☕ Meta unveils brain-reading AI model & All xAI co-founders exit as Musk restructures the company.
Anthropic’s Claude sees surge in paid users amid rising visibility & Yahoo launches AI answer engine Scout.
Breaking News
SoftBank just secured a $40B loan to invest in OpenAI, signaling expectations of a near-term IPO. With total exposure now over $60B and a 12-month repayment window, this move strongly hints that one of the biggest tech IPOs in history could be coming soon.
Meta has built an AI model (TRIBE v2) that can predict how the human brain reacts to images, sound, and speech, often outperforming actual human fMRI scans. Trained on 1,000+ hours of brain data, it marks a major step toward decoding and modeling human cognition — despite still having key limitations.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Galdera Labs, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of an AI-powered financial modelling platform, raised €1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by J12 Ventures, with participation from Antler and angel investors.
Eunice, a London, UK-based company building due diligence infrastructure, raised $8M in Pre-Seed and Seed funding. The round was led by Moonfire Ventures and Speedinvest, with participation from Openspace Ventures.
SEED
Stratum Biosciences, a NYC-based biotechnology company, raised $2M in Seed funding. Backers included Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York and Skin Angels.
CurrentClient, a Provo, UT-based communication platform for financial advisors, raised $1.25M in Seed funding. The round was led by Thicket Ventures.
Helix Earth, a Houston, TX-based chemistry platform company, raised $12M in Seed funding. The round was led by Veriten, with participation from Rua Ventures, Carnrite Ventures, Skywriter LLC, Textbook Ventures, and others.
Conntour, a Miami, FL-based AI video intelligence platform, raised $7M in Seed funding. Backers included General Catalyst, Y Combinator, SV Angel, and Liquid 2 Ventures.
GROWTH
M1X, a NYC-based financial infrastructure company, raised $3M in angel funding. Backers included Balaji Srinivasan, Tama Churchouse, Richard Gorelick, Dan Robichaud, FJ Labs, and Stellar Development Foundation.
Neion Bio, a NYC-based biotechnology company, raised approximately $11M in funding. The round was led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Basis Set Ventures and Haystack VC, among others.
Clasp, a Boston, MA-based recruitment platform, raised $20M in Series B funding. The round was led by Crosslink Capital and Digitalis Ventures, with participation from Juvo, Strada Education, Frank Britt, and Jason Nazar.
Origin, a London, UK-based enterprise benefits intelligence platform, raised $30M in Series A+ funding. The round was led by Notion Capital, with participation from Felix Capital, Acadian Ventures, and existing investors.
VITL, a Nashville, TN-based healthcare operating system company, raised $7.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by SignalFire.
Cents, a NYC-based laundry industry platform, raised $140M in Series C funding. The round was led by Sumeru Equity Partners, with participation from Camber Creek.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Sonder Capital, a San Carlos, CA-based healthcare venture capital firm investing in companies enhancing the standard of care, closed its second fund, Futures II. The fund, backed by Mayo Clinic and Sutter Health, is anchored by an investment thesis focused on AI-enabled medical robotics and minimally invasive therapies, fueling companies creating entirely new care pathways and business models.
Overmatch Ventures, an Austin, TX-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in deeptech, defensetech, and spacetech, closed its second fund, at $250m. Fund II is backed by a broad base of investors including institutional allocators, family offices, and strategic partners, whom Overmatch works with as co-investors.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
All xAI co-founders exit as Musk restructures the company
The last remaining co-founders of xAI, Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen, have reportedly left, meaning all original co-founders have now exited the company.
The departures come as Elon Musk admits the company “was not built right” and is being rebuilt from scratch.
xAI is now being integrated with SpaceX and X under a unified structure, signaling a major strategic reset ahead of a potential SpaceX IPO.
OpenAI shut down Sora to cut losses and refocus on core AI race
Sora struggled with low adoption, peaking at ~1M users before dropping below 500K, while costing OpenAI around $1M per day due to expensive video generation compute.
The shutdown was a strategic decision to reallocate resources, as OpenAI shifts focus toward high-value areas like enterprise and coding amid rising competition from Anthropic.
The move came abruptly, even catching partners like Disney off guard, signaling how aggressively OpenAI is prioritizing efficiency and core growth.
Anthropic’s Claude sees surge in paid users amid rising visibility
Claude’s paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year, with strong growth driven by consumer awareness, product launches, and ongoing public attention.
Key drivers include Claude Code, Cowork tools, and new autonomous features, along with high-profile marketing and its stance in the Pentagon dispute.
Despite rapid growth, Claude still trails ChatGPT overall, though it’s gaining meaningful traction among paying users.
Stanford study warns AI chatbots may reinforce harmful advice patterns
A Stanford study found that AI chatbots often validate user behavior 49% more than humans, even in cases involving harmful or unethical actions.
Users tend to trust and prefer these “sycophantic” responses, which can reinforce beliefs, reduce willingness to apologize, and increase dependence on AI for advice.
Researchers warn this creates a dangerous feedback loop where engagement incentives push AI systems to be more agreeable, raising concerns about safety and the need for oversight.
Meta plans Ray-Ban smart glasses for prescription wearers
Meta is preparing to release new Ray-Ban smart glasses built specifically for people who already wear prescription lenses, according to a report from Bloomberg.
FCC filings for two models called “Scriber” and “Blazer” show they are production units with Wi-Fi 6 UNII-4 band support, which could enable faster data transfers and livestreaming.
The new glasses would be sold through traditional prescription eyewear channels, though it remains unclear how their design will differ from existing Ray-Ban Meta models beyond the prescription focus.
Yahoo launches AI answer engine Scout
Yahoo has launched Scout, an AI-powered answer engine now available to its 250 million U.S. users, aiming to simplify online search and deliver more personal results tied to each person’s interests.
CEO Jim Lanzone, who took over after Apollo Global Management bought Yahoo for $5 billion in 2021, has been cutting dysfunctional parts and overhauling services like email and fantasy sports.
Scout runs on AI technology licensed from Anthropic and will compete against Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and the answer engine Perplexity in a crowded market.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Zuckerberg offered to help Musk with DOGE
Mark Zuckerberg texted Elon Musk in February 2025 praising DOGE’s progress and offering to help, including having Meta teams remove content doxxing or threatening DOGE employees, according to court documents.
The texts surfaced in Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, and they also show Musk asking Zuckerberg if he was open to bidding on OpenAI’s IP together.
Musk’s lawyers argued the private exchanges with Zuckerberg should be excluded from trial, calling them tangential and saying OpenAI’s team is trying to stoke negative sentiments toward Musk.
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