☕ OpenAI retires GPT-4o sparking user backlash & OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI.
Anthropic gains 11% more users after Super Bowl ads & Elon Musk says xAI departures were firings not resignations.
Breaking News
Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, has joined OpenAI to work on next-generation personal agents. OpenClaw gained viral traction as an “AI that actually does things,” focused on real-world task execution like booking flights and managing calendars. The project will remain open source under foundation support backed by OpenAI, while Steinberger said joining forces is the fastest way to scale impact.
OpenAI is officially shutting down GPT-4o and several legacy models, despite protests from thousands of users who still rely on it. While only 0.1% of customers use the model, that reportedly equals hundreds of thousands of people, many citing emotional attachment and workflow dependence. The move reflects OpenAI’s push to consolidate around newer systems, even at the cost of alienating loyal users.
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🗞️ What else is brewing
Investor Data Room Superpack: Everything you need to build a VC-ready data room (Guide/Templates).
The dilution myth founders still believe.
The $20B exit era: Why venture’s biggest outcomes keep getting bigger.
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Wispr Flow’s framework to reach 100,000+ daily users - The CEO’s exact consumer playbook.
Are the old SaaS fundraising benchmarks officially dead in the AI era?
The 3 curves that quietly decide if your startup scales or collapses.
Excel Template: Early Stage Startup Financial Model For Fundraising.
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Maestro AI, a Parkland, FL-based provider of a vertical artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform built for mortgage origination, raised $1.2M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by New Stack Ventures, with participation from Family VC, ZFO, Roark’s Drift, and a group of local angel investors.
Smart Bricks, a San Francisco, CA-based AI startup building agentic AI infrastructure for real-estate investing, raised $5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
The Compression Company, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a data compression platform, raised $3.4M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Long Journey.
INLEAP Photonics, a Hannover, Germany-based company that develops, manufactures and sells laser beam steering systems, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with participation from Ventis Capital and additional private investors.
SEED
inference Research, a Hong Kong-based AI-native quantitative trading franchise company for digital assets and traditional finance, raised $20M in Seed funding. The round was led by Avenir Group.
Project Omega, a Washington, D.C.-based developer of advanced nuclear recycling technology, raised $12m in Seed funding. The round was led by Starship Ventures, with participation from Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, and Slow Ventures.
Demoboost, a Warsaw, Poland-based provider of a platform enabling B2B software companies to deliver data-rich product demos, raised €2.8M in funding. The round was co-led by Digital Ocean Ventures and RIO, Rafał Brzoska’s family office, with participation from B-Value.
TRUCE Software, a Lisle, IL-based company that develops mobile technology for school and at home, raised an undisclosed amount in funding. The round was led by Yttrium with participation from other existing institutional investors, including Allomer Capital Group and New Amsterdam Growth Capital.
Vape Guardian, a London, UK-based vape detection technology provider, raised £350K as part of its Seed funding. Angel Investment Network (AIN) made the investment.
GROWTH
Uptiq, a Dallas, TX-based AI platform purpose-built for financial services, raised $25m in Series B funding. The round was led by Curql, with participation from Silverton Partners, 645 Ventures, Broadridge, Green Visor Capital, Live Oak Ventures, First Capital, Epic Ventures, Tau Ventures, and Evolution VC.
Reco, a New York City-based developer of an AI SaaS security platform, raised $30m in Series B funding. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners and boldstart ventures and new corporate investors.
Didero, a NYC-based software company using AI agents to automate enterprise procurement, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Chemistry and Headline, with participation from M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund.
Uptiq, a Dallas, TX-based provider of an AI platform purpose-built for financial services, raised $25m in Series B funding. The round was led by Curql, with participation from Silverton Partners, 645 Ventures, Broadridge, Green Visor Capital, Live Oak Ventures, First Capital, Epic Ventures, Tau Ventures, and Evolution VC.
daypass, a Mexico City, MX-based Mexican online travel agency, raised $2M in funding. Backers were not disclosed.
TODAY’S RESOURCE PICK
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Plus practical tools: Equity dilution simulator, ESOP planner & Cap table & negotiation checklists
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Kindred Ventures, a San Francisco, CA-base venture capital firm, raised approx. $227m across two funds. According to a first S.E.C. form dated Feb, 6, 2026, Kindred Ventures IV, L.P., has raised $190m out of an attempt to raise $230m. According to an another S.E.C. form dated the same day, Kindred Selector II, L.P., has raised $37m out of a target of $100m.
Seligman Investments, a Menlo Park, CA-based technology investor, launched $500M Seligman Ventures. Seligman Ventures is a new venture capital arm designed to invest across early-stage to pre-IPO technology companies in the AI and cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and modern data-center hardware verticals.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Meta plans facial recognition for smart glasses
Meta is reportedly planning to add facial recognition to its smart glasses as soon as this year, according to The New York Times.
The feature, internally called “Name Tag,” would let wearers identify people and receive information about them through Meta’s AI assistant. The company has reportedly debated the safety and privacy implications since early last year.
Meta previously explored facial recognition for its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in 2021 but dropped the idea due to technical and ethical concerns. The plans have now resurfaced amid renewed momentum for its smart glasses and shifting political dynamics in the U.S.
Elon Musk says xAI departures were firings not resignations
Elon Musk said the recent wave of departures from xAI were firings tied to a company reorganization, not voluntary resignations, as six of the original 12 co-founders have now left.
At least 11 engineers, including two co-founders, publicly announced leaving xAI in the past week, with several saying they plan to start something new together alongside other former colleagues.
The exits come as xAI faces regulatory scrutiny over Grok-generated nonconsensual explicit deepfakes, a planned IPO later this year, and Musk’s personal controversy over published conversations with Jeffrey Epstein.
Anthropic gains 11% more users after Super Bowl ads
Anthropic saw a 32% jump in U.S. downloads for its AI chatbot Claude in the days after running Super Bowl ads that mocked rival chatbots for showing ads and giving bad advice.
Claude climbed from No. 41 to No. 7 on the U.S. App Store, its highest rank to date, with an estimated 148,000 downloads across iOS and Android from Sunday through Tuesday.
The timing also coincided with Anthropic’s release of its new Opus 4.6 model and ChatGPT’s rollout of ads to free users, which matched exactly what Anthropic’s commercials had warned about.
ByteDance launches Doubao 2.0, china’s widely used AI chatbot app:
ByteDance has released Doubao 2.0, an upgrade of China’s most widely used AI chatbot app, positioning the model for the “agent era” where AI handles complex real-world tasks.
The release comes just before the Lunar New Year holiday and ahead of a highly anticipated new DeepSeek model, likely aiming to avoid being overshadowed as ByteDance was last year.
Alibaba’s Qwen app recently surged from 7 million to 58 million daily active users after a 3 billion yuan coupon campaign, closing in on Doubao’s lead in China’s crowded market.
SpaceX launches Crew-12 to ISS for eight-month mission
SpaceX launched its 12th long-duration mission to the International Space Station, sending four astronauts aboard a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon “Freedom” for an eight-month stay in orbit.
The Crew-12 team includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The capsule is expected to dock after a 34-hour flight, about 250 miles above Earth.
The crew will conduct science experiments in microgravity, including medical and plant research, supporting future Moon and Mars missions under NASA’s Artemis program.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
ChatGPT hit 100M weekly active users in India
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said India now has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, making it the company’s second-largest market after the U.S.
The milestone comes ahead of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, where leaders including Dario Amodei and Sundar Pichai are expected to attend.
OpenAI expanded locally in 2025 with a New Delhi office and a low-cost ChatGPT Go tier (sub-$5, later free for a year in India), targeting the country’s price-sensitive and student-heavy user base.
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