☕ OpenAI president Brockman discloses $30 billion stake & a16z raised $2.2 billion crypto fund.
Coinbase cuts 14% of staff citing AI & OpenAI expects to spend $50B on computing power in 2026.
Breaking News
Apple is reportedly preparing iOS 27 to let users choose between AI models from companies like Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI directly inside Siri and other system features. Instead of competing head-on in the model race, Apple appears to be turning the iPhone into an AI platform layer — similar to how the App Store became the gateway for mobile apps.
OpenAI expects to spend around $50B on compute infrastructure in 2026 alone, showing how the AI race is becoming a battle of chips, energy, and data centers rather than just better models. The scale of spending highlights why companies like Nvidia, TSMC, and cloud providers are becoming as important as the AI labs themselves.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Mobility Signage, a Munich, Germany-based public transport infrastructure company, raised €1.8M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by HTGF and 2bX.
Zapdos Labs, an Austin, TX-based AI software company, raised $500K in Pre-Seed funding. Backers were not disclosed.
SEED
XCaliber Health, an Andover, MA-based healthcare AI operations platform, raised $6.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by ManchesterStory with participation from Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV) and Arka Venture Labs.
Nace.AI, a Palo Alto, CA-based enterprise workflow automation company, raised $21.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Walden Catalyst, with participation from General Catalyst and angel investors.
RadixArk, a Palo Alto, CA-based AI infrastructure startup, raised $100M in Seed funding at a $400M valuation. The round was led by Accel and Spark Capital, with participation from NVentures, AMD, MediaTek, and others.
Astrada, a San Francisco, CA-based autonomous finance infrastructure startup, raised $3.8M in Seed funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, and Nyca Partners, with participation from Mastercard and Visa.
Pacific Hybreed, a Hawaii-based aquaculture biotech company, raised $1M in funding. Backers included Hawaiʻi Angels and Blue Startups.
GROWTH
Blitzy, a Cambridge, MA-based autonomous software development platform, raised $200M in funding at a $1.4B valuation. The round was led by Northzone, with participation from PSG, Battery Ventures, Jump Capital, Morgan Creek Digital, and others.
eleQtron, a Germany-based trapped-ion quantum computing company, raised €57M in Series A funding. The round was led by Schwarz Digits, with participation from EIC Fund, Earlybird, and others.
Magrathea, a San Francisco-based magnesium extraction startup, raised $24M in Series A funding. The round was led by Resource Technology Capital and Balerion Space Ventures.
Village, a Los Angeles-based pediatric healthcare platform, raised $9.5M in funding. The round was led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Bling Capital, GTMFund, and Perceptive Ventures.
Windward Bio, a Basel-based biotech company, raised $165M in crossover funding. The round was led by OrbiMed, with participation from Novo Holdings, RA Capital, Janus Henderson, and others.
Astrocade, a Los Altos-based gaming creation platform, raised $56M in combined Series A and B funding. Backers included Sea, Sequoia Capital, Google, Nvidia, and others.
Cytospire Therapeutics, a London-based biotech company, raised £61M in Series A funding. The round was led by 4BIO Capital, with participation from Servier Ventures.
Moment Energy, a Canada-based battery storage company, raised $40M+ in Series B funding. The round was led by Evok Innovations, with participation from Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, In-Q-Tel, and others.
Trillium Renewable Chemicals, a Tennessee-based bio-chemical manufacturer, raised $13M in Series B funding. The round was led by HS Hyosung Advanced Materials.
ZyG, a Tel Aviv-based eCommerce operating system startup, raised $60M in Series A funding. The round was led by Accel, with participation from Felix Capital, Bessemer, and Lightspeed.
DeepInfra, a Palo Alto-based AI inference cloud platform, raised $107M in Series B funding. The round was led by 500 Global and Georges Harik, with participation from NVIDIA, Samsung Next, Felicis, and others.
Smartness, an Italy-based travel automation startup, raised €47M in Series B funding. The round was led by United Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with participation from Partech.
Latus Bio, a biotech company focused on gene therapies, raised $43M in Series A extension funding. The round was led by 8VC, with participation from DCVC Bio and others.
Panthalassa, a Portland-based renewable energy and ocean technology company, raised $140M in Series B funding. The round was led by Peter Thiel, with participation from John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, and others.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto-focused arm, a16z crypto, has raised a new $2.2B fund to continue backing blockchain and crypto startups despite the recent slowdown in the crypto market. The U.S.-based firm, led by partners including Chris Dixon and Ali Yahya, has backed companies like Coinbase, Kalshi, and Solana Foundation, and says the new fund will stay fully focused on crypto entrepreneurs.
Katie Haun, Former Andreessen Horowitz investor, has raised $1B across new funds to back early- and late-stage startups. The fund will invest globally across crypto, blockchain, alternative assets, and the agentic economy, continuing its thesis of building the future of financial services.
Ridgeline Capital Management, an early stage vc firm, closed Ridgeline Ventures Fund II LP and Ridgeline Ventures Fund II-S L.P., with over $180m in commitments. Fund II, closed in December 2025, received SBA commitments, and backing from Fortune 500 companies like FedEx and Cisco Investments.
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KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 Instant as the new default ChatGPT model
OpenAI launched GPT-5.5 Instant, replacing GPT-5.3 Instant as the default ChatGPT model with faster responses and fewer hallucinations in areas like law, medicine, and finance.
The model also improves reasoning and personalization, allowing ChatGPT to reference past chats, files, and Gmail context to deliver more tailored answers for users.
OpenAI is additionally adding memory source visibility, letting users see and manage where ChatGPT pulled information from, as the company pushes toward more transparent and personalized AI experiences.
Meta will use AI to detect underage users through photos and videos
Meta said it will begin using AI to analyze visual cues like height and bone structure to identify users who may be under 13 on Facebook and Instagram.
The system will combine image analysis with text, captions, comments, and interaction patterns to detect potentially underage accounts and remove them if necessary.
The move comes as Meta faces growing legal and regulatory pressure around child safety, including lawsuits accusing the company of failing to protect younger users on its platforms.
Apple explores Intel and Samsung for US chips
Apple is in early talks with Samsung and Intel to make chips in the US, hoping to secure backup options if TSMC cannot keep up with its demand for main chipsets in its devices.
TSMC handles roughly three-fourths of global chip fabrication, but the surge in AI chip orders is straining its capacity, pushing phone makers like Qualcomm to already lean on Samsung for parts of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.
Apple executives have reportedly toured Samsung’s $17 billion fabrication plant in Taylor, Texas, which is expected to come online by late 2026, though Bloomberg notes the discussions with both chipmakers are far from finalized.
Coinbase cuts 14% of staff citing AI
Coinbase is laying off roughly 700 workers, about 14% of its staff, as CEO Brian Armstrong pushes a restructuring tied to crypto market volatility and a bigger push to use AI tools across the company.
The reorg flattens the company to five layers below the CEO and COO, lets leaders manage more than 15 direct reports, and asks managers to contribute more work themselves rather than just oversee others.
Coinbase will try “one-person teams” blending engineering, design, and product management roles using AI tools, and expects to take $50 million to $60 million in severance costs, according to an SEC filing.
Brockman discloses $30 billion OpenAI stake
OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified Monday that his equity stake in the company is worth close to $30 billion, while also revealing financial links to Sam Altman through investments in Altman-backed ventures and his family office.
Court records showed Altman gave Brockman an interest in his personal investment fund in 2017, which Musk’s lawyers argue may have hurt Brockman’s independence, citing an email from Musk associate Jared Birchall.
Brockman also acknowledged holdings in AI chipmaker Cerebras and fusion startup Helion Energy, both tied to Altman’s investment network, as Musk’s lawsuit seeks $150 billion in damages and OpenAI’s return to nonprofit status.
White House considers tighter regulation of new AI models
The Trump administration is weighing an executive order that would set up a working group of tech executives and officials to review new AI models before release, a sharp turn from its earlier hands-off stance on the technology.
The shift followed Anthropic’s announcement of Mythos, a model so strong at finding software security flaws that the company withheld it from the public, prompting White House worries about a possible AI-enabled cyberattack on its watch.
Susie Wiles and Scott Bessent have taken over AI policy after David Sacks left in March, and they are also trying to repair ties with Anthropic after the Pentagon cut off its technology in a fight over a $200 million contract.
Apple settles lawsuit over delayed Siri AI features for $250M
Apple agreed to pay $250M to settle a shareholder lawsuit tied to delays in the rollout of major AI upgrades for Siri that were announced in 2024.
Investors claimed Apple promoted AI-powered Siri features to help drive iPhone sales, but the devices launched without those capabilities, hurting shareholder confidence.
Apple denied wrongdoing in the settlement and said the delayed Siri AI features are now expected to be officially unveiled at its developer conference next month.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
DeepMind UK staff unionize over military AI deals
Google DeepMind workers in London have voted to unionize, asking the company to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives in a push to stop the AI lab from supplying its tech to the US and Israeli militaries.
The effort started in February 2025 after Alphabet dropped a pledge against using AI for weapons and surveillance, and gained urgency after a reported Google deal letting the Pentagon use its AI for “any lawful government purpose.”
If unionization succeeds, staff plan to demand Google exit its contract with the Israeli military, share more details on how its AI products will be used, and offer some assurance about layoffs driven by automation.
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