☕ Google loses another two Gemini researchers to Anthropic & OpenAI unveils its first custom AI inference chip.
Anthropic accuses Alibaba of running its largest AI model extraction campaign & More.
Breaking News
OpenAI introduced Jalapeño, its first in-house AI inference chip built with Broadcom, marking a major step toward reducing dependence on Nvidia. The chip is designed to lower AI serving costs and improve performance, as OpenAI moves to control the entire AI stack—from chips and data centers to models and deployment.
Anthropic claims Alibaba used nearly 25,000 fake accounts to generate 28.8 million Claude interactions in what it describes as the largest AI model extraction campaign it has ever seen. The allegations highlight the growing battle over AI intellectual property as leading labs race to protect their most advanced models.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
CentSight, a Lakewood, OH-based company developing an AI-native financial intelligence platform, raised $1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Mudita Venture Partners.
Anchorbase, a Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based provider of a payments and automation platform for mid-market businesses, raised $2M USD in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Cambrian VC and TTV Capital.
Wakeline, a Düsseldorf, Germany-based deep-tech startup developing continuously adaptive AI systems, raised €2.1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by TechVision Fonds (TVF), with participation from neoteq ventures.
SEED
Eqon, a Stavanger, Norway-based developer of an intelligent energy management and industrial heating control platform, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Azolla Ventures, co-led by Wilstar Innovate, with participation from Climentum Capital and Gain Venture Capital.
Hang Ten Systems, a Palo Alto, CA-based enterprise AI services company, raised $32M in Seed funding. The round was led by Mayfield, with a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures.
Valence AI, a San Francisco, CA-based emotional intelligence infrastructure company, raised an undisclosed Seed round, bringing total funding to $5M. The round was led by Differential Ventures, with participation from Difference Partners, Willowtree Ventures, Change Paradox Ventures, and SRI International.
Seltz, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a web retrieval infrastructure layer for LLMs and AI agents, raised $12.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Speedinvest and B Capital, with participation from futurepresent, Italian Founders Fund, arc Investors, United Ventures, Vento Ventures, Mango Capital, 2100 Ventures, and Future Back Ventures.
AquaPoro Technologies, a San Diego, CA-based startup engineering a new class of industrial water infrastructure, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Breakout Ventures, with participation from Cerberus Ventures, Humba Ventures, and One Small Planet.
GROWTH
Trovy, a New York City-based developer of a home equity-backed consumer fintech and lending platform, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from existing investors Kleiner Perkins, DCM Ventures, and Camber Creek.
Stegra, a Stockholm, Sweden-based developer of near-zero-emissions green steel manufacturing infrastructure, closed a €1.4B financing round. The round was led by a Wallenberg Investments-led consortium including IMAS, Temasek, Bolero, and SEB-Stiftelsen, with participation from Altor, Hy24, Just Climate, AIP Management, and Scania.
Taktile, a NYC-based provider of an AI-powered decision automation platform, raised $110M in Series C funding. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Tiger Global, Y Combinator, and Dig Ventures.
Runlayer, a NYC-based provider of an AI agent orchestration platform, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Felicis, with participation from Khosla Ventures.
Coval, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a voice AI evaluation platform, raised $28M in Series A funding. The round was led by Norwest, with participation from Base10 Partners, Twilio Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Ollin Biosciences, an Austin, TX-based clinical-stage biotech advancing therapies for vision-threatening diseases, raised $330M in Series B funding. The round was co-led by TCGX and ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from a16z Bio+Health.
AIVA, a NYC-based provider of an intelligence platform for hotels, raised $1.5M in funding. The round was led by Comma Capital and 645 Ventures.
Anodyne Nanotech, a Boston, MA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $12.6M in Series A funding. The round was led by Velocity Partners VC and Evercurious VC, with participation from Relativity Healthcare Partners.
Caplight Technologies, a San Francisco, CA-based company providing venture capital transaction infrastructure, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by BlackRock and Fin Capital, with strategic participation from UBS Investment Bank.
Assort Health, a San Francisco, CA-based AI agents platform for the patient journey, raised $120M in Series C funding at a $1.2B valuation. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Felicis, First Round Capital, Chemistry, Joe Montana, Tau Ventures, and Quiet Capital.
Redo, a Draper, UT-based commerce technology company, raised $81M in Series B funding at a $1.25B valuation. The round was led by Smash Capital, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners and Cervin Ventures.
RQ Bio, a London, UK-based biotechnology company, raised £85.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Frazier Life Sciences, with participation from EQT Life Sciences, Forbion, Monograph, Wellington Management, and LifeArc Ventures.
Cadence, a NYC-based clinical AI company managing chronic care for older adults, raised $100M in Series C funding. The round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Coatue, B Capital, Corewell Health Ventures, Memorial Hermann, and Duke Health.
Engram, a San Francisco, CA-based company building a learned memory layer for AI, raised $98M in funding. Backers included General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Factory, Modern, Amplify Partners, and Neo.
Ikin Global, a Mumbai, India-based B2B smart-security company, raised $2M in Pre-Series A2 funding. The round was led by Unicorn India Ventures, AWE Funds, and Callapina Capital.
JustAI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native marketing platform, raised $17M in Series A funding. The round was led by Base10 Partners, with participation from Y Combinator, Peak XV Partners, and operators from Anthropic, Chime, Notion, HubSpot, Eppo, and Vapi.
DAILY PICKS
🗞️ Must read writeups
He turned one law into a $550K/year business - Some of the best startup opportunities don’t come from trends - they come from regulations that force businesses to act. This piece breaks down how founders can spot law-backed business ideas, validate them fast, and build boring but profitable compliance services around them. (Read more here)
How founders should answer valuation questions - When investors ask about valuation, most founders rush to give a number. This piece explains why it’s usually smarter to signal your expectations, ask how the market is pricing similar rounds, and let investors reveal their range first. (Read more here)
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Valor Equity Partners, the Chicago-based growth investment firm founded by Antonio Gracias, is looking to raise at least $2.5 billion for its new Fund VII, according to Bloomberg. The fund will continue backing growth-stage companies, with a portion already earmarked for additional investments in SpaceX, alongside sectors such as aerospace, defense, and technology.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
AI isn’t replacing software engineers, hiring data suggests
Despite widespread claims that AI will reduce engineering jobs, SignalFire’s hiring data shows software engineering was the most resilient role in tech, with hiring down just 11% from 2019 versus a 25% overall decline.
Engineers made up 55% of all new hires across major tech companies in 2025, while early-stage startups actually hired 7% more engineers than they did in 2019.
The findings support the idea that AI is making engineers more productive rather than replacing them, allowing teams to build more products and tackle more work instead of shrinking headcount.
Google continues losing top AI researchers to OpenAI and Anthropic
Google researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, who helped develop Gemini, are leaving to join Anthropic, adding to the recent wave of high-profile AI talent departures.
Their exits follow Noam Shazeer’s move to OpenAI and Nobel Prize-winning AlphaFold creator John Jumper’s decision to join Anthropic, signaling intensified competition for frontier AI talent.
With OpenAI and Anthropic preparing for IPOs, lucrative equity packages are making it easier for rivals to recruit some of Google’s most influential AI researchers.
Micron is turning the AI memory shortage into record profits
AI-driven demand for memory chips pushed Micron’s third-quarter revenue to $41.45 billion and profit to $28.2 billion, with shares jumping more than 13% after earnings.
The company expects fourth-quarter revenue of up to $51 billion, highlighting how the global memory chip shortage continues to benefit suppliers despite rising costs for customers.
Micron also signed a deal to supply memory and storage chips to Anthropic and participated in the AI startup’s latest funding round, strengthening its position in the AI infrastructure boom.
AI token costs are forcing companies to rethink employee usage
After encouraging employees to maximize AI usage, companies are now tightening controls as token costs become a significant operating expense with unpredictable ROI.
A leaked Accenture meeting revealed executives are discouraging employees from using AI for simple tasks, such as converting PDFs into slides, to reduce unnecessary spending.
As AI infrastructure costs rise, companies are shifting from measuring AI adoption to proving business value, signaling a broader move toward stricter AI budget management.
SpaceX secretly launches its new Starfall capsule
SpaceX quietly flew its new Starfall return capsule for the first time on June 23, launching aboard a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral and cutting the webcast about 10 minutes after liftoff.
According to an FAA assessment, the disk-shaped, uncrewed Starfall stands 2.5 feet tall, weighs roughly 4,600 pounds, carries 2,200 pounds of payload, and uses a detachable carbon-fiber heat shield filled with compressed nitrogen gas.
The capsule carries no propulsion and cannot deorbit itself, and SpaceX is targeting a Pacific Ocean splashdown about 700 nautical miles off the West Coast, though it has not said how long the vehicle will stay in orbit.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Europe pushes back against US chip restrictions on China
Dutch officials have urged Washington to reconsider the proposed MATCH Act, warning that tighter export restrictions on semiconductor equipment would disproportionately hurt ASML, Europe’s most valuable tech company.
If passed, the bill would ban ASML from selling older deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines to China, expanding existing restrictions that already block exports of its most advanced EUV systems.
China accounted for 19% of ASML’s system sales, highlighting growing tensions between U.S. national security policies and Europe’s commercial interests in the global semiconductor industry.
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