☕ Mistral AI set to raise $2 Billion, Apple loses lead robotics AI researcher to Meta & Google hit with $425M privacy verdict.
xAI loses another top exec as CFO exits & Instagram finally launches iPad app.
Bhutan is the world’s only carbon-negative country.
Its forests absorb over 6 million tons of CO₂ each year, while the nation emits less than 2 million.
Love or hate this intro? Hit reply and tell us why!
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: VCs not built to fund good businesses, leaner startups (Carta), Replo hiring strategy, $500B AI giants, why smart people fail, Lisa Su’s advice, PG on AI jobs.
Mistral AI set to raise $2B at $14B valuation.
Scale AI sues ex-employee and rival Mercor over trade secrets.
Apple’s Siri upgrade could be powered by Google Gemini.
xAI loses another top exec as CFO exits.
Apple loses lead robotics AI researcher to Meta.
Amazon now lets you shop by scanning real-world items.
Google hit with $425M privacy verdict.
Instagram finally launches iPad app.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
FROM OUR PARTNER - AFINO
🤝 Your AI-Powered, Slack-Connected Finance Team
You raised the money. You’re building the thing. But now the spending’s piling up, and your “finance dept” is basically a spreadsheet and a prayer.
Afino is your AI-powered, Slack-connected finance team—offering bookkeeping, tax prep, R&D credits, and fractional CFO support, all tailored for startup speed.
If you’re a founder trying to actually get your finances in order, this one’s for you.
We've partnered with Afino to give one year of corporate taxes for FREE to the first 5 companies that claim this offer.
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 aren’t built to fund good businesses. (Link)
Startups are staying leaner for longer per Carta data. (Link)
Yuxin Zhu, Replo founder’s hiring strategy. (Link)
Brad Gerstner is comparing OpenAI, Meta and Google’s climb to a $500B valuation. (Link)
Why some people are too smart to succeed. (Link)
Lisa Su: Find the toughest problems and volunteer to solve them. (Link)
Paul Graham: AI taking jobs is full of classic PG wisdom. (Link)
Excel template: early-stage startup financial model for fundraising. (Link)
Conrad Irwin (Superhuman)’s take on why LLMs can’t fully build software is really interesting. (Link)
The ultimate guide for founders to start a lean, AI-native startup in 2025. (Link)
Absolutely epic SEO guide called “The AI Search Manual” (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Exa, a San Francisco, CA-based AI search infrastructure startup, raised $85M in Series B at a $700M valuation. The round was led by Benchmark with participation from Lightspeed, Y Combinator, and NVIDIA. Peter Fenton from Benchmark will join the board.
You.com, a Palo Alto, CA-based enterprise AI infrastructure company, raised $100M in Series C at a $1.5B valuation. The round was led by Cox Enterprises with participation from existing investors including Georgian, Salesforce Ventures, and Norwest.
Aurelius Systems, a San Francisco, CA-based defense technology company, raised $10M in Seed funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and Draper Associates.
ModernFi, a NYC-based technology provider for deposit management, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round was led by Canapi Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Curql, Remarkable Ventures, and new investor Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE).
HappyRobot, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an enterprise-grade platform to build, deploy, and manage an AI workforce, raised $44M in Series B funding. The round was led by Base10 Partners with participation from existing investors, a16z, Array Ventures, and YC. New investors included Samsara Ventures, Tokio Marine, WaVe-X, World Innovation Lab (WiL) and other industry operators and global logistics funds.
ID.me, a McLean, VA-based digital identity wallet company, raised $340M in Series E funding. The round was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from existing investors Ares Credit funds and Moonshots Capital, as well as new investors, including Positive Sum.
Mercy BioAnalytics, a Waltham, MA-based company which specializes in extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsies for the early detection of cancer, raised $59M in Series B funding. The round was led by Novalis and Sozo Ventures, with participation from Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, American Cancer Society BrightEdge, iSelect Fund, Hologic, Bruker Scientific, Labcorp and others.
Etherealize, a NYC-based company developing products and infrastructure to onboard institutions to Ethereum, raised $40M in funding. The round was led by Electric Capital and Paradigm.
Meroka, a NYC-based provider of a platform supporting care teams to spend less time on admin, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Better Tomorrow Ventures & Slow Ventures with participation from 8VC and other investors.
Tidal Cyber, a Reston, VA-based cybersecurity provider developing Threat-Led Defense, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bright Pixel Capital, with participation from existing investors.
LightTable, a Denver, CO-based proptech startup, raised $6m in seed funding. The round was led by Primary Venture Partners with participation from Innovation Endeavors and Banter Capital.
Offgrid Energy Labs, a Gurgaon, India-based battery tech startup, raised $15m in Series A funding. The round was led by Archean Chemicals with participation from Ankur Capital.
Ortivity, a Munich, Germany-based healthtech startup, raised €200m in funding. The deal, still subject to customary regulatory approvals, was led by existing majority investor Apheon, with participation from Unigestion.
Xampla, a Cambridge, UK-based materials innovation company, raised $14M in funding. The round was led by Emerald Technology Ventures, BGF and Matterwave Ventures.
Flex, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a platform that enables health and wellness brands to accept health savings account (HSA) and flexible spending account (FSA) payments, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by First Round and Core VC, with participation from Cameron Ventures, Rethink Impact, Y Combinator, and Liquid2.
LightYX, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based construction technology startup, raised $11M in Series A funding. The round was led by NOVA by Saint-Gobain, with participation from Yachad Capital Partners, Shibumi International, and Somersault Ventures.
FROM OUR PARTNER - ESPECIALTY INSURANCE
🤝 Protect your emerging fund without breaking the bank.
eSpecialty’s Emerging Fund & SPV Insurance Program is built for venture, private equity, and real estate funds under $100M AUM.
Get GPL (E&O/D&O) coverage that safeguards against today’s investment risks with streamlined onboarding, scale-appropriate pricing, and protection tailored to first-time and growing fund managers.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
a16z speedrun, the startup accelerator by Andreessen Horowitz, has opened applications for SR006, the latest edition of its startup program. The 12-week program will kick off late January 2026 in San Francisco to support founders at the earliest stages of building new technology, culminating in a Demo Day in April 2026.
Venturi Partners, a Singapore-based consumer growth firm, held the first close of its second fund, at $150M. The fund, supported by existing backers (Frédéric de Mévius of AB InBev family and Ackermans & van Haaren, a listed Belgian investment company) and new investors, aims for a final close of $225M by June 2026.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Mistral set to raise $2B at $14B valuation:
French AI startup Mistral is finalizing a €2B investment round that would value it at $14B, making it one of Europe’s most valuable tech firms.
Founded by ex-DeepMind and Meta researchers, Mistral builds open-source models and its chatbot Le Chat, designed for European users.
The raise follows Mistral’s June 2024 €5.8B valuation and comes amid a surge in European AI funding, with 12 new unicorns in the first half of 2025.
Scale AI sues ex-employee and rival Mercor over trade secrets:
Scale AI filed a lawsuit accusing former sales exec Eugene Ling of taking 100+ confidential documents before joining competitor Mercor.
The suit alleges Ling pitched Mercor to “Customer A,” one of Scale’s biggest clients, with potential contracts worth millions.
Mercor denies using Scale’s data, while Ling admits storing old files but says he never used them, calling the situation “no nefarious intent.”
Apple’s Siri upgrade could be powered by Google Gemini:
Apple has delayed its big Siri overhaul until 2026 and is testing Google’s Gemini models to power AI search inside Siri.
If successful, Gemini could also support other iPhone features like Safari search and Spotlight, adding AI-powered summarization, multimedia answers, and voice navigation tied to personal data.
This move signals Apple may lean on Google to close its AI gap with OpenAI, Perplexity, and others, rather than relying only on its in-house models.
xAI loses another top exec as CFO exits:
Mike Liberatore, xAI’s CFO and former Airbnb exec, left after just three months, following other senior departures.
He helped secure $10B in funding ($5B debt + $5B equity, half from SpaceX) and oversaw Memphis data center expansion.
His exit adds to a wave of departures including xAI’s general counsel, senior lawyers, co-founder Igor Babuschkin, and ex-X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
Apple loses lead robotics AI researcher to Meta:
Top AI robotics researcher Jian Zhang has departed from Apple to join Meta’s Robotics Studio, fueling a crisis of confidence as a dozen experts have recently left for rival companies.
The ongoing exodus is driven by internal turmoil, including technical setbacks on the Siri V2 overhaul and a leadership veto on a plan to open-source certain AI models.
Zhang's expertise will support Meta’s ambitions to provide core AI platforms for third-party humanoid robots, a key initiative within its Reality Labs division that competes with Google DeepMind.
Amazon now lets you shop by scanning real-world items:
Amazon's new Lens Live feature lets you point your camera at an object to see a swipeable carousel of matching products from its catalog directly on your live screen.
The tool integrates with the Rufus AI shopping assistant to show an AI-generated description and suggested prompts for asking more questions about each item that is displayed.
The feature uses a computer vision object detection model to process images on your device in real time, and it is available at launch only within the iOS app.
Google hit with $425M privacy verdict:
A San Francisco jury ruled that Google must pay $425M for collecting user data despite tracking being turned off under its Web & App Activity setting.
The class action covers 98M users and 174M devices, with plaintiffs initially seeking $31B in damages.
Google denies wrongdoing, says the data was nonpersonal and encrypted, and plans to appeal the decision.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Instagram finally launches iPad app:
Instagram is rolling out its long-awaited iPad app, redesigned for larger screens and optimized for lean-back entertainment.
The app opens directly into Reels, shows Stories at the top, and adds a new Following tab with All, Friends, and Latest feeds.
Features include split-screen layouts for messages/notifications and expanded comments while watching Reels; available globally on iPads with iPadOS 15.1+.
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 - Cerity Partner | USA - Apply Here
Program Manager - generator | USA - Apply Here
Investor Relations Analyst - Techstars | USA - Apply Here
Program Manager - generator | USA - Apply Here
Venture Partner - XDC Venture | USA - Apply Here
Manager - Finance - Yournest Venture | India - Apply Here
Investor Relations Manager - Beco Capital | UK - Apply Here
Investment Associate - Beco Capital | UAE - Apply Here
Head of Platform - Pledge Venture | UK - Apply Here
ESG Intern - ESG Enterprise | UK - Apply Here
AI Venture Analyst Intern - Untaped Venture | USA - Apply Here
Executive Assistant - AN Venture Partner | USA - 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.