☕ ElevenLabs crossed $330 million ARR & U.S. government approved exports of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China.
Taiwan seeks arrest of OnePlus CEO over illegal hiring allegations & Anthropic launches Cowork.
Breaking News
ElevenLabs has crossed $330 million in annual recurring revenue, with CEO Mati Staniszewski revealing the company scaled from $100M to $330M ARR in just over a year. The voice AI startup now handles more than 50,000 enterprise customer support calls per month, serving both Fortune 500 companies and startups, and has expanded beyond voice agents into music generation and licensed celebrity voice partnerships—cementing it as one of the fastest-scaling AI application businesses to date.
The U.S. government has approved exports of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China, subject to strict conditions including third-party technical reviews, usage certifications, and caps limiting Chinese buyers to no more than 50% of U.S. customer volumes. The decision marks a significant shift from earlier restrictions, aiming to balance U.S. competitiveness with national security concerns, while critics warn enforcement challenges could still accelerate China’s AI capabilities.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Diffraqtion, a Somerville, MA-based space startup developing quantum cameras, raised $4.2M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by QDNL Participations, with participation from milemark•capital, Aether VC, ADIN, Offline Ventures, and a non-dilutive DARPA SBIR Direct-to-Phase 2 contract supporting space situational awareness capabilities.
Bricks.sh, a Milan, Italy-based AI-native internal tool builder, raised €1.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Primo Capital with participation from Octopus First Cheque Fund, Eden Ventures, Vesper Holding, Vento, Gianluca Cocco (Qomodo), Filippo Conforti (Commerce Layer), as well as the entire founding team of online operations automator, Smartness.
SEED
Proxima (formerly VantAI), a NYC-based AI-native biotech company developing AI-driven drug discovery for proximity therapeutics, raised $80M in Seed funding. The round was led by DCVC, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Braidwell, Roivant, AIX Ventures, Yosemite, Magnetic Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Modi Ventures, and additional strategic and institutional investors.
OutSee, a Cambridge, England-based developer of an AI-based predictive genomics approach to target discovery, raised £2.5M in seed funding. The round was led by Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from Kadmos Capital, Panacea, Empirical Ventures, and 26 independent angel investors.
GROWTH
Deepgram, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a real-time API platform underpinning the Voice AI economy, raised $130M in Series C funding. The round was led by AVP, with participation from Alkeon, In-Q-Tel, Madrona, Tiger, Wing, Y Combinator, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Alumni Ventures, Princeville Capital, Twilio, ServiceNow Ventures, SAP, and Citi Ventures.
Wasabi Technologies, a Boston, MA-based hot cloud storage company, raised $70M in funding, at $1.8 Billion valuation. The round was led by L2 Point Management with participation from Pure Storage and existing investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company.
Enspire DBS Therapy, Inc., a Cleveland, OH-based clinical-stage company developing an implantable neuromodulation therapy for post-stroke recovery, raised $10.3M in a Series B1 funding. The round was led by new investor Genesys Capital, with participation from existing investors Cleveland Clinic and JobsOhio Ventures.
Onebrief, a Honululu, HI-based provider of an operating system for command, raised $220M in Series D funding, at $2.15 Billion valuation. The round was led by Battery Ventures and Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and additional investment from General Catalyst and Insight Partners.
RISA Labs, a Palo Alto, California-based provider of an AI operating system for oncology, closed an $11.1m Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Cencora Ventures and Optum Ventures, with participation from Oncology Ventures, Z21 Ventures, and John Simon (via his Ventureforgood investment firm).
Defense Unicorns, a San Antonio, Texas-based developer of airgap software for national security mission systems, raised $136m in Series B financing at a valuation of over $1 billion. The round was led by Bain Capital, with participation from Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures, and former CIA Director David H. Petraeus.
WitnessAI, a Mountain View, CA-based provider of an AI security platform, raised $58M in funding. The round was led by Sound Ventures, Anthropic, and SentinelOne, with participation from Fin Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and Forgepoint Capital Partners.
The 33rd Team, a NYC-based football technology company, closed its eight-figure Series B funding. Backers included Liberty Media, FORTA Advisors, Autumn Road, Dan Senor, Nick Gross, Gary Vaynerchuk, Ryan Moore, Greg Ciongoli, George Pyne, John Low, Silver Falcon Capital and others.
WithCoverage, a NYC-based provider of an AI-enabled risk management platform, raised $42m in Series B financing. The round was led by Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures, with participation from 8VC and Crystal Venture Partners.
Converge Bio, a Boston, MA-based provider of an AI platform for accelerated drug discovery and development, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from TLV Partners, Vintage Investment Partners and Saras Capital, as well as executives from Meta, OpenAI and Wiz.
Cloudforce, a National Harbor, Maryland-based provider of frontier AI solutions for regulated industries, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation from M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund.
JetZero, a Long Beach, California-based developer of a commercial all-wing airplane, raised approximately $175m in Series B financing. The round was led by B Capital, with participation from United Airlines Ventures, Northrop Grumman, 3M Ventures, and RTX Ventures.
Harmattan AI, a Paris, France-based defense technology company, raised $200M in Series B funding. The round was led by Dassault Aviation.
Mirador Therapeutics, a San Diego, CA-based clinical-stage precision medicine company developing new therapies for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, raised $250M in Series B funding. Backers included T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Adage Capital Partners L.P., Fidelity Management & Research Company.
Juvena Therapeutics, a Redwood City, CA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $33.5M in Series B funding. The round was led by Bison Ventures with participation from Eli Lilly and Company, Jefferson Life Sciences, and existing investors Mubadala Capital and Manta Ray.
X Square Robot, a Shenzhen, China-based company which specializes in general purpose embodied AI, raised $140M in Series A++ funding. Backers included ByteDance and HongShan, along with other strategic Chinese partners.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates
Superorganism, a U.S.-based VC firm focused on biodiversity startups, has raised a $25.9M debut fund backed by Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, Builders Vision, and a16z’s Jeff Jordan. The fund targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies tackling extinction, nature-friendly climate tech, and conservation tools, writing $250K–$500K checks.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Anthropic launches Cowork to bring Claude Code to non-coders
Anthropic released Cowork, a new tool built into the Claude Desktop app that brings Claude Code features to people who don’t have coding experience or technical backgrounds.
Cowork lets users pick a specific folder where Claude can read or change files, with instructions given through regular chat, removing the need for command-line tools or virtual environments.
Anthropic warns that Cowork can take actions without asking for permission, which creates risks like deleted files or prompt injection if users give vague or unclear instructions.
Microsoft offers to cover AI data center power costs
Microsoft announced a new initiative promising to pay full power costs for its AI data centers, responding to growing opposition from communities facing higher electricity bills and water shortages.
The plan includes rejecting local property tax breaks, replenishing more water than the company uses, training local workers, and creating Community Advisory Boards at major data center sites.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said the company developed this approach since September after noticing public concern shift from jobs to electricity prices and water use during visits to Wisconsin.
Taiwan seeks arrest of OnePlus CEO over illegal hiring allegations
Taiwan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Pete Lau, alleging illegal business operations and recruitment in Taiwan in violation of laws governing cross-strait relations with China.
Authorities say more than 70 employees were hired in Taiwan to work on smartphone software R&D, testing, and verification for OnePlus, with two Taiwanese nationals indicted for assisting the operation.
The case highlights Taiwan’s growing crackdown on Chinese firms seeking local tech talent, amid broader concerns over technology leakage and rising political tensions with China.
AI models learn by asking themselves questions
Researchers show AI systems can improve reasoning by generating their own questions and exploring answers through code, instead of relying only on human-designed examples or tasks, according to reporting by WIRED.
This self-directed approach mirrors human learning: the model identifies gaps in its understanding, experiments, gets feedback, and refines its thinking, leading to stronger problem-solving skills with less constant human supervision.
The shift could accelerate AI development by reducing manual training work, while still keeping humans in charge of setting boundaries, goals, and evaluating outcomes.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Apple launches ‘Creator Studio’ bundle of apps for $12.99 per month
Apple unveiled Creator Studio, a new $12.99/month (or $129/year) subscription bundling pro creative apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage, plus premium iWork content; students pay $2.99/month.
The bundle introduces new AI-powered features across apps, including transcript and visual search in Final Cut Pro, natural language tools in Logic Pro, and premium templates, assets, and beta AI features in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
Creator Studio launches January 28 with a one-month free trial, while all included apps will still be available as standalone purchases on the Mac App Store.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities
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