The AI race is shifting from “use more” to “prove it’s worth the cost.”
Apple is cutting internal AI spending limits, while Meta is buying deeper into coding workflows and ChatGPT is now handling search volume equal to about 20% of Google.
At the same time, Sequoia raised roughly $10B while simplifying how the firm operates, showing that even the biggest venture platforms are becoming more selective.
Five signals worth watching today:
Apple reportedly cut internal AI spending limits.
ChatGPT now handles search volume equal to about 20% of Google.
Meta acquired AI coding startup Conductor.
Nvidia can reportedly fulfill only 1% of China’s GPU orders.
Sequoia raised roughly $10B while restructuring its venture platform.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
At least $2.76B + €23.7M + £2.5M disclosed across today’s startup financings
The three biggest rounds:
fal: $1.3B Series F
Nooks: $500M
Applied Compute: $350M
Together, those three companies accounted for nearly 78% of today’s disclosed dollar funding.
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PRE-SEED
Nums AI: Seoul-based startup developing foundation models for tabular data raised $4.48M from Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Stonebridge Ventures, SBVA, KT Investment, and Base Ventures.
Amara: Berlin-based voice-controlled tablet platform for seniors raised €3.7M from Econa, Caesar VC, and IBB Ventures.
Copy Geek: Sydney-based crypto trading software startup raised $2M led by Dr. David Issa and Thomas Boga.
MyoPax: Berlin-based developer of cell and gene therapies for muscle diseases raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from B# Plus, the female-founder focused DeepTech fund managed by IBB Ventures.
Lazzaro One: Berlin-based maritime intelligence software startup raised a six-figure pre-seed round from B#, the early-stage DeepTech fund managed by IBB Ventures.
SEED
Supa: London-based AI-native platform for UK block management raised £21M, approximately $28M, through a combination of equity and debt. The equity round was co-led by 2150 and OpenOcean, with participation from KOMPAS VC, Actia Capital Partners, and HEARTFELT.
Phaze: New York-based remote access platform for people and AI agents raised $8.75M led by a16z, with participation from Indie, NextView, Makers, and Lerer Hippeau.
Shackleton AI: New York-based agentic technology platform for construction raised $5M led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Brick & Mortar Ventures, Trust Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Motivate Partners, and others.
GROWTH
fal: San Francisco-based generative media infrastructure company raised $1.3B Series F led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NVIDIA, Sound Ventures, HOF Capital, and T. Rowe Price.
Nooks: San Francisco-based revenue agent platform received $500M from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund.
Applied Compute: San Francisco-based developer of custom open-source AI models for enterprises raised $350M at a $3.25B valuation. The round was led by Elad Gil, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, NVIDIA, Blackstone, Shopify Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, and others.
Sentra: New York and Tel Aviv-based agentic data security platform raised $150M led by Capital One Ventures.
Traversal: New York-based AI site reliability engineering platform raised $120M at a $1B valuation. The round was co-led by Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint Ventures, and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures, and Amex Ventures.
Pliant: Berlin-based modular B2B payments platform raised $80M Series C led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest, with participation from Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners, and Molten Ventures.
EloElo Group: Bengaluru-based AI-native media and entertainment company raised $80M Series C led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, with participation from MIT Investment Co., Play Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Waterbridge Ventures, and others.
Titan OS: Barcelona-based technology, entertainment, and advertising company raised $46M through equity from Highland Europe and Mangrove Capital Partners plus a credit facility managed by BlackRock.
Lazarus AI: Boston-based AI company serving regulated industries including insurance, healthcare, and banking raised $43M from QBE, Mucker Capital, State Farm Ventures, Techstars, Plug and Play, and others.
bit.bio: Cambridge-based human cell programming company raised $25M Series D from M&G Investments and Dr. Jonathan Milner.
Biograil: Copenhagen-based oral drug delivery technology company raised €20M from Verve Ventures, Megatrend Invest, and High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Finpilot: Seattle-based AI-native operating system for institutional capital raised $10M Series A led by Lobby Capital, with participation from Madrona.
Brij Medical: San Diego-based surgical incision management company raised $5M led by its board of directors, with participation from existing investors.
Path Fertility: Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostics company developing epigenetic testing for male fertility received a $2M NIH SBIR grant.
Crediflow AI: London-based platform automating commercial loan analysis and documentation raised £1.5M led by NPIF II - PXN Equity Finance, with participation from Haatch and angel investors.
Kinewell: Newcastle-based offshore wind optimization software company raised more than £1M. Backers were not disclosed.
Enginsight: Jena-based cybersecurity platform for SMEs and public organizations raised an undisclosed round led by Verdane, with participation from UVC, HDI, and SIV.
📍 Funding Signal
AI infrastructure is moving into mega-round territory.
fal, Nooks, Applied Compute, Sentra, and Traversal together attracted more than $2.4B. The capital is clustering around infrastructure for generative media, AI agents, enterprise models, security, and reliability, suggesting investors increasingly view these layers as core computing infrastructure rather than ordinary software.
The financing models are changing too. Nooks tapped General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund, while Titan OS and Supa mixed equity with debt. As AI companies scale faster and require more capital, investors are using structures beyond traditional venture equity to finance growth without relying on dilution alone.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Sequoia raises roughly $10B while radically simplifying its venture platform
Sequoia Capital raised roughly $10B across new funds while restructuring how the firm operates.
The firm is closing its London office, shutting down the Arc accelerator and Scouts program, combining its early-stage and growth teams, flattening the partnership, and moving away from its traditional Monday partner meetings. The broader shift points to a smaller, more selective investing model with fewer organizational layers.
NeoSci Ventures reached a S$70M, roughly $53M, first close for its debut institutional biotech fund.
The Singapore-based firm will back early-stage biotechnology and healthcare companies across the U.S. and Asia, with a focus on therapeutics and technologies combining biology, AI, data, and scientific tools. LPs include Taiwan’s National Development Fund, EDBI, Catcher Technology, Crescendas Group, family offices, and entrepreneurs.
📍 Capital signal
The most important story is not just the amount of capital raised, but how firms are changing their operating models. Sequoia is simplifying its platform and concentrating decision-making, while NeoSci is building around a narrow scientific specialization. Both moves point toward a venture market where focus, expertise, and selectivity matter more than maintaining broad programs across every stage and geography.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Apple reportedly cuts internal AI spending limits
Apple reportedly reduced daily AI budgets for engineering teams from $300 to $200, with some allowances potentially falling to $100 and non-engineering teams facing limits as low as $25.
The move marks a reversal from the earlier push to maximize AI usage across engineering workflows, as companies begin paying closer attention to token costs and actual productivity gains.
Apple is still integrating AI deeply into its internal processes, but the new limits suggest usage will increasingly be judged on measurable value rather than volume.
Why it matters: The next phase of enterprise AI adoption may be less about maximizing usage and more about unit economics, with companies demanding clearer proof that expensive AI tools actually improve productivity.
OpenAI is already shaping its policy agenda for the 2028 election
OpenAI policy chief Chris Lehane argues AI could become a defining 2028 election issue as voters grow more concerned about jobs, electricity costs, data centers, and who benefits economically from the technology.
He outlined priorities around worker training, education, AI safety, infrastructure, and broader access to AI’s economic gains, while continuing to support large-scale AI adoption and data center expansion.
The agenda marks a shift from OpenAI’s earlier emphasis on faster development and lighter regulation toward a broader political message focused on affordability, public trust, safety, and economic opportunity.
Why it matters: AI companies are no longer just responding to regulation. They are increasingly trying to shape the political framework around how AI, jobs, infrastructure, and economic benefits will be debated heading into 2028.
Meta acquires AI coding startup Conductor
Meta has acquired Conductor, an AI coding startup that lets developers run multiple agents in parallel workspaces to build different parts of a software project at the same time.
Conductor will continue supporting most of its existing product for now, though its cloud service will shut down November 20 as the team prepares something new with Meta for early next year.
The deal adds to Meta’s broader push into AI coding, following the launch of Muse Code and a string of acquisitions aimed at strengthening its Superintelligence Labs.
Why it matters: Meta is moving aggressively to own more of the AI developer workflow, where coding agents are becoming one of the clearest commercial use cases for frontier AI.
ChatGPT now handles search volume equal to about 20% of Google
OpenAI’s Adam Fry says ChatGPT now processes roughly one-fifth as many search-like queries as Google, potentially putting it well ahead of Bing by query volume.
OpenAI counts a search when ChatGPT goes to the web for current information, especially for topics like people, places, finance, and health.
ChatGPT has reportedly grown from 1B to 1.2B weekly users in two months, while Google says its own Search volume is still at an all-time high.
Why it matters: AI assistants are moving from being complementary tools to becoming a major discovery layer, putting real pressure on the traditional search business model.
Nvidia can reportedly fulfill only 1% of China’s GPU orders
Chinese firms including ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have reportedly placed around $70B in orders for Nvidia’s RTX Pro 5500 GPUs.
Nvidia is expected to fulfill only about 1% of that demand over the coming months, equivalent to just a few tens of thousands of units.
The chip is especially attractive for AI workloads because it combines high CUDA core counts with 84GB of memory and can still be shipped to China without U.S. export restrictions.
Why it matters: China’s AI compute demand is still massively outpacing available supply, showing that access constraints are increasingly coming from production capacity, not just regulation.
Nothing will launch its first AI-native device in December
![Nothing Screen-Free AI Device: Dec 2026 Launch [2026]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U1Os!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F405e5f34-33e8-47a3-a8f2-6d6304e49c66_1344x768.webp "Nothing Screen-Free AI Device: Dec 2026 Launch [2026]")
CEO Carl Pei says Nothing’s first AI-native product will ship next month, describing it as a productivity tool with no new screen that could not have been built as an app.
The company has previously explored AI-linked smart glasses, earbuds, and other hardware, but Pei suggested this product will take a different approach from the current wave of AI pendants and companion devices.
Nothing has not yet revealed the form factor, pricing, or exact launch date, keeping the product intentionally mysterious ahead of release.
Why it matters: The AI hardware race is still wide open, and Nothing is betting there is room for a new category that sits between apps, wearables, and traditional computing devices.
LAST COFFEE SIP
🌎 Around The Ecosystem
Google: Google expanded voluntary buyout offers to employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland as Alphabet looks to control costs while continuing to prioritize hiring in AI and cloud, with DeepMind and Google Cloud largely excluded from the program.
MUST READ
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The YC seed deck structure that raises money: An analysis of 50+ Y Combinator startup pitch decks from companies that collectively raised over $450M. This piece breaks down the nine-slide structure, what investors expect on each slide, and the simple design principles founders should follow to build a stronger pitch deck.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
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Check out 29+ VC job opportunities in “BREAK INTO VC” newsletter.
📍 Tips to Break Into VC
How does a VC fund actually get its money?
Most aspiring VCs prepare for interviews by studying portfolio companies and partner posts. But the deeper logic of a fund starts earlier, with the promises it made to LPs around thesis, sourcing, check size, ownership, portfolio construction, and returns.
This deep dive explains how VC funds are structured, where the capital comes from, how management fees and carry work, what LPs expect, and what a typical 15 to 20 slide fundraising deck actually contains.
It also includes six real fund decks to study, shows what analysts and associates actually do during a fundraise, and explains how to read a fund-close announcement to understand whether the firm may hire and what kind of candidate it will want.
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