☕ Anthropic's new AI can create video games from a single prompt & Google slashed its AI Plus subscription price by nearly 40%.
China presents $295B AI buildout plan & Musk explains SpaceX AI satellite design
Breaking News
China is reportedly preparing a massive $295 billion plan to build a nationwide AI computing network, with Huawei and domestic suppliers expected to provide most of the infrastructure. The project highlights how AI has become a national priority, with China investing at a scale designed to reduce dependence on U.S. technology and secure long-term AI leadership.
Google slashed the price of its AI Plus subscription by nearly 40% while adding more storage and premium AI features, signaling that the AI race is shifting from model performance to customer acquisition. The move puts pressure on OpenAI and Anthropic and suggests AI subscriptions could increasingly resemble streaming wars, where pricing becomes a key competitive weapon.
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
Where is Consumer AI actually headed and who gets to win? (Link)
Why 95% of AI budgets are growing while returns aren’t and what separates the winners from everyone else. (Link)
Anthropic reveals how close AI is to building itself? (Link)
What did hundreds of founders reveal about VCs? - A must-read thread. (Link)
Why are billion-dollar VC funds racing into seed deals? (Link)
The truth behind OpenAI’s $852 billion price tag (What you need to know before the IPO). (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Orbital, a Los Angeles-based space infrastructure company building AI data centers in Low Earth Orbit, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by a16z speedrun with participation from Basis Set, Human Element, Wayfinder, Antler, Anti Fund, Ascent, Rubik, Zero Knowledge Ventures, LYVC, Feld Ventures, New Legacy, FNDR, UpHonest, and Asterisk.
Mesoware, a Palo Alto-based company developing automation solutions for manufacturers, raised $1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Pillar VC.
Soffi, a San Francisco-based provider of a collaborative development environment for enterprise product teams, raised $4.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Innovation Endeavors with participation from Motive Force Ventures and Darkmode Ventures.
SEED
Upriver, a San Francisco-based AI-native data engineering platform provider, raised $14M in Seed funding. The round was led by Valley Capital Partners and Hetz Ventures.
Golden Analytics, a Bellevue-based AI-native analytics platform provider, raised $14M in Seed extension funding. The round was led by Insight Partners.
fonio.ai, a Vienna-based AI platform for customer communication, raised €14.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by 20VC with participation from founders and executives of Synthesia, HubSpot, and Revolut.
GROWTH
Pogo, a NYC-based AI research platform powered by purchase-verified consumer data, raised $32M in funding to date. Backers include Josh Buckley (Buckley Ventures), Mantis, 20VC, Village Global, Lenny Rachitsky, and the founders of Honey.
Cellares, a South San Francisco-based Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), received a $20M investment from ARK Invest. The company’s Series D investors now include BlackRock, Eclipse, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, Gates Frontier, DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors.
Vinyl Equity, a Chicago-based financial infrastructure company for capital markets and corporate transactions, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Jump Capital with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, Index Ventures, Spark Capital, Infinity Ventures, and Cambrian Fintech.
Morpho, a Paris-based decentralized finance lending and borrowing network, raised $175M in funding. The round was co-led by Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Ribbit, with participation from Apollo Funds, Circle Ventures, VanEck, Ledger Cathay, Variant, Wintermute Ventures, Prelude, IOSG, Hashkey, Mirana, NJJ Capital, SBI Group, and Bpifrance.
Titan, a NYC-based banking-native AI platform for financial services, raised $3M in funding. The round was led by Entropy Ventures.
Campground, an Oakland-based operations platform for social impact programs, raised over $2.2M in funding. Backers include Precursor Ventures, Acumen Americas, Underdog Labs, Access Georgia Foundation, and Jay Love.
Rylo, a Tel Aviv- and NYC-based AI-powered communication platform for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community, raised $85M in funding. The round was led by General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF) alongside new investment led by Canaan, with participation from Vertex Ventures and Contour.
GT Medical Technologies, a medical device company focused on brain tumor treatment, raised $100M in Series E funding. The round was led by Viking Global Investors with participation from MVM Partners, Gilde Healthcare, Evidity Health Capital, Medtech Venture Partners, and FemHealth Ventures.
Earlytrade, a Sydney-based fintech platform for construction industry working capital management, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. The round was led by S3 Ventures and Brick & Mortar Ventures.
Beacon, a Toronto-based AI-native technology holding company, raised $225M in Series C funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and HarbourVest, with participation from Lightspeed, Intrepid Growth Partners, Valiant Peregrine, BDT & MSD Partners, Journey LP, and Sator Grove.
NinjaOne, an Austin-based IT operations platform provider, raised $400M in Series C extension funding at a $12.3B valuation. Investors include Wellington Management, Teachers’ Venture Growth, BDT and MSD Partners, Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ, Hedosophia, NEA, Washington Harbour Partners, CapitalG, and Pinegrove Opportunity Partners.
ICEYE, a Helsinki-based sovereign intelligence company, raised €450M in Series F funding at a valuation exceeding €10B. The round was led by General Atlantic with participation from Solidium, Tesi, Varma, Ilmarinen, Lifeline Ventures, Nokia, Qatar Investment Authority, and TCV.
Merchantee, a Prague-based agentic marketplace intelligence startup, raised €1.8M in funding. The round was led by Reflex Capital, with participation from Czech Founders VC and Lighthouse Ventures.
Stepful, a NYC-based healthcare career training platform, raised $55M in Series C funding. The round was led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Foresite Capital, Hearst Ventures, Citi Impact Fund, SemperVirens, Y Combinator, Intermountain Health, and ECMC Education Impact Fund.
City Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based biotech company developing RNAi medicines, raised $99.5M in Series B funding. The round was led by Viking Global Investors and Sofinnova Investments, with participation from Casdin Capital, NYBC Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Invus, Slate Path Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Regeneron Ventures, and AN Ventures.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Dimension Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, is raising up to $750m for its third fund. According to a form filed with the SEC, Dimension Capital III, L.P., has not raised any sum, yet. The document lists Adam Goulburn as the person related to the fund raise. Led by Goulburn and Zavain Dar, Dimension is a multistage, research oriented, investment firm partnering with companies across the frontiers of science and compute.
Benchmark Capital, the Silicon Valley venture firm behind early bets in eBay, Uber, Snap, and Twitter, has raised $2 billion across two new funds, including its first-ever $1.25 billion growth fund for later-stage investments. The firm is expanding beyond its traditional early-stage strategy to back larger AI and growth-stage companies, while its new $750 million early-stage fund gives it more firepower to compete in today’s increasingly expensive startup market.
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KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Musk explains SpaceX AI satellite design
SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared fresh details on the AI-1 satellite, the first version of a planned 1-million-satellite orbital network built to run artificial intelligence computing, ahead of the company’s expected record IPO.
Musk said an AI satellite is mostly solar cells, a radiator, and some laser links, making it simpler to design than a Starlink satellite because it skips the complex communications antennas Starlink requires.
SpaceX also plans Gigasat, an 11-million-square-foot expansion in Bastrop, Texas, that will make large solar panels, and a future Terafab covering 100 million square feet, about ten times the size of Tesla’s Austin gigafactory.
Anthropic’s Fable 5 can create full video games from a single prompt
Anthropic released Fable 5, the first public version of its Mythos model, with early testers saying it outperforms most publicly available AI models.
Researcher Ethan Mollick used Fable 5 to generate multiple playable video games, including Snake-style arcade games and exploration titles, using just one prompt.
Beyond games, the model also created complex tools like detailed travel-time maps, highlighting how AI is rapidly lowering the effort needed to build sophisticated software projects.
Lovable surpasses $500M ARR as usage continues to surge
Lovable says it has crossed $500M in annualized revenue, up from $400M in February, making it one of the fastest-growing AI startups globally.
The platform has now been used to create more than 50 million projects, with users generating around 1 million new projects every week.
Most users are non-technical founders and operators building websites, CRMs, inventory tools, and business software, highlighting AI’s growing challenge to traditional SaaS products.
Apple announces iOS 27
Apple has unveiled iOS 27, the next major iPhone update, which leans heavily on performance fixes and design refinements rather than a single headline feature.
Liquid Glass now includes a slider to adjust transparency, icons get extra layers of refraction for a sharper look, and a new CPU scheduler is meant to make older iPhones feel more responsive.
Every iPhone that runs iOS 26 can run iOS 27, going back to the iPhone 11 and second-gen iPhone SE, and Spotlight, search, and Mail have been rebuilt around a new index and ranking system.
Pentagon accuses Alibaba and BYD of supporting Chinese military
The Pentagon has added Alibaba, Baidu, and EV maker BYD to its 1260H roster of firms it says support the Chinese military, restoring designations from a February list that was pulled minutes after posting.
The update also reinstates memory chipmakers ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, and now labels three of China’s top AI players — Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent — as aiding the People’s Liberation Army.
While the list carries few immediate legal consequences, the Pentagon increasingly uses it to block companies from US military contracts and research funding, and it often serves as a red flag preceding tougher trade restrictions.
EU orders Meta to give rival AI chatbots free access to WhatsApp
EU regulators ordered Meta to restore free WhatsApp Business API access to rival AI chatbots while an antitrust investigation into the company continues.
The probe was triggered by complaints from AI startups that Meta blocked competitors from WhatsApp while allowing its own Meta AI assistant privileged access.
Meta plans to appeal the decision, while the EU warns the company could face fines of up to 10% of global revenue if antitrust violations are confirmed.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Apple says it may remove some apps from the App Store if they don’t attract users
Apple updated its App Store guidelines, warning that apps in crowded categories may be removed if they are not regularly updated or attracting users.
Categories under scrutiny include wallpaper apps, simple timers, sound-effect apps, dating apps, flashlight apps, and fortune-telling apps.
The move is part of Apple’s effort to reduce low-quality apps and improve discovery for developers building actively maintained and differentiated products.
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