☕ OpenAI plans an AI smartphone to rival iPhone & China blocks meta’s $2B manus acquisition.
DeepSeek’s new AI model fails to impress markets amid rising competition
Breaking News
DeepSeek’s V4 model failed to excite markets despite technical improvements, as rapid progress and rising competition from rivals like Kimi and Qwen have made new AI launches feel less surprising. The bigger shift is strategic — China is pushing toward AI self-reliance by optimizing models for domestic chips, reducing dependence on U.S. tech.
OpenAI is planning an AI-first smartphone to rival Apple’s iPhone, aiming to control both hardware and software for real-time AI agent experiences. The move signals a major shift — from building models to owning the entire user interface layer, where AI can access context like location, activity, and communication in real time.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Outcraft AI, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based AI inbound sales automation platform, raised €2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Practica Capital.
Magicare.ai, a Bergenfield, NJ-based agentic OS for post-acute care, raised $3.6M in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Mana Ventures.
Linexa, a Munich, Germany-based industrial tech startup, raised €2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Project A, with participation from Thomas Böck, Bastian Nominacher, and Christian Schlögel.
Atech, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based AI hardware startup, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. Backers included Nordic Makers, Emblem, Lovable, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz Scout Fund.
SEED
Clarity Labs, a Gurugram, India-based skincare brand, raised $425K+ in Seed funding. The round was led by Artha Venture Fund, with participation from angel investors.
Lola, a Bahrain-based cake ordering platform, raised $3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Vision Ventures, with participation from Aljazira Capital, Seedra Ventures, Plus VC, and others.
TriFetch, a San Francisco, CA-based AI automation platform for clinics, raised $1.9M in funding. The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from angels.
Betterness, a Miami, FL-based wellness platform, raised $2.5M in Seed funding. Backers included Martin Varsavsky, Justin Stone, Mark Rosenbloom, and others.
Iridius, a Seattle, WA-based compliance AI platform, raised $8.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Chalfen Ventures, with participation from Osage Venture Partners, Accenture Ventures, and Rock Yard Ventures.
GROWTH
QuoIntelligence, a Frankfurt-based risk intelligence company, raised €7.3M in Series A funding. The round was led by ElevatorVentures and BMH, with participation from eCapital and Mercurius Private Equity.
Sereact, a Stuttgart-based AI robotics startup, raised $110M in Series B funding. The round was led by Headline, with participation from Bullhound Capital, Daphni, Felix Capital, and others.
Kashable, a NYC-based fintech platform, raised $60M in Series C funding. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from Revolution Ventures and EJF Ventures.
Avoca, a NYC-based AI platform for the services economy, raised funding at a $1B valuation in Series B. The round was led by Meritech and General Catalyst.
Fathom Therapeutics, a NYC-based AI drug discovery company, raised $47M in Series A funding. The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from Chemistry and Alexandria Venture Investments.
SquareMind, a Paris-based robotics dermatology startup, raised $18M in funding. The round was led by Sonder Capital and Fred Moll, with participation from multiple investors.
Nervonik, a Los Angeles-based medical device company, raised $52.5M in Series B funding. The round was led by Amzak Health, with participation from USVP, Lumira Ventures, and others.
LighthouseAI, a Los Angeles-based pharma compliance platform, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Boxcars Ventures, with participation from TGVP.
ComfyUI, a San Francisco-based generative AI workflow platform, raised $30M in funding at a $500M valuation. The round was led by Craft, with participation from Pace Capital, Chemistry, TruArrow, and others.
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Mighty Capital, a San Francisco, CA-based venture capital firm specializing in product-led investing, closed Fund III, at $91m. The vehicle is backed by The Blackstone Group, on behalf of its clients, alongside existing limited partners and new institutional investors, including a Northern California public pension plan.
Oncology Ventures, an Austin, TX-based venture capital firm investing in startups transforming cancer care, closed its $62m Fund II. The Fund is anchored by Texas Oncology, a large physician-led oncology-focused practice, Moffitt Cancer Center, City of Hope, Atlantic Health, and Cardinal Health, Texas Oncology, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and other institutions.
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KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
OpenAI ends Microsoft legal peril over its $50B Amazon deal
OpenAI and Microsoft have reworked their partnership, ending Microsoft’s exclusive rights to OpenAI’s models and setting a clear timeline through 2032.
This resolves legal tensions tied to OpenAI’s $50B deal with Amazon, allowing OpenAI to offer its products across multiple cloud providers instead of being locked to Azure.
Microsoft still benefits via revenue sharing and its ~27% stake, while enterprises gain flexibility to choose models and cloud providers as competition between Azure, AWS, and others intensifies.
Deepmind veteran david silver raises $1.1B to build a new kind of AI
Ineffable Intelligence, founded by David Silver (ex-DeepMind), raised $1.1B at a $5.1B valuation to build a “superlearner” — an AI that learns without human data using reinforcement learning.
The goal: move beyond LLMs by training systems through trial-and-error (like AlphaZero), enabling AI to discover knowledge independently rather than learning from human-generated datasets.
Backed by top investors (Sequoia, Lightspeed, Google, Nvidia), this signals a new frontier in AI — shifting from data-driven models to self-learning systems, with London emerging as a major AI hub.
China blocks meta’s $2B manus acquisition
Meta’s $2B acquisition of Manus has been blocked by China’s top regulator (NDRC), which ordered the deal to be fully unwound despite months of integration work.
Manus, an agentic AI startup founded by Chinese engineers and later moved to Singapore, was central to Meta’s push into AI agents — making this a strategic setback in one of AI’s fastest-growing categories.
The move highlights rising geopolitical friction in AI: cross-border deals are now being scrutinized not just for capital flow, but for control over advanced AI technologies and talent.
Musk is about to launch his 'everything app'
Elon Musk is about to roll out X Money, a banking and payments platform that turns X into the “everything app” he promised when he renamed Twitter in 2023, according to Bloomberg.
The finance feature will reportedly offer a savings account with 6 per cent interest and 3 per cent cashback on some transactions, building on a Visa partnership announced last year for a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments.
The launch will be limited because X still lacks licences in key states like Massachusetts and New York, and Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to Musk raising concerns about scams, fraud, and data privacy on the platform.
Meta signs space solar power deal
Meta has struck a deal with startup Overview Energy for up to 1 gigawatt of solar energy collected in space, aiming to power its artificial intelligence data centers through satellites that orbit Earth and beam electricity back.
Overview Energy plans to gather sunlight using satellites orbiting Earth and convert it into electricity that can support the grid, offering Meta a new source to meet its growing demand for power.
The 1 gigawatt volume from the agreement is roughly equal to the output of a single nuclear reactor, showing the scale Meta is chasing as it hunts for ways to feed its data centers.
OpenAI misses growth targets ahead of IPO push
OpenAI has fallen short of internal revenue and user growth targets, with slower ChatGPT expansion and missed goals like hitting 1B weekly active users.
CFO Sarah Friar reportedly raised concerns about whether the company can sustain its massive data center and compute spending if growth doesn’t accelerate.
Increased competition from Anthropic — especially in coding and enterprise markets — is adding pressure as OpenAI races toward a potential IPO.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
John Ternus to launch 10 new Apple products
Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus is set to roll out ten new products during his tenure, starting with the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, and the company’s first foldable iPhone at the September hardware event.
Beyond the iPhone Fold, Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s pipeline includes a Smart Home Hub, a Tabletop Robot with a 9-inch screen on a robotic arm, a Home Security System, smart glasses, and AirPods with cameras.
Also on the list are an AI Pendant worn as a necklace, a touchscreen MacBook with an OLED display due in late 2026 or early 2027, lightweight AR glasses, and a foldable iPad with a 20-inch screen that may be scrapped.
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