☕ Apple to unveil its Gemini-powered Siri assistant & Tesla removes Autopilot from new vehicles in US and Canada.
Meta pauses teen access to AI characters & ChatGPT is pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia
Breaking News
Apple is set to unveil its Gemini-powered Siri assistant in the second half of February, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The update is expected to finally deliver on Apple’s long-promised AI overhaul, allowing Siri to take actions using personal data and on-screen context, with a larger, more conversational chatbot-style upgrade planned for WWDC in June—potentially running directly on Google’s cloud infrastructure.
Tesla has removed Autopilot from new vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada, pushing customers toward its Full Self-Driving system instead. Buyers must now choose between an $8,000 one-time FSD purchase (available until mid-February) or a $99/month subscription afterward, marking a clear shift toward recurring software revenue as Tesla faces margin pressure, slowing sales, and the loss of emissions credit income.
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🗞️ What Else Is Brewing
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Overworld, a Providence, Rhode Island-based developer of local-first diffusion world models, raised $4.5m in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from Amplify.LA, Garage Capital, Northside Ventures, Vital Stage, East Sunshine, and angel investors including Logan Kilpatrick and leaders from Snowflake and Roblox.
CoolSem Technologies, an Eindhoven, The Netherlands-based developer of wafer-level thermal management technology, secured a pre-seed funding of undisclosed amount. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with participation from KBC Focus Fund NV, Brabant Development Agency (BOM), and TTT Green Tech B.V. (SHIFT Invest).
GIGR (doing business as Playad), a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI creative platform, raised $5.4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by BRV Capital Management and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, with participation from angel investors including Bora Chung (board member at Krafton and former executive at Bill.com) and others.
Overworld, a Providence, Rhode Island-based developer of local-first diffusion world models, raised $4.5m in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Kindred Ventures, with participation from Amplify.LA, Garage Capital, Northside Ventures, Vital Stage, East Sunshine, and angel investors including Logan Kilpatrick and leaders from Snowflake and Roblox.
SEED
Cork, a NYC-based company that provides a protocol building tokenized risk infrastructure for onchain finance, raised $5.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Road Capital and a16z CSX with participation from 432 Ventures, BitGo Ventures, Cooley, DEPO Ventures, Funfair Ventures, G20 Group, Gate Labs, Hyperithm Gate, IDEO Ventures, PEER VC, Stake Capital, and WAGMI Ventures.
Antidote, a London, UK-based provider of an AI-powered automated billing compliance platform for global law firms, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Lakestar, with participation from Concept Ventures, The LegalTech Fund (TLTF), and a group of industry angels.
Allocation Strategy, a London, UK-based asset allocation technology company, raised £1.6m in seed funding. The round was led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from various angel investors and industry experts.
ABZ Innovation, a Budapest, Hungary-based manufacturer of agricultural and industrial drones, raised $8.2M in funding. The round was led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Day One Capital (HU) and Assembly Ventures (US).
GROWTH
Altavo, a Dresden, Germany-based medtech startup which specializes in AI-based voice rehabilitation, raised €3M in Series A2 funding. The round was led by Novalis Biotech (Ghent, Belgium) and Beteiligungsmanagement Thüringen, with participation from TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), TUDAG TU Dresden AG, Ostwerk GmbH and individual private investors.
Mia Labs, the Austin, TX-based company behind Mia, an AI-powered conversational platform for automotive dealerships, raised a $20M Series A funding. The round was led by Permanent Capital Ventures, with participation from Norwest alongside earlier investors Eniac Ventures, Vine Ventures, Analog Ventures (formerly J Ventures), and Logos Fund, as well as Yossi Levi of Car Dealership Guy.
Mendra, a San Francisco, CA-based biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for rare disease medicines, raised $82M in Series A funding. The round was co-led by OrbiMed, 8VC, and 5AM Ventures with participation from Lux Capital and Wing VC.
Agileday, a Helsinki, Finland-based developer of a people-centric operating platform for professional services, raised €6.4m in Series A funding. The round was led by Newion, with participation from Specialist VC, Vendep Capital, and Business Finland.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
Waldo, a New York–based investment firm, closed its $225m inaugural fund. Waldo I is backed by a group of institutional investors with deep domain expertise, including foundations, fund of funds and multi-family offices. Founded by Managing Partners Jon Rosenbaum and Julie Effron, Waldo locates and invests in proven, early-growth stage software and tech-enabled services companies. The firm proactively seeks out hard-to-find companies combining institutional rigor with a founder-first mindset.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
ChatGPT is pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has begun citing Grokipedia, an AI-generated encyclopedia created by Elon Musk’s xAI, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Grokipedia, launched in October after Musk criticized Wikipedia for alleged bias, has drawn scrutiny for factual errors and ideological framing, including controversial claims that have been debunked elsewhere.
OpenAI said ChatGPT draws from a wide range of publicly available sources, but the appearance of Grokipedia citations raises fresh concerns about how AI models surface and validate lesser-known or disputed information.
Who’s behind AMI Labs, Yann LeCun’s ‘world model’ startup
Yann LeCun has launched AMI Labs to build “world models,” AI systems designed to understand and reason about the real world beyond language, positioning the startup as a contrarian bet against large language model–centric approaches.
LeCun serves as executive chairman, while CEO duties are handled by Alex LeBrun, former CEO of Nabla, with early ties to Meta’s FAIR lab and possible future clients including Meta.
Investors are reportedly circling a potential multibillion dollar raise, and AMI plans to license its technology for high-stakes fields like healthcare, robotics, and industrial automation while keeping research ties open through publications and open source, with headquarters in Paris.
Meta pauses teen access to AI characters
Meta is stopping teenagers from using AI characters on all its apps worldwide, saying it wants to build an updated version with more parental controls before letting teens back in.
The company said parents wanted more insights and control over their teens’ interactions with AI characters, and the new version will give age-appropriate responses on topics like education and hobbies.
The pause comes days before Meta faces a trial in New Mexico over accusations it failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify in a separate addiction case next week.
The deal to keep TikTok in the US
TikTok finalized a deal to avoid a US ban by creating a new majority American-owned joint venture, after years of scrutiny over national security concerns tied to its Chinese parent, ByteDance. The same TikTok app will continue to operate for US users, with no immediate need to download a new version.
The new US entity includes major investors Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance retains a minority stake and will license TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which will be retrained on US user data—likely leading to subtle but noticeable shifts toward more US-centric content in feeds.
While TikTok says US creators will remain globally discoverable and businesses can maintain worldwide reach, lawmakers argue the deal may not fully resolve security concerns, since ByteDance still licenses the algorithm. US regulators and Congress are expected to closely oversee whether Chinese influence over data and recommendations has truly been eliminated.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Intel stock plunges amid manufacturing struggles
Intel’s stock dropped sharply after the company revealed it is having trouble keeping up with demand for its AI chips used in data centers.
Executives told investors that supplies ran short because they underestimated demand, and CFO David Zinser said shortages would continue in the first quarter before improving by mid-year.
Intel reported a net loss of $333 million in the fourth quarter and has struggled with low manufacturing yields, though CEO Lip-Bu Tan said improving output will be a focus in 2026.
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