☕ Anthropic raises $30B in Series G & OpenAI accuses DeepSeek of distilling US AI models.
China successfully tests lunar spacecraft and reusable rocket & YouTube launches dedicated Apple Vision Pro app.
Breaking News
Anthropic closed a $30B Series G round, pushing its valuation to $380B — more than double its previous $183B mark. The round was led by GIC and Coatue with participation from Founders Fund, Accel, General Catalyst, Jane Street, and others. The raise significantly intensifies competition with OpenAI, which is reportedly pursuing a $100B round at an ~$830B valuation, turning the foundation model race into a capital arms race.
OpenAI told U.S. lawmakers that China’s DeepSeek used distillation techniques to replicate capabilities from leading U.S. AI models. According to a memo sent to Congress, DeepSeek allegedly bypassed access restrictions using third-party routers and programmatic extraction methods to gather model outputs for training. The accusation adds geopolitical tension to an already intense AI rivalry, shifting focus from performance benchmarks to model security and enforcement.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Maestro AI, a Parkland, FL-based provider of a vertical artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform built for mortgage origination, raised $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by New Stack Ventures, with participation from Family VC, ZFO, Roark’s Drift, and a group of local angel investors.
Smart Bricks, a San Francisco, CA-based AI startup building agentic AI infrastructure for real-estate investing, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
SEED
inference Research, a Hong Kong-based AI-native quantitative trading franchise company for digital assets and traditional finance, raised $20M in Seed funding. The round was led by Avenir Group.
Project Omega, a Washington, D.C.-based developer of advanced nuclear recycling technology, raised $12m in Seed funding. The round was led by Starship Ventures, with participation from Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, and Slow Ventures.
Santè, a NYC-based provider of a fintech platform for the wine and spirits industry, raised $7.6M in funding. The round was led by Bonfire Ventures, along with Operator Collective, Y Combinator and Veridical Ventures.
Ando, a San Francisco, CA-based company building AI infrastructure for the global hourly workforce, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Blitzscaling Ventures, Zero Capital, Monochrome, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, Fireroad, and additional investors.
The Biological Computing Co. (TBC), a San Francisco, CA-based brain’s intelligence company, raised $25M in Seed funding. The round was led by Primary.
Bearing, a Scottsdale, AZ-based physical security operations software company built natively on ServiceNow, raised $4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by AZ-VC, with participation from High Alpha, PHX Ventures and Lightbank.
Cydelphi, a Dallas, TX-based provider of an AI-native Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR) platform enabling cyber resilience, raised $3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Glasswing Ventures, with participation from Blu Ventures, Hyde Park Angels and Merlin Group.
Manufact (formerly known as mcp-use), a San Francisco, CA-based infrastructure platform powering AI agents built on Model Context Protocol (MCP), raised $6.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Peak XV, with participation from Liquid 2 Ventures, Ritual Capital, Pioneer Fund, Y Combinator, and angel investors.
Bracket, a London, UK-based fintech that has developed an FX, treasury and cash management platform, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Macquarie Group and Blackfinch Ventures, with participation from existing investor Failup Ventures.
Stanhope AI, a London, UK-based deep tech startup developing brain-inspired artificial intelligence, raised $8M in Seed funding. The round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Paladin Capital Group, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, UCL Technology Fund and MMC Ventures.
Electric Twin, a London, UK-based provider of an AI platform building synthetic audiences, raised $10M in Seed funding. The round was led by Atomico, LocalGlobe, Mercuri and Samos Investments.
Orthofuse, a London, UK-based orthopaedic medtech company focused on delivering safe and efficient surgical procedures, closed a £2.2m Seed funding. The round was led by a group of angel investors.
Levl, a Zug, Switzerland-based provider of a platform empowering fiat and stablecoin global payments, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Galaxy Ventures with participation from Protagonist, Deus X, Blockchain Builders Fund, OpenFX, FalconX, CMCC, Variant Fund, and a strategic angel network.
GROWTH
Uptiq, a Dallas, TX-based AI platform purpose-built for financial services, raised $25m in Series B funding. The round was led by Curql, with participation from Silverton Partners, 645 Ventures, Broadridge, Green Visor Capital, Live Oak Ventures, First Capital, Epic Ventures, Tau Ventures, and Evolution VC.
Reco, a New York City-based developer of an AI SaaS security platform, raised $30m in Series B funding. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners and boldstart ventures and new corporate investors.
Ever, a San Francisco, CA-based company providing an AI-native auto retail platform, raised $31M in Series A funding. The round was led by Eclipse with participation from Lifeline Ventures, Ibex Investors, Maki VC, Joint Effects, and JIMCO.
Big Health, a San Francisco, CA-based developer of digital treatments for mental health conditions, raised $23.7M in new funding. The round was led by .406 Ventures and AlleyCorp, with participation from CVS Health Ventures and others.
Anterior, a NYC-based provider of a clinician-led artificial intelligence platform for health plans, raised $40M in funding. Backers included NEA and Sequoia Capital, alongside new investors FPV and Kinnevik.
Alva Energy, a Cambridge, MA-based nuclear energy company, raised $33M in funding. The round was led by Playground Global, with participation from Segra Capital, NGP, Mercator Partners, Alumni Ventures, 8VC, Logos and others.
Talkiatry, a NYC-based provider group delivering in-network psychiatric care, raised $210M in Series D funding. The round was led by Perceptive Advisors, with participation from Sofina and prior lead investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Integrate, a Seattle, WA-based developer of a project management platform for dynamic multi-entity execution, raised $17M Series A funding. The round was led by FPV Ventures with participation from Fuse VC and Rsquared VC.
Opaque, a San Francisco, CA-based confidential AI company for enterprise AI, raised $24M in Series B funding, at a $300M valuation. The round was led by Walden Catalyst, with participation from Intel Capital and others.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
All Aboard Fund, a NYC-based energy transition-focused venture capital firm, raised $99m for its maiden fund. According to an SEC form, 15 backers participated in the raise of All Aboard Fund I, L.P. The doc lists Stan Miranda, Chris Anderson, and Staffan Qvist, as people related to the raise.
Multimodal Ventures, a Naperville, IL-based seed stage vc firm focused on investing in Y Combinator backed startups, closed its first fund, at $15m. 99 limited partners participated in the raise. Led by Jeff Heitzman, Founder and Managing Partner, Niraj Shah, Co-founder and Managing Partner, and Ryan Havlick, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Multimodal Ventures is a seed-stage vc firm focused on investing in Y Combinator backed startups.
Kindred Ventures, a San Francisco, CA-base venture capital firm, raised approx. $227m across two funds. According to a first S.E.C. form dated Feb, 6, 2026, Kindred Ventures IV, L.P., has raised $190m out of an attempt to raise $230m. According to an another S.E.C. form dated the same day, Kindred Selector II, L.P., has raised $37m out of a target of $100m.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Pinterest says it sees more searches than ChatGPT despite earnings miss
Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said the platform sees 80B searches per month and 1.7B monthly clicks, compared to 75B monthly searches on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with over half of Pinterest searches being commercial in nature.
Q4 revenue came in at $1.32B (vs. $1.33B expected) and EPS at $0.67 (vs. $0.69 forecast), with Q1 guidance below expectations; shares fell 20% after hours despite MAUs rising 12% YoY to 619M.
The company blamed weaker ad spend and tariff impacts, and said it’s betting on visual search, personalization, and its Amazon checkout partnership to strengthen AI-era commerce journeys.
Musk pivots to ‘Moonbase Alpha’ vision for SpaceX and xAI
Elon Musk is pitching a lunar “mass driver” factory to build and launch AI satellites, reframing the merged SpaceX–xAI story ahead of a potential IPO.
The plan extends orbital AI data centers into deep space: manufacture compute on the Moon, then use a magnetic launch system to hurl satellites outward, aiming to capture a meaningful share of solar energy in line with the Kardashev Scale idea.
The shift follows SpaceX stepping back from near-term Mars colonization; the Moon becomes the new long-term narrative to rally talent and investors as xAI faces executive departures and intensifying AI competition.
OpenAI launches Codex-Spark powered by Cerebras chip
OpenAI introduced GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, a lighter and faster version of Codex built for low-latency, real-time coding collaboration, now in research preview for ChatGPT Pro users.
The model runs on Cerebras’ Wafer Scale Engine 3 chip, part of a $10B+ multi-year partnership, marking deeper hardware integration to accelerate inference speed and rapid prototyping workflows.
Spark complements the heavier GPT-5.3 model by focusing on quick iteration and responsiveness, as Cerebras positions its waferscale chips as optimized for ultra-fast AI inference use cases.
China successfully tests lunar spacecraft and reusable rocket
China flew an uncrewed test of its new Long March 10 rocket and Mengzhou crew capsule on Tuesday, both key parts of its plan to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030.
The Mengzhou spacecraft fired its launch abort motors at Max-Q to simulate an in-flight escape, then deployed parachutes and splashed down offshore from Hainan Island without crew onboard.
After the capsule separated, the Long March 10 booster kept flying into space, reentered the atmosphere, reignited its engines, and landed propulsively in the South China Sea near a recovery barge.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
YouTube launches dedicated Apple Vision Pro app
YouTube released its first native app for Apple Vision Pro after two years of relying on Safari, finally enabling features like offline downloads and a full immersive viewing experience.
The app supports standard videos, Shorts, and a new Spatial tab for 3D, VR180, and 360° content, with 8K playback on newer M5-powered models and gesture-based controls for navigation.
The launch comes amid cooling demand for the headset, which previously saw limited engagement and declining shipments, but now joins other major streaming apps offering native visionOS experiences.
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