☕ OpenAI preparing for an IPO at $1 trillion valuation & Nvidia becomes first public company worth $5 trillion.
Uber and Nvidia are building 100,000 robotaxis & More.
Mosquitoes just showed up in Iceland for the first time ever.
The country was mosquito-free until record heat said, “not anymore.”
Hell froze over, then thawed, bringing bugs.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: 40+ investor databases, offline outbound strategy, SaaS financial model, Andrew Chen on early traction, lead investor trends, vibe coding guide.
Nvidia becomes first public company worth $5 trillion.
YouTube announces ‘voluntary exit program’ for US staff.
The first consumer humanoid robot is here.
Uber and Nvidia are building 100,000 robotaxis.
GitHub is launching a hub for multiple AI coding agents.
OpenAI is preparing for an IPO at up to $1 trillion valuation.
Grammarly rebrands to ‘Superhuman,’ launches a new AI assistant.
Apple poised for iPhone sales boost on strong Pro demand.
YouTube now uses AI to upscale TV videos.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
40+ Investor Databases for Easier VC Outreach (Free Access) (Link)
Vibe coding for beginners - all in one guide. (Link)
The rise of “Offline Outbound”: How to execute your own Offline Outbound. (Link)
SaaS Startup Financial Model: All-in-One Excel Template. (Link)
Andrew Chen on showing traction before you have traction (Link)
Peter Walker shares lead investor trends in Seed + Series A rounds (Link)
The AI dilemma: To compete with China, the U.S. needs Chinese talent. (Link)
Hiring in the Age of AI. (Link)
Investor CRM Template – The Ultimate Fundraising Tracker. (Link)
Designers should look to Demis Hassabis. Not Jony Ive.(Link)
More articles are now created by AI than by humans. (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Reflectiz, a Boston, MA-based provider of a web exposure management platform, closed its $22m Series B funding. The round was led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with participation from Capri Ventures, YYM Ventures, AFG Partners, and others.
Sparrow BioAcoustics, a St. John’s, NL-based cardiac AI platform developer, closed a $10m financing round. The round was led by Killick Capital and Klister Credit, with participation from Pelorus VC, 98827 Newfoundland & Labrador Inc., and Brinex Capital.
Arya Health, a NYC-based provider of an AI platform that automates scheduling, compliance, and other administrative operations for home health and post-acute care providers, raised $18.2m in Series A funding. The round, which brought Arya’s total funding to $25, was led by ACME Capital, with participation from Ridge Ventures, Twelve Below, executives from OpenAI, and post-acute care providers.
Homecourt, a Los Angeles, CA-based home and personal fragrance brand, raised $8m in Series A funding. The round was led by CULT Capital.
Socratix AI, a San Francisco, CA-nased company building autonomous AI coworkers for fraud and risk teams, raised a $4.1m in seed funding. The round was led by Pear VC, with participation from Y Combinator, Twenty Two Ventures, Transpose Platform Management, and a group of strategic angel investors.
VentureMed Group, Inc., a Minneapolis, MN-based medical device company, closed a $28m Series C financing round. The round was led by S3 Ventures, and joined by existing investors including Endeavour Vision.
Valthos, a San Francisco, CA-based AI biodefense startup, raised $30m in seed financing. The round was led by OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund.
FrontlineIQ, a Montreal, Canada-based AI sales coaching platform provider, raised $3.3m in seed funding. The round was led by AQC Capital with participation from strategic investors across retail, automotive, and financial services.
TestSprite, a Seattle, WA-based agentic testing tool for AI-native development, closed a $6.7m seed funding round. The round, which brought total funds raised to approximately $8.1m, was led by Trilogy Equity Partners with participation from both new and existing investors, including Techstars, Jinqiu Capital, MiraclePlus, Hat-trick Capital, Baidu Ventures, and EdgeCase Capital Partners.
Mem0, a San Francisco, CA-based memory infrastructure platform for AI agents, raised $24M in funding. The funding included a Seed round led by Kindred Ventures and a Series A round led by Basis Set Ventures, with participation from Peak XV Partners, GitHub Fund, and Y Combinator, as well as strategic investments from Scott Belsky and Dharmesh Shah, alongside CEOs of infrastructure companies including Datadog, Supabase, PostHog, ex-GitHub, and Weights & Biases.
Vesence, a San Francisco, CA-based AI agent platform for law firms within Microsoft Office, raised $9M in seed funding. The round was led by Emergence with participation from Creandum, Y Combinator, and 20VC and angels Paul Graham, Anton Osika, and Jason Bohemig.
Lula Commerce, a Philadelphia, PA-based provider of AI-powered digital commerce technology for convenience retailers, raised an $8m Series A funding. The round, which brought Lula’s total capital raised to over $16m, was led by SEMCAP AI, with participation from Rich Products Ventures, GO PA Fund, NZVC, UP.Partners, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, and Outlander VC.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Silicon Valley VC giant Sequoia launched its latest $950M venture fund and its sixth dedicated seed fund. In details, the amount of the early-stage fund targeting Series A startups is $750m while the seed fund amount is $200m. They seek founders of any background from around the globe.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Nvidia becomes first public company worth $5 trillion
Nvidia’s valuation hit $5 trillion after shares rose 5.6% to $212.19, following news that President Trump will discuss its Blackwell chips with China’s President Xi.
CEO Jensen Huang projected $500 billion in AI chip sales, announced seven new U.S. supercomputers, and a $1 billion investment in Nokia for AI-powered 5G/6G networks.
The milestone, reached just three months after $4 trillion, reflects surging global demand for Nvidia GPUs driving the AI infrastructure boom.
YouTube announces ‘voluntary exit program’ for US staff
YouTube is offering a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based employees, according to an internal memo from CEO Neal Mohan.
The company is reorganizing its product teams into three groups — Subscription Products, Viewer Products, and Creator & Community Products — all reporting directly to Mohan.
No roles are being eliminated, and the restructuring follows Alphabet’s Q3 earnings report showing YouTube’s ad revenue up 15% year-over-year to $10.26 billion.
The first consumer humanoid robot is here
Robotics company 1X demonstrated its 5-foot-6-inch humanoid robot, Neo, as it completed kitchen tasks like opening a dishwasher, sliding a fork into the silverware holder, and wiping a counter.
The humanoid robot also showed its capabilities by completing other household chores around the house, which included carefully folding a sweater and fetching a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
Neo’s performance combined fine motor skills, such as grasping a single fork and towel, with multi-step actions like opening an appliance door to complete a full domestic task sequence.
Uber and Nvidia are building 100,000 robotaxis
Uber and Nvidia are working together on a plan for 100,000 robotaxis, with the first cars for the new fleet set to begin rolling out to cities starting in 2027.
The robotaxis will be powered by Nvidia’s Drive AGX Hyperion 10 in-vehicle computer, which provides level-4 automation for fully autonomous driving within certain designated geographic areas without a driver.
Uber will not manufacture the cars but will operate the ride-hailing network, while automotive partners including Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and Lucid Motors will handle building the physical vehicles.
GitHub is launching a hub for multiple AI coding agents
GitHub is launching Agent HQ, a hub that will soon let developers access third-party coding agents like OpenAI’s Codex, Anthropic’s Claude, and Cognition’s Devin directly inside the programming service.
Subscribers to GitHub Copilot will receive a “mission control” dashboard that serves as a central control plane for managing and tracking the output from various different artificial intelligence assistants.
The system also allows programmers to run several AI models in parallel on a single task, letting them compare the results and select their preferred solution from the different suggestions.
OpenAI is preparing for an IPO at up to $1 trillion valuation
OpenAI is preparing for an IPO that could value the company at up to $1 trillion, potentially one of the largest in history, with filings expected as early as late 2026 or 2027.
The company’s restructuring reduced its dependence on Microsoft and positioned the new OpenAI Foundation as a 26% stakeholder, giving it oversight and financial upside.
With revenue expected to hit $20 billion by year-end, OpenAI aims to raise tens of billions to fund massive AI infrastructure projects, as CEO Sam Altman said going public is the “most likely path.”
Grammarly rebrands to ‘Superhuman,’ launches a new AI assistant
Grammarly has rebranded itself as “Superhuman” following its July acquisition of the email client, though the Grammarly product name will continue for now.
The company launched Superhuman Go, an AI assistant integrated into its browser extension that connects with tools like Gmail, Google Drive, and Jira to offer context-aware writing help and task automation.
Superhuman plans to add deeper integrations and AI-powered features across its suite, including Coda and Superhuman Mail, to compete with Notion, ClickUp, and Google Workspace.
Apple poised for iPhone sales boost on strong Pro demand
Apple’s quarterly results are expected to show a strong iPhone 17 upgrade cycle, driven by robust demand for Pro models in the U.S. and China.
Analysts forecast Q4 revenue rising 7.6% to $102.17 billion, with iPhone sales up 8.6% to $50 billion — a record for the July–September period.
Despite trailing rivals in AI innovation, Apple’s focus on premium devices has lifted its market value to $4 trillion and restored its lead in key smartphone markets.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
YouTube now uses AI to upscale TV videos
YouTube is introducing an AI-powered feature that automatically converts lower resolution videos to full HD on TVs, with future plans to also add support for upscaling to 4K resolution.
Creators can now add QR codes to tagged videos that link to specific products, allowing people to scan with a phone and directly access an online store for purchases.
Creators will maintain control over upscaled content by preserving original files, and viewers still have the option to watch a video in its initially uploaded, non-converted resolution if they prefer.
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)
Investment Analyst - Cornell University | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Venture Capital - Artha Venture Fund | India - Apply Here
Executive Assistant - AN Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
Analyst - Urban Partners | London - Apply Here
Venture Fellow - Commonweal Venture | NYC - 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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