☕ OpenAI expects to burn $115 billion, Tesla approves $1 trillion package to Musk & Anthropic to pay $1.5B to settle pirated books case.
Nvidia opposes a bill to keep GPUs in America & More.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Breakout company patterns, legal docs pack, OpenAI M&A, financial model template, MIT on GenAI divide, remote team culture, pitch deck guide, seed round 101.
OpenAI acqui-hires team behind Xcode coding tool Alex.
Anthropic to pay $1.5B to settle pirated books case.
EU fines Google $3.5 billion for anti-competitive ad practices.
OpenAI expects business to burn $115 billion through 2029.
Nvidia opposes a bill to keep GPUs in America.
Apple sued for using pirated books for AI.
OpenAI reorganizes team shaping ChatGPT’s personality.
Tesla’s $1 trillion Musk pay package heads for shareholder approval.
Warner Bros takes Midjourney to court over Superman and Scooby-Doo.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
How winners win: the hidden patterns of breakout companies.
Startup legal document pack – essential legal docs for founders.
OpenAI’s M&A Activity.
Financial modelling template to build your startup financial model that every investor wants to see.
MIT on the GenAI divide- GenAI Divide: Why Most Enterprise AI Fails.
10 ideas for building a great culture for a distributed remote team.
All-In-One guide to pitch deck storytelling - free template & curated resources.
Raising a seed round 101: Templates, Tips and Strategy to Raise.
40 real startup pitch decks that raised $350M+ (Including leading startups decks).
Framework: North Star Metrics
6000+ European VC Firms Contact Database (LinkedIn Links).
Andrew Chen: Startup pivots that rarely work (and what to do instead).
ESOP Value Calculator Template: How to communicate ESOP value to your team.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Geniez AI, a NYC-based company developing frameworks that connect Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI Agents with real-time mainframe data, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by StageOne Ventures and Canapi Ventures.
Xiid, a Las Vegas, NV-based cyber defense company, received an undiscseod amount in funding, following its release of SealedTunnel 4.0. Ventura Capital made the investment.
Dispatch, a Miami, FL-based wealthtech solution provider enabling effortless client data management, raised $18M Series A funding. The round was led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from New York Life Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Perceptive Ventures and existing investors F-Prime, Flyover Capital, and Fika Ventures.
Octave Bioscience, a Menlo Park, CA-based commercial stage precision care company, announced the close of its $35.6M Series C equity financing and that it has entered into a $15.5M non-dilutive term loan agreement with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) a Division of First Citizens Bank. The equity round included participation from new strategic investors as well as participation by existing investors including Byers Capital, Blue Venture Fund, Northpond Ventures, S32, Casdin Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Novartis, Valhalla Foundation, Intermountain Ventures and Hikma Ventures.
Elysian, a Nashville, TN-based AI-native third-party administrator (TPA) for commercial insurance, raised $6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Portage, with participation from American Family Ventures and TenOneTen Ventures.
Flax Health, a Salt Lake City, UT-based AI-powered platform for skilled nursing facilities, raised $3.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Sorenson Capital and Pear VC, with participation from healthcare executives and nursing operators.
Euclid Power, a NYC-based provider of an operating system for renewable energy project development, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Venrock, with participation from HSBC Asset Management and existing investors including Spero Ventures, Toba Capital, Designer Fund, and Commonweal Ventures.
Brilliant NextGen Inc., a San Mateo, CA-based smart home control technology company, closed a $9.7m funding round. Backers included current investor Almeida Strategic Investments and Tyrod Taylor’s Strategic Investments Fund. In addition, Tony Smalls, CPA, CGMA and Partner of MGO and CEO of Smarthomes Solutions, is joining the Brilliant Board.
Hello Patient, an Austin, TX-based conversational AI company focused on patient communications, raised $22.5m in Series A financing. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from 8VC, Bling Capital, Max Ventures, Remus Capital, and FirstLook Partners.
Lead Bank, a Kansas City, MO-based bank serving fintechs and digital asset companies, closed a $70m Series B funding. The round included new investors, ICONIQ and Greycroft, as well as existing investors Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Khosla Ventures, Andreesen Horowitz, and Zeev Ventures.
Plural, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a tokenized asset management platform powering the electron economy, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Maven11, Volt Capital, and Neoclassic Capital.
Augment, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI productivity platform for logistics, raised $85M in Series A funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from 8VC, Shopify Ventures, Autotech Ventures, and other investors in logistics and AI.
Sesh+, an Austin, TX-based premium, tobacco-free nicotine pouch brand for adults, raised over $40m in total funding, including a recently closed financing round. The round was led by 8VC and Troy Link, CEO of Jack Link’s, with participation from Electric Feel Ventures alongside a range of strategic investors spanning entertainment, retail, and manufacturing.
TOOL FOR FOUNDERS
📑 Early-Stage Startup Financial Model Template
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Atlas Venture, a Cambridge, MA-based venture capital firm investing in biotech, closed its third Opportunity Fund, at $400m. Atlas Venture Opportunity Fund III will enable the firm to continue providing capital to its portfolio companies as they raise subsequent financings and advance therapeutic programs. The raise follows Atlas’ $450m Fund XIV, its latest early stage vehicle which closed in December 2024.
Impact VC firm Eagle Venture Fund announced the launch the the second fund. Eagle Freedom Fund II, which will target $50M, is dedicated to investing in tech innovation to fight human trafficking. The second fund received support from Keel Point and The Tebow Group. Led by and Tim Tebow, the fund follows Eagle Freedom Fund I, which has invested in 20 high-growth companies delivering measurable impact across healthcare, law enforcement, technology, and frontline response.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI acqui-hires team behind Xcode coding tool Alex:
OpenAI has hired the three-person team behind Alex, a YC-backed startup that built an AI coding assistant for Apple’s Xcode, to join its Codex division focused on AI coding agents.
Apple’s recent Xcode update added native ChatGPT integration, reducing the need for Alex’s standalone tool; the app will be delisted after October 1 but continue working for existing users.
The move follows OpenAI’s pattern of team-focused acquisitions, coming just days after its $1.1B purchase of product testing startup Statsig.
Anthropic to pay $1.5B to settle pirated books case:
About 500,000 authors are eligible for at least $3,000 each, the largest U.S. copyright payout, yet critics say tech wins because the settlement does not curb AI training practices.
Judge William Alsup previously ruled that training on copyrighted text qualifies as fair use as a “transformative” use; the legal heat focused on alleged book piracy via shadow libraries, not the training itself.
With Anthropic cutting the check after raising $13B, this outcome could shape suits against Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Midjourney by normalizing AI training on copyrighted works while only penalizing illegal data sourcing.
EU fines Google $3.5 billion for anti-competitive ad practices:
The European Commission is fining Google $3.5 billion for distorting advertising competition by giving its own ad tech software preferential treatment over rivals in the online marketplace.
The EU found that Google informed its AdX exchange of the best rival bid in advance, while its Google Ads tool also avoided competing exchanges to place bids mainly on AdX.
Google now has 60 days to address the Commission's issues or it could face an "appropriate remedy," which might include being forced to sell off parts of its adtech business.
OpenAI expects business to burn $115 billion through 2029:
OpenAI now forecasts a total cash outflow of $115 billion through 2029, which is about $80 billion more than earlier projections that had the company reaching break-even.
The soaring costs are mainly due to expensive computing power and a plan to invest almost $100 billion in data centers and custom chips to reduce cloud provider dependency.
To cover new expenses, the company projects $200 billion in revenue by 2030 and plans to generate about $110 billion from free ChatGPT users through commissions or ads.
Nvidia opposes a bill to keep GPUs in America:
Nvidia is publicly opposing the "GAIN AI Act," a proposed law that would force the company to sell its leading GPUs to American buyers first before they could be exported abroad.
The legislation prevents GPU exports if a "current backlog of requests from United States persons" exists, potentially restricting more products than are currently banned from sale in China.
In a public statement, the chipmaker argued the bill tries to "solve a problem that does not exist" and would hamper global competition in any industry that uses mainstream computing chips.
Apple sued for using pirated books for AI:
A new proposed class action lawsuit accuses Apple of training its `OpenELM` AI model on pirated books, citing the company’s own technical paper as direct evidence for the claim.
The suit explains that Apple's paper names the `RedPajama` dataset for training, which includes the `Books3` dataset, a source the lawsuit calls a known body of pirated books.
The authors request the court allow a class action and seek statutory damages of $150,000 per infringed work, plus a restitution of profits following a jury trial.
OpenAI reorganizes team shaping ChatGPT’s personality:
OpenAI has merged its 14-person Model Behavior team — which crafted model “personalities” and reduced sycophancy — into the larger Post Training group led by Max Schwarzer.
Team founder Joanne Jang is launching a new unit, OAI Labs, to prototype fresh human–AI interaction interfaces, moving beyond today’s chat-first paradigm.
The reorg follows backlash over GPT-5’s colder tone and lawsuits alleging ChatGPT reinforced harmful ideation, underscoring that personality is now central to OpenAI’s core model development.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕Other news
Tesla’s $1 trillion Musk pay package heads for shareholder approval:
Tesla’s board approved a record-breaking $1T, 10-year compensation plan for Elon Musk, giving him 96M restricted shares worth $31B upfront and aiming to push Tesla into AI and robotics.
Musk threatened to leave if not granted 25% control, with the board meeting lawyers 37 times and Musk 10 times before finalizing terms; shareholders are expected to approve despite governance concerns.
Supporters say Musk is key to Tesla’s future, while critics call the package irresponsible and excessive, warning it could set a dangerous precedent in corporate governance.
Warner Bros takes Midjourney to court over Superman and Scooby-Doo:
Warner Bros Discovery filed a lawsuit accusing Midjourney of “breathtaking piracy” for training its AI on characters like Superman, Batman, Scooby-Doo, and Bugs Bunny.
The studio claims Midjourney knowingly enabled infringement by lifting restrictions on generating copyrighted characters, profiting from subscriptions tied to its image and video service.
The case follows similar lawsuits from Disney and Universal, as copyright owners intensify legal battles against AI companies training models on protected works without permission.
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)
Healthcare Analyst - General Investment Management | UK - Apply Here
Investor (AI) - Samsung next | USA - Apply Here
Partner 20 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
VP - Marketing & Communications - Transition VC | India - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Miras Investment | Dubai - Apply Here
Program Manager - Tenity | UK - Apply Here
Investor Relations Analyst - Griffin Gaming Partner | USA - Apply Here
Associate - OMERSE Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investment Analyst - Caanan | USA - Apply Here
Investor, SF Launch - Entrepreneur First | USA - Apply Here
Events and Operations Intern - Plug and Play Tech Centre | UK - Apply Here
Partner 16 - a16z | USA - Apply Here
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