☕ Google eliminates 35% of managers in layoffs, Microsoft launches its first in-house models & More.
Musk's xAI forays into agentic coding with new model & Apple warns UK against new tech regulation.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: ChatGPT said: Khosla Ventures’ pitch guide, the slide every investor wants, SEO cheat codes, VC scorecard, founder Q&A kit, Michel Lieben on finding B2B clients.
Apple warns UK against new tech regulation.
Google eliminates 35% of managers as layoffs and buyouts reshape workforce.
Trump administration’s Intel deal blocks foundry spin-off.
Musk's xAI forays into agentic coding with new model.
Microsoft enters the AI race with its first in-house models.
Meta loses two AI researchers back to OpenAI.
Trump, Nvidia talks on China AI chip sales will take time.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
Khosla Ventures’ Guide: Pitch the way VCs think. (Link)
The slide every investor wants to see. (Link)
SEO cheat codes every founder should know. (Link)
The VC scorecard that early-stage investors use. (Link)
What investors ask and how to answer : A practical Q&A prep kit for founders. (Link)
Michel Lieben on how he’d find B2B clients if he had to start from 0. (Link)
Marty Kausas on how much founders get paid. (Link)
The startup valuation guide for founders. (Link)
SaaS startup financial model: all-in-one excel template. (Link)
Women now hold nearly 20% of top VC roles. (Link)
Are Secondaries Coming to VC Fund Rules? (Link)
Inside Dylan Field’s Big IPO—and His Even Bigger Plans for Figma. (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
aPriori, a San Francisco, CA-based developer of an intelligent order flow coordination layer for high-performance blockchains, raised $20m in funding. Backers included HashKey Capital, Pantera Capital, Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading, GEM, Gate Labs, Ambush Capital, and Big Brain Collective.
M0, a Zug, Switzerland-based universal stablecoin platform, raised $40m in Series B funding. Backers included Polychain Capital, Ribbit Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Road Capital, Pantera, and Bain Capital Crypto.
EnsiliTech, a Bristol, UK-based biotechnology startup, raised £4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Eos Advisory and Calculus Capital with participation from Empirical Ventures, Fink Family Office, QantX, Angel Investors Bristol (AIB), HERmesa, Penn Park Capital, chANGELS, and other individual angel investors.
Wugen, a St. Louis, MO-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $115M in funding. The round was led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, with participation from RiverVest Venture Partners, Lightchain Capital, Abingworth, ICG, LYZZ Capital, Tybourne Capital Management, Aisling Capital Management, and other life sciences investors.
ALIGNMT AI, a NYC-based provider of an AI compliance platform for healthcare, raised $6.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by AIX Ventures, with participation from Sancus Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Dent Capital.
Rain, a NYC-based enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, raised $58m in Series B funding. The round, which brought Rain’s total funding to $88.5M, was led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, and Norwest. Jai Das, President and Partner at Sapphire Ventures, joined Rain’s Board Director.
Framer, an Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based provider of a professional website design platform for startups and global brands alike, raised $100M in Series D funding, at $2 billion valuation. The round was led by Meritech and Atomic.
Matey, an Austin, TX-based company developing precision AI to criminal defense, raised $7.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Timespan Ventures with participation from returning investors Neo and new investors Streamlined Ventures.
Ordinal, a Bentonville, AR-based AI research assistant service provider for local governments, raised $1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Plains Ventures with participation from Winrock International and The Venture Center Arkansas Fund.
Sola Insurance, an Atlanta, GA-based insurtech company focused on property insurance, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP, with participation from 10vc and Georgia Tech.
Maisa, a Valencia, Spain- and San Francisco, CA-based company that provides auditable ‘digital workers’ to enterprises, raised $25M in Seed funding. The round was led by Creandum, with participation from Forgepoint Capital, via its European joint venture with Banco Santander.
Aurelian, a Seattle, WA-based AI company that automates non-emergency calls for 911 centers, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by NEA, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, FUSE, Liquid 2, and Palm Drive Capital.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
71/70 Angels, a Columbus, OH – based angel fund that invests in enterprise software and advanced technology startups nationwide, closed Fund I, at $4m. The inaugural fund brings together a network of nearly 50 angel investors. Led by Melinda Gloriosa, Managing Director at 71/70 Angels and Rev1 Ventures, the fund aims to fill a critical funding gaps in the Midwest startup ecosystem, delivering support for early-stage companies with high-growth potential.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Apple warns UK against new tech regulation:
Apple warns the UK that its proposed regulations mirror the EU's Digital Markets Act, a policy it says delays features and is ultimately bad for both users and app makers.
The company claims that demands for "interoperability" compel access to sensitive user data and intellectual property, which undermines the privacy and security protections people have come to expect.
The CMA counters that its UK-specific plan differs from the EU's and will let developers "steer" payments to other systems and innovate without introducing new risks for consumers.
Google eliminates 35% of managers as layoffs and buyouts reshape workforce:
Google confirmed it has cut 35 percent of managers overseeing small teams compared to last year, aiming to have fewer leaders spread across much larger groups of employees.
Many managers whose positions were eliminated remain at the company, having been moved into different roles where they now work as individual contributors instead of supervising other staff.
The move is part of a wider efficiency plan that includes voluntary exit programs offered across ten units, which between 3 and 5 percent of employees have accepted this year.
Trump administration’s Intel deal blocks foundry spin-off:
The U.S. government’s 10% equity stake in Intel includes a five-year warrant that penalizes the company if it spins off or sells its loss-making foundry unit, effectively forcing Intel to retain it.
Intel received $5.7B in cash from previously awarded CHIPS Act grants as part of the deal, which the White House says is still being finalized.
The foundry unit lost $3.1B in Q2, and despite analyst and investor pressure to spin it off, the deal structure shows the administration’s priority to keep U.S. chip manufacturing onshore.
Musk's xAI forays into agentic coding with new model:
xAI launched grok-code-fast-1, a compact and cost-efficient agentic coding model designed to handle common coding tasks quickly; it’s free for a limited time with partners like GitHub Copilot and Windsurf.
The release signals Musk’s entry into the competitive AI coding space, joining OpenAI’s Codex and Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, which already contribute significantly to code generation.
The launch comes the same week xAI sued Apple and OpenAI, accusing them of conspiring to block competition in the AI market.
Microsoft enters the AI race with its first in-house models:
Microsoft launched MAI-1-preview, a text-based model trained on ~15,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, focused on instruction-following and everyday queries; it’s now being tested on LMArena and will soon appear in text-based Copilot use cases.
Alongside it, Microsoft unveiled MAI-Voice-1, a speech model that generates a 60-second audio clip in just one second on a single GPU, already powering Copilot Daily, Podcasts, and upcoming storytelling demos in Copilot Labs.
The move signals Microsoft’s push to build consumer-focused models in-house under Mustafa Suleyman, even as its OpenAI partnership faces strain amid anticompetitive concerns.
Meta loses two AI researchers back to OpenAI:
Two prominent AI researchers, Avi Verma and Ethan Knight, left Meta's new Superintelligence Labs to go back to OpenAI after working at the company for less than one month.
Chaya Nayak, who led generative AI efforts, is also heading to OpenAI, while researcher Rishabh Agarwal separately announced his departure from the same superintelligence team after recently joining Meta.
These quick exits are a major setback for the new lab, which was created to outpace rivals and reports directly to Mark Zuckerberg while aggressively recruiting top AI talent.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Trump, Nvidia talks on China AI chip sales will take time:
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said discussions with the White House on selling a scaled-down Blackwell GPU to China have begun but will take time, stressing that building AI on U.S. tech helps America.
Trump has suggested allowing a 30–50% less capable version of Blackwell chips for China, despite U.S. security concerns; Nvidia excluded China sales from its current-quarter forecast due to uncertainty.
Huang said China’s AI market could be worth $50B for Nvidia and signaled willingness to accept Trump’s demand for a 15% revenue share on China sales to secure approval.
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)
Associate - Allocator One | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Temasek | USA - Apply Here
Associate/manager - Redalpine | UK - Apply Here
Venture Investment Analyst - Laplace Partner | South Korea - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Beas Capital | India - Apply Here
Program Manager - generator | USA - Apply Here
Investor Relations Analyst - Techstars | USA - Apply Here
Manager - Finance - Yournest Venture | India - Apply Here
Investor Relations Manager - Beco Capital | UK - Apply Here
Head of Platform - Pledge Venture | UK - Apply Here
ESG Intern - ESG Enterprise | UK - Apply Here
Executive Assistant - AN Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
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