☕ OpenAI enters hardware market with AI coding keyboard & Anthropic and Blackstone launched AI implementation company.
China approves Apple Intelligence & Thinking Machines launches its first open AI model
Breaking News
Anthropic and Blackstone launched Ode, a $1.5 billion AI implementation company focused on helping enterprises redesign workflows and deploy AI at scale. The move signals that the biggest AI opportunity may be implementation—not just building better models.
Apple has received approval to launch Apple Intelligence in China by partnering with Alibaba's Qwen models, ending months of uncertainty over its AI strategy in one of its largest markets. The deal gives Apple a major boost as it looks to regain momentum in China.
FROM OUR PARTNER - SEMRUSH
Search has changed. Has your SEO strategy?
Ranking on Google is still important.
But today’s buyers also discover companies through ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, and other AI-powered search experiences.
Semrush One helps you track both worlds from a single platform. Monitor your SEO performance, measure AI visibility, identify competitive gaps, and discover new growth opportunities before your competitors do.
If your goal is to stay visible wherever customers are searching, this is worth exploring.
Try Semrush One free for 7 days →
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
Think, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based AI infrastructure company, raised over $8M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by RAED Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, with participation from Dhahran Techno Valley Venture Capital and strategic angel investors.
Lyora Therapeutics, a Providence, RI-based biotech company, raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding.
SEED
Oak, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI-native identity operating system provider, raised $60M in Seed funding. The round was led by Accel, Greylock Partners, and CRV, with participation from Hetz Ventures, AlphaDrive Ventures, and strategic angel investors.
Pure, a San Francisco, CA-based financial infrastructure platform for peer-to-peer games, raised $8M in Seed funding. The round was led by Hidden Capital, with participation from MaC Venture Capital, Ludlow Ventures, Goodwater Capital, SignalFire, Z Fellows, Jake Brooks, and Alex Pall.
Nous, a Cantù, Italy-based food ingredient technology company, raised €2.315M in Seed funding. The round was led by dsm-firmenich Ventures, with participation from FoodSeed, CDP Venture Capital, Eatable Adventures, and Accelera Ventures.
Auxilium Health, a Cleveland, OH-based wound care medical technology startup, raised $3.4M in Seed funding.
GROWTH
Spectro Cloud, a San Jose, CA-based AI infrastructure management software company, raised more than $100M in Series D funding. The round was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from AMD Ventures, Ericsson, LG Technology Ventures, and Maximus.
Hemispheric, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based NeuroAI company, raised $52M in funding. Backers included Hanaco Ventures, OneMind/Awareness Capital, Protocol Labs, L Catterton, Arkin Capital, Howard Morgan, Naomi Azrieli, Yasmin Lukatz, and Scott Belsky.
Lumin Digital, a San Ramon, CA-based banking technology platform, raised $115M in funding.
Rime, a San Francisco, CA-based enterprise voice AI platform, raised $24M in Series A funding. The round was led by M13, with participation from Twilio Ventures, Corazon Capital, Unusual Ventures, and existing investors.
Speakeasy, a New York City-based operations platform for live experiences, raised an undisclosed funding round. The round was led by Positive Sum, with participation from Yamaha’s Music Innovations Fund and strategic investors.
Cyclops, a Miami, FL-based stablecoin infrastructure company, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle, Lasagna Ventures, and Global PayTech Ventures.
TytoCare, a New York City-based remote healthcare technology company, raised $25M+ in funding. The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing strategic investors.
Risk Ledger, a London, UK-based supply chain security platform, raised £24M in Series B funding. The round was led by Axiom Equity, alongside Mercia Ventures.
Monumental, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based construction robotics company, raised $32M in Series B funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Hummingbird, Plural, and existing investors.
Walden Robotics, a Cambridge, MA-based physical AI robotics company, raised $300M in funding. The round was co-led by Toyota and Deviation Capital, with participation from NVIDIA, Boeing, AE Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Prologis Ventures, CoreWeave Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Colle Capital, Shine Capital, NextView Ventures, Squarepoint Capital, One Madison Group, KAS Venture Partners, and Menlo Ventures.
AdvanCell, a Boston, MA- and Brisbane-based radiopharmaceutical company, raised US$315M in Series D funding. The round was led by Ally Bridge Group and Alpha Wave, with participation from Bain Capital Life Sciences, Fidelity Management and Research Company, T. Rowe Price Associates, Eventide Asset Management, and Velosity Capital.
Senra Systems, a Cypress, CA-based manufacturing technology company, raised $65M in Series B funding. The round was led by Lowercarbon Capital and Interlagos, with participation from General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Dylan Field, CIV, 8VC, The Friedkin Group, Jaws Estates Capital, Sozo Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.
InsideDesk, a Toronto, Canada-based AI-powered dental revenue cycle management platform, raised $12.6M in funding. The round was led by Pender Ventures, with participation from Round13 Capital and Graphite Ventures.
Float, a Stockholm, Sweden-based revenue-based financing platform, raised €4.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by CHAPTERS Group AG.
Cover Genius, a New York City-based embedded protection infrastructure company, raised $100M in funding. Backers included Vista Credit Partners.
DAILY PICKS
🗞️ Must read posts
You’re benchmarking your AI spend against the wrong number: Most startups ask the wrong question: “How much are we spending on AI?” This piece shows why founders should instead ask what each AI tool is replacing - a person, a workflow, or a product cost. It gives founders a simple 30-minute audit to separate useful AI spend from wasted subscriptions and reallocate money toward automation that actually compounds.
Fix the workflow before automating it: Many startups are using AI to move faster, but speed only helps when the underlying workflow is right. This piece shows how automating messy processes can quietly increase costs, hurt customer experience, and damage growth and why the winners redesign workflows before they automate them.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Greylock Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm, raised $1.5 billion for its 18th flagship fund. The firm will continue investing primarily in seed and Series A startups, while reserving a portion of the fund for select later-stage investments, including AI and high-growth technology companies.
Isogon Ventures, a New York City and Madrid, Spain-based early-stage venture capital firm, is raising its first fund. According to a regulatory form filed with the SEC, Isogon Ventures I, L.P., is targeting up to $150m in commitments but has not raised any sum, yet.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Apple Intelligence cleared for launch in China
China has approved the launch of Apple Intelligence, with Apple integrating Alibaba’s Qwen AI models into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS to bring its AI features to Chinese users.
The partnership follows reported talks with Baidu, DeepSeek, and ByteDance that failed to materialize, making Alibaba the key AI partner for Apple’s China strategy.
The approval strengthens Apple’s position in a critical market, where Greater China revenue recently rose 28%, while Alibaba’s shares climbed following news of the partnership.
Microsoft reportedly trains sales team to challenge OpenAI and Anthropic
Microsoft is reportedly coaching its sales teams to position Copilot and its in-house AI models against rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, emphasizing lower costs, stronger enterprise security, and tighter Microsoft 365 integration.
Executives reportedly argued Microsoft offers a complete end-to-end AI platform, while also claiming Anthropic’s Claude is slower, less accurate, and less integrated with Microsoft apps.
The move reflects Microsoft’s growing push to rely on its own AI models as its partnership with OpenAI becomes less exclusive and competition in enterprise AI intensifies.
OpenAI launches Codex Micro, a $230 AI coding keyboard
OpenAI has unveiled Codex Micro, a $230 limited-edition keyboard built with Work Louder that acts as a dedicated controller for Codex AI coding agents, featuring agent status keys, programmable shortcuts, and a reasoning control dial.
The keyboard is designed as a command center for managing AI coding workflows through the ChatGPT desktop app, marking OpenAI’s first commercial hardware product.
The launch comes as OpenAI expands into hardware while facing Apple’s trade secret lawsuit, alongside reports that it’s developing a screenless AI companion device with former Apple engineers.
Thinking Machines launches Inkling, its first open AI model
Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has released Inkling, its first open-weight AI model, allowing enterprises to download, fine-tune, and customize it instead of relying on closed AI APIs.
Inkling uses a 975B-parameter mixture-of-experts architecture (41B active parameters), supports multimodal reasoning, and is optimized for efficiency rather than benchmark leadership, with revenue expected to come from its customization platform, Tinker.
The launch reinforces the growing enterprise shift toward open and customizable AI, as companies seek greater control over costs, data, and model ownership instead of relying solely on proprietary models.
White House launches AI cyber defense
The White House has created a new group called “Gold Eagle” that unites AI developers and critical service providers to strengthen national cybersecurity by sharing information about software flaws found by AI systems.
Set up after an executive order President Trump signed on June 2, the group includes the White House, Homeland Security, the Treasury, the Department of War, and private companies handling US critical infrastructure and open-source software.
Gold Eagle has begun receiving and ranking vulnerability reports across industries, using AI to cut down duplicate scanning and quickly pass threat and repair details to those defending federal and private sector systems.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
UK plans teen social media curfew
The UK will make social media companies automatically block users aged 16 and 17 from platforms between midnight and 6 am, a curfew feature teens can choose to switch off themselves.
The optional overnight lockout comes with a full ban on social media for children under 16, expected in spring 2027, and turns off autoplaying videos and personalized feeds by default for older teenagers.
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology also plans mandatory chatbot breaks for under-18s, bans on AI that fakes romantic talk, and updated school lessons on AI, bias, and disinformation.
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)
Associate - Engine Venture | USA - Apply Here
AI Engineering Lead - Palermo Advisor | USA - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Peal | Remote - Apply Here
Senior Venture Associate - Hearst | USA - Apply Here
Operating Partner - Unusual Venture | USA - Apply Here
Platform & Marketing Associate - March Capital | USA - Apply Here
Senior Venture Studio Analyst - Atlantic Health System | USA - Apply Here
Talent Investor - Associate - Entrepreneur First | India - Apply Here
Accelerator Program Manager - Techstar | USA - Apply Here
Associate, Life Sciences - General Atlantics | USA - Apply Here
Venture Investment Manager - AMD | USA - Apply Here
Partner 16, Partner 18 - a16z | USA - 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.