☕ SpaceX is looking to acquire Cursor for $60 billion & OpenAI plans up to $1.5B investment in private equity venture.
Meta to use employee activity data to train AI models & More.
Breaking News
Meta plans to track employee keystrokes and mouse activity to train AI models, aiming to teach agents how humans actually use computers. While this could significantly improve agent capabilities, it raises serious privacy concerns as internal employee behavior becomes training data for next-gen AI systems.
SpaceX has partnered with Cursor on next-gen AI coding systems, with an option to acquire the company for $60B. The deal signals how valuable AI developer tools have become, combining Cursor’s distribution with SpaceX’s massive compute to compete in the coding AI race.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Sinai.ai, a Sunnyvale, CA-based AI-native books platform, raised $1.45M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by KAUST Innovation Ventures and DisrupTech Ventures, with participation from Maza Ventures, YOUXEL Ventures, and angels.
Audrey AI, a Dublin, Ireland-based AI-powered financial auditing platform, raised $1.8M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Sure Valley Ventures and Delta Partners, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and angels.
SEED
Qualitate, a NYC-based AI research intelligence platform, raised $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by IA Ventures and Crew Capital, with participation from angels.
Humble, a San Francisco, CA-based autonomous electric haulers company, raised $24M in Seed funding. The round was led by Eclipse, with participation from Energy Impact Partners.
SpartanX, a Boston, MA-based AI-native security company, raised an undisclosed Seed round led by Venture Guides, with participation from angels and corporates.
Seapoint, a Dublin-based AI-native financial ops platform, raised €7.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by 13books, with participation from angels and Frontline Ventures, Tapestry VC.
Exergy3, an Edinburgh-based thermal energy startup, raised £10M in Seed funding. The round was led by Axeleo Capital, with participation from Bayern Kapital, Kibo Invest, Scottish Enterprise, and others.
GROWTH
Tava Health, a Salt Lake City, UT-based mental health platform, raised $40M in Series C funding. The round was led by Centana Growth Partners, with participation from Catalyst Investors, Blue Heron Ventures, Peterson Ventures, and Springtide Ventures.
Syenta, a Sydney-based semiconductor company, raised $26M in Series A funding. The round was led by Playground Global and Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund, with participation from existing investors.
Reliable Robotics, a Mountain View, CA-based autonomous aircraft company, raised $160M in funding. The round was led by Nimble Partners, with participation from Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue, and many strategic investors.
Tortugas Neuroscience, a Framingham, MA-based biotech company, raised $106M across Seed and Series A. The round was led by Cure Ventures, with participation from The Column Group and AN Venture Partners.
AcuityMD, a Boston-based AI MedTech platform, raised $80M in Series C funding at a $955M valuation. The round was led by StepStone Group, with participation from Benchmark, Redpoint, ICONIQ, and others.
AuX Labs, a Toronto-based food tech company, raised $4M in funding. The round was led by NYA Ventures and Nàdarra Ventures, with participation from Builders VC, Congruent Ventures, and others.
Ray Therapeutics, a Berkeley-based biotech company, raised $125M in Series B funding. The round was led by Janus Henderson Investors, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Invus, and others.
Deep Blue Medical, a Durham, NC-based surgical device company, raised $5.6M in Series A funding. Backers were not disclosed.
Blue Energy, a Maryland-based nuclear energy company, raised $380M in funding. The round was led by VXI Capital and Engine Ventures, with participation from existing investors.
RIIG Technology (HOOTL), a Virginia-based healthcare platform, raised $6M+ in Series A funding. Backers were not disclosed.
HQLAX, a Luxembourg-based digital collateral company, raised an undisclosed Series C-1 round backed by Broadridge and Digital Asset.
Hata, a Malaysia-based digital asset exchange, raised $8M in Series A funding. The round was led by Bybit.
Ideally, a NYC-based AI market research platform, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Shearwater Capital, with participation from Altered Capital, Icehouse Ventures, and others.
QUICK HITS
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Trends with Benefits: 5 predictions that reveal where AI agents will actually make money. (Link)
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From Social: The math behind Venture Capital - guide for aspiring Venture Capitalists. (Link)
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Sideline Group, a NYC-based investment firm that partners with brands and experiences at the intersection of consumer, sports, and media & entertainment, closed its debut fund, Sideline Group Fund I, with $155 million in committed capital. Fund I is backed by a diverse group of institutional investors, including a US university endowment, funds of funds, and family offices, as well as sports team owners, investment firm founders, and operators.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
Unauthorized access to Anthropic Mythos raises security concerns
Anthropic is investigating reports that an unauthorized group accessed its restricted cybersecurity model Mythos via a third-party vendor.
The group reportedly used insider access and technical guesses to locate and use the model shortly after its release.
Anthropic says no internal systems were impacted so far, but the incident raises concerns about misuse of powerful AI security tools.
ChatGPT Images 2.0 improves text rendering and image accuracy
OpenAI launches Images 2.0 with major improvements in generating readable and accurate text within images.
The model can create detailed visuals like menus, comics, and UI elements with better instruction-following and higher fidelity.
It also supports multiple languages and uses advanced reasoning to refine outputs, making AI-generated images more practical for real-world use.
Google builds elite team to rival Anthropic coding
Google DeepMind has formed a specialized team led by engineer Sebastian Borgeaud to improve Gemini’s programming skills, partly because Google researchers believe Anthropic’s coding tools are currently better.
Co-founder Sergey Brin wrote in an internal memo that Google must “urgently bridge the gap in agentic execution,” and he required every Gemini engineer to use internal agents for complex tasks.
Google is training models on its internal codebase, which differs significantly from public code, meaning those models can’t be released but could help speed up development and improve future products.
Apple reportedly cuts iPhone 18 manufacturing costs
Apple is reportedly planning to cut manufacturing costs on the standard iPhone 18 by downgrading certain components and processes to bring it closer to the cheaper iPhone 18e.
The changes span manufacturing processes, chips, memory, and other components, which could create a bigger gap between the regular iPhone lineup and the more premium Pro models.
Apple may also split its launch schedule, releasing Pro models and the foldable iPhone Ultra in September 2026 while pushing the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e to spring 2027.
OpenAI plans up to $1.5B investment in private equity venture
OpenAI is in talks to commit up to $1.5 billion to a new private equity joint venture called DeployCo.
The company will initially invest $500 million, with the venture expected to be valued at around $10 billion.
The deal signals OpenAI’s push to expand beyond core AI products into infrastructure and investment partnerships.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
California accuses Amazon of fixing prices with major retailers
California’s attorney general has accused Amazon of price fixing by pressuring brands like Levi’s and Hanes to push competing retailers to raise prices on certain products, according to a newly unsealed court filing.
The state originally sued Amazon in San Francisco Superior Court in 2022, claiming the company punished sellers on its marketplace for offering lower prices on other websites, harming competition overall.
A 16-page filing shows Amazon asked brands to intervene when it spotted a competitor’s lower price or was losing money on an item, and prices on rival sites went up as a result.
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