☕ OpenAI building GitHub competitor & Apple may unveil low-cost MacBook Neo to compete with budget laptops.
Meta tests AI shopping tool to rival ChatGPT and Gemini & Claude Code introduces voice mode for hands-free coding.
Breaking News
OpenAI is reportedly developing a code-hosting platform to compete with GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft. The project is still in early stages but could be offered directly to OpenAI’s enterprise and developer customers. If launched, it would mark a rare case of OpenAI competing head-on with one of its largest investors while expanding its push into the AI developer ecosystem.
Apple is reportedly preparing to launch a new low cost laptop called MacBook Neo, aimed at competing with low-cost laptops and Chromebooks. The device may run on an iPhone-style chip instead of Apple’s higher-end M-series processors, helping lower production costs while targeting students and price-sensitive buyers. Reports also suggest the laptop could come in multiple bright colors, signaling Apple’s push to expand its Mac lineup into the affordable segment.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Qura, a Bologna, Italy-based developer of an AI-driven preventative health platform, raised €1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by United Ventures, with participation from Vento, Italian Angels for Growth, and several individual angel investors.
Mycoverse, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based agritech startup, raised €2.4M in Pre-Seed equity funding. The round was co-led by Future Food Fund and High-Tech Gründerfonds, with participation from PINC.
Illume, a Cincinnati, OH-based provider of a platform supporting the wellness industry, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Keyhorse Capital and Cintrifuse Capital.
SEED
JetStream Security, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI governance platform for enterprises, raised $34M in Seed funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and angel investors.
EGI Battery, an Ann Arbor, MI-based battery technology and manufacturing company, raised $10M in Seed funding. The round was led by TSV Capital and supported by U.S. family offices.
Devotion, a NYC-based developer of an AI-driven influencer marketing platform, raised $4M in Seed funding. The investment was led by Basecase and Will Ventures.
Vento Games, an Istanbul, Turkey-based mobile games studio, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Makers Fund and Arcadia Gaming Partners.
Burst, a NYC-based healthcare payments platform provider, raised $2.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Pear VC with participation from Rock Health Capital, Alumni Ventures, and others.
Tangled, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based developer of a federated code collaboration platform, raised €3.8M in Seed funding. The round was led by byFounders, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Antler, and angel investors.
GROWTH
Fig Security, a NYC- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based Security Operations Resilience company, launched from stealth with $38M across Seed and Series A funding rounds. Backers included Team8, Ten Eleven Ventures, and security industry leaders.
Escargot, a NYC-based developer of an AI-powered greeting card mobile app, raised $2.75M in funding. The round was co-led by Wischoff Ventures and Hannah Grey Ventures, with participation from South Park Commons and Magic Fund.
KeyCare, a Chicago, IL-based Epic-based virtual care company, raised $27.4M in funding. The round was led by HealthX Ventures with participation from multiple investors including 8VC and LRVHealth.
ArmorCode, a Palo Alto, CA-based unified exposure management company, raised $16M in strategic funding. The round was led by Cheyenne Ventures with participation from Ballistic Ventures, Highland Capital, Sierra Ventures, and others.
RenoFi, a Philadelphia, PA-based provider of an AI-enabled financing platform, raised $22M in Series B funding. The round was led by Fifth Wall with participation from Progressive Insurance and other investors.
Grow Therapy, a NYC-based provider of a mental health platform empowering providers to deliver therapy and psychiatric care, raised $150M in Series D funding. The round was led by TCV and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives with participation from Menlo Ventures and others.
Delphyr, an Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based provider of an AI platform that supports medical professionals with AI agents, raised €1.75M in funding. The round included participation from multiple investors including the founders of Hugging Face and DEGIRO.
Antiverse, a Cardiff, Wales, UK-based AI-driven techbio company, raised $9.3M in Series A funding. The round was led by Soulmates Ventures with participation from Innovation Investment Capital, DOMiNO Ventures and existing investors.
MightyFly, a San Francisco, CA-based autonomous air logistics company, raised $10M in funding. Backers included Draper Associates, At One Ventures, and 500 Global.
Ayar Labs, a San Jose, CA-based company specializing in co-packaged optics solutions, raised $500M in Series E funding at a $3.75 Billion valuation. The round was led by Neuberger Berman with participation from ARK Invest, Insight Partners, Qatar Investment Authority, and others.
Bindbridge, a Cambridge, UK-based Ag-biotech company, raised $3.8M in funding. The round was led by Speedinvest and Nucleus Capital.
Akave, a Wilmington, DE-based enterprise cloud infrastructure company, raised $6.65M in funding. Backers included Protocol Labs, No Limit Holdings, Blockchange, Lightshift, Blockchain Builders Fund, and others.
PlasmaLeap Technologies, a Sydney, Australia-based company developing zero-emissions production of ammonia and nitric acid, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by the Gates Foundation, Investible, and Yara Growth Ventures.
Dyna.Ai, a Singapore-based agentic AI solutions company, closed an undisclosed eight-figure Series A funding. The round was led by Lion X Ventures with participation from ADATA.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Quantonation Ventures, a NYC and Paris, France-based venture capital firm focused on quantum and physics-based technologies, closed its second flagship fund, at €220m. LPs included Vertex Holdings; Fonds National d’Amorçage 2, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French State; and Bradley M. Bloom, co-founder and former Managing Director of Berkshire Partners, as well as new backers European Investment Fund, Grupo ACS, Novo Holdings, Planet First Partners, and Toshiba.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Alibaba’s Qwen AI tech lead steps down after new model launch
Junyang Lin, a key technical leader behind Alibaba’s Qwen AI project, announced he is stepping down just a day after the company launched its new Qwen 3.5 small open-weight models.
Qwen has become one of China’s most prominent AI model families, with the latest release including four multimodal models (0.8B, 2B, 4B, and 9B parameters) aimed at lightweight agents and on-device AI.
Lin’s departure drew strong reactions across the AI community, with colleagues and partners calling it a major loss for the project amid intensifying global competition with labs like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Claude Code introduces voice mode for hands-free coding
Anthropic has started rolling out voice mode for Claude Code, allowing developers to issue spoken commands (e.g., “refactor the authentication middleware”) to execute coding tasks.
The feature is currently available to about 5% of users, with a broader rollout expected in the coming weeks, aiming to enable more conversational and hands-free coding workflows.
Claude Code is already one of the fastest-growing AI developer tools, reportedly surpassing $2.5B in revenue run rate, as competition intensifies with tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Google, and OpenAI.
Meta Ray-Ban glasses share private videos with human reviewers
Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses send private video recordings — including nude scenes, sex clips, and banking details — to human data workers in Nairobi, Kenya, who review them to train the company’s AI.
Workers at Sama, a data services company contracted by Meta, label and categorize objects in images and videos, but say automatic face-blurring often fails, especially in difficult lighting conditions.
Data privacy lawyers warn that users may not realize the glasses are recording when they talk to the AI assistant, and that both transparency and a legal basis for processing are lacking in Europe.
Supreme Court rejects AI-generated art copyright case
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case asking whether artwork created entirely by artificial intelligence can receive copyright protection, leaving lower court rulings that require human authorship firmly in place.
The case involved computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who sought copyright for an image generated independently by his AI system DABUS, but courts consistently ruled that human authorship is a “bedrock requirement of copyright.”
The decision follows a similar loss for Thaler in the patent arena, reinforcing a consistent position across U.S. intellectual property law: fully autonomous AI systems cannot be recognized as authors or inventors.
Meta tests AI shopping tool to rival ChatGPT and Gemini
Meta is quietly testing an AI-powered shopping research feature inside its Meta AI chatbot, putting it in direct competition with similar tools already launched by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The browser-only feature, limited to a small group of U.S. users, shows product carousels with images, prices, and recommendations, but the buy button is non-functional and routes to external retailer sites.
Meta enters four months after ChatGPT’s shopping launch, arriving late to retailer partnerships but bringing Facebook Shops, Instagram Shopping, and behavioral data from 3.2 billion daily active users across its apps.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Apple launches MacBook Air and Pro with new M5 chips
Apple unveiled new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models powered by the M5 chip lineup, including the M5 Pro and M5 Max. Apple says the new chips deliver up to 4× faster AI workloads compared with the previous M4 generation.
The MacBook Air comes in 13-inch ($1,099) and 15-inch ($1,299) versions with 18-hour battery life, a 12MP Center Stage camera, 512GB base storage, and color options like sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver.
The MacBook Pro targets developers and AI workloads with faster LLM processing, Thunderbolt 5, up to 24 hours of battery life, and storage starting at 1TB (M5 Pro) or 2TB (M5 Max), with prices starting at $2,199.
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