☕ Jony Ive and Sam Altman have an AI hardware prototype & Chinese robot walks over 100 km for world record.
Alibaba Qwen hits 10 million downloads in debut week & AWS is spending $50B to build AI infrastructure
Today’s newsletter is in partnership with O2 TREEHOUSE & MECO.
Tug of war was actually an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1920. So yes, at one point, “yanking really hard” earned you a gold medal.
Peak athleticism, apparently.
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: 2700+ US VC database, startup legal docs, investor Q&A prep kit, Evan Fisher on in-house rounds, Chris Smith on VC playbooks, Eddie Lou’s investing lens.
Google teams up with Accel to hunt for India’s next AI breakouts.
Jony Ive and Sam Altman have an AI hardware prototype.
AWS is spending $50B to build AI infrastructure for the US government.
OpenAI learned the hard way that Cameo trademarked the word ‘cameo’.
Anthropic releases Opus 4.5 with new Chrome and Excel integrations.
Alibaba Qwen hits 10 million downloads in debut week.
Chinese robot walks over 100 km for world record.
Apple cuts jobs across sales team. iOS 27 will prioritize AI and performance.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
2700+ US angel investors & VC firms contact database (Email + LinkedIn Link). (Link)
Startup legal document pack – essential legal Docs for founders. (Link)
What investors ask and how to answer : A practical Q&A prep kit for founders. (Link)
Evan Fisher on what most founders miss about in-house rounds (Link)
Chris Smith shares 3 distinct ways to play the VC game (Link)
Eddie Lou on 3 things he looks for in startup investing (Link)
Gokul Rajaram on weekly founder emails (Link)
John Rush shares lessons learned from failing 30 startups in 20 years (Link)
Microsoft’s AI Strategy Deconstructed. (Link)
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Cerrion, a Zurich, Switzerland-based provider of an AI video agent platform that detects and resolves production line issues in real time, raised $18M in Series A funding. The round was led by Creandum, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, Goat Capital, 10x Founders and Session VC. Angels included Harry Stebbings, Oskar Hjertonsson, Thomas Wolf, Garret Langley, Filip Kaliszan, Marc Maurer, and Carl Rivera.
Maritime Fusion, a San Francisco, CA-based fusion energy company developing reactors for maritime and off-grid applications, raised $5.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Trucks VC, with participation from Paul Graham, Alumni Ventures, Aera VC, Y Combinator, and angel investors.
Cordance Medical, a Mountain View, CA-based medtech company leveraging ultrasound technology for brain disease treatment, raised $8M in Seed funding. The round was led by Sonder Capital with participation from Shanda Grab Ventures, Angel Physician’s Fund, SmartGateVC, and R42.
CookUnity, a NYC-based provider of a chef-to-consumer meal delivery platform, received $250M from General Catalyst.
Opti, a NYC-based AI-native identity security platform provider, raised $20M in seed funding. The round was led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Hetz Ventures, with participation from Squared Circle Ventures, LocalGlobe, Maple Capital and angel investor Shlomo Kramer.
Interface, a San Francisco-based provider of an AI powered industrial safety platform for most critical industries, such as energy and chemicals, raised $3.5M in Seed funding. Backers included defy.vc, Precursor Ventures, and Rock Yard Ventures, along with some angel investors such as Meta board member Charlie Songhurst.
SAPI, a London, UK-based payment-linked financing platform provider, raised $80M in a debt and equity package. The round consisted of $75M in debt and $5M of equity led by Hudson Cove Capital Management, with participation from existing equity investors Triple A Capital and Passion Capital.
AI One, a NYC-based provider of an enterprise context management platform, raised $7M in Series A funding. The round was led by Vestigo Ventures and existing investors.
Blast Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cybersecurity startup raised $10M in seed funding. The round was co-led by 10D and MizMaa Ventures.
Buildroid, a Dubai, UAE-based AI robotics startup, raised $2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Tim Draper.
Sortera, a Markle, IN-based aluminum sorting company, raised $45M in funding. The round was led by T. Rowe Price Associates and VXI Capital, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures, Overlay Capital, Trinity Capital.
Guardio, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based consumer cybersecurity company, raised $80m in Series B funding. The round was led by Ion Crossover Partners with participation from Union Tech Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and Emerge.
Mirantus Health, a Berlin, Germany-based eye-screening startup, raised €5.5m in seed funding. Backers included Revent, Redstone, Entrepreneur First, Noaber, and Arve Capital.
Kalshi, a NYC-based provider of a predictions market platform, raised $1 billion in funding. The round, raised at an $11b valuation, was led by CapitalG and Sequoia Capital. Other backers in the company include Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Anthos Capital, and Neo.
Tidalwave, a NYC-based provider of an agentic AI-powered mortgage point-of-sale (POS) platform, raised $22M in Series a funding. The round was led by Permanent Capital, with participation from D.R. Horton, Inc. and Engineering Capital.
Sorcero, a Washington, DC-based provider of an AI-powered intelligence platform for life sciences, raised $42.5M in Series B funding. The round was led by NewSpring Growth, with participation from Leawood Venture Capital and Blu Ventures.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Google teams up with Accel to hunt for India’s next AI breakouts
Google and Accel will jointly invest up to $2M per startup through Accel’s Atoms program, targeting India-based and Indian-origin founders building AI-first products.
Selected startups will get $350K in compute credits, early access to Gemini/DeepMind models, mentorship from Google and Accel teams, and immersion sessions in London and the Bay Area.
This is the first global collaboration for Google’s AI Futures Fund — signaling a major bet that India’s talent, digital infrastructure, and growing AI ecosystem can produce global AI companies.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Jony Ive and Sam Altman have an AI hardware prototype
Sam Altman says OpenAI’s upcoming device — designed with Jony Ive — is “so simple” and meant to feel calm and distraction-free, unlike today’s smartphone experience.
The pocket-sized, likely screenless device will act as a trusted AI companion with deep contextual awareness, filtering information and presenting it only at the right moments.
Ive says the product will launch within two years and describes it as an intelligent yet unintimidating tool that feels natural and effortless to use.
AWS is spending $50B to build AI infrastructure for the US government
AWS will invest $50B to build 1.3 gigawatts of high-performance AI compute infrastructure exclusively for U.S. government agencies, expanding access to tools like SageMaker, Bedrock, and Anthropic’s Claude.
The new data centers will break ground in 2026 and are designed to support missions across cybersecurity, drug discovery, and other critical federal operations.
The move follows a broader trend of AI companies courting Washington, with OpenAI, Anth
OpenAI learned the hard way that Cameo trademarked the word ‘cameo’
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking OpenAI from using the term “cameo” in its Sora app after celebrity-video platform Cameo claimed trademark infringement.
The order, in effect until December 22, follows confusion over Sora’s “Cameo” feature, which lets users generate AI videos of themselves or others (with permission).
Cameo says consumers are being misled, while OpenAI argues the company can’t own the common word — but a full hearing is set for December 19.
Anthropic releases Opus 4.5 with new Chrome and Excel integrations
Anthropic launched Opus 4.5, its most powerful 4.5-series model, with state-of-the-art scores across coding, tool use, and reasoning benchmarks — including the first-ever 80%+ result on SWE-Bench verified.
The release comes with major upgrades to long-context memory and introduces an “endless chat” feature that silently compresses context so conversations never reset.
Anthropic is also rolling out Claude for Chrome (for Max users) and Claude for Excel (for Max, Team, and Enterprise), showcasing Opus 4.5’s focus on computer-use agents and spreadsheet-heavy workflows.
Alibaba Qwen hits 10 million downloads in debut week
Alibaba’s Qwen App surpassed 10 million downloads just one week after its public beta launch on November 17, quickly securing a top-three spot among free apps on the Apple App Store in China.
Built on the Qwen3 model, the tool handles complex tasks like AI-assisted coding, voice call interactions, and generating an entire research report or multi-slide PowerPoint presentation with a single command.
The company plans to transform the assistant into an operational hub by integrating lifestyle services such as digital maps, food delivery, and travel booking directly into the system for daily use.
Chinese robot walks over 100 km for world record
Agibot A2 earned a Guinness World Record title after walking 106.286 km from Suzhou to Shanghai over three days, officially making this the longest journey ever reported for a humanoid machine.
The mass-produced commercial model navigated highways and city streets using dual GPS modules, built-in lidar, and infrared depth cameras to handle changing light conditions within complex urban environments without falling.
This 5.74-foot-tall unit weighs 55 kg and processes text, audio, and visual information, leading it to joke that it might need a new pair of shoes after finishing the trek.
Apple cuts jobs across sales team
Apple is laying off a small number of employees across its sales organization, including account managers for major businesses, schools, and government agencies.
Staff running Apple’s institutional briefing centers were also affected, with reports saying a government sales team — already strained by a shutdown and DOGE budget cuts — was among the hardest hit.
Apple says it is still hiring overall, and impacted employees can apply for internal roles, as broader tech layoffs continue at firms like Verizon, Synopsys, and IBM.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
iOS 27 will prioritize AI and performance
Apple engineers are reportedly combing through the operating system to cut bloat and eliminate bugs, aiming to fix specific user complaints about overheating, battery drain, and the pervasive jank distributed across the previous update.
The release includes a paid health focused AI agent and a chatbot app known as Veritas, which acts as a proving ground for the re-architected Siri as the company is still playing catch-up.
Mark Gurman claims this cycle resembles the Snow Leopard era by prioritizing stability, though the software will still contain adjustments to the new styling associated with the Liquid Glass vibe for the next few years.
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 - Venture Capital - Artha Venture Fund | India - Apply Here
Investment Team - WEH Venture | India - Apply Here
Fund Operations Executive - Sauce VC | India - Apply Here
Venture Scout - First momentum Venture | Remote - Apply Here
Analyst / Associate - Core Innovation Capital | USA - Apply Here
Program Associate - Plug and Play tech Center | USA - Apply Here
Executive Assistant - AN Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
Communications Analyst - Oui Capital | Hybrid - Apply Here
Visiting Investment Analyst - Join Capital | USA - Apply Here
AI Tech Lead - Core Innovation Capital | USA - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Caanan | USA - Apply Here
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