☕ SpaceX to pursue IPO in 2026 raising above $25 billion, Slack CEO joins OpenAI & Hinge CEO steps down to launch AI dating app.
Google’s first AI glasses expected next year & Australia bans social media for under 16s.
Our solar system basically has a wall.
It’s called the heliopause, the point where the Sun’s power stops and the rest of the galaxy says, “Alright, that’s enough.”
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Startup legal docs pack, hidden risks of high seed valuations, pre-raise investor email playbook, how fund size affects unicorn odds, turning AI into your second brain, Musk’s secretive VC firm.
SpaceX to pursue 2026 IPO raising above $25 billion, source says.
Why Cursor’s CEO believes OpenAI, Anthropic competition won’t crush his startup.
Slack CEO Denise Dresser to join OpenAI as chief revenue officer.
Google’s first AI glasses expected next year.
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize the AI agent era.
EU launches antitrust probe into Google AI.
Australia bans social media for under 16s.
India proposes charging OpenAI, Google for training AI on copyrighted content.
Hinge CEO steps down to launch Overtone, an AI dating app.
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.
The hidden downside of high valuation seed rounds.
How to Get Investors Interested Months Before You Raise - Plus the Exact Emails to Send.
How Fundraising Size Impacts Your Startup’s Unicorn Odds.
How to Turn AI into a Second Brain?
The secretive VC firm behind Elon Musk’s empire.
Wall Street bets big as VC secondaries hit a record $95B.
Should you hire an AI engineer?: Linktree’s surprising results.
What are investors actually evaluating at pre-seed and seed?
The 5-step cold email playbook every founder should copy.
Investor CRM Template – The Ultimate Fundraising Tracker
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Boom Supersonic just raised $300M to power data centers with natural gas turbines under a new product line called Superpower. Its first customer? Crusoe, buying 29 turbines for $1.25B to generate over 1.2 GW for its facilities. The round was led by Darsana, with Altimeter, Ark Invest, Bessemer, Robinhood Ventures, and YC joining in. Boom’s turbine profits will fund their supersonic jet ambitions — a playbook similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.
Bon Credit, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform focused on Generation Z credit and debt management, raised $3.5M in funding. The round was led by VenturesLab with participation from Hustle Fund, Outside VC, MBA Ventures, Sequoia Scout Fund, Accel Partners Scout Fund and other Silicon Valley executives.
Opine, a Raleigh, NC-based AI-native workspace company, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by S3 Ventures with participation from Knoll Ventures, Atlanta Seed Company, Gray Ventures, Propel Ventures, Triangle Tweener Fund, and Feross Aboukhadijeh, CEO of Socket.dev.
Haven Energy, a Los Angeles, CA-based energy tech company, raised $40M in funding. The round consisted of an equity led by Giant Ventures with additional equity participation from California Infrastructure Bank, Carnrite Ventures, Chaac Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau, and a debt facility provided by Turtle Hill.
401GO, a Sandy, UT-based fintech company developing a fully-owned 401(k) platform, raised $33M in Series B funding. The round was led by Centana Growth Partners, with participation from existing investors Next Frontier Capital, Rally Ventures, and Impression Ventures.
Diald AI, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of an AI-powered platform for real estate due diligence and underwriting, raised $3.75M in funding. Backers included Feedback Ventures with participation from The Invention LAB.
AngelEye Health, a Nashville, TN-based provider of neonatal and pediatric services, raised additional $9M in Series C funding. The round was led by Mountain Group Partners, with participation from Brad Whitmore and additional existing investors. Nationwide Children’s Hospital joined as a new investor.
QuEra Computing, a Boston, MA-based company which specializes in neutral-atom quantum computing, raised over $230M in funding. The round was led by Google Quantum AI and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA), and other global investors.
Hometap, a Boston, MA-based financial technology company, received $50M in funding. The round was led by Gallatin Point Capital.
South 8 Technologies, a San Diego, CA-based developer of LiGas®, a liquefied gas electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries, raised $11m in follow-on funding round. The round was co-led by the venture arm of W. L. Gore & Associates and Lockheed Martin Ventures with participation from Anzu Partners, IQT, LG Technology Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Galvion.
Duve, a Paris, France-based provider of a guest management platform, raised $60M in Series B funding. The round was led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, with participation from existing investors XT Venture Capital and others.
Prime Security, a NYC-based creator of an Agentic Security Architect, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Foundation Capital, Flybridge Ventures, and Ofir Ehrlich, CEO & Founder of Eon.
AnySignal, a Los Angeles, CA-based provider of a vertically integrated platform for wireless connectivity, sensing, and national security infrastructure, raised $24M in Series A funding. The round was led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from BlueYard Capital, First In Ventures, and other strategic investors.
Lin Health, a Denver, CO-based company developing behavioral care for chronic pain recovery, raised $11M in Series A funding. The round was led by Proofpoint Capital, with participation from new investors Osage Venture Partners and NewHealth Ventures and existing investors, including aMoon, Mayo Clinic, Saban Ventures, Shoni Health Ventures, and Viola Ventures.
a2z Radiology AI, a Boston, MA-based developer of AI systems for comprehensive medical imaging interpretation, raised $4.5M in Seed funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures and SeaX Ventures.
Buildcheck, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-powered construction design review platform, raised $5.9M in Seed funding. The round was led by Uncork Capital with participation from Peterson Ventures and Xfund, alongside angel investors.
Algori, a Madrid, Spain-based provider of a purchase and behavioural data platform built for the FMCG industry, raised €3.6M in additional growth capital. The round attracted new investors including Red Bull Ventures, Tech Transfer Agrifood (Clave Capital), Co-Invest Capital, AttaPoll, and Firstpick, with participation from existing investors Shilling, Flashpoint, Change Ventures, and Jared Schrieber.
Bags, a NYC-based company developing AI-powered financial services, raised $2.75M in funding. The round was led by Ford Foundation, with participation from Partnership Fund for New York City, Zeal Capital Partners, Slauson & Co, Limited Ventures, and Blueprint FTC.
CoreOps.AI, a New Delhi, India-based company which specializes in enterprise AI modernization, raised USD3.5M in Pre-Series A funding. The round was led by Siana Capital Management, with participation from Kettleborough, Aroa Venture Partners and others.
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🥑 From $52M revenue to national domination: why investors are backing Artisan Tropic
Artisan Tropic is a fast-growing clean snack brand that creates better-for-you tropical snacks made with real, whole ingredients, including its top-selling plantain strips, cassava chips, and organic grain-free crackers.
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Here’s why investors are excited:
$10M+ in revenue over the past 12 months with 40%+ gross margins
6,000+ points of sale including Whole Foods, Target, Sprouts, Costco, Wegmans
New organic grain-free crackers already in 1,500 stores nationwide
Top-selling plantain and cassava chips at Whole Foods 5 years in a row
Scaling toward $50M+ in revenue by 2030 with a strategic rebrand launching in 2026
With a proven footprint in retail, category-leading products, and a strong brand foundation, Artisan Tropic is positioned for breakout growth and this is a rare opportunity to get in early before their 2026 institutional raise.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Holly Ventures, a San Francisco, CA-based newly formed venture capital firm, announced the launch of its $33M debut fund. It is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Ballistic Ventures, CRV, Wing Ventures, IVP, TCV, Notable Capital, Team8, BrightMind, Ten Eleven Ventures and others, as well as by larger institutions like Vanderbilt University and Okta Ventures. The vehicle focuses on seed-stage cybersecurity companies, investing alongside larger leads, generally in $5-10m rounds.
Kabir Narang, co-founder of B Capital and key Asia lead, has exited the $9B global firm to launch a new investment platform in 2026. His new venture will focus on tech, AI, and global capital flows, while he personally backs early-stage startups with 1–2% stakes. During his time at B Capital, Narang backed Meesho, Khatabook, Bounce, CredAvenue, and Bizongo from Singapore. B Capital will continue Asia operations under Eduardo Saverin, Karan Mohla, and Howard Morgan.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
SpaceX to pursue 2026 IPO raising above $25 billion, source says
SpaceX is preparing for a 2026 IPO that aims to raise over $25 billion at a valuation exceeding $1 trillion, with discussions underway for a June–July listing.
Funds from the IPO are expected to support Musk’s plan for space-based data centers, including major chip purchases, amid projected revenue growth from $15B in 2025 to up to $24B in 2026.
The move follows reports of a secondary share sale valuing SpaceX at $800B — claims Musk denied — as Starlink continues to drive the majority of the company’s revenue.
Why Cursor’s CEO believes OpenAI, Anthropic competition won’t crush his startup
Cursor CEO Michael Truell says Big Tech’s coding tools are “concept cars,” while Cursor delivers a full, integrated production-grade coding environment built on a mix of external and in-house LLMs.
After hitting $1B ARR and raising at a $29.3B valuation, Cursor shifted to usage-based pricing to survive high model costs, now adding enterprise features like spend controls and full code-review automation.
Cursor is betting on agentic capabilities — tools that can fix complex bugs end-to-end and handle more of the software lifecycle — to stay competitive even as OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS push deeper into coding assistants.
Slack CEO Denise Dresser to join OpenAI as chief revenue officer
Slack CEO Denise Dresser is leaving after 14 years at Salesforce/Slack to become OpenAI’s chief revenue officer, overseeing enterprise revenue strategy and customer success.
OpenAI says her experience scaling Slack’s AI features and go-to-market motion will be key as the company tries to make AI useful and reliable for millions of workers — and move toward profitability.
Slack’s chief product officer, Rob Seaman, will step in as interim CEO following Dresser’s departure.
Google’s first AI glasses expected next year
Google will launch its first AI-powered smart glasses in 2026, with models offering either screen-free Gemini assistance or an in-lens display for navigation and captions.
Partnerships with Gentle Monster, Warby Parker, and Xreal support a broader push into stylish, lightweight AI eyewear built on Android XR.
Google is positioning the glasses as a direct challenger to Meta’s Ray-Ban line, committing up to $150M to Warby Parker for development and retail expansion.
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize the AI agent era
The Linux Foundation has launched the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) to prevent the AI-agent ecosystem from becoming fragmented and proprietary.
Anthropic (MCP), Block (Goose), and OpenAI (AGENTS.md) donated their core agent-infrastructure projects, with AWS, Google, Bloomberg, and Cloudflare joining as members.
AAIF aims to create open standards for interoperability, safety, and tool integration so agents can work across platforms without vendor lock-in.
EU launches antitrust probe into Google AI
The European Commission has officially opened an antitrust investigation to see if Google abuses market dominance by scraping publisher content for its AI products without providing appropriate compensation to creators.
Investigators will scrutinize whether the company forces an “all-or-nothing” choice regarding data harvesting for AI Overviews and if YouTube blocks rival developers from accessing user-uploaded video data for model training.
Publishers argue they face a coercive dilemma because blocking crawlers removes them from Search entirely, while allowing access lets generative summaries cannibalize traffic by eliminating the user’s need to click through.
Australia bans social media for under 16s
A new Australian law taking effect this Wednesday forces platforms like TikTok and Instagram to stop children under 16 from holding accounts or face fines of up to $AU49.5 million.
Tech companies are responding by deactivating or locking profiles, while Reddit and others will now require users to verify their age using a government ID or video selfie to access content.
Teens can still watch YouTube videos without logging in, and messaging apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Discord remain exempt from the ban, along with gaming platforms such as Roblox and Steam.
India proposes charging OpenAI, Google for training AI on copyrighted content
India has introduced a proposal requiring AI companies to pay mandatory royalties for training on copyrighted content, creating a blanket license that grants automatic access while ensuring creators are compensated.
The framework would establish a single collecting body to distribute payments to rights holders, positioning India as one of the most interventionist countries on AI training regulation.
Tech industry groups like Nasscom and the Business Software Alliance oppose the plan, arguing for text-and-data-mining exceptions instead, while public consultation is now open for 30 days before the government finalizes the policy.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
Hinge CEO steps down to launch Overtone, an AI dating app
Hinge CEO Justin McLeod is leaving to build Overtone, an AI- and voice-powered dating app incubated inside Hinge and backed by Match Group, which will hold a substantial ownership stake.
Overtone joins a growing trend of AI-driven dating experiences as apps like Tinder and Hinge struggle with declining engagement; Match, Bumble, and others are betting AI can fix swipe fatigue and spark more meaningful connections.
Jackie Jantos, Hinge’s president and CMO, will take over as CEO, signaling continued investment in AI features that have already boosted user matches and engagement.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
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Investment Associate - Uphonest Capital | USA - Apply Here
Head of Atlassian Ventures - Atlassian Venture | USA - Apply Here
Program & Events Manager - Plug and Play Tech Centre | USA - Apply Here
Associate - Allocator One | UK - Apply Here
AI Lead / Technical Builder - Pan Adria Partner | USA - Apply Here
Associate, Secondary Investments - Adam Street Partner | USA - Apply Here
Chief of Staff – DeVC - Z47 | India - Apply Here
VC Investment Intern - First Momentum Venture | USA - Apply Here
VC Investor - Quamtum Light | UK - Apply Here
Head of Operations - Sagest Capital | USA - Apply Here
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