☕ Microsoft launches a $2.5B AI deployment business & Apple wants to sell 10 million foldable iPhones.
Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket & Chinese AI startup Z.ai narrows the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic.
Breaking News
Microsoft is investing $2.5 billion to build a new AI deployment business with 6,000 engineers dedicated to helping enterprises implement AI. The move signals that the next AI battleground isn’t just building better models - it’s helping companies successfully deploy them.
Mark Zuckerberg told employees Meta's AI agents are progressing slower than expected, despite billions in AI spending, 8,000 layoffs, and thousands of employees being reassigned. He expects meaningful productivity gains to arrive within the next 3–6 months, highlighting how difficult AI transformation remains even for Big Tech.
FROM OUR PARTNER - SUPERPOWER
🔥 A new way to take control of your health — with Superpower
You’ve never had a health check like this. Venture Daily Digest has partnered with Superpower to give you access to advanced health testing that goes 5x deeper than a routine check-up.
Every Superpower membership begins with a simple blood draw that tests 100+ biomarkers to detect early signs of 1,000+ conditions.
This is just the beginning of your health journey.
PARTNERSHIP WITH US
🤝 Get your brand in front of 125,000+ decision makers.
Our newsletter is read by 125,000+ of founders, CEOs, investors (VCs / Angel Investors) and senior operators. Get in touch today.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Nudge, a NYC-based company building commerce infrastructure for AI shopping, raised $1.1M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included s16vc, Antler, and operators from Shopify, Nutanix, and Postman.
Librari, an Austin, TX-based provider of a contract intelligence platform, raised $1.75M in Pre-Seed funding. The round included participation from early-stage funds and a syndicate of angel investors comprising current and former CFOs, general counsels, and founders.
SEED
Ora Computing, a Vienna, Austria-based developer of quantum-inspired AI model compression software, raised €3.5M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Constructor Capital and Greencode Ventures, with participation from XISTA Science Ventures.
Artan Bio, a St. Petersburg, FL-based developer of engineered transfer RNA (tRNA) therapies, raised $1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Michael Torres.
RenaissThera, a Bengaluru, India-based developer of oral therapeutics for metabolic diseases, raised an additional Seed funding round. The round was led by Arali Ventures.
Air Energy Inc., a Chicago, IL-based high-density energy storage company, closed an undisclosed Seed financing round. The round was initiated by Leslie Ventures, with participation from Resolute Venture Partners, Illinois INVENT, Illinois Tech, Evergreen Climate Innovations, and strategic angel investors.
GROWTH
Quantum Systems, a Munich, Germany-based developer of AI-powered autonomous drones and defense systems, raised $1.2B in Series D funding. The round was co-led by Blackstone, Noteus, Airbus, and Advent International, with participation from BOND, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Wellington Management, A.P. Moller Holding, Elephant Lake Ventures, Balderton Capital, and HV Capital.
Celea Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, closed $180M in financing. Participants included RA Capital Management, Leaps by Bayer, and PureTech Health, alongside a U.S.-based healthcare-focused fund and a sovereign wealth fund.
Ubotica Technologies, a Dublin, Ireland-based developer of orbital AI software, raised $11M in funding. Backers included Act Venture Capital, Greencode Ventures, and Atlantic Bridge.
StirlingX, an Oxford, UK-based developer of sovereign data intelligence platforms, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Ventura Capital and RCM Private Markets Master Fund, with continued backing from its founding venture builder ecosystem.
Qolab Inc., a Santa Barbara, CA-based quantum computing hardware company, announced the initial closings of its Series B financing representing $54.2M in total funding.
Luxonis, a Denver, CO-based robotics and industrial automation company, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Denali Growth Partners, with participation from Taiwania Capital.
KredosAi, a Seattle, WA-based AI-powered collections platform, raised $7M in Series A funding. The round was led by BMW i Ventures, with participation from Motley Fool Ventures, Walter Ventures, Okapi Venture Capital, StartFast Ventures, SaaS Ventures, and Stout Street Capital.
OXMIQ Labs, a Campbell, CA-based AI chip architecture company, raised $35M in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Fundomo and Samsung Catalyst Fund, with participation from MediaTek, AM Intelligence Labs, Pegatron Venture Capital, CDIB-TEN, Darwin Ventures, and Morgan Creek Digital.
Addi, a Bogotá, Colombia-based commerce and financial services platform, raised $85M in Series D funding. The round was led by Citius, co-led by BTG Pactual, with participation from GIC, Monashees, and others.
10Beauty, a Burlington, MA-based robotics company, raised $23.5M in funding. The round was led by Story Ventures.
Together AI, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native cloud platform, raised $800M in Series C funding. The round was led by Aramco Ventures, with participation from Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, Emergence Capital, NVIDIA, March Capital, Pegatron, and S Ventures.
Omni, a London, UK-based plant-based pet food company, raised $14.6M in Series A funding. The round was co-led by IW Capital and Redrice Ventures, with participation from RootBridge Capital, Digitalis Ventures, Lever VC, and Deborah Meaden.
LinqAlpha, a NYC-based AI-native public markets intelligence company, raised $22M in Series A funding. The round was anchored by AVP, Atinum Investment, and GFT Ventures, with participation from SBI Investment, Z Venture Capital, Betatron Venture Group, East Ventures, SV Investment, Samsung Securities, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, NH Investment & Securities, Shinhan Venture Investment, and Hana Ventures.
DAILY PICKS
🗞️ Must read writeups
Automate your startup fundraising with Claude: Founders can use Claude to rank investors, shape their deck narrative, draft better outreach, plan follow-ups, and pressure-test investor questions before real meetings. This piece breaks down a simple three-bucket framework: fully automate research, let AI draft but humans send outreach, and never automate the actual relationship-building part of fundraising. (Read Here)
How to build faster with AI: AI has removed many of the old barriers to building software, but it has also made it easier to build the wrong thing faster. This piece breaks down how founders should use AI across idea validation, MVP development, launch systems, and scale - without falling into the trap of confusing speed with real demand. (Read Here)
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Magnify Ventures, a U.S.-based early-stage venture firm founded by Joanna Drake and Julie Wroblewski, raised $46.6 million for its second fund, backed by Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures. The fund will invest in startups building AI tools for households, health and home systems, fintech infrastructure for families, and other care economy solutions.
Harpoon Ventures, a San Diego, CA-based early-stage venture capital firm, closed Fund IV, at $155m. Limited partners include U.S. pensions, endowments, and family offices. Fund IV, which brought AUM to over $450m, will continue Harpoon’s strategy of partnering with founders at the frontier, building mission-critical technologies across artificial intelligence, deep tech, and defense.
Tapestry VC, a London, UK-based venture capital firm, has launched an $80m Fund III. The $80M Fund III is co-anchored by a $40m commitment from new sovereign investor British Business Bank, alongside returning institutional co-anchors Railpen – a £35B pension plan – and Molten Ventures – a £1B fund-of-fund, as well as notable tech leaders, such as OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Anthropic explores custom AI chip partnership with Samsung
Anthropic is reportedly in talks with Samsung about developing a custom AI chip as it looks to diversify its hardware strategy and reduce dependence on Nvidia.
The company has not yet finalized what the chip would be used for, how powerful it would be, or how it would fit into its server infrastructure.
The move follows OpenAI’s recent custom chip partnership with Broadcom, showing how leading AI labs are increasingly trying to control more of their compute stack.
Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket
Meta has quietly launched Pocket, a new app that lets users create and share interactive games and apps using simple AI prompts.
Built from Meta’s acquisition of AI gaming startup Gizmo, the app includes a social feed where users can discover and play creations from others.
Pocket is part of Meta’s broader push into AI-powered creative tools, alongside products like Meta AI, Vibes, and Edits, and is currently in an early experimental phase.
Apple wants to sell 10 million foldable iPhones
Apple has raised its production target for the foldable iPhone Ultra to around 10 million units, roughly a third more than the 7 to 8 million units estimated in earlier reports, according to Nikkei Asia.
The foldable iPhone Ultra is expected to carry a premium price, with IDC predicting an average selling price of $2500 and storage options priced as high as $3000 when it arrives this year.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone Ultra in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, though the foldable model could launch after those Pro phones while still shipping during 2026.
Anthropic says it has not discussed a government ownership stake
Anthropic has not held discussions with the Trump administration about giving the U.S. government an ownership stake in the company, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The clarification follows reports that OpenAI has discussed a proposal to grant the U.S. government a 5% stake as Washington increases oversight of advanced AI companies.
While the U.S. continues to review frontier AI models over national security concerns, Anthropic said no equity discussions with the government have taken place.
Apple in talks with two banned Chinese RAM makers after price hikes
Apple is reportedly in negotiations with two banned Chinese memory makers, CXMT and YMTC, to buy RAM for products sold in China, a move that would likely need clearance from the United States government.
Both companies sit on the Pentagon’s ban list, so Apple has been lobbying the Trump administration and Washington for permission before adding them as memory chip suppliers, according to reports from The Financial Times and Bloomberg.
The talks follow Apple raising prices on Macs, iPads, and other products in June, blaming a global memory shortage and higher component costs, though iPhone prices haven’t gone up yet ahead of new models in September.
Google loses final appeal against €4.1B EU antitrust fine
Europe’s highest court upheld Google’s €4.1 billion antitrust fine, ending the company’s eight-year legal battle over Android business practices.
EU regulators found Google abused Android’s market dominance by requiring phone makers to pre-install Google Search, Chrome, and the Play Store while limiting rival alternatives.
The ruling strengthens Europe’s crackdown on Big Tech and could encourage more regulators and companies to pursue antitrust cases and damages against Google.
Chinese AI startup Z.ai narrows the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic
Chinese startup Z.ai’s new open-weight model, GLM-5.2, is gaining attention for delivering coding and AI agent performance close to leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost.
The model has climbed developer rankings and is seeing growing interest from startups and developers, particularly as U.S. AI model restrictions and rising API costs drive demand for lower-cost alternatives.
Despite its strong performance, widespread enterprise adoption in the U.S. and Europe may remain limited due to data security concerns and regulatory scrutiny around Chinese AI models.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
OpenAI offers the US government a 5% ownership stake
OpenAI has offered the US government a 5% stake in the company, worth around $42.6 billion, as the ChatGPT maker tries to ease mounting political pressure in Washington, according to a Financial Times report.
The $42.6 billion figure is based on the $852 billion price that investors put on OpenAI three months ago, and Sam Altman reportedly wants Anthropic, Google and Meta to hand over a similar 5% cut too.
Altman has discussed the plan with President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, but Senator Bernie Sanders dismissed it, instead wanting a one-off 50% tax on shares of OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities
Most aspiring VCs struggle with interviews, unclear expectations, no structured prep, and generic advice that doesn’t actually help. So we partnered with a leading investor group to build an all-in-one VC Interview Preparation Guide that gives you real clarity and frameworks. (Access Here)
Venture Investment Manager - AMD | USA - Apply Here
Partner 16, Partner 18 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
Portfolio Reporting Team Lead - Cerity Partner | USA - Apply Here
VC Investment Intern - First Momentum Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investment Associate - Antler | UK - Apply Here
Growth Intern (Merantix AI Campus) - Germany - Apply Here
VP — Finance & Compliance - Transition VC | India - Apply Here
Senior Associate - ICONIQUE CAPITAL | USA - Apply Here
Investment Associate / Analyst - Flashpoint | UK - Apply Here
WHEN YOU’RE READY, HERE’S HOW I CAN HELP:
💁 You might need our help!
Reach 125,000+ 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.