WHAT’S INSIDE

Tether IPO, Applied Digital expands, BOND Buys Jets, Codi’s $100,000 ARR, Turbo AI hits 5M users,  Crusoe $1.4B, Redwood Materials $350M, Sesame $250M Rounds

• Big Movers: The Big tech movers, shakers and partnerships this week

• Making Waves: Companies making a buzz in the Tech world

• Open Deals: Startups raising capital this week

• In The Money: Significant raises last week and why they matter

• Exit Watching: Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

• The Funding Buzz: VC & PE Activity To Watch

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BIG MOVERS

Big tech moves, movers and trends to watch this week

OpenAI — Launches Atlas browser to compete with Chrome. Engaged 100+ former investment bankers at $150/hr to enhance AI systems for financial modeling, aims to automate banking tasks, diversify AI applications for professionals.

Microsoft — Launched CoPilot Mode for Edge to compete with OpenAI's Atlas; enhanced Copilot with group collaboration for up to 32 users and "real talk" mode; introduced Mico, an AI assistant addressing past failures like Clippy and Cortana.

Google — Merges quantum computing with AI; DeepSomatic AI and Willow chip; YouTube paid $8B to music industry; Negotiates Anthropic cloud deal.

Amazon — Introduces Blue Jay robot to automate 75% of warehouse tasks; developing AI-powered smart glasses for delivery drivers with hands-free scanning; committed $2.5B to train 50M workers by 2030; major AWS outage disrupted net.

Meta — Cutting 600 jobs from its FAIR division, to shift focus to the TBD Lab superintelligence unit, targeting commercial AGI over academic AI. Backed by a significant investment in Scale AI. Meta is embroiled in litigation over mental health .

Uber — Launched a digital tasks program for drivers to earn extra by completing online jobs aiding AI model training. Successfully tested in India, it offers tasks like voice clip recording. The data labeling market is projected to hit $17B by 2030.

Tesla — The EV giant reported disappointing Q3 earnings, missing EPS expectations despite revenue growth. Elon Musk emphasized future robotaxi ambitions, highlighting a strategic focus amid rising costs.

Netflix — The global streaming giant is integrating generative AI to enhance content creation, improving efficiency and reducing costs in visual effects. CEO is confident AI will enhance storytelling. Q3 revenue rose 17% to $11.5B.

Samsung — Launched the Galaxy XR headset at $1,800, featuring Gemini AI for voice control and cloud processing. Collaborating with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, Samsung aims to lead in AI-powered smart glasses.

Intel — Q3 revenue hit $13.65B, exceeding expectations with a 6% stock rise. The $8.9B government investment marks a new era. Client Computing Group earned $8.5B. A $5B Nvidia partnership focuses on AI processor integration.

[OPEN DEALS] RAISING DOLLARS:

Startups, firms or funds raising capital this week

Worktrace AI — Founded by Angela Jiang, a former OpenAI product manager, this startup specializes in automating business tasks with AI is raising $10M at a $50M valuation, backed by OpenAI's startup fund and top VCs.

Revolut — The UK-based fintech company is finalizing a $3B fundraising round, valuing it at $75B. Focused on global expansion, Revolut conducted this oversubscribed round independently, aiming to provide liquidity to early investors.

Suno Inc. — The AI music generation startup is negotiating over $100M funding at a valuation above $2B. With $100M ARR, Suno is in talks with major record labels to address copyright issues, as the industry seeks frameworks for AI-generated content.

MAKING WAVES

Startups making waves, hot trends and signals to watch in the USA this week:

Tether — Tether anticipates $15B in profits for 2025, with a 99% profit margin. Amid IPO rumors targeting a $500B valuation, the company is expanding with new products like a USAT stablecoin and tokenized gold, plus minting more USDT.

Applied Digital — Secured a $5B lease for AI infrastructure with a U.S. hyperscaler, expanding capacity to 600MW. Despite this, the stock fell over 7% due to concerns about market valuations and risks in AI infrastructure profitability.

Bond — The new US-based company, led by former Jet Edge CEO Bill Papariella, placed a $1.7B order for 50 Bombardier private jets. Targeting the high-end market, BOND emphasizes personalized service and exclusivity, with ops from 2027.

Codi — The Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup, based in San Fran, launched an AI office management platform that hit $100,000 ARR within five weeks of beta. The platform automates office logistics, potentially saving companies $80K p/a.

Turbo AI — This AI notetaker hit 5M users and eight-figure ARR, achieving profitability. Initially a student tool, it now serves professionals with features like quizzes and a chat assistant.

Erebor — Palmer Luckey's digital banking startup has received conditional regulatory approval to operate. Backed by investors like Joe Lonsdale and Peter Thiel, it aims to provide stable banking for tech firms via cash & stablecoin deposits.

MrBeast Financial — MrBeast filed a trademark for a banking and crypto services app under Beast Holdings LLC. The app plans to offer financial services and a credit card, marking a potential first for influencer-led banking.

TEAMING UP

Startups joining forces via partnerships or joint projects this week:

Anthropic — In talks with Alphabet Inc. for a cloud deal worth tens of billions. This would leverage Google's TPUs to boost Anthropic's machine learning capabilities, building on their existing investment and services collaboration.

Palantir — Secured a $200M multi-year deal with Lumen Technologies to enhance enterprise AI infrastructure. Will transform Lumen into an AI-powered business services provider while boosting Palantir's Foundry platform revenue.

IN THE MONEY

Companies that raised money in the past week and why they matter

Massive Deals

Crusoe — The data center company, operating out of Texas, secured $1.4B in funding, elevating its valuation to over $10B. The round was led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital, supporting hardware expansion and hiring.

Redwood Materials — The Nevada-based battery recycling startup raised a $350M Series E led by Eclipse with Nvidia joining at a $6B valuation. It aims to lead in repurposing used EV batteries for grid-scale energy storage.

Sesame — Brendan Iribe, co-founder of Oculus, raised a $250M Series B for his AI startup developing smart glasses that respond to natural speech. Funded by Sequoia and Spark, it aims to compete with Meta's AR efforts, with former Oculus execs.

OpenEvidence — The medical AI tool, similar to ChatGPT, raised $200M at $6B led by Google Ventures, following a $210M round. It supports medical professionals with quick access to knowledge, doubling monthly clinical consultations to 15M.

LangChain — The AI infrastructure startup reached unicorn status with a $1.25B valuation after raising $125M in a Series B led by IVP. LangChain is advancing from a simple LLM wrapper to a key player in developing sophisticated AI agents.

Uniphore — Uniphore, a leader in Business AI Cloud solutions, raised $260M in a Series F round led by NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, and Databricks. The funding aims to boost AI adoption among Fortune 500 companies, with clients like KPMG.

Large Deals

ShopMy — The curated commerce platform raised $70M at a $1.5B valuation led by Avenir, with 185,000 tastemakers driving over $1B in annual sales and 200% revenue growth while maintaining profitability since 2024.

Seneca — The autonomous fire suppression startup launched with $60M to develop drone technology for rapid wildfire response, collaborating with fire agencies and public safety partners to enhance firefighting efforts in the U.S.

Chemify — The digital chemistry company raised over $50M Series B to boost its AI-driven molecular design and manufacturing, with plans for a new Silicon Valley facility to accelerate global expansion in drug discovery and materials science.

Serval — The IT service management startup raised $47M Series A for its dual-agent AI system that automates tasks while maintaining oversight, serving major clients including Perplexity and Mercor with its "vibe-coding" method.

UnifyApps — The AI startup specializing in automating routine tasks raised $50M Series B led by WestBridge Capital at a $250M valuation, with Ragy Thomas joining as chairman and co-CEO, totaling $81M raised.

Sumble — Founded by Kaggle creators Anthony Goldbloom and Ben Hamner, the AI sales intelligence startup raised $38.5M, securing 17 enterprise clients and achieving 550% revenue growth since launching in April 2024.

Keycard — The identity and access platform for AI agents raised $38M to enhance integration with existing identity solutions, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Acrew Capital, with co-founders expanding their R&D team.

Defakto — The Non-Human IAM platform provider secured a $30.75M Series B led by XYZ Venture Capital to advance product development and market expansion, enhancing security for automated enterprise interactions.

Smaller Deals

ChipAgents — The agentic AI platform for semiconductor design raised $21M to automate tasks and boost efficiency, with plans for R&D expansion and a new Silicon Valley HQ amid 60-fold usage growth among major firms.

Estuary — The right-time data platform raised $17M Series A led by M13, merging real-time and batch data processes to cut costs by 40-60% and enhance data infrastructure efficiency for enterprises.

Darwin AI — The AI governance startup raised $15M Series A led by Insight Partners to enhance Darwin Govern and LaunchPad platforms, focusing on compliance and transparency for U.S. government AI adoption.

Streetbeat — The US-based wealth management platform raised $15M, totaling $25M, to scale StreetbeatPRO for automated investing and portfolio analysis, supporting international expansion with a Europe retail launch planned for 2026.

Wonder Studios — The UK-based AI content production company raised $12M seed led by Atomico, backed by OpenAI and DeepMind executives, to expand engineering and focus on original IP creation.

AdsGency AI — The San Francisco-based AI-driven advertising startup raised $12M seed led by XYZ Venture Capital, automating campaign planning and execution with customers like TAL Education and Mobvoi reporting strong ROAS.

Generation Lab — The US-based longevity diagnostics company raised $11M seed, totaling $15M, with its SystemAge™ platform in 275+ clinics offering 99.9% diagnostic accuracy to standardize longevity healthcare insights.

EXIT WATCHING

Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

Warner Bros. Discovery — Netflix, Amazon, and Apple interested in acquiring WBD or key assets like HBO and DC Studios; potential sales may split cable and streaming operations.

OpenAI — Acquired Software Applications, Inc., creators of Sky, an AI-powered natural language interface for Mac, to integrate OpenAI's technology into consumer and business applications.

Hologic — Blackstone and TPG to acquire the Massachusetts-based medical technology company for up to $18.3B at $76/share, taking it private in H1 2026.

Evernorth — Backed by Ripple, the company plans to raise over $1B via Nasdaq listing by SPAC merger in Q1 2026; SBI invests $200M to enhance XRP adoption.

Coinbase — Acquiring onchain investment platform Echo for $375M in cash-and-stock deal; Echo will remain standalone and integrate its Sonar product into Coinbase.

FalconX — Leading crypto prime broker will acquire 21Shares, an exchange-traded products specialist, to strengthen derivatives and structured crypto funds capabilities.

Veeam — The backup solutions provider acquires Securiti AI for $1.725B in cash-and-stock deal to boost data control and security in the AI era, closing in December.

IPO Watch

Open or upcoming IPOs to watch:

Tether — The stablecoin giant is rumored to be eyeing an IPO targeting a $500B valuation, it anticipates $15B in profits, with a 99% profit margin. Expanding with new products like a USAT stablecoin and tokenized gold, plus minting more USDT.

Yangtze Memory Technologies — China-based 3D NAND flash memory chipmaker plans mainland China IPO next year with potential valuation up to $40B.

THE FUNDING BUZZ

VC & PE Activity To Watch

[OPEN FUND] Polaris Partners — Boston-based VC firm with a portfolio of over 400 companies plans to raise $500M for its eleventh fund targeting biotech and healthcare innovations.

BoxGroup — The New York and San Fran-based VC firm secured $550M across its seventh core fund and fourth follow-on fund to invest in early-stage startups including Ramp, Plaid, Clay, Cursor, and Ro.

NFX — The Silicon Valley-based VC firm raised $325M for its fourth fund to back ~50 startups in Israel and Silicon Valley, targeting cybersecurity, DevOps, AI infrastructure, consumer AI, crypto, and stablecoins.

Asymmetric Capital Partners — Boston-based VC firm founded by Rob Biederman in 2021 raised $137M for its second fund focusing on software, tech-enabled services, and small-business consolidations.

Burnt Island Ventures — The San Fran-based VC firm raised $50M for its second fund to back seed-stage water technology startups focusing on advanced water treatment and AI-based monitoring, partnering with Xylem.

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