIDIA.
Stark Future, a Barcelona, Spain-based maker of electric motocross bikes, received a new investment round. The latest investment, which brought total funding to over €100M, was led by Eicher Motors with participation from existing shareholders including a select group of new high-profile investors from the world of MotoGP.
Phasecraft, a London, UK-based quantum algorithms company, raised $34M in Series B funding. The round was led by Plural, Playground Global, and Novo Holdings with participation from existing investors LocalGlobe, AlbionVC, and Parkwalk Advisors.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
CRV, a 55-year-old venture firm based in the U.S., has raised $750 million for its twentieth flagship fund, downsizing from its previous $1 billion early-stage fund. The new fund will focus on seed and Series A investments in consumer and developer tools companies, including recent bets like CodeRabbit and Outtake.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI to add GPT-5 routing and parental controls after teen suicide case:
OpenAI will begin routing sensitive conversations, like those showing signs of acute distress, to reasoning models such as GPT-5 to reduce risks of harmful responses.
The company plans to introduce parental controls within a month, including account linking, default age-appropriate behavior rules, and notifications when teens show distress.
The changes follow tragic cases, including Adam Raine’s suicide, sparking criticism from lawyers and experts who argue OpenAI’s safety response remains inadequate.
Musk reveals Tesla's fourth Master Plan:
Tesla's Master Plan Part 4 outlines a vision for "sustainable abundance" by integrating artificial intelligence with the physical world and unifying the company's hardware and software on a global scale.
The company's Optimus humanoid robot is central to the strategy, intended to take over monotonous and dangerous tasks, though its actual autonomy and public release timeline are currently still unknown.
Aside from mentioning Optimus and autonomous vehicles, the plan offers few tangible details on how Tesla will scale production or solve challenges with its existing Robotaxi service.
Google denies Gmail breach for 2.5 billion users:
Google has officially debunked inaccurate reports of a major security issue affecting all 2.5 billion Gmail users, stating that recent claims about an emergency warning are entirely false.
The erroneous claims appear to be a misinterpretation of an older phishing attack that targeted a Salesforce instance, for which the company had already notified every person actually impacted.
Google reassured people that its protections continue to block over 99.9% of malware attempts and encourages everyone to set up a secure password alternative like passkeys for maximum protection.
China's plan to outpace Neuralink:
China unveiled a five-year blueprint to build a globally competitive brain-computer interface (BCI) industry, aiming for clinical use by 2027 and domestic champions by 2030.
The plan integrates regulation, R&D, and industrial policy from the start, prioritizing implantable chips, advanced electrodes, real-time neural decoding, and non-invasive wearables.
With strong state backing and semiconductor ambitions, China seeks to leapfrog the US by rapidly commercializing BCIs for both medical use and consumer applications.
Apple suppliers must invest in automation or face losing orders:
Apple is now requiring suppliers to invest their own money into factory automation and robotics, making it a condition for securing future contracts to build the iPhone.
This push for more factory robots aims to reduce the overall labor force, save money on assembly, and ensure manufacturing creates the same results at any site globally.
The requirement also helps Apple diversify its supply chain away from China, reducing its need for a low-cost workforce and potentially opening the door to making iPhones in the US.
OpenAI buys Statsig for $1.1B and reshuffles product leadership:
OpenAI is acquiring product testing startup Statsig in an all-stock deal valued at $1.1B under its $300B valuation. Founder Vijaye Raji becomes CTO of Applications reporting to Fidji Simo, leading ChatGPT, Codex, and future apps while bringing Statsig’s experimentation platform in-house.
Leadership moves include Kevin Weil shifting to VP of OpenAI for Science to build an AI platform for scientific discovery with Sebastien Bubeck, and Srinivas Narayanan becoming CTO of B2B Applications working closely with COO Brad Lightcap on enterprise needs.
The deal awaits regulatory review. All Statsig employees will join OpenAI, while Statsig keeps operating independently from its Seattle office and continues serving existing customers.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Google and Apple’s $20B Safari search deal upheld in court:
A federal judge ruled Google can continue paying Apple $20B+ to remain the default search engine in Safari, rejecting calls to block such deals. Mozilla also defended its own Google search partnership, saying Firefox might not survive without it.
Judge Amit Mehta said banning payments would cause “crippling” harm to distribution partners and consumers. However, Google must share some search data with rivals but won’t need to add choice screens or divest Chrome/Android.
The decision follows Mehta’s 2024 ruling that Google is a monopolist in search and ads. Google says it will appeal, while the Justice Department had pushed for stronger remedies.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
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