☕ Elad Gil, solo GP, is raising a $1.5B fund, OpenAI expected to launch GPT-5 in August & Intel to cut 22% of workforce.
Google AI helps restore ancient Roman inscriptions & More.
Forget sharks, it’s vending machines you should watch out for. Statistically, you’re more likely to get crushed by a falling vending machine than eaten by a shark.
So while Jaws is pure nightmare fuel, it’s that rogue snack machine that’s the real danger.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: VC finance guide for founders, pitch deck storytelling kit, build your AI copilot, 2700+ VC contacts, get recommended by ChatGPT, adopt AI in marketing fast, YC investing patterns, vibe hacking, and more.
Elad Gil, a prominent solo GP is raising a $1.5 billion fund.
OpenAI expected to launch GPT-5 in August with multi-model capabilities.
Meta’s new wristband lets you type and click without touching anything.
Trump announces the 'AI Action Plan'.
Tesla reports steepest revenue decline in a decade.
Google AI helps restore ancient Roman inscriptions.
Intel to cut 22% of workforce as new CEO enforces strict turnaround plan.
Google launches Web Guide to organize search results with AI.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
All-in-one VC Finance Guide For Founders.
All-In-One Guide To Pitch Deck Storytelling - Free Template & Curated Resources'.
Build your personal AI copilot.
2700+ US Angel Investors & VC Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link)
How to get recommended by ChatGPT.
How your marketing team can adopt AI in one day.
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
Patterns Across 5 Years of YC Investing by Tomasz Tunguz.
Why You Need To Care About Product.
The Rise of ‘Vibe Hacking’ Is the Next AI Nightmare.
Stop Overthinking AI Subscriptions.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Data Guardians Network (D-GN), a remote company building datasets through a decentralized contributor mode, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by droppGroup, Saudi businessman Hamoud Al-Rumayyan, and Hub Culture.
Queen One, a NYC-based brand technology platform, raised more than $5.5M in a Friends and Family funding. The round was led by Charge VC, Inspired Capital, Red Swan Ventures, and Prospeq, alongside a group of entrepreneurs, past collaborators, and close supporters.
LegalOn, a San Francisco, CA-based company developing legal AI solutions for contracting, raised $50M in Series E funding. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives (Goldman Sachs), with participation from existing investor World Innovation Lab (WiL), and new participation from Mori Hamada, Mizuho Bank and Shoko Chukin.
Coral Vita, a Freeport, Bahamas-based commercial land-based coral reef restoration company, raised over $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Builders Vision, with participation from Katapult Ocean, iAlumbra, BDT & MSD, 2050, Rypples, Colorado Coral, Rising Tide, Aureolis Ventures, Wilson Sonsini, Kate James, Mariano Battan, Olavo Mutarelli, Jim Salem, Christian Nielsen, and others.
Memories.ai, a San Francisco, CA-based AI research lab building visual memories for AI, raised $8m in seed funding. The round was led by Susa Ventures, with participation from Samsung Next, Crane Venture Partners, Fusion Fund, Seedcamp and Creator Ventures.
Stellaria, a Grenoble, France-based energy startup originating from CEA and Schneider Electric, raised a total of €23M in funding. The round was led by At One Ventures and Supernova Invest, alongside CEA Investissements, Schneider Electric, Exergon, and Technip Energies.
Armada, a San Francisco, CA-based infrastructure company delivering compute, storage, connectivity, and AI/ML capabilities, raised $131M in funding. Backers included Pinegrove, Veriten, and Glade Brook as well as participation from existing investors including Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Shield Capital, 8090 Industries, M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Overmatch, Silent Ventures, Felicis, and Marlinspike.
Lyra, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native meeting platform for sales teams, raised $6m in seed funding round at a $40m valuation. The round was led by 468 Capital with participation from Rebel Fund, Y Combinator, Transpose Ventures and executives from Ramp, Gusto, and Zapier.
Monet, a London, UK-based financial platform improving cashflow management for creative agencies, raised £17M in Early-Stage funding. Backers included Paul Rippon, Michael Fischer, and Dan Adler, alongside Force Over Mass and angel investors.
Aidoc, a NYC-based provider of a clinical AI platform, raised $150M in funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and Square Peg, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Hartford HealthCare, Mercy, Sutter Health and WellSpan Health.
Dispatch Bio, a San Francisco, CA- and Philadelphia, PA-based Biotechnology company developing treatments for tumours, raised an undisclosed amounting Series A funding. Backers included ARCH Venture Partners and PICI, along with Bristol Myers Squibb, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Vaudit, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a real-time AI audit engine, raised $7.3M in seed funding. The round was led by Mucker Capital, with participation from AVV, AppWorks, Plug and Play, and Kyber Knight, Omar Hamoui and Binh Tran.
Reka, a Sunnyvale, CA-based company which specializes in multimodal AI research and product development, raised $110M in funding. Bakers included NVIDIA and Snowflake.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Elad Gil, a prominent solo GP based in Silicon Valley, is raising a $1.5 billion fund—potentially scaling up to $2 billion—for his new vehicle, Cosmic — Aleph 3, according to The Information. The fund would be one of the largest ever raised by a solo VC, and will focus heavily on AI and transformative tech, continuing Gil’s strategy of backing breakout companies early.
RA Capital Management, LP, a Boston, MA-based multi-stage investment manager, closed its inaugural Planetary Health Fund (PHF), at $120m. The fund will invest in high-growth companies advancing resource availability, energy innovation, and industrial productivity. The fund supports scalable, market-driven solutions that improve planetary health, leveraging RA Capital’s two decades of evidence-based investing and company-building expertise.
Victor Lazarte, co-founder of Wildlife Studios and partner at Benchmark, is leaving the firm to start his own investment practice. Lazarte joined Benchmark in 2023 and led investments in startups like Mercor, HeyGen, and Decart AI. His exit follows Sarah Tavel’s earlier transition to venture partner, signaling continued evolution at the storied VC firm, which operates under an equal partnership model.
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), a Mclean, VA-based advanced technology company delivering solutions for America’s most critical defense, civil, and national security priorities, announced that it is tripling its venture capital commitment from $100M to $300M. It will use the capital to bolster American innovation and build new solutions through investments in early-stage technology companies poised to transform U.S. government missions.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI expected to launch GPT-5 in August with multi-model capabilities:
OpenAI plans to release GPT-5 as early as August, positioning it as a system that combines multiple models to perform varied tasks beyond a single-model approach.
CEO Sam Altman has previously stated that GPT-5 will integrate the o3 model and move toward merging the o-series and GPT-series offerings.
While August is the target, launch timelines may shift due to development hurdles, server demands, or competition-triggered changes.
Meta’s new wristband lets you type and click without touching anything:
Meta's prototype wristband reads electrical signals from forearm muscles to control computers through hand gestures and finger movements.
The device uses electromyography and artificial intelligence trained on data from 10,000 people to detect movement intentions before they happen.
Meta plans to integrate this technology into products within the next few years, starting with smart glasses demonstrations last fall.
Trump announces the 'AI Action Plan':
Trump released a 28-page AI Action Plan on July 23 that outlines over 90 federal policy actions to counter China and maintain American AI dominance.
The plan focuses on three pillars: accelerating innovation through deregulation, building AI infrastructure with private sector partnerships, and leading international AI diplomacy.
The administration directs federal agencies to remove regulatory barriers that hinder AI development and threatens to limit funding to states with restrictive AI laws.
Tesla reports steepest revenue decline in a decade:
Tesla reported a 12% revenue decline to $22.5 billion in the April-June quarter, marking the steepest drop in over a decade.
The company faces strong competition from cheaper electric vehicles and backlash against CEO Elon Musk's political views affecting sales performance.
Tesla started production of a more affordable model and expects volume production in the second half of the year.
Google AI helps restore ancient Roman inscriptions:
Google DeepMind released Aeneas, an AI model that analyzes text and images to restore damaged Latin inscriptions and predict their origin.
The model helped 23 historians boost confidence by 23% and find relevant parallels in 15 minutes instead of days of manual searching.
Aeneas can attribute inscriptions to Roman provinces with 72% accuracy and date texts within 13 years using a dataset of 176,000 inscriptions.
Intel to cut 22% of workforce as new CEO enforces strict turnaround plan:
Intel plans to reduce its headcount from 96,400 to 75,000 by year-end under new CEO Lip Bu Tan, citing the need for disciplined spending and strategic factory delays.
The company is pivoting from prior manufacturing bets, cutting expansion in Ohio, Poland, and Germany, and may exit external chip manufacturing if new customers don’t materialize.
Despite beating Q2 revenue expectations, Intel forecast a steeper Q3 loss, driven by restructuring costs, weak AI chip positioning, and slower global semiconductor demand.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Google launches Web Guide to organize search results with AI:
Google has introduced Web Guide, an AI-powered Search Labs experiment that uses Gemini to group search results by topic for better organization.
The feature is designed for complex or open-ended queries and helps users explore comprehensive guides, safety tips, and personal experiences in grouped formats.
Initially available on the Web tab for opt-in users, Web Guide will expand to more search views over time.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
All-In-One VC Interview Preparation Guide: With a leading investors group, we have created an all-in-one VC interview preparation guide for aspiring VCs. Don’t miss this. (Access Here)
Director of Fundraising - Crosscut Venture | USA - Apply Here
Fund Accounting Manager - Elevation Capital | India - Apply Here
Chief of Staff - Grey Line Partner | USA - Apply Here
Investment Principal - Cota Capital | USA - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Value Creation - Cadeumen Capital | Spain - Apply Here
Chief of Staff - Penny Jar Capital | USA - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Principal - Al Fund | USA - Apply Here
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