☕ Google testing a vibe-coding app called Opal, Sam Altman warns ChatGPT therapy is not private & Meta names ChatGPT co-creator as chief scientist.
AI referrals to top websites surged 357% year-over-year in June, led by ChatGPT & More.
Sharks kill fewer than 10 people a year.
Humans? We kill about 100 million sharks annually.
So, who’s the real apex predator? (Spoiler: it’s not the one with fins.)
Love or hate this intro? Hit reply and tell us why!
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: 38% of VC deals are co-invested, 2025 is big for female founders, SEO still works, bootstrapped vs VC stress, warm intros guide, pitch deck kit, $10M AI startup playbook, founder marketing guide.
Meta names ChatGPT co-creator as chief scientist of Superintelligence Lab.
Sam Altman warns ChatGPT therapy is not private.
AI referrals to top websites surged 357% year-over-year in June, led by ChatGPT.
Tesla lags behind on goal to produce 5,000 Optimus robots in 2025.
Google is testing a vibe-coding app called Opal for building web apps.
Intel delays or cancels major chip manufacturing projects under new CEO.
China proposes a new global AI organization.
DOGE develops AI tool to cut 50% of U.S. federal regulations.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
TOOL WORTH EXPLORING
🤝 The best new app for newsletter reading…
Reading newsletters in the inbox is frustrating - it is noisy and easy to lose control of subscriptions. Now with Meco you can enjoy your newsletters in an app built for reading, while giving your inbox space to breathe.
Meco connects to Gmail & Outlook, allowing you to instantly move your newsletters to the app (and clear your inbox.
The experience is packed with features to supercharge your reading including the ability to group newsletters, set smart filters, bookmark your favorites and read in a scrollable feed.
You can try the experience for free and available on iOS, Android and web (desktop)
Over 30k readers are enjoying their newsletters (and decluttering their inbox) with Meco - try the app today →
PARTNERSHIP WITH US
💪 Get your startup in front of over 95,000+ audience
Our newsletter is read by thousands of tech professionals, founders, investors (VCs / Angel Investors) and managers around the world. Get in touch today.
DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
VCs claim to be independent thinkers, but 38% of top deals are made together.
2025 is already the best year for female founders on record.
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
SEO is not dead - Use this framework to get organic views.
Bootstrapped vs VC-backed: different stress, different strengths.
2700+ US Angel Investors & VC Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link)
How to build a $10M B2B AI agent startup?
The only marketing guide early-stage founders actually need.
Framework: How to get warm intros to VCs without a network?
All-In-One Guide To Pitch Deck Storytelling - Free Template & Curated Resources'.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Maro, a NYC-based provider of a cognitive security platform, raised $4.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Downing Capital Group.
Scopio Labs, a Parsippany, NJ-based developer of Full-Field Cell Morphology imaging and analysis platform, raised $10M in Series D extension funding. The round was led by Viola Growth, bringing the total to $52M.
Baxter Aerospace, a St. George, UT-based aerospace system integrator, raised $6M in Series A funding. DoD Accelerator fund made the investment.
Cascade Space, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a platform for end-to-end communication system design, test, and operation, raised $5.9M in Seed funding. Backers included Nova Threshold, Undeterred Capital, Y Combinator, Night Capital, Olive Capital, Valkyrie Ventures, Karman Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Garage Capital, TRAC, Aurelia Foundry, Hawktail, MGV.VC, Pioneer Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and others.
Bloom, a London, UK-based provider of a social app for crypto traders and key opinion leaders (KOLs), raised $1.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Stani Kulechov, Outlier Ventures, Delta Blockchain Fund, CoinTelegraph, APX (Axel Springer and Porsche), Plassa Capital, and Paul Taylor.
Data Guardians Network (D-GN), a remote company building datasets through a decentralized contributor mode, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by droppGroup, Saudi businessman Hamoud Al-Rumayyan, and Hub Culture.
Queen One, a NYC-based brand technology platform, raised more than $5.5M in a Friends and Family funding. The round was led by Charge VC, Inspired Capital, Red Swan Ventures, and Prospeq, alongside a group of entrepreneurs, past collaborators, and close supporters.
LegalOn, a San Francisco, CA-based company developing legal AI solutions for contracting, raised $50M in Series E funding. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives (Goldman Sachs), with participation from existing investor World Innovation Lab (WiL), and new participation from Mori Hamada, Mizuho Bank and Shoko Chukin.
Coral Vita, a Freeport, Bahamas-based commercial land-based coral reef restoration company, raised over $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Builders Vision, with participation from Katapult Ocean, iAlumbra, BDT & MSD, 2050, Rypples, Colorado Coral, Rising Tide, Aureolis Ventures, Wilson Sonsini, Kate James, Mariano Battan, Olavo Mutarelli, Jim Salem, Christian Nielsen, and others.
Memories.ai, a San Francisco, CA-based AI research lab building visual memories for AI, raised $8m in seed funding. The round was led by Susa Ventures, with participation from Samsung Next, Crane Venture Partners, Fusion Fund, Seedcamp and Creator Ventures.
Stellaria, a Grenoble, France-based energy startup originating from CEA and Schneider Electric, raised a total of €23M in funding. The round was led by At One Ventures and Supernova Invest, alongside CEA Investissements, Schneider Electric, Exergon, and Technip Energies.
TOOL FOR FOUNDERS
📑 40 real pitch decks that helped raise $350M+
Stop guessing what a “great deck” looks like. These aren’t templates, they’re the actual decks founders used to raise money from top VCs.
We curated 40 real decks from startups like Jimini ($8M Pre-Seed), Tulipshare ($10.8M Seed), and Vori ($45M Series A). Whether you're working on your first pitch or refining one, this will save you hours.
✅ Includes decks across AI, SaaS, consumer, marketplaces, and fintech
✅ See how real founders structured traction, market, team, and vision
✅ Clean slides. Real numbers. Proven outcomes.
Grab the deck collections here →
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Victor Lazarte, co-founder of Wildlife Studios and partner at Benchmark, is leaving the firm to start his own investment practice. Lazarte joined Benchmark in 2023 and led investments in startups like Mercor, HeyGen, and Decart AI.
Glade Brook Capital Partners, a Greenwich, CT and Miami, FL-based global growth equity investment firm, closed its Glade Brook Strategic Growth Fund IV, with $515M in capital commitments. SG IV received commitments from new and existing partners, including leaders from the technology ecosystem and endowment, insurance, family office, RIA and sovereign wealth communities.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Meta appoints ex-OpenAI researcher Shengjia Zhao as chief scientist of AI superintelligence unit:
Shengjia Zhao, a key contributor to GPT-4 and OpenAI’s reasoning model o1, has been named Chief Scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL).
Zhao co-founded MSL and now officially leads its research under CEO Alexandr Wang, as Meta aggressively recruits top AI talent from OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, and others.
With major investments like the 1-gigawatt Prometheus compute cluster and explosive compensation offers, Meta aims to rival OpenAI and build competitive frontier AI models.
AI referrals to top websites surged 357% year-over-year in June, led by ChatGPT:
AI platforms referred over 1.13 billion visits to the top 1,000 websites in June 2025, up 357% from last year, with ChatGPT accounting for 80% of this traffic.
News and media sites saw the biggest gains, with AI referrals up 770% YoY; Yahoo, Reuters, and The Guardian led among publishers.
Despite the surge, AI referrals remain a fraction of Google’s dominance, which drove 191 billion referrals in the same month.
Sam Altman warns ChatGPT users: no legal confidentiality like a real therapist:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says conversations with ChatGPT don’t have legal confidentiality, unlike chats with doctors or therapists.
Altman raised concerns that user chats could be used in lawsuits, as no legal framework currently protects AI conversations.
OpenAI is fighting a court order that would require it to save user chats for legal discovery, highlighting broader privacy risks.
Tesla lags behind on goal to produce 5,000 Optimus robots in 2025:
Tesla has produced only a few hundred Optimus humanoid robots so far this year, far short of its 5,000-unit target.
Musk now says production of the updated Optimus 3 will begin early next year, aiming to eventually reach 1 million units annually.
Tesla has missed previous robotics timelines before, including promises around robotaxis made in 2019 and 2022.
Google is testing a vibe-coding app called Opal for building web apps:
Google is testing Opal, a no-code app builder that lets users create or remix mini web apps using text prompts and visual workflows.
Available through Google Labs, Opal targets non-technical users with a visual interface and shareable publishing features.
The tool enters a growing space of AI-driven app creators, joining platforms like Lovable, Figma, Canva, and Replit.
Intel delays or cancels major chip manufacturing projects under new CEO:
Intel is halting its projects in Germany and Poland and further delaying its $28B Ohio chip factory, as part of a broader plan to cut inefficiencies.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan aims to streamline Intel's operations by consolidating facilities, reducing capex, and eliminating noncore units.
The company has reduced its workforce by 15% and eliminated half its management layers, with plans to end 2025 with 75,000 employees.
China proposes a new global AI organization:
China announced it wants to create a new global organization for AI cooperation to help coordinate regulation and share its development experience and products, particularly with the Global South.
Premier Li Qiang stated the goal is to prevent AI from becoming an "exclusive game," ensuring all countries and companies have equal rights for development and access to the technology.
A minister told representatives from over 30 countries the organization would promote pragmatic cooperation in AI, and that Beijing is considering Shanghai as the location for its headquarters.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
DOGE develops AI tool to cut 50% of U.S. federal regulations:
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is using an AI tool to analyze 200,000 federal regulations and aims to eliminate half within a year of Trump’s return to office.
According to a July 1 presentation, the tool has already been applied at HUD and the CFPB, generating all deregulation content at the latter.
While no plan is officially approved, the White House praised DOGE’s team, despite reports of past AI errors from tools under Elon Musk’s early leadership.
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)
Partner 36 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
VC Growth Partner - Exit fund | India - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Portfolio Analyst - GCO Venture | Spain - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Principal - Al Fund | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Energy Impact Partner | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff to Founding Partner - One Way Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investment Fellow - Indian Fund | India - Apply Here
Corporate Development & Strategy - Figma Venture | USA - Apply Here
Value Creation - Cadeumen Capital | Spain - Apply Here
WHEN YOU’RE READY, HERE’S HOW I CAN HELP:
💁 You might need our help!
Reach 95,000+ Founders & Investors: Partner with our newsletter to reach a highly engaged audience.
Build Your Pitch Deck: We write, design and model your pitch deck into a storyteller book within 4-5 days.
Do you have any news to share about your Startup or VC fund? Please email us.
We’ll be back in your inbox on Tomorrow.