☕ OpenAI projects 220 million paying ChatGPT users by 2030, HP to cut about 6,000 jobs & Nvidia says its GPUs are a ‘generation ahead’ of Google’s AI chips.
Apple to become number one smartphone maker.
Australia has more camels than Egypt. You read that correctly. The land down under is home to the world’s largest population of wild camels, thanks to humans bringing a bunch over in the Victorian times.
Aussie camels are out here thriving, probably some eating vegemite.
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📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Startup legal docs for founders, Silicon Valley insights, Series A deal trends, financial model template, the therapist model of seed VC, fixing co-founder conflict, LP summit VC outlook.
OpenAI claims teen circumvented safety features before suicide that ChatGPT helped plan.
Apple to become number one smartphone maker.
ChatGPT merges voice and text into one chat window.
Nvidia says its GPUs are a ‘generation ahead’ of Google’s AI chips.
HP to cut about 6,000 jobs in AI push.
Apple contests India’s antitrust penalty law with risk of $38 billion fine, filing shows.
OpenAI projects 220 million paying ChatGPT users by 2030, The Information reports.
Musk’s xAI to build small solar farm adjacent to Colossus data center.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
Startup legal document pack – essential legal Docs for founders. (Link)
Themes from my recent week in Silicon Valley. (Link)
There is some correlation between “hot” deals and whether they raised a Series A, however. (Link)
Excel template: early-stage startup financial model for fundraising. (Link)
The therapist model of seed VC: analyse, diagnose, then fund. (Link)
Why startups fail due to Co-Founder conflict and how to fix it. (Link)
State of the VC market from LP summit. (Link)
Why competition is so bitter in SaaS: oligopolies and dominant strategy equilibria. (Link)
AI agent market map 2025. (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Global Work AI, a Wilmington, DE-based provider of an AI-native job-search platform focused on job seekers, raised $2.4M in funding. Backers included Pre-Seed to Succeed, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital, AltaIR Capital, and TMT Investments.
CoPlane, a San Francisco, CA-based company building AI-native software to streamline the back office, raised $14M in Seed funding. The round was led by Ribbit, with participation from Stripe, Optum Ventures, and Terrain.
EcoG, a Munich, Germany-based B2B charging company, raised €16M in funding. The round wad led by GET Fund, Extantia Capital, and Bayern Kapital.
Onlayer, an Ankara, Türkiye-based regtech and end-to-end merchant management platform for banks, payment service providers (PSPs) and enterprises, raised USD 8.2m in Series A funding. The round was led by Oleka Capital, with participation from Deniz Ventures, Revo Capital, Türkiye Development Fund, Sandeep Gomes, and Future Impact Fund.
Social Links, a Netherlands-based technology company delivering solutions against AI-driven risks, raised $3M in funding. The round was led by Yellow Rocks!.
Harmonic, a Palo Alto, CA-based artificial intelligence lab developing a mathematical superintelligence (MSI), raised $120M in Series C funding, at $1.45 Billion valuation. The round was led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Emerson Collective as a new investor.
Codenotary Inc., a Houston, TX-based AI cybersecurity and software supply chain trust company, raised $16.5m in financing. The backers were not disclosed.
ExploMar, a Shanghai, China-based brand specializing in electric propulsion systems for boats, raised over USD 10M in funding. Backers included DCM Ventures.
Clover Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based product security company, raised $36M in funding. The round was led by Notable Capital and Team8 with participation from SVCI, Wiz co-founders Assaf Rappaport and Yinon Costica, Shlomo Kramer of Cato Networks, Rene Bonvanie, and executives from Snyk, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Atlassian, and Google.
SubImage, a San Francisco, CA-based company bringing an open-core cloud security graph to the enterprise, raised $4.2M in seed funding. Backers included FundersClub, Y Combinator, Phosphor Capital, and Transpose Platform.
Overstory, an Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based company which specializes in vegetation intelligence for the utility industry, raised $43m in Series B funding. The round was led by Blume Equity, with participation from Energy Impact Partners LP (“EIP”) and existing investors including B Capital, Semapa Next, Pale Blue Dot, CapitalT, Convective Capital, Bentley Systems, MCJ and Moxxie Ventures.
Augmentt, an Ottawa, Canada-based provider of a SaaS platform that enables MSPs to unify and secure their clients’ Microsoft 365 instances, raised CAD $18M Series A funding. The round was led by Camber Partners.
Strataphy, a Dammam, Saudi Arabia-based deep-tech company that focuses on how the world cools AI and industrial infrastructure, raised $6M in seed funding. The round was led by Outliers VC and Shorooq, with participation from PlusVC (+VC).
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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Baobab Ventures, a London-based deep tech VC founded by Carles Reina (ex-ElevenLabs, Uber), has raised a $15M solo GP fund. The fund backs global pre-seed and seed startups in AI, robotics, and defence with $300K–$350K checks and hands-on support. LPs include Cendana Capital, Isomer Capital, RSJ Investments, Cyber Fund, and angels like Mario Götze. Baobab has already backed Theker Robotics, Murphy AI, Omnia, and Altan AI, with more investments coming.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
OpenAI claims teen circumvented safety features before suicide that ChatGPT helped plan
OpenAI argues it isn’t liable for 16-year-old Adam Raine’s death, saying he bypassed guardrails more than 100 times despite repeated prompts to seek help, while the family alleges ChatGPT provided detailed methods and even a “suicide note.”
The company says chat logs (filed under seal) show Raine had long-standing depression and medication-linked risks, but the family’s lawyer says OpenAI hasn’t explained why ChatGPT offered encouragement and false assurances in the final hours.
Seven additional lawsuits now accuse ChatGPT of contributing to suicides and psychotic episodes, with similar cases in which the model failed to intervene and even misled users during crisis conversations.
Apple to become number one smartphone maker
Counterpoint Research predicts Apple will hit a 19.4 percent market share in 2025, allowing the company to pass Samsung as the world’s top phone maker thanks to ten percent year-over-year growth.
The report claims sales of the iPhone 17 series are outpacing the industry, while consumers who purchased devices during the Covid-19 boom are finally entering a major upgrade phase this year.
Current data suggests this lead will hold until 2029, driven by owners of used handsets switching to new units alongside the arrival of a foldable iPhone and the iPhone 17e.
ChatGPT merges voice and text into one chat window
OpenAI updated the user interface so you can access ChatGPT Voice directly inside the main chat window, removing the need to switch over to a separate mode showing an animated blue circle.
You can now watch answers appear as text and view visuals like images or maps in real time while you talk, rather than just listening to the audio in a blank screen.
The change is rolling out now as the default on web and mobile apps, but anyone can return to the original experience by choosing that specific option under the settings menu.
Nvidia says its GPUs are a ‘generation ahead’ of Google’s AI chips
Nvidia broke its usual silence to claim its GPUs remain a “generation ahead” of custom silicon after reports surfaced that Meta might replace its hardware with Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
The chipmaker argues its general-purpose architecture offers more flexibility than specialized ASICs, even as Google proves its vertically integrated stack works by training the Gemini 3 model entirely on its own chips.
Investors worry about a fracture in Nvidia’s market share because a potential deal would see Meta renting compute via Google Cloud starting in 2026 instead of buying H100 and Blackwell chips.
HP to cut about 6,000 jobs in AI push
HP says it will cut between 4,000 and 6,000 staff members by the end of fiscal 2028 as the big tech firm shifts its focus toward using automation tools and agentic AI.
The company estimates this restructuring move will save $1 billion across three years, though the changes are expected to incur around $650 million in costs as CEO Enrique Lores redesigns processes.
Shares fell more than 5 percent after the earnings report, joining a list of businesses like Amazon and Cisco that laid off workers this year to drive artificial intelligence adoption.
Apple contests India’s antitrust penalty law with risk of $38 billion fine, filing shows
Apple has filed a 545-page petition challenging India’s new antitrust penalty rules, which allow fines based on a company’s global turnover — exposing Apple to a potential $38B penalty in its ongoing CCI case.
The company argues the law is unconstitutional, arbitrary, and disproportionately harsh, especially since it could be applied retroactively — a concern raised after the CCI used the rule in another decade-old case on November 10.
The dispute stems from a Match-led complaint accusing Apple of abusive App Store practices in India; Apple maintains it’s a smaller player compared to Android and says penalties should be based only on India-specific revenue, not global earnings.
OpenAI projects 220 million paying ChatGPT users by 2030, The Information reports
OpenAI expects 8.5% of an estimated 2.6 billion weekly ChatGPT users — around 220 million people — to pay for subscriptions by 2030, making it one of the world’s largest subscription businesses.
As of July 2025, about 35 million users (5% of weekly actives) are already paying for Plus or Pro plans, though OpenAI is also seeing rising losses due to massive R&D and compute costs.
OpenAI aims to generate around 20% of future revenue from new products like shopping and ad-based features, including a recently launched personal shopping assistant.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
Musk’s xAI to build small solar farm adjacent to Colossus data center
xAI plans an 88-acre solar farm next to its Colossus data center in Memphis, expected to produce around 30 MW of power — roughly 10% of the facility’s estimated electricity needs.
The company is facing backlash for running over 400 MW of unpermitted gas turbines, with local groups citing increased NOx pollution and asthma cases in nearby Boxtown, a predominantly Black community.
In parallel, xAI is developing a larger 100 MW solar + 100 MW battery project backed by a $439 million USDA package, even as it continues adding gas turbines — including 59 units for its Colossus 2 site in Mississippi, some of which are labeled “temporary” and not fully tracked by regulators.
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)
Visiting Investment Analyst - Join Capital | USA - Apply Here
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Investment Associate - Prologies Venture | India - Apply Here
VC Associate UK - Breega | UK - Apply Here
Analyst - Investments - Blackhill Fund | India - Apply Here
Venture Analyst - PSV | Hybrid - Apply Here
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Investment Analyst - Cornell University | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Venture Capital - Artha Venture Fund | India - Apply Here
VP of Fundraising - Scale Asia Venture | Japan - Apply Here
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