☕ Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs raises $1B & Saudi AI firm invests $3B in Musk's xAI.
Google brings AI music generation to Gemini with Lyria 3 & Perplexity drops ads from its AI search engine.
Breaking News
Fei-Fei Li’s startup World Labs has raised $1 billion to build AI “world models” capable of reasoning in 3D environments. The company’s Marble model generates interactive 3D worlds from text or image prompts, targeting AR/VR and robotics applications, and joins efforts by Google DeepMind and others pushing beyond language models into spatial intelligence. The raise signals growing investor conviction that the next AI leap may come from systems that understand the physical world.
Saudi Arabia’s AI firm Humain invested $3 billion in xAI, later converting its stake into SpaceX shares following the merger. The deal builds on a 500-megawatt data center partnership and reflects Saudi Arabia’s broader strategy to become a major player in global AI infrastructure, as xAI scales compute capacity to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
Startup legal document pack – essential legal Docs for founders. (Link)
PMF is a lagging indicator (Link)
The case of scaling a venture. (Link)
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What early-stage founders should know about compensation: the rules to break (and a few you should actually follow). (Link)
What investors ask and how to answer: A practical Q&A prep kit for founders. (Link)
Map: The VCs who went all-in on Elon Musk’s ‘X’ companies. (Link)
2026 tech trend by CBInsights. (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Zenyard, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based company building a purpose-built AI agent for software reverse engineering, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Mindset Ventures, with participation from TAU Ventures, Zuk Avraham, Raanan Raz, and additional investors.
Fireplace, a Hong Kong-based provider of a professional trading terminal for prediction markets, raised $1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Frachtis, with participation from White Star Capital and other VCs and angel investors.
SEED
ARCYN Defense, a Washington, DC-based defense technology company, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Korsana Biosciences, a Waltham, MA-based biotechnology company discovering and developing novel therapies to reduce the burden of neurodegenerative diseases, raised $175M in total funding. The amount consisted of a $25M Seed investment from Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
GROWTH
Braintrust, a San Francisco, CA-based developer of an AI observability and evaluation platform, raised $80M in Series B funding. The round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Elad Gil, basecase capital, and others.
Venice (fka Valkyrie), a NYC-based adaptive privileged access platform provider, raised $33M in total funding, including a $25M Series A. The latest round was led by IVP with participation from Index Ventures, Vine Ventures, Holly Ventures, and angel investors.
Cogent Security, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-native vulnerability management platform, raised $42M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from existing investor Greylock Partners and Definition.
Avantos, a NYC-based provider of an artificial intelligence (“AI”)-native operating system, raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from new strategic investors, including The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, SEI and Vanguard.
Heron Power, a Scotts Valley, CA-based energy infrastructure company, raised $140M in Series B funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from existing investors.
Aliro, a Boston, MA-based provider of a software-driven entanglement platform, raised $15M in funding. The round was led by Gutbrain Ventures, with participation from existing investors and new investors.
DG Matrix, a Morrisville, NC-based solid-state transformer solutions company, raised $60M in Series A funding. The round was led by Engine Ventures with participation from Helios Climate Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Fine Structure Ventures, MCJ and Sabanci Climate Ventures.
Korsana Biosciences, a Waltham, MA-based biotechnology company discovering and developing novel therapies to reduce the burden of neurodegenerative diseases, raised a $150M private Series A financing co-led by Wellington Management and TCGX, with participation by J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Sanofi Ventures, Foresite Capital, and others.
Synchrony Medical, a Jersey City, NJ-based respiratory care technology company and creator of the FDA-cleared LibAirty Airway Clearance system, raised $5M in funding. The round was led by Edge Medical Ventures with participation from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Broadfin Holdings, Consensus Business Group, and angel investors.
Selector, a Santa Clara, CA-based company which specializes in AI-driven observability and network intelligence, raised $32M funding round, at $375M valuation. The new round was led by AVP alongside Ansa Capital, Two Bear Capital, Sinewave Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and other existing investors.
Vestwell, a NYC-based provider of an infrastructure platform providing saving solutions, raised $385M in Series E funding. The round was led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth, with participation from new and existing investors.
Rainfall Health, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-driven compliance and reimbursement platform for hospitals and medical groups, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Two Bear Capital, along with participation from other investors.
Circuit, an Austin, TX-based company building an AI platform for manufacturing and service organizations, raised $30M in funding. Backers included Jim Breyer and other investors.
99 Kids Holdings Co., a Vancouver, BC, Canada- and Dubai, UAE-based entertainment company, raised $5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Exponential Ventures.
Zero Homes, a Denver, CO-based technology company that develops an end-to-end digital platform supporting homeowners and contractors, raised $16.8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Prelude Ventures with participation from SJF Ventures and others.
Vervesemi, a Mumbai, India-based fabless semiconductor startup, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Ashish Kacholia and Unicorn India Ventures, with participation from Roots Ventures and others.
Pharmacelera, a Barcelona, Spain-based company applying Quantum Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence for drug discovery, raised €6M in funding. The round was led by Heran Partners, with participation from Clave Capital, Inveready, and Bio&Tech Smart Capital.
TODAY’S RESOURCE PICK
📬 A founder’s guide to ownership, control, and negotiation
Equity decisions are permanent and most founders get them wrong not because they’re careless, but because they’re rushed and negotiating without clarity.
This guide helps you understand how dilution actually works, how investors think about ownership and control, and how to negotiate without panic or regret.
Inside:
How dilution plays out from Seed → Series A → Series B
What “normal” equity give-ups look like (and what’s a red flag)
How ESOP pools really dilute founders
What’s negotiable vs not in equity conversations
How founders quietly lose control — and how to avoid it
Plus practical tools: Equity dilution simulator, ESOP planner & Cap table & negotiation checklists
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Frist Cressey Ventures, a Nashville, Tenn.-based healthcare venture capital firm, closed Fund IV, at $425m. LPs included The Cigna Group Ventures, MedStar Health, and OhioHealth. Founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD and Bryan Cressey, Frist Cressey Ventures is a healthcare venture capital firm with $846M AUM focused on accelerating the growth of high potential healthcare companies through a differentiated healthcare network, hands-on leadership support, and healthcare policy expertise.
Dragonfly Capital, an Oakland, CA-based venture capital firm focused on backing blockchain and fintech startups, raised $650m for its fourth fund. The fund will continue to back researchers and builders who push the entire crypto ecosystem forward. It will back blockchain startups advancing solutions for finance, payments, asset issuance, and markets including in agentic payments, on-chain privacy, and “tokenization of everything” areas.
Battery Ventures, a global, technology-focused investment firm, closed a $3.25 billion fund. The new vehicle, Battery Ventures XV, follows 15 announced exit events for the firm in 2025. Over the last five years, the firm’s funds have realized more than $10 billion in liquidity. The fund will back technology companies globally with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Israel.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Google brings AI music generation to Gemini with Lyria 3
Google is adding music-generation to the Gemini app, powered by DeepMind’s Lyria 3. Users can describe a song, upload a photo or video for mood-based tracks, and generate 30-second songs with lyrics and AI cover art.
The model allows control over style, tempo, and vocals, but won’t directly mimic specific artists. If an artist is mentioned, Gemini uses it as broad inspiration. All tracks include SynthID watermarking to detect AI-generated music.
Google is also expanding YouTube’s Dream Track (powered by Lyria 3) globally, giving creators outside the U.S. access. The rollout supports 18+ users worldwide across multiple languages including English, Hindi, Japanese, and more.
US court blocks OpenAI from using ‘Cameo’ name
A federal court in Northern California ruled in favor of Cameo, ordering OpenAI to stop using “Cameo” for a feature inside its Sora 2 video-generation app. The court said the name could cause user confusion and wasn’t merely descriptive.
OpenAI had used “Cameo” for a tool that let users insert digital likenesses into AI-generated videos, but renamed it to “Characters” after a temporary restraining order last November. Cameo’s CEO called the ruling a key win for brand protection.
The case adds to OpenAI’s growing list of IP disputes, including branding and copyright conflicts around Sora and other products, as AI companies face increasing legal scrutiny over naming and training data.
Perplexity drops ads from its AI search engine
Perplexity, the AI search startup that was among the first AI companies to introduce ads, is now dropping advertising from its product and has no plans to pursue it further.
A Perplexity executive told the Financial Times that ads made users “start doubting everything,” undermining trust in the chatbot’s answers and making people less willing to pay for it.
The move comes as competitors head the other direction: OpenAI recently started testing ads on ChatGPT, Google shows ads in AI search results, while Anthropic has committed to keeping Claude ad-free.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Microsoft bug let Copilot access confidential emails
Microsoft confirmed a bug in its Copilot AI let the tool read and summarize confidential emails for weeks, even when customers had data loss prevention policies in place to block that.
The issue, tracked as CW1226324, affected Copilot Chat in Microsoft 365 since January, incorrectly processing draft and sent messages that had a confidential label applied to them.
Microsoft began rolling out a fix in February but did not say how many customers were affected, while the European Parliament separately blocked built-in AI features on work devices over privacy concerns.
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