☕ Figma founder to cash out $60M in IPO, ChatGPT users send 2.5 billion prompts a day & Elon Musk announces a new kid-friendly AI Grok.
Foldable iPhone may launch in 2026 for $2,000 & More.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Fundraising toolkit, pitch deck & data room templates, founder-first marketing guide, 600+ AI investors, 150+ VC fellowships, startup legal docs, US VC list, early-stage M&A insights.
Figma’s Dylan Field to cash out $60M in IPO as top VCs also sell shares.
OpenAI and Google outdo the mathletes, but not each other.
ChatGPT users send 2.5 billion prompts a day.
Grok’s AI companions drove downloads, but its latest model is the one making money.
Foldable iPhone may launch in 2026 for $2,000.
SoftBank and OpenAI’s Stargate plans small data center in Ohio by year-end.
Elon Musk announces a new kid-friendly AI Grok.
Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to lead OpenAI’s Applications division.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Spacely AI, a Bangkok, Thailand-based startup providing generative AI for architecture and interior design, raised US $1M in Seed funding. The round was led by PropTech Farm Fund III, with participation from Wannaporn Phornprapha, Ted Poshakrishna Thirapatana (Founder, UTC Holdings Co., Ltd.), and Mek Srunyu Stittri (former VP Engineering, GitLab).
Hyper, an AI voice startup focused on improving 911 systems, raised $6.3 million in a seed round led by Eniac Ventures. Founded by Ben Sanders and Damian McCabe, Hyper aims to automate non-emergency 911 calls—freeing up dispatchers to handle life-or-death situations more effectively.
ShelterZoom, a NYC-based document security and digital ownership technology company, raised $6M in funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Rune Technologies, an Arlington, VA-based military logistics company developing AI-enabled predictive software, raised $24M in Series A funding. The round was led by Human Capital with participation from Pax VC and Washington Harbour Partners, as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, and Forward Deployed VC.
Xelix, a London, UK-based agentic AI software company, raised $160M in Series B funding. The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from Passion Capital and LocalGlobe.
Alix, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a wealth transfer platform, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by crew Capital, Charles Schwab and Edward Jones Ventures. Existing investors Initialized Capital, Scribble, Magnify, Ziegler Link•age Funds, and Cameron Ventures also participated.
Fortuna Health, a NYC-based provider of a consumer Medicaid navigation platform, raised $18M in Series A funding. The round was led by returning investors Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Y Combinator and founders and executives from Abridge, DoorDash, Hex, One Medical, Oscar Health, Scale, and Vanta.
Nexxa.ai, a Sunnyvale, CA-based AI-native company supporting industrial engineers that operate in digital environments, raised $4.4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Andreesen Horowitz’ a16z speedrun with participation from investors Augment Ventures, Propeller Ventures, Plug and Play, Beat Ventures, SBI, Untapped Ventures, and Cross Atlantic Angels as well as angel investors Rick Berry and Pat McCarthy, among others.
Litero AI, a NYC-based provider of an EdTech platform, raised $800K in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Pre-Seed to Succeed (P2S) with participation from angel investors.
Toduba, a Turin, Italy-based provider of a cloud-native technology platform for employee welfare landscape, raised €3.5M in funding. The round was led by P101 SGR.
Sunsave, a London, UK-based provider of a FCA-authorised solar subscription service, £113M in Series A funding. The round was led by Norrsken VC and IPGL, alongside a £100M debt facility from Crédit Agricole CIB.
Hudle, a Delhi, India-based provider of a sports community platform, raised $2.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Sky Impact Capital with participation from Physis Capital, Atrium Venture, Mahesh Bhupathi, Gaurav Kapur, Blue Tokai and Nitro Commerce founders.
LeadStory, a NYC-based provider of an on-demand personalized news streaming platform, raised $2.75M in Seed funding. The round was led by Checker Media with participation from their pre-Seed investors, CP Ventures.
Teletactica, Kyiv, Ukraine-based DefenseTech company developing jamming-resistant communication systems for contested environments, raised $1.5M in funding. The round was led by MITS Capital and Green Flag Ventures.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Modi Ventures, a Houston, TX-based venture capital firm that backs companies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, biology and medical technology, closed its second fund, at $88m. This close brings total committed capital to over $134m. The fund will continue to help build companies at the intersection of AI, biology, and medicine.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Figma’s Dylan Field to cash out $60M in IPO as top VCs also sell shares:
In its IPO, Figma will sell 12.5 million new shares while existing shareholders plan to sell nearly 24.7 million shares, with an option to sell 5.5 million more if demand is high.
CEO Dylan Field will sell 2.35 million shares, potentially earning over $62 million, yet retain control with 74% voting rights due to supervoting Class B shares.
Major investors like Sequoia, Index, Kleiner Perkins, and Greylock are selling shares but holding onto the majority of their stakes, aiming to meet market demand in a tight liquidity environment.
OpenAI and Google outdo the mathletes, but not each other:
OpenAI and Google DeepMind both achieved gold-medal level scores at the 2025 International Math Olympiad using natural language AI models, outperforming most human contestants.
Google criticized OpenAI for announcing its results prematurely and without official IMO evaluation, while Google worked directly with IMO organizers for months.
The episode highlights the intensifying race for AI dominance, especially in reasoning tasks, with both companies aiming to signal leadership ahead of upcoming model releases.
ChatGPT users send 2.5 billion prompts a day:
OpenAI says ChatGPT now processes 2.5 billion prompts daily, with 330 million coming from U.S. users.
That’s more than double the 1 billion daily queries reported by CEO Sam Altman in December.
For comparison, Google processes around 13–16 billion searches a day, showing ChatGPT's fast-growing presence in global search behavior.
Grok’s AI companions drove downloads, but its latest model is the one making money:
Grok’s gross iOS revenue surged 325% to $419,000 after the launch of Grok 4, with daily downloads jumping to 197,000.
The launch of AI companions increased downloads by 40% but only boosted revenue by 9%, signaling limited monetization so far.
Grok now offers a $300/month SuperGrok Heavy subscription, with demand pushing it to No. 3 overall on the U.S. App Store before settling at No. 17.
Foldable iPhone may launch in 2026 for $2,000:
Apple's first foldable iPhone may launch in 2026 with a price of at least $2,000 and a book-style form factor similar to Samsung's foldables.
The device will not be a technological breakthrough, as it uses core components like foldable OLED screens sourced directly from Samsung Display.
Apple is working on improving common issues like the inner display crease and hinge mechanism, counting on its marketing prowess to drive sales.
SoftBank and OpenAI’s Stargate plans small data center in Ohio by year-end:
Stargate, a $500B AI infrastructure venture by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, is now aiming to launch a small data center by year-end, likely in Ohio.
Internal disagreements between OpenAI and SoftBank over project terms have slowed progress, despite initial plans for rapid expansion.
While a major data center is already under construction in Texas, the companies are now conducting urgent site assessments in multiple states.
Elon Musk announces a new kid-friendly AI Grok:
Elon Musk announced on X that his company xAI is developing Baby Grok, a new app designed to provide children with kid-friendly AI content.
Details on Baby Grok are currently vague, but the app is expected to be a scaled-down model with stricter safety measures for educational purposes.
The announcement comes amid safety concerns over xAI's existing AI, including the main Grok chatbot and flirtatious "Companions" avatars like the character Ani.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to lead OpenAI’s Applications division:
Fidji Simo will join OpenAI on August 18 as CEO of Applications, overseeing a third of the company and reporting to Sam Altman.
Her role will focus on scaling AI products and use cases, while Altman shifts focus to research and infrastructure.
In her first memo, Simo emphasized AI’s potential in healthcare, education, and personal empowerment, warning against wealth concentration driven by tech.
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)
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
Investment Associate - Application Software TCV | USA - Apply Here
Fund Analyst - Baird Capital | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff to Founding Partner - One Way Venture | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Baird Capital | USA - Apply Here
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