☕ OpenAI declares ‘code red’, Anthropic plans an IPO as early as 2026 & Amazon unveils new AI chip to challenge Nvidia.
OpenAI slammed for app suggestions that looked like ads & More.
The liver is the only human organ that can fully regenerate itself.
You can literally lose most of it, and it’ll grow back as if nothing happened.
Love or hate this intro? Hit reply and tell us why!
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks:Investor data room superpack, AI coding paradox, new AI funding reality, US VC growth trends, startup naming guide, CAIR metric for AI success, warm intro framework, a16z partner’s AI tools.
OpenAI declares ‘code red’ to counter Google Gemini 3.
Amazon challenges competitors with on-premises Nvidia ‘AI Factories’.
OpenAI slammed for app suggestions that looked like ads.
Anthropic plans an IPO as early as 2026, FT reports.
Samsung unveils first multi-folding phone as competition set to heat up.
Amazon unveils new AI chip to challenge Nvidia.
Trump administration takes $150 million stake in a chip startup.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
FROM OUR PARTNER - 1PASSWORD
🔥 1Password webinar: smart, simple security for SMBs
No company is too small to be a target for cybercriminals. Thankfully, there’s a simple step that small businesses can take to guard against the growing threats of ransomware and credential-based attacks.
Join 1Password for a discussion on how teams can keep security and credential management affordable and achievable. Watch now to learn about:
The biggest security risks facing SMBs
Security tools that reduce friction for growing businesses
How your team can secure authentication in mere hours
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
Investor Data Room Superpack: Everything you need to build a VC-ready data room (Guide/Templates).
The productivity paradox of AI coding assistants.
The new reality of AI funding: massive checks, fewer winners, and tougher competition.
The US VC ecosystem still finds plenty of room for growth.
How to actually name your Startup.
The overlooked metric-CAIR, that predicts AI product success.
Framework: How to get warm intros to VCs without a network?
AI tools used by a16z partner Olivia Moore.
The Startup Valuation Guide For Founders.
Annoying questions from VC & how to answer them.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Kalshi, a NYC-based prediction market company, raised $1 Billion in Series E funding, at $11 Billion valuation. The round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Meritech Capital, IVP, ARK Invest, Anthos Capital, CapitalG, and Y Combinator.
Minitap, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered mobile development platform, raised $4.1M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Moxxie Ventures and Mercuri, with participation from EWOR, Tekton Ventures, Amigos Venture Capital, and six unicorn founders.
Axiado Corporation, a San Jose, CA-based provider of security and management solutions for modern digital infrastructure, raised $100M in Series C+ funding. The round was led by Maverick Silicon with participation from Prosperity7 Ventures, Orbit Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital, Nosterra Ventures and others.
LizzyAI, a NYC-based provider of an AI-native interviewing platform, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by NEA, with participation from Speedinvest and Zero Prime Ventures.
Soxton, a NYC-based AI-native law firm and legal solution provider, raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Moxxie Ventures, with participation from Strobe, Coalition, Caterina Fake, and Flex.
Nada, a Dallas, TX-based financial technology company for homeowners, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Interlock Partners with participation from LiveOak Ventures and Riverwalk Capital Partners.
Curative, an Austin, TX-based company providing health plan services, raised $150M in Series B funding, at $1.275 Billion valuation. The round was led by TED Chairman Chris Anderson’s Upside Vision Fund, with participation from Justin Mateen, Mike Novogratz, Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, DCVC, and Martin Varsavsky.
Mujin, a Tokyo, Japan-based automation technology company, completed the first close of its Series D funding at US$ 233M. The round consisted of $133M in equity led by NTT Group and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) with participation from Mitsubishi HC Capital Realty Co., Ltd.
Antares, a Torrence, CA-based nuclear energy startup, raised $96M in Series B funding. The round was led by Shine Capital, with participation from Alt Capital, Caffeinated, FiftyThree Stations, Industrious, and other investors, bringing its total amount to date to over $130M in funding.
Ascentra Labs, a London, UK- and NYC-based company building AI tools for consultants and corporate strategy professionals, raised $2m in seed funding. The round was led by NAP (formerly Cavalry Ventures), with participation from angels including Alan Chang (CEO of Fuse, former Revolut CRO) and Fredrik Hjelm (CEO of Voi).
Zafran Security, a NYC-based AI-native Threat Exposure Management company, raised $60m in Series C funding. The round, which brought total funding to $130m, was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts, in addition to PSP Growth, Vintage Investment Partners, and Knollwood Investment.
Trial Library, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-enabled platform expanding access to clinical trials as a care option, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding to date of $15m, was co-led by SemperVirens Venture Capital and Next Ventures, with participation from Sanofi Ventures, Lux Capital, Civilization Ventures, How Women Invest, Overwater Ventures and others.
Metri Bio, a Boston, MA-based biotechnology company developing new therapies for endometrial diseases, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Pillar VC, with participation from Pace Ventures, as well as Slocum Management, Navec Investments, and additional angel investors.
HotHouse Therapeutics, a Norwich, Norfolk, UK-based developer of a drug discovery platform, raised £2.9m in Pre-Seed funding. Bckers included SynBioVen, Start Codon, UKI2S, Twin Path Ventures, Wren Capital, and angel investors.
Bourn, a London, UK-based fintech startup, raised £3.5m in funding. Backers included a strategic minority investment from NatWest Group, alongside funding from McPike Global Family Office, Haatch, Love Ventures, Portfolio Ventures and Aperture.
Clipbook, a San Francisco, CA-based vertical AI platform for strategic communications and public affairs, raised $3.3m in seed funding. The round was co-led by Mark Cuban, Commonweal Ventures, and Carpenter Capital.
Reema Health, a Minneapolis, MN-based developer of a human powered and tech-enabled solution that engages hard-to-reach members to improve health outcomes, raised $19M in Series B funding. The round was led by LRVHealth and Optum Ventures.
Corintis, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based developer of advanced chip-cooling solutions designed to improve efficiency and power density in data centers running the most demanding AI workloads, raised $25m in funding. Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) served as the lead investor.
CURATED RESOURCE FOR YOU
🤝 Early-Stage Startup Financial Model Template
Investors expect clean, simple numbers, not overbuilt spreadsheets.
This Excel Financial Model Template helps you build clear projections investors actually understand. Just fill in your numbers, and it does the rest.
What’s inside:
Revenue, cost, and growth projections
Runway, burn rate & funding need calculations
Simple, investor-ready format that works for any early-stage startup
Plug in your data, get investor-ready, and tell your story with numbers that make sense.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Expedition Growth Capital, a London, UK- and Boston, MA-based software-specialist growth equity firm, closed its third fund, at $375m. Led by Oliver Thomas, Founder and Managing Partner, the firm specializes in making minority growth equity investments in domain-expert software & AI companies from across Europe that have built high-quality products and customer bases, without venture capital.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI declares ‘code red’ to counter Google Gemini 3
Sam Altman issued an internal memo declaring a “code red” to accelerate ChatGPT improvements after Gemini 3 beat the chatbot on benchmark tests and sent Google stock soaring to a record high.
The urgent move forces the company to delay introducing other products like AI agents so employees can dedicate resources to fighting off competition from rival developers such as Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5.
OpenAI faces pressure to meet aggressive revenue goals of $200 billion by 2030 as prominent customers like Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff say they are ditching the platform for Google’s latest model.
Amazon challenges competitors with on-premises Nvidia ‘AI Factories’
Amazon launched “AI Factories,” an on-premises AI system that enterprises and governments can run inside their own data centers — AWS installs and manages the setup while customers keep full data sovereignty.
The system is built with both AWS and Nvidia tech, offering Nvidia Blackwell GPUs or Amazon’s Trainium3, and integrates with Bedrock, SageMaker, AWS networking, storage, and security tools.
AWS joins Microsoft in deploying Nvidia AI Factory infrastructure, reflecting a broader shift as cloud giants invest heavily in private and hybrid cloud setups to meet data-control and AI workload demands.
OpenAI slammed for app suggestions that looked like ads
Users grew frustrated after ChatGPT suggested installing apps like Peloton during unrelated conversations, raising fears that ads had arrived for paid subscribers.
OpenAI clarified the suggestions were not ads but part of a test for app discovery inside conversations — admitting the irrelevant recommendations created a confusing experience.
Because users can’t disable these suggestions, the backlash signals risk for OpenAI’s broader plan to position ChatGPT as an app platform, especially if people view suggestions as intrusive.
Anthropic plans an IPO as early as 2026, FT reports
Anthropic has hired Wilson Sonsini to prepare for a possible IPO in 2026, though the company says no final decision has been made.
The startup is negotiating a private round that could value it above $300 billion and is projecting its revenue run rate to reach around $26 billion next year.
Rival OpenAI is also preparing for a potential 2026 listing, signaling an upcoming wave of mega-IPO activity in the AI sector.
Samsung unveils first multi-folding phone as competition set to heat up
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z TriFold, its first multi-folding smartphone, priced at 3.59M won (~$2,440), featuring a 10-inch display made from three panels — aimed more as a tech showcase than a mass-market device.
The TriFold launches December 12 in South Korea, with China, Singapore, Taiwan, UAE later this year and a U.S. rollout expected in early 2026; rising component costs made pricing a challenge.
Competition in foldables is escalating with Huawei’s earlier three-way foldable and Apple expected to enter next year, but analysts say the category will remain niche at under 3% market share by 2027 due to high prices and production limits.
Amazon unveils new AI chip to challenge Nvidia
AWS formally launched the Trainium3 UltraServer, a system using 3 nanometer chips that provides four times the speed and memory of the previous generation while linking up to one million processors.
This new hardware is 40 percent more energy efficient than prior models, helping customers like Anthropic significantly cut their inference costs when running demanding AI apps on the cloud provider’s platform.
Amazon also teased Trainium4, a future product that supports Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion interconnect technology so its lower-cost server racks can interoperate with the GPUs that currently dominate major AI apps.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
Trump administration takes $150 million stake in a chip startup
The Trump administration signed a nonbinding letter of intent to invest up to $150 million in xLight, taking direct ownership through equity funded by the CHIPS and Science Act to support domestic manufacturing.
This company is developing free-electron laser technology as an alternative light source for extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, aiming to enhance systems produced exclusively by Dutch firm ASML to reduce operating expenses.
Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger chairs the startup, which secured this deal from the Commerce Department to help Washington regain leadership in chipmaking against foreign rivals like TSMC and Samsung.
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)
Executive Assistant - AN Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Entrepreneur First | 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
Senior Legal Associate - Turbostart | India - Apply Here
Venture capital Fellowship for PhDs - Contrarian Venture | USA - Apply Here
VC Associate UK - Breega | UK - Apply Here
Investor Relations & BD - Founders Future - Paris - Apply Here
Analyst - Investments - Blackhill Fund | India - Apply Here
Partner 16, Deal Operations - a16z | 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.