☕ Tesla halts Optimus production over design challenges & Sora hit 1M downloads faster than ChatGPT.
Meta and Ray-Ban target 10 million AI glasses by 2026 & China tightens export controls on rare earths.
Quick update: We’re doing some maintenance on the newsletter over the next few days. The next issue will land in your inbox on October 15. Thanks for your patience and support!
📬 What’s in store:
Today’s Picks: Vercel CEO on networking, SaaS financial model, valuation basics, Elad Gil on emerging markets, Andreessen’s funding framework, Artisan’s $25M deck.
Andreessen Horowitz, denied recent reports claiming it was opening an office in India.
Microsoft flexes its AI muscle as Nadella reminds OpenAI who already runs the world’s biggest data centers.
Intel unveils new processor powered by its 18A semiconductor tech.
Figma partners with Google to add Gemini AI to its design platform.
Sora hit 1M downloads faster than ChatGPT.
Tesla halts Optimus production over design challenges.
Meta and Ray-Ban target 10 million AI glasses by 2026.
China tightens export controls on rare earths.
Former British PM Sunak joins Microsoft, Anthropic in advisory roles.
Sora copycats flooded Apple’s App Store, and some still remain.
VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.
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DAILY PICKS
🗞️ What else is brewing
Vercel CEO on networking. (Link)
SaaS startup financial model: All-in-One Excel template. (Link)
This is what every founder should know about valuation. (Link)
Elad Gil literally shares the secret to identifying emerging markets. (Link)
How much funding should a startup raise? - Marc Andreessen’s framework. (Link)
Artisan’s $25M Series A deck, which they just released. (Link)
Chris Dixon’s 2009 essay, “Climbing the Wrong Hill,” remains highly relevant today. (Link)
40 real startup pitch decks that raised $350M+ (Including leading startups decks) (Link)
Amplitude’s product benchmark report: a must-read. (Link)
Sam Altman: What I wish someone had told me. (Link)
Elad Gil’s list of biotech companies he wishes existed is well worth a read. (Link)
What is the Price of Demand? (Link)
The Math of Hypergrowth: Two Paths to the Same Goal. (Link)
STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS
💰 Startup funding updates
Hoverfly Technologies, a Sanford, FL-based provider of tethered drone systems for defense and security, closed a $20m Series B funding round. The round was led by existing investor Leonardo DRS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRS) and new partner Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM).
FurtherAI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform for insurance, raised $25m in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $30m, was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Y Combinator, amongst others.
Nilo Therapeutics, a NYC-based biotechnology company harnessing neural circuits to restore immune homeostasis in disease, launched with a $101m Series A financing. The round was led by The Column Group (TCG), DCVC Bio, and Lux Capital, with participation from the Gates Foundation and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Knapsack, a Portland, OR-based intelligent product engine powering AI-native digital product creation, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round was led by Builders VC, with participation from Crosslink Capital, Epic Ventures, Mana Venture, and Lorimer Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $20.8m.
Routefusion, an Austin, TX-based financial infrastructure provider, closed a $26.5m Series A funding round. The round, which brought total funding to $40.7m, was led by PeakSpan Capital, with participation from Silverton Partners.
Mentium, an Austin, TX-based provider of an AI-native platform building “digital workers” for freight brokerages and the wider logistics sector, raised $3.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from Matchstick Ventures, Tower Research Capital, Antler, MBA Ventures, and angel investor Michael Witte, founder and CEO of Equal Parts.
Search Party, a San Francisco, CA-based startup which specializes in generative engine optimization (GEO), raised $3.5M in funding. The round was led by Fuse.
Echelon, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI platform automating enterprise IT implementations, development, operations and managed services, raised $4.75M in Seed funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures. Additional investors included angels and executives from Anthropic, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Meta, Atlassian and PagerDuty.
Focal, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-powered productivity platform purpose-built for financial advisors, raised $5M in funding. The round was led by Distributed Ventures, along with Wischoff Ventures and others.
Vulcan Technologies, an Austin, TX-based reg-tech company offering advanced AI to help government agencies and legal professionals with regulatory drafting and compliance, raised $10.9M in Seed funding. The round was led by General Catalyst and Cubit Capital, with participation from Chief Oil & Gas founder Trevor Rees-Jones, SV Angel, A*, Liquid 2 Ventures, Transpose, 468 Capital, Y Combinator, the founders of Dropbox, and other strategic investors.
Onos Health, a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare AI company supporting how health plans manage behavioral health, raised $6M in funding. The round was led by Haystack and Pathlight Ventures, with participation from Pre-Seed investors Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments and Nebular.
Kneu Health, a London, UK-based provider of a precision neurology platform, raised $5.6M in Seed funding. The round was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Cedars-Sinai, with participation from Social Impact Enterprises, JIMCO, G.K. Goh Ventures and SXSW London.
Realm.Security, Boston, MA-based company providing an AI-native security data pipeline platform (SDPP), raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Jump Capital, with participation from Glasswing Ventures and Accomplice.
Coinflow, a Chicago, IL-based payment service provider (PSP), raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from CMT Digital, Coinbase Ventures, The Fintech Fund, Jump Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, and founders and operators from other companies.
Quilter, a Los Angeles, California-based company committed to publicly demonstrating fully autonomous printed circuit board design using physics-based artificial intelligence, raised $25M Series B funding. The round was led by Index Ventures.
Asterix Foods, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based plant cell culture systems provider, raised $4.2M in Seed funding. The round was led by CPT Capital with participation from ReGen Ventures, SOSV, Grok Ventures and the Israeli Innovation Authority.
NEW VCs IN THE MARKET
🏦 Venture Capital updates
Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, denied recent reports claiming it was opening an office in India, calling the news “entirely fake.” The reports suggested a16z was setting up in Bengaluru and hiring a local partner, but General Partner Anish Acharya publicly refuted the claim. While a16z has made some investments in India—like backing CoinSwitch—it currently has no plans to establish a physical presence in the country.
KEY STORIES IN TECH
📜 Latest in tech
Microsoft flexes its AI muscle as Nadella reminds OpenAI who already runs the world’s biggest data centers
Satya Nadella shared a video unveiling Microsoft’s first massive AI “factory”, powered by 4,600 Nvidia GB300 racks and Blackwell Ultra GPUs connected through InfiniBand.
The timing is key — it comes right after OpenAI’s $1 trillion data center spree with Nvidia and AMD, signaling that Microsoft already holds the infrastructure advantage.
With 300+ data centers across 34 countries, Microsoft claims it’s “uniquely positioned” to power the next generation of frontier AI models with “hundreds of trillions of parameters.”
Intel unveils new processor powered by its 18A semiconductor tech
Intel introduced a new processor called Panther Lake — the first chip built using its advanced 18A semiconductor process.
The new chip, part of the Intel Core Ultra lineup, is produced at the company’s Fab 52 facility in Chandler, Arizona, and will start shipping later this year.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan called it a major leap for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing, aligning with his mission to rebuild Intel’s engineering-first culture.
Figma partners with Google to add Gemini AI to its design platform
Figma announced a partnership with Google to integrate Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.0, and Imagen 4 into its design software, enhancing image editing and generation.
The integration will enable Figma’s 13 million users to create and modify AI-generated images faster — early tests showed a 50% latency reduction in the “Make Image” feature.
The deal aligns with Google’s broader push for Gemini Enterprise and comes as AI leaders race to embed their models into widely used productivity apps.
Sora hit 1M downloads faster than ChatGPT
OpenAI’s video-generation app Sora reached 1 million downloads in under five days, surpassing ChatGPT’s launch pace despite being invite-only.
Appfigures data shows Sora saw 627,000 iOS downloads in its first week, topping ChatGPT’s 606,000, with Canada contributing around 45,000 installs.
The app’s viral traction on social media, driven by Sora 2’s realistic deepfake videos, has sparked both fascination and ethical concerns online.
Tesla halts Optimus production over design challenges
Tesla has reportedly halted production of its Optimus robots because engineers are struggling to create human-like, dexterous hands, leading to a significant delay in the original manufacturing timeline.
The company now has a stockpile of Optimus bodies that are missing their hands and forearms, with no clear indication of when these partially built units will be completed and shipped.
After protests from engineers about unrealistic targets, the goal for producing 5,000 Optimus units by year-end was revised to just 2,000 robots for the remainder of 2025.
Meta and Ray-Ban target 10 million AI glasses by 2026
Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica is partnering with Meta to increase manufacturing, with a plan to produce 10 million units of their AI-powered smart glasses annually by the end of next year.
The company already has the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display for texts and video calls, viewing glasses as central devices that could one day replace smartphones for many daily tasks.
Meta faces increased competition from Alibaba’s new Quark AI glasses in China, as well as from multiple head-mounted projects that Apple is expected to roll out by 2027.
China tightens export controls on rare earths
Foreign companies must now get special approval to export products with even small traces of rare earths elements sourced from China, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce.
The government is also imposing permitting requirements on the export of technologies related to rare earths mining, smelting, and recycling, extending the new controls to magnet-making as well.
The Commerce Ministry said the restrictions are meant to safeguard national security by stopping the transfer of elements or technologies from China to overseas groups for military or sensitive uses.
Former British PM Sunak joins Microsoft, Anthropic in advisory roles
Rishi Sunak has joined Microsoft and AI startup Anthropic as a senior adviser, focusing on global strategy, macroeconomic, and geopolitical trends.
Both roles comply with U.K. ethics rules, prohibiting him from lobbying or advising on U.K. policy; all proceeds will be donated to The Richmond Project, a charity he co-founded.
Sunak, who remains an MP, also rejoined Goldman Sachs in July as an adviser, marking a return to his finance roots.
LAST COFFEE SIP
☕ Other news
Sora copycats flooded Apple’s App Store, and some still remain
After OpenAI’s official Sora video app launch, Apple’s App Store was flooded with fake “Sora” and “Sora 2” apps, many of which slipped past Apple’s review process.
Appfigures found over a dozen impostor apps, collectively racking up 300,000 installs, including 80,000 after the real Sora app’s debut — with some earning over $160,000 in total.
While Apple has since removed many of these fakes, a few still remain live, raising questions about App Store review oversight and consumer confusion.
HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES
💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities
All-In-One VC Interview Preparation Guide: With a leading investors group, we have created an all-in-one VC interview preparation guide for aspiring VCs. Don’t miss this. (Access Here)
Trade Operations Lead - Manhattan Venture Partner | USA - Apply Here
VP of Fundraising - Scale Asia Venture | Japan - Apply Here
Analyst - Tower Research Venture | USA - Apply Here
Research Analyst - Positive Sum | USA - Apply Here
Fund Operations Associate - TNB Aura | Singapore - Apply Here
VP, Ventures - Synchroni Venture | USA - Apply Here
Research Intern, Crypto - a16z | USA - Apply Here
Senior VC Analyst - Working Capital Fund | USA - Apply Here
2026 Venture Capital Summer Analyst - Stepstone Group | USA - Apply Here
AI Venture Analyst Intern - Untaped Venture | USA - Apply Here
Investor Relations Manager - Beco Capital | UK - Apply Here
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