☕ Stripe to buy PayPal for $53B+ & OpenAI building a screenless AI companion - first hardware product.
New York State halts construction of all new data centers & OpenAI researcher launches AI drug discovery startup.
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Breaking News
OpenAI is reportedly building a screenless AI companion that learns from users, integrates deeply with ChatGPT, and has been designed with former Apple engineers. The device signals OpenAI's push beyond software into consumer hardware, taking on Apple, Google, and Amazon.
A group of Meta employees alleges the company used AI-powered rankings to target workers with disabilities, medical leave, and caregiving responsibilities during layoffs. If proven, the case could become the first major legal test of AI-driven employment decisions in the U.S.
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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup Funding Updates
PRE-SEED
Avelin AI, a Dubai, UAE-based sovereign AI platform provider, raised $3.7M in Pre-Seed funding.
Factor X, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based RNA-based skin longevity technology company, raised an undisclosed Pre-Seed funding round.
Neothera, a Mumbai, India-based dermatology startup, raised $1.1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Blume Ventures, with participation from Barbershop Fund, Consumer Collective by Atrium, Veltis Capital, and a
SEED
Prolo, a London, UK-based AI-powered procurement platform for construction SMEs, raised £4.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Triple Point Ventures, with participation from a16z Scout Fund, Anamcara Capital, Concrete VC, Foundation Ventures, Haatch, Koro Capital, Love Ventures, and Portfolio Ventures.
Linker Finance, a Pasadena, CA-based modular banking platform, raised $5M in Seed funding. Backers included Chingona Ventures, Ten One Ten Ventures, Audaz Capital, Angeles Investors, and 22nd State Banking Company.
GROWTH
Gridcog, a London, UK-based energy flexibility modelling platform, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by ABB, with participation from Axpo, DNV Ventures, Verbund X Ventures, Albion VC, and Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Draig Therapeutics, a Cardiff, UK-based neuropsychiatric therapeutics company, raised $65M in Series B funding. The round was led by Deep Track Capital, with participation from Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, British Business Bank, and Jefferson Life Sciences.
Drug Farm, a New York City- and Shanghai-based biotechnology company, raised $55M in the first close of its Series D financing. The round was backed by Shanghai Pudong Leading Area Investment Center, Shanghai Puxing Collaborative Private Equity Fund Partnership Enterprise, Tukar Capital, Fuzhou Xinhe Fund, Shenzhen Luohu Donghai Chempartner Investment Fund, and Keyuan Pharma.
Valarian, a London, UK-based sovereign AI infrastructure company, raised $50M in Series A funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from Lightbank, XTX Markets, Sequel, LitVC, and angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Nikesh Arora.
Quadric, a Burlingame, CA-based AI inference processor company, extended its Series C to $46M. The round was led by International Finance Corporation, with participation from Pear VC, Uncork Capital, BEENEXT, and Offline Ventures.
Singularity, a Los Angeles, CA-based defense technology company, raised $80M in Series A funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures and Felicis, with participation from AE Ventures, NEA, Long Journey, Harpoon, Menlo Ventures, Y Combinator, Decisive Point, New Vista, Sunflower, and Soma.
Chai Discovery, a San Francisco, CA-based AI drug discovery company, raised $400M in Series C funding. The round was led by Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Dimension, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, Baillie Gifford, and BDT and MSD.
Velocity, a London, UK-based stablecoin treasury platform, raised $38M in Series A funding. The round was led by Dragonfly and FirstMark, with participation from Activant Capital, Capital One Ventures, QED Investors, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, and Ripple.
Feathery, a San Francisco, CA-based AI decisioning platform for financial services, raised $30M in total funding, including its Series A. Backers included Portage Ventures, Index Ventures, Allstate Strategic Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Erie Strategic Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures.
TerraFirma, an Austin, TX-based construction technology company, raised $100M in Series A funding. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, and Ravelin Capital.
Hadrius, a New York City-based compliance infrastructure platform, raised $27M in combined Seed and Series A funding. The round was led by CRV, with participation from Y Combinator, Pathlight Ventures, and the founders of Altruist, Jump AI, and FINNY.
Pact Labs, a San Francisco, CA-based blockchain infrastructure company, raised $7M in Series A funding. The round was led by Tether, with participation from Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna.
410 Medical, a Durham, NC-based medical device company, raised $12M in funding. The round was led by Orlando Health Ventures, with participation from Hatteras Venture Partners, Ballad Health, OSF Healthcare, Rex Health Ventures, CU Healthcare Innovations Fund, Sarnova, Catalyst by Wellstar, Tampa General, and a strategic investor.
TYLsemi, a San Jose, CA-based chiplet platform company, raised $43M in funding. The round was led by Matter Venture Partners, with participation from Viola Ventures, GHOVC, Egis Technology, and others.
Sabanto, a Chicago, IL-based autonomous agriculture technology company, raised an undisclosed Series B funding round. The round was led by Leaps by Bayer, with participation from Sustainable Forward Capital, InnoVenture Iowa, Fulcrum Global Capital, DCVC, and Yara.
State Affairs, a Washington, DC-based AI-powered policy intelligence platform, raised $70M in total funding. Investors included Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners, Alumni Ventures, Marcus Brauchli, Alex Mather, Adam Hansmann, and Richard Sarnoff.
DAILY PICKS
🗞️ Must read posts
You’re benchmarking your AI spend against the wrong number: Most startups ask the wrong question: “How much are we spending on AI?” This piece shows why founders should instead ask what each AI tool is replacing - a person, a workflow, or a product cost. It gives founders a simple 30-minute audit to separate useful AI spend from wasted subscriptions and reallocate money toward automation that actually compounds.
Fix the workflow before automating it: Many startups are using AI to move faster, but speed only helps when the underlying workflow is right. This piece shows how automating messy processes can quietly increase costs, hurt customer experience, and damage growth and why the winners redesign workflows before they automate them.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital Updates.
Isogon Ventures, a New York City and Madrid, Spain-based early-stage venture capital firm, is raising its first fund. According to a regulatory form filed with the SEC, Isogon Ventures I, L.P., is targeting up to $150m in commitments but has not raised any sum, yet.
Paradigm, a U.S.-based venture capital firm founded by Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam, raised $1.2 billion for its latest fund. The firm will invest in startups across crypto, AI, robotics, and other technical frontier technologies, expanding beyond its traditional cryptocurrency focus.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest In Tech
DeepSeek eyes $71B valuation ahead of potential IPO
DeepSeek is reportedly seeking to raise $1.5 billion at a $71 billion valuation and is targeting an IPO by 2027, though a public listing could happen as early as later this year.
The Chinese AI startup has rapidly grown since launching in 2023, with its models processing nearly 23% of enterprise AI traffic on Vercel in June, second only to Anthropic.
Despite U.S. chip export restrictions, DeepSeek continues to compete with leading U.S. AI labs using Huawei-powered infrastructure, backed by investors including Tencent and China’s National AI Industry Investment Fund.
Anthropic’s latest AI ad sparks backlash
Anthropic’s new ad, “There’s hope in hard questions,” has drawn criticism for its dark imagery—including burning homes, surveillance, homelessness, and cemeteries—intended to highlight concerns around AI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mocked the campaign, while many people online described the ad as unsettling, arguing its messaging felt overly pessimistic and disconnected from public sentiment.
The campaign reflects Anthropic’s strategy of positioning itself as the safety-focused AI company, but the controversial execution has generated more criticism than praise.
Google faces new AI copyright lawsuit from publishers
Major publishers including Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, and several authors have sued Google, alleging it used copyrighted books without permission to train Gemini and removed copyright information to conceal the practice.
The plaintiffs claim Google exceeded the limited permissions granted through programs like Google Books and Google Play, using those works for AI training without authorization.
The lawsuit adds to the growing legal battle over AI training data and could test Google’s fair use defense in a New York court, despite recent California rulings favoring AI companies.
OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol raises concerns over autonomous file deletion
Some developers report that GPT-5.6 Sol deleted files, databases, and other resources without explicit permission, prompting concerns about the model’s overly autonomous behavior.
OpenAI had already warned in its system card that Sol can be overly agentic, sometimes taking destructive actions or using credentials beyond a user’s intended authorization if instructions aren’t explicit.
The incidents highlight the importance of safeguards such as limited permissions, backups, and testing AI agents in isolated environments before giving them access to production systems.
DeepMind CEO proposes independent AI safety regulator
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has proposed creating an independent standards body to evaluate frontier AI models before release, similar to how FINRA oversees the financial industry.
Under the proposal, AI labs would initially submit advanced models for voluntary review up to 30 days before launch, with the possibility of mandatory certification for deployment in the U.S. later.
Hassabis argues an industry-funded, independently operated body could improve AI safety oversight while avoiding heavy-handed government regulation and keeping pace with rapid AI advances.
Global smartphone shipments hit 13-year low
Global smartphone shipments fell 11% year-on-year in the second quarter, marking the weakest three-month period in over a decade as ongoing DRAM and NAND memory shortages dragged the industry down to its lowest sell-in figure since 2013.
The rising cost of memory is being passed to buyers through higher device prices, with entry- and mid-tier phones hit hardest, making it unfeasible for vendors to keep producing them at their previous price points.
Samsung and Apple both grew shipments and market share despite the slump, reaching 24% and 20% respectively, while Xiaomi, Oppo and vivo all declined and Google and Huawei posted solid gains outside the top five.Global smartphone shipments hit 13-year low
12 states sue to block Paramount's $110B Warner Bros. deal
A coalition of 12 state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit to block the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, saying it would harm theaters, cable distributors, and audiences.
The states argue the deal violates the Clayton Act and would give Paramount 27% of U.S. film distribution, 30% of blockbuster movie distribution, and 27% of the basic cable channel market, lessening competition.
The merger, which combines Paramount+ and HBO Max plus networks like CBS, MTV, CNN, and HBO, already got approval from WBD shareholders and the Justice Department, with CEO David Ellison targeting a September close.
Stripe and Advent bid $53B+ to acquire PayPal
Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly offered to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, valuing the payments company at more than $53 billion with around $50 billion in committed financing.
The proposed deal would give Stripe and Advent equal ownership of PayPal, aiming to strengthen its position as competition intensifies across the digital payments market.
The offer reflects growing consolidation in fintech as payment companies pursue scale, AI capabilities, and faster-growing segments such as cross-border and business payments.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other News
New York State halts construction of all new data centers
New York has become the first U.S. state to temporarily halt permits for new data centers larger than 50 megawatts, citing concerns over electricity demand, water use, noise, and local community impacts.
The moratorium will remain in place while the state completes an environmental review, with officials also considering new grid fees and removing tax incentives for hyperscale data centers.
The move reflects growing public scrutiny of AI infrastructure and could influence similar policies elsewhere as demand for massive AI data centers continues to accelerate.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & Startup Job Opportunities
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Associate - Engine Venture | USA - Apply Here
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