☕ OpenAI is building an AI to generate music & SoftBank approves remaining $22.5 billion of OpenAI investment.
Anthropic to use Google’s AI chips worth tens of billions to train Claude chatbot & More.
The first animals in space weren’t monkeys or dogs, they were fruit flies.
Launched in 1947 to study radiation. Humanity’s first astronauts were the things that ruin your fruitbowl in summer.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Sam Altman’s fundraising guide, AI UX shift, $1M dorm-room product, IPO watchlist, agent economy, AI hallucinations. Valuation & financial model guides, VC interview tips, legal docs.
OpenAI developing new generative music tool that turns text and audio prompts into songs.
Microsoft relaunches its Copilot-powered Edge browser just two days after OpenAI’s Atlas debut.
SoftBank approves remaining $22.5 billion of OpenAI investment.
Anthropic to use Google’s AI chips worth tens of billions to train Claude chatbot.
Xiaomi warns memory costs will raise phone prices.
OpenAI acquires Sky, a Mac-based AI interface built by former Apple engineers.
Ads expected to launch on Apple Maps in 2026 as part of Apple’s broader ad expansion.
Accel and Prosus have partnered to back Indian startups will co-invest $100K–$1M per startup.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
Sam Altman’s Guide to Startup Fundraising: What Really Works.
The only startup valuation guide you need as a founder.
Making a Million-Dollar Product From a Dorm Room.
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
AI Hallucinations Are Getting Worse.
Building the agent economy: How cloud leaders are shaping AI’s next frontier.
8 venture-backed IPO candidates to watch in 2025.
Do Early-Stage startups need a financial model for fundraising?
All-In-One Guide To Venture Capital Interview Questions (And How to Answer Them)
Investor data room guide & templates for founders.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Sizable Energy, a Milan, Italy-based long-duration ocean energy storage company, raised $8m in funding. The round was led by Playground Global, with participation from Exa Ventures, Verve Ventures, Satgana, EDEN/IAG, and Unruly Capital.
UnifyApps, a NYC-based company providing an enterprise operating system for AI, raised $50m in Series B funding. The round, which brought UnifyApps’ total funding to $81m, was led by WestBridge Capital with participation from ICONIQ and others.
CurbWaste, a NYC-based operating system for independent waste haulers, raised $28m in Series B funding round. The round, which brought total funding to $50m, was led by Socium Ventures, a venture and growth investment firm backed by Cox Enterprises, with participation from Flourish Ventures, TTV Capital, B Capital Group, as well as its new quantitative investor Squarepoint.
VitVio, a Boston, MA-based AI-powered platform that autonomously coordinates operating room staff, flags delays, and reduces the administrative load on surgical teams, closed an $8M seed funding round. The round, which brought VitVio’s total funding to $10M, was led by returning investor Bek Ventures (fka Earlybird Digital East) with participation from early backers LDV Capital.
Paygentic, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-powered billing and payments infrastructure startup, raised $2m in pre-seed funding. The round was led by MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Anamcara Capital, Aperture Capital, and Tech Operators.
Natural, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech company building the infrastructure powering agentic payments, raised $9.8m in seed funding. The round was co-led by Abstract and Human Capital, with participation from Forerunner Ventures, Terrain, Restive Ventures, Genius Ventures, and a coalition of prominent tech founders and operators.
Shuttle, a San Francisco, CA-based AI-enabled cloud infrastructure platform allowing developers to deploy apps code-to-cloud in seconds, raised $6m in funding. Backers included Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Thomas Dohmke (former CEO of GitHub), Calvin French‑Owen (Founder of Segment), and senior leaders from OpenAI, Deel, Confluent, and others.
CipherOwl, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of AI-native intelligence layer for institutional cryptocurrency compliance, raised $15m in seed financing. The round was co-led by General Catalyst and Flourish Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Sancus Ventures, Enlight Capital, OKX Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Road Capital and Predictive VC.
Tensormesh, a San Francisco, CA-based AI infrastructure optimization company, emerged from stealth with $4.5M in seed funding. The round was led by Laude Ventures.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Accel and Prosus have partnered to back Indian startups from day zero, marking Prosus’s first foray into formation-stage investing. The alliance focuses on “leap tech” ventures solving large-scale systemic problems across automation, energy, internet services, and manufacturing. The duo will co-invest $100K–$1M per startup, with Prosus matching Accel’s checks but not insisting on equal equity.
Burnt Island Ventures, a NYC-based venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding early-stage water innovation, closed its second fund, at $50m. Xylem, a global water technology leader, is anchor investor in Burnt Island Ventures’ Fund II, as it was for the firm’s debut Fund I. WovenEarth Ventures, a climate fund-of-funds, in another backer in Burnt Island’s Fund II.
Polaris Partners, a Boston, MA-based venture capital firm, is raising $500m for its eleventh fund. According to a regulatory form filed with the SEC, Polaris Partners XI, L.P., has not raised any amount, yet. The document lists Alexandra Cantley, Brian Chee, Eileen McGuire, and Amy Schulman as people related to the raise.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI developing new generative music tool that turns text and audio prompts into songs:
OpenAI is reportedly building a generative music tool capable of creating tracks from text or audio prompts, which could be used to score videos or add instruments to vocals.
The company is said to be collaborating with Juilliard School students to annotate music scores for training data.
It’s unclear whether the tool will launch as a standalone product or integrate into ChatGPT or Sora, but it would position OpenAI alongside Google and Suno in the growing generative music race.
Microsoft relaunches its Copilot-powered Edge browser just two days after OpenAI’s Atlas debut
Microsoft unveiled an upgraded Copilot Mode for its Edge browser, describing it as an “AI browser” that can summarize tabs, compare information, and take actions like booking hotels or filling forms.
The new Edge features — “Actions” and “Journeys” — make Copilot an active browsing companion, closely mirroring OpenAI’s recently launched Atlas browser, which integrates ChatGPT directly into the web experience.
The launches, coming just two days apart, highlight the intensifying AI rivalry between Microsoft and OpenAI, with both positioning their browsers as the next major interface for everyday computing.
SoftBank approves remaining $22.5 billion of OpenAI investment:
SoftBank has approved the final $22.5 billion installment to complete its $30 billion investment in OpenAI, pending the company’s corporate restructuring that could lead to an IPO.
The approval fills out a $41 billion financing round first announced in April, following an initial $10 billion investment earlier this year.
If OpenAI fails to transition to a for-profit structure by year-end, SoftBank’s total investment could fall to $20 billion, according to the report.
Anthropic to use Google’s AI chips worth tens of billions to train Claude chatbot
Anthropic has expanded its partnership with Google to access up to one million TPUs (tensor processing units), valued at tens of billions of dollars, to train future versions of its Claude AI models.
The deal gives Anthropic over one gigawatt of compute capacity coming online in 2026, a major boost as it races against OpenAI in developing advanced AI systems.
Google will also provide additional cloud services, positioning its TPUs as a cost-efficient alternative to Nvidia’s chips amid soaring demand for AI compute power.
Xiaomi warns memory costs will raise phone prices
Xiaomi’s president stated that increasing memory chip costs are directly raising phone prices, exemplified by the new Redmi K90 series launching for 100 Yuan more than the previous generation.
The price hike is due to a 15–20% surge in NAND and DRAM costs this quarter, which is caused by rapid AI infrastructure development and supply chain constraints.
To manage customer dissatisfaction with the new pricing, Xiaomi is offering a temporary 300 Yuan discount on its most popular K90 model with 12GB memory and 512GB storage.
OpenAI acquires Sky, a Mac-based AI interface built by former Apple engineers
OpenAI has acquired Software Applications, Inc., the startup behind Sky, an unreleased AI interface for Mac that can see your screen and take actions across apps — from writing and coding to planning.
Sky was founded by Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, and Kim Beverett, all ex-Apple leaders who previously built Workflow, which Apple acquired and turned into Shortcuts.
The acquisition, led by OpenAI’s Fidji Simo and Nick Turley, deepens OpenAI’s push into consumer productivity tools, bringing agentic AI closer to everyday Mac users — even as privacy concerns may slow Apple’s own comparable AI ambitions.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
Ads expected to launch on Apple Maps in 2026 as part of Apple’s broader ad expansion
Apple is reportedly planning to introduce ads in Apple Maps next year, letting local businesses pay to appear in promoted search results, similar to Google Maps.
The feature would expand Apple’s growing advertising business beyond the App Store, with AI-powered tools to surface more relevant recommendations.
Analysts note the move could test user tolerance, as Apple’s ecosystem — once praised for being ad-free — increasingly shifts toward monetizing attention through paid placements and service upsells.
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
Senior Associate - M12 | USA - Apply Here
Analyst - Urban Partners | London - Apply Here
Investor Relations - Samved VC | India - Apply Here
Interim Senior Analyst, Investments - Pivotal Ventures | USA - Apply Here
Trade Operations Lead - Manhattan Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
AI Builder In Residence - True Venture | USA - Apply Here
VP of Fundraising - Scale Asia Venture | Japan - Apply Here
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