☕ Apple reportedly abandons Vision Pro & Big Tech capex hits $725 billion in 2026.
Anthropic’s $900B valuation round could close within two weeks & More.
Breaking News
Apple is reportedly abandoning Vision Pro after weak demand, shifting focus toward cheaper AR glasses and fixing its delayed AI efforts. The move shows even Apple is retreating from expensive bets and doubling down on AI as the next priority.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are set to spend a massive $725B on capex in 2026, driven by surging AI infrastructure demand. The scale shows the real AI race is no longer about models — it’s about owning compute, even as rising chip costs and shortages start squeezing the entire system.
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Batteries are becoming a core layer of modern energy infrastructure and AI is accelerating the pressure on the grid.
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The company has received support from Google for Startups, participated in Plug and Play, engaged with U.S. Department of State initiatives, and is an approved vendor for Duke Energy.
Their current round is now open to public investors on Republic, with early participation already underway.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Mosaic SoC, a Zurich, Switzerland-based perception chip startup, raised $3.8M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Founderful, with participation from Kick Foundation.
SEED
Illuminant Surgical, a Los Angeles, CA-based surgical visualization company, raised $8.4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Wing 2 Wing Ventures, with participation from NSF, National Cancer Institute, Soma Capital, and others.
pmtbox, an Orem, UT-based enterprise commerce platform, raised $15M in Seed funding. The round was led by Tandem Ventures, with participation from Element Ventures, Cynosure Investment Partners, and others.
Fermeate, a San Francisco, CA-based industrial biotech startup, raised $2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Newfund Capital, with participation from SOSV, Ajinomoto Ventures, and others.
Dreambase, an Austin, TX-based AI analytics platform, raised $3.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from multiple investors and angels.
Shiprazor, a Cape Town-based logistics platform, raised $2.65M in Seed funding. The round was led by Norrsken22, with participation from AAIC, E4E, Tremis Capital, and others.
Blomma, a San Francisco, CA-based AI career coaching platform, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from angel investors.
BioOrbit, a London-based in-space drug manufacturing startup, raised $13.2M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by LocalGlobe and Breega, with participation from Seedcamp, Auxxo, and others.
Dreambase, an Austin-based AI analytics startup, raised $3.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from others.
Dex, a London-based AI recruiter platform, raised $5.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Notion Capital, with participation from a16z Speedrun, Concept Ventures, and others.
GROWTH
Netomi, a San Francisco, CA-based customer service AI startup, raised $110M in funding. The round was led by Accenture Ventures, with participation from Adobe Ventures, WndrCo, NAVER Ventures, and others.
Creati Gen AI, a San Francisco-based AI video editing startup, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures.
StudentCrowd, a UK-based student data platform, raised $9M in Series A funding. The round was led by YFM Equity Partners, with participation from Mercia Ventures.
Manifest OS, a NYC-based legal AI platform, raised $60M in Series A funding at a $750M valuation. Backers included Menlo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital, and Quiet Capital.
Chance Studios, a Los Angeles-based collectibles platform, raised $3.2M in funding. The round was led by Makers Fund and Hashed, with participation from others.
Blockworks, a NYC-based crypto data platform, raised funding in Series A at a $192M valuation. The round was led by ParaFi and Reciprocal Ventures, with participation from multiple investors.
JuliaHub, a Cambridge, MA-based scientific AI company, raised $65M in Series B funding. The round was led by Dorilton Capital, with participation from General Catalyst and others.
Versana, a NYC-based financial data infrastructure company, raised $43M in funding. The round was led by BNP Paribas, with participation from major financial institutions.
Moleculent, a Stockholm-based life sciences company, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by Rubicon Healthcare Partners, with participation from ARCH Venture Partners and others.
Iterative Health, a Cambridge, MA-based healthcare AI company, raised $77M in Series C funding. The round was led by Intrepid Growth Partners and GV, with participation from others.
DISA Technologies, a Wyoming-based mineral processing company, raised $33M in funding. The round was led by Galvanize, with participation from BHP Ventures, Halliburton Labs, and others.
Photon, a NYC-based prescription infrastructure platform, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Healthier Capital, with participation from others.
Squads, a NYC-based financial infrastructure company, raised $18M in funding. The round was led by Solana Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, and others.
Rocsys, a Netherlands-based EV automation company, raised $13M in Series A extension funding. The round was led by Capricorn Partners, with participation from others.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
137 Ventures, a U.S.-based growth-stage VC firm founded by Justin Fishner-Wolfson, has raised $700M across two new funds to back high-impact startups. The firm focuses on sectors like AI, defense, and industrial systems, and has invested in companies like SpaceX, Anduril, Cognition, and Hadrian Automation, continuing its strategy of doubling down on breakout late-stage bets.
BMW i Ventures, the venture arm of BMW AG, has raised a $300M fund to invest in early to Series B startups across North America and Europe. Led by managing partners Marcus Behrendt and Kasper Sage, the fund will focus on AI-driven technologies including agentic AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and industrial software, bringing total AUM to $1.1B.
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KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Apple hits record sales as Tim Cook steps down, but chip shortage looms
Apple reported a record $111.2B March quarter, with strong iPhone demand — especially for the latest lineup — under Tim Cook’s final stretch as CEO.
But rising memory chip costs (driven by AI demand) are becoming a serious risk, with Cook warning of “significantly higher” costs ahead — potentially impacting margins and supply.
Incoming CEO John Ternus may face tough decisions, including possible iPhone price increases, as supply chain pressure intensifies.
OpenAI launches advanced account security for ChatGPT with Yubico partnership
OpenAI introduced Advanced Account Security (AAS) for ChatGPT, adding stronger protections against phishing — especially for high-risk users like journalists, researchers, and enterprise teams.
In partnership with Yubico, the company is rolling out hardware-based login via YubiKeys (C NFC and C Nano), enabling physical authentication for accounts.
While significantly more secure, there’s a tradeoff: if users lose the hardware key, account recovery may be impossible — raising the stakes for protecting access.
Anthropic’s $900B valuation round could close within two weeks
Anthropic is fast-tracking a ~$50B fundraise, asking investors to submit allocations within 48 hours — with the round expected to close in ~2 weeks.
The target valuation is ~$900B, but strong investor demand could push it even higher — potentially surpassing OpenAI’s ~$852B valuation.
This is likely Anthropic’s final private round before IPO, aimed at funding massive compute needs, with revenue run rate already ~$30–40B.
Elon Musk admits xAI partly trained Grok using OpenAI models
Elon Musk testified that xAI used “distillation” techniques on OpenAI models to help train Grok — saying it’s a common industry practice.
Distillation involves querying existing AI systems to replicate their behavior, raising concerns among companies like Anthropic and OpenAI about losing their competitive edge.
The admission comes during Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, adding irony as labs increasingly accuse each other (and others) of leveraging their models to build competing systems.
Meta’s business AI hits 10M weekly conversations as usage surges
Meta says its business AI tools now handle 10 million conversations per week, up from just 1 million earlier this year — driven by expansion across global markets.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the tools are currently free to drive adoption, but monetization is coming as usage scales.
Meta is also seeing strong traction in AI ads: 8M+ advertisers are using GenAI tools, with features like video generation boosting conversion rates — signaling early revenue upside.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
White House blocks Anthropic Mythos expansion
The White House has pushed back on Anthropic’s plan to widen access to its Mythos AI model to around 70 companies and organizations, according to an administration official who spoke anonymously on Wednesday night.
US officials worry Anthropic lacks the computing power to serve more Mythos users without hurting the government’s own use of the model, which the company says is strong enough to enable dangerous cyberattacks.
Mythos, unveiled in early April, can reportedly detect and exploit vulnerabilities in critical software, and a small group of unauthorized users on a private online forum gained access the same day Anthropic announced its limited release plan.
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