☕ OpenAI investors doubt Sam Altman can lead IPO & China's DeepSeek seeks $300 million funding.
Meta is planning to lay off 10% of its workforce & Cursor nears $2 billion funding round.
Breaking News
OpenAI investors are increasingly questioning whether Sam Altman should lead the company’s IPO, citing concerns over his focus on side projects and his own lack of enthusiasm for running a public company. There is growing internal support for board chair Bret Taylor as a potential replacement, signaling possible leadership changes at a critical moment as OpenAI prepares for one of the biggest IPOs in tech history.
Meta is planning to lay off around 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, as it aggressively shifts toward AI. The company is reorganizing teams and reallocating top engineers into AI-focused roles, particularly around agents and automation, highlighting how AI is not just a strategic priority but is actively reshaping workforce structures across Big Tech.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Stendr, an Oslo, Norway-based defence technology company, raised $5.4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Rainfall, ACME, and Skyfall, with participation from Sisyphus, Antler, StartupLab, Off Piste, Andöya Ventures, and an angel syndicate.
Resolv, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-native back-office automation platform, raised $1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was co-led by Redbud VC and EquipmentShare, with participation from Fireroad Ventures, Team Ignite Ventures, and Pre-Seed to Succeed.
Worki, a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare workforce platform, raised $2.75M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Redesign Health and Healthliant Ventures.
Ralio, a London, UK-based payments platform for AI agents, raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Sure Valley Ventures, with participation from Seed X, Love Ventures, Plug and Play, Antler, and others.
SEED
Artemis, a NYC-based AI-native protection platform, raised $70M in Seed and Series A funding. The round was led by Felicis, with participation from existing investors.
Brix, a British Virgin Islands-based programmable money platform, raised $5.5M in funding. Backers included FRWRD Ventures, Circle Ventures, ConsenSys, Webrazzi Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Paribu Ventures.
INVIA, a Cairo, Egypt-based financial operating system startup, raised $1.2M in funding. Backers were not disclosed.
GetWhys, a Boise, ID-based GTM insights platform, raised $5.2M in funding. The round was led by EPIC Ventures, with participation from CEAS Investments, Portland Seed Fund, Next Frontier Capital, Tuesday Capital, and Capital Eleven.
GROWTH
Ethermed, a Philadelphia, PA-based healthcare AI automation company, raised $8.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Enfield Capital Partners and Blue Marlin Partners, with participation from Jumpstart Ventures, Healthliant Ventures, Woodard Family Office, and Gaingels.
Sepion Technologies, an Alameda, CA-based battery materials company, raised $10M in Series B funding. The round was led by Fine Structure Ventures, with participation from W. L. Gore & Associates, Syensqo Ventures, Volo Earth Ventures, Chailease, Catalus Capital, Impact Science Ventures, and ACVC Partners.
Agriodor, a Rennes, France-based agtech startup, raised €15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Environmental and Solidarity Revolution Fund, with participation from Région Sud Investissement, CAAP Création, Capagro, Ambra Capital, and SWEN Capital Partners.
Mintlify, a San Francisco, CA-based AI knowledge infrastructure startup, raised $45M in Series B funding at a $500M valuation. The round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Y Combinator, DST Global, MVP Ventures, Avra, HubSpot Ventures, and TwentyTwo Ventures.
Factory, a San Francisco, CA-based agentic AI startup, raised $150M in funding at a $1.5B valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone.
Slash Financial, a San Francisco, CA-based banking platform, raised $100M in Series C funding. The round was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Goodwater Capital, New Enterprise Associates, and Y Combinator.
Plata, a Mexico City-based digital bank, raised $405M in Series C funding at a $5B valuation. The round was led by Bicycle Capital, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority, BTG Pactual, Valor Capital Group, and others.
Nas.com, a NYC-based AI platform for solopreneurs, raised $27M in Series A funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from 500 Global and angels.
Expo, a San Francisco, CA-based React Native development platform, raised $45M in Series B funding. The round was led by Leadout Capital, A.Capital Ventures, and Red Swan Ventures.
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From Social: The math behind Venture Capital - guide for aspiring Venture Capitalists. (Link)
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Sequoia Capital, a Silicon Valley–based VC firm, has raised $7B for a new fund focused on late-stage AI investments across the U.S. and Europe. Led under new leadership from Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, the fund will back both foundational AI players like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as emerging startups building applied AI products.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Cursor nears $2 billion funding round at $50 billion valuation
Cursor is in talks to raise over $2 billion at a $50 billion valuation, led by investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital.
The company’s revenue is growing, with projections to exceed $6 billion ARR by the end of 2026, driven by strong enterprise demand.
Cursor is improving margins by building its own models and reducing reliance on rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI.
OpenAI explores new bets to solve product and perception challenges
OpenAI’s recent acquisitions like Hiro and TBPN are seen as acqui-hires aimed at expanding beyond ChatGPT and building new revenue-driving products.
The company is also trying to improve its public image, using media assets like TBPN to better shape how it is perceived.
Rising competition from Anthropic in enterprise AI and coding tools is forcing OpenAI to rethink its strategy and long-term business model.
China humanoid robot half-marathon to showcase technical leaps
China is holding its second humanoid robot half-marathon this Sunday in Beijing, with over 300 robots from more than 70 teams racing across 21 km of paved slopes and parkland.
Almost 40% of the robot participants will navigate the course autonomously this year, a big change from last year when all entrants were remotely controlled by human operators.
Experts say the skills on display do not translate to widespread commercialisation, noting that Chinese robotics firms still struggle to develop AI software enabling humanoids to match human factory workers.
Nvidia CEO warns DeepSeek on Huawei chips threatens US
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on the Dwarkesh Podcast that DeepSeek optimizing its AI models for Huawei’s Ascend chips instead of American hardware would be “a horrible outcome” for the United States.
DeepSeek has been rewriting its core code to work with Huawei’s CANN framework, moving away from Nvidia’s CUDA ecosystem and breaking the software-hardware dependency that gave America a second layer of control.
DeepSeek’s upcoming V4 multimodal foundation model is expected to run on Huawei’s Ascend 950PR processor, which would show competitive AI can be built without any American chips in the supply chain.
Physical Intelligence says its robot brain learns untaught tasks
Physical Intelligence published research showing its new model, called π0.7, can direct robots to perform tasks they were never explicitly trained on, a result the company’s own researchers say surprised them.
In one test, π0.7 figured out how to use an air fryer despite having only two loosely related episodes in its training data, and after step-by-step verbal coaching it successfully cooked a sweet potato.
The startup has raised over $1 billion at a $5.6 billion valuation and is reportedly in talks for a new round that would nearly double that figure to $11 billion.
DeepSeek seeks funding at $10 billion valuation
DeepSeek is in talks to raise at least $300 million at a $10 billion valuation, reflecting strong investor interest.
The company previously rejected funding offers as its low cost AI models gained global attention and disrupted markets.
The fundraise highlights rising capital needs for AI development, amid China’s push to reduce reliance on foreign chips like those from Nvidia.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
Anthropic and Trump administration relations show signs of easing
Anthropic is engaging with senior U.S. officials despite being labeled a supply chain risk by the Pentagon.
CEO Dario Amodei met with White House leaders to discuss collaboration on AI safety, cybersecurity, and national competitiveness.
While the Defense Department remains cautious, other agencies appear open to using Anthropic’s technology, signaling a potential policy shift.
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