☕ Jeff Bezos’s AI startup raised $12 billion & Microsoft restricts employee use of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.
Amazon leaked documents reveals its data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025 & Visa plugs its payment network into ChatGPT.
Breaking News
Jeff Bezos-backed Prometheus has raised $12 billion at a $41 billion valuation to build what it calls an “artificial general engineer” capable of handling complex engineering work, from designing jet engines to discovering new drugs. The massive funding round shows investors are increasingly betting that AI’s next frontier isn’t chatbots, but systems that can perform high-value technical and scientific work.
Amazon disclosed that its global data centers consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water last year, offering one of the clearest looks yet at the environmental cost of the AI boom. As companies race to build more AI infrastructure, water usage is emerging alongside chips and electricity as a major constraint that could shape where future data centers get built.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
This founder makes $1M/year from apps: the opportunity discovery framework he uses. (Link)
Is workflow debt silently killing your AI returns? What the 5% who actually win do differently. (Link)
What the best AI-native founders know that everyone else is still figuring out. (Link)
How fast should founders ship features in the AI era? A framework from a former Facebook executive. (Link)
Why nobody wants to build this boring AI category (Even though it’s worth billions.) (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Granarium Technologies, an Espoo-based deep-tech energy startup originating from VTT, raised €1M in funding. The round included a Pre-Seed led by BSV Ventures and Beamline, with participation from FiBAN, EstBAN, and LatBAN.
Enera, a London- and Barcelona-based AI-driven EV driver experience and charging recovery platform, raised $2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Lakehouse Ventures, with participation from Divergent Capital, Masia, and strategic angel investors.
Helionis Labs, a Bengaluru-based thermal management materials and substrate technologies company, raised a Pre-Seed round. The investment was made by Transition VC.
SEED
TurnUp, a Ghent-based AI-powered automation platform for dental and medical practices, raised €2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Newion, with participation from RDY Ventures.
Lium, a Dallas-based platform helping organizations make sense of complex data, raised $5.5M in Seed funding. Backers included SJF Ventures, Wavemaker 360, Reach Capital, and GC&H Investments.
Dapple, a NYC-based operating system for AI infrastructure, raised $30M in Seed funding. Backers included The Raptor Group and Ion Pacific.
Niteshift, a NYC-based cloud platform for AI coding agents, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Greylock, with participation from Amplify Partners, Lux Capital, BoxGroup, and SV Angel.
The Wedding Company, a Bengaluru-based tech-enabled wedding planning platform, raised $2.75M in Seed funding. The round was led by Wellingdon Advisors, with participation from LVX, Tremis Capital, and angel investors Vivek Mathur, Rahul Garg, and Apurva Patel.
Rivvun AI, a Seattle-based autonomous financial execution and transaction recovery platform, raised $7.55M in Seed funding. Backers included Sitara Capital and 3one4 Capital.
Hypha, a NYC-based AI-native asset intelligence platform, raised $50M in Seed funding. The round was led by TriEdge Investments, with participation from Bankwell, Cammeby’s International, CFG Bank, Crescent Heights, Dwight Capital, MONTICELLOAM, and Yakar Partners.
GROWTH
Coram AI, a Sunnyvale-based AI-native physical security platform, raised $35M in Series B funding. The round was led by Ansa Capital and Battery Ventures, with participation from UP.Partners, 8VC, and Mosaic Ventures.
Leaf, a San Francisco-based agricultural data analytics platform, raised £13M in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Leaps by Bayer and a group of industry strategic investors.
NEURA Robotics, a Metzingen-based cognitive robotics company, raised up to $1.4B in Series C funding. Backers included Tether, Qualcomm Technologies, Amazon, NVIDIA, imec.xpand, Bosch, Schaeffler, European Investment Bank, Lingotto Horizon, and InterAlpen Partners.
Poetic, a San Francisco-based company building software that learns like AI but runs like code, raised $50M in Series A funding at a $500M valuation. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Founders Fund, First Harmonic, and OpenAI.
GPS Renewables, a Bengaluru-based renewable oil and gas company, raised $66.27M in Series C funding. The round was led by PixelSky Capital, with participation from the Spectrum Impact Family Office.
PhoenixAI, a Menlo Park-based agentic AI database company, raised $80M in Series B funding. The round was led by Sky9 Capital, with participation from Atypical Ventures, Olive Technology Ventures, and existing investors.
Current, a NYC-based consumer fintech platform, raised $80M in Series E funding at a $1.5B valuation. The round was led by Springcoast Partners, building on support from Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Avenir, Foundation Capital, Wellington Management, Sapphire Ventures, and QED Investors.
Turnout, a San Diego-based AI-powered consumer advocacy platform, raised $35M in Series A funding at a $400M valuation. The round was led by HighPost Capital, with participation from Shine Capital, LGVP, Mangusta Capital, Honeystone Ventures, and Omri Casspi.
Digital Asset (DA), the NYC-based blockchain infrastructure company behind Canton, raised $355M in funding. The round was led by a16z crypto, with participation from 7RIDGE and ABN Amro.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Animal Capital, a NYC-based early-stage venture capital firm, closed Animal Capital Fund III, at $33m. The closing represents an increase from the firm’s $13m Fund I and $16m Fund II. LPs include Paris Hilton, Kevin Mayer, Justin Kan, Gary Cohn, Rich Miner, Jason Karp, Pete Davidson, Mark Wahlberg, Christina Aguilera, James Corden, Taylor Fritz and Mr. Beast.
Dimension Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, is raising up to $750m for its third fund. According to a form filed with the SEC, Dimension Capital III, L.P., has not raised any sum, yet. The document lists Adam Goulburn as the person related to the fund raise. Led by Goulburn and Zavain Dar, Dimension is a multistage, research oriented, investment firm partnering with companies across the frontiers of science and compute.
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KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Anthropic backtracks on policy that 'sabotaged' researchers' work
Anthropic is reversing a hidden policy that quietly limited researchers who used its new Claude Fable 5 model to build competing AI systems, telling Wired the company “made the wrong tradeoff” and apologizing for the secrecy.
Researchers found that Fable 5, built on Anthropic’s Mythos system, would quietly reroute requests to a weaker model or degrade responses for tasks like training competing LLMs, debugging AI code, and optimizing neural architecture.
Anthropic isn’t dropping the safeguards but making them visible, so if it suspects a user is building a highly capable AI, it will alert them that it’s refusing the request or rerouting to a less capable model.
Judge denies Meta and Google new trial
A California state court judge has rejected requests by Meta and Google’s YouTube for a new trial, after a jury found both companies liable for designing social media platforms that harm young people.
The jury decided Meta and YouTube were negligent in operating their platforms, harming a 20-year-old plaintiff named Kaley, and assigned Meta 70 percent of the responsibility compared to 30 percent for YouTube.
Judge Carolyn Kuhl dismissed the argument that Section 230 shields the companies, writing the law does not cover their design choices, and both Meta and Google said they plan to appeal.
Visa plugs its payment network into ChatGPT
Visa is working with OpenAI to plug its payments tools into OpenAI’s agent system, letting AI agents spend money for users and complete transactions without people manually checking out every time.
Users can set spending caps, merchant restrictions and approval requirements, while Visa handles fraud detection, chargebacks and refunds, and the companies say the setup could support shopping, business invoice payments and AI coding agents buying APIs.
Visa’s Rubail Birwadker said more than one in five transactions are influenced by what users learn through LLMs, and the experience could end up feeling similar to shopping with Apple Pay or Shop Pay.
SpaceX prices record-breaking $75B IPO at $135 per share
SpaceX raised a record $75 billion in its IPO at $135 per share, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion and making it one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world.
Elon Musk will retain 82% voting control after the IPO, while SpaceX unusually reserved 30% of the offering for retail investors and bypassed several traditional Wall Street IPO practices.
Starlink remains the company’s largest revenue driver, but investors are also betting on SpaceX’s AI, satellite, and space infrastructure ambitions, with the company claiming a $28.5 trillion market opportunity.
Anthropic moves toward owning AI infrastructure
Anthropic has reportedly signed more than a dozen preliminary agreements to lease U.S. data centers with over 1 gigawatt of combined capacity as demand for its Claude AI models continues to grow.
The company is also discussing a structure where Google could provide financial guarantees for some lease payments, helping Anthropic secure the infrastructure needed for future expansion.
The move signals Anthropic’s shift toward greater control over its computing resources ahead of its planned IPO, following a recent $65 billion funding round that valued the company at $965 billion.
Google in talks with Samsung to make part of next-gen chip
Google is reportedly in talks with Samsung to manufacture part of its next-generation AI chip, “Icefish,” while TSMC would continue producing the main computing component.
The move could give Samsung a major win in advanced chip manufacturing, with the company potentially supplying memory-connectivity components using its 2-nanometer process technology.
The discussions suggest Google is diversifying its chip supply chain as AI demand surges, following separate reports that it is also exploring manufacturing partnerships with Intel for future TPU production.
Microsoft has restricted employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5
Microsoft has reportedly restricted employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 while its legal teams review the model’s new data retention policies.
The concern stems from Anthropic retaining prompts and outputs for at least 30 days, with some flagged interactions stored for up to two years for trust and safety purposes.
The move highlights how data governance is becoming a major battleground in enterprise AI adoption, even as Anthropic prepares for its IPO and pushes its most powerful model into wider use.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Xbox warns of a ‘reset’ as it prepares for layoffs
Xbox bosses Asha Sharma and Matt Booty have warned staff in a memo of an “Xbox reset” over the next 100 days, coming ahead of major layoffs expected in July.
The memo said that, excluding Activision Blizzard King, Xbox has spent over $20 billion on content, platform, and hardware subsidy in five years, while annual revenue dropped nearly half a billion.
Sharma and Booty also pointed to a hardware component crisis, saying costs for the 2027 holiday season are expected to top five times the prices paid two years earlier, prompting calls for a new business model and hardware partnerships.
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