WHAT’S INSIDE

• Tech Companies to Watch: Startup news and deals from the last week

• 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

BIG MOVERS

Big tech moves, movers and trends to watch this week

OpenAI — A $3B deal to acquire Windsurf has fallen through, and Google DeepMind is now swoop in to acqui-hire Windsurf’s CEO, cofounder, and key R&D staff to boost its own agentic coding efforts.

Nvidia — The chip tech giant has reached a market capitalization of $4 trillion, matching the GDPs of countries like India and Japan.

Apple — Appealing a €500M EU antitrust fine, claiming the ruling overly restricts its App Store operations. Apple aims to overturn the decision while partially complying with EU mandates to avoid additional penalties.

X — Linda Yaccarino has resigned as CEO of Elon Musk's social media platform X after two years, amidst a media furore over the radical free speech policies of Grok.

Amazon — Considering a further multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic to enhance their AI battle with Microsoft and Google. and aid Amazon's own AI tools like the Alexa+ subscription service.

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[OPEN DEALS] RAISING DOLLARS:

Startups, firms or funds raising capital this week

xAI - Elon Musk’s startup is reportedly seeking a $200B valuation in what would be its third fundraising round in two months. It just released Grok 4, benchmarking as the top AI model overall.

SpaceX — Seeking to raise new funding by selling shares to insiders, targeting a valuation of $400B. This marks a significant increase from its $350B valuation in December 2024, with ongoing discussions potentially affecting final deal terms.

Mistral — The French AI startup is in talks to raise $1B shortly after a $1.19B raise. It partners with MGX and Nvidia on an AI data center in Europe, drawing interest from the MGX fund and French banks.

LangChain — The AI infrastructure startup is raising at a $1B valuation. Founded in 2022, it boasts an ARR between $12M and $16M, marking rapid growth and making it an industry leader.

Zerohash — Chicago-based crypto infrastructure provider is raising $100M at a nearly $1B valuation, led by Interactive Brokers. Partnering with firms like Stripe and Securitize, it’s capitalizing on the booming stablecoin sector.

Revolut — The leading UK neobank seeks $1B at a $65B valuation, up from last year. Revenue is up 72% to $4B on 52M customers, despite regulatory challenges and intense competition.

MAKING WAVES

Startups, trends and signals to watch in the USA this week

Trump Media & Technology Group — Launched Truth+, a global TV streaming platform featuring Newsmax, enabling the conservative channel's international expansion.

EssilorLuxottica — Meta strategically invested $3.5B for a minority stake in the eyewear maker, signaling a robust commitment to its continued place in the smart glasses market, and enhancing Meta’s presence in the eyewear industry.

Replit — The leading vibe coding platform, has partnered with Microsoft to offer its services through Azure Marketplace, challenging Google Cloud, its previous host.

Cursor — The vibe coding platform faced backlash after altering its Pro plan to a token-based model amid rising competition from Claude Code. Now at $200M ARR and 40M+ users with strong growth.

Cluely — The ”cheat on anything” AI startup, has seen its ARR double to $7M after launching a new free enterprise product gaining traction from businesses.

US DeepSeek Project — Aims to develop a US-owned fully open-source AI model to counter Chinese models focused on transparency and collaboration. Seeks $100M-500M to achieve this within two years.

IN THE MONEY

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

Massive Deals

iCapital — The NYC investment fintech raised over $820M at a valuation of over $7.5B to drive strategic acquisitions to enhance client experiences and expand asset manager reach, servicing $945B in assets globally.

Bilt — The housing payments loyalty platform startup raised $250M at a $10.75B valuation. The funds will support expansion into condos, student housing, and mortgages, alongside the launch of Bilt Card 2.0.

Also Inc. — A Rivian spinoff focused on micro-EVs, raised $200M from Greenoaks Capital, increasing its valuation to $1B. The company plans to unveil its first designs later this year.

Varda Space — The California-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company raised $187M to expand its space lab for producing drug components, addressing crystallization and purity issues.

Harmonic AI — Co-founded by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, this AI startup secured $100M in Series B funding to enhance AI systems for solving complex problems that outperform humans in math, physics, and comp-sci.

Large Deals

Huspy — The UAE real estate platform raised a $59M Series B led by Balderton. The company plans to expand to over 10 cities by 2025, facilitating $7B in real estate transactions annually.

Neuros Medical — The Ohio-based medical device company raised a $56M Series D to commercialize its FDA-approved non-opioid treatment for chronic post-amputation pain.

Renasant Bio — The Boston biopharma company raised a $54.5M seed to develop treatments for ADPKD via the creation of corrector and potentiator drugs targeting ion channels.

RealSense — The AI-powered computer vision company based on robotics and biometrics spun out from Intel, securing $50M to boost its 3D perception and embedded vision technology.

Virtru — The data security company raised $50M led by ICONIQ, doubling its valuation to $500M. The funding will boost the adoption of Trusted Data Format (TDF) as a global standard for secure data sharing across sectors.

Agora — The stablecoin company raised a $50M Series A led by Paradigm to expand its AUSD stablecoin globally, and has completed its first OTC trade in AUSD.

Smaller Deals

AirMDR — The AI-driven Managed Detection and Response company raised $15.5M to enhance its services for enterprises and SMBs. The funding focuses on R&D and marketing to meet the rising demand in the cybersecurity market.

Portola — The Toronto startup behind the AI companion app Tolan raised $20M in Series A funding to enhance healthier AI companionship and target $12M in revenue this year.

Knox — The compliance management startup secured $6.5M to expedite FedRAMP certification for software vendors. Aiming to cut the process to 3 mths, it offers a managed cloud solution, directly competing with Palantir's FedStart service.

Apolink — The YC-backed startup founded by a 19-year-old, raised $4.3M to develop a continuous satellite connectivity network in low Earth orbit. It plans to launch a 32-satellite constellation, aiming for 99% uptime.

ALTR — The wine technology company raised a $5M seed to develop its alcohol removal tech. ALTR aims to revolutionize the wine industry by maintaining taste and quality while reducing alcohol content.

YPlasma — The NY/Israel energy-efficient plasma actuators for cooling tech startup raised $2.5M for R&D to enhance cooling in data centers and wind turbines and more.

EXIT WATCHING

Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

CoreWeave — Acquires BTC Miner Core Scientific for $9B in stock, securing 1.3 GW of data center power to expand its AI infrastructure footprint. Guides $4.9–$5.1B in 2025 revenue, with ARR up 700% YoY.

EssilorLuxottica — Meta strategically invested $3.5B for a minority stake in the eyewear maker, signaling a robust commitment to its continued place in the smart glasses market, and enhancing Meta’s presence in the eyewear industry.

Windsurf — OpenAI’s $3B deal to acquire the vibe coding startup has fallen through, and Google DeepMind is now scooping up Windsurf’s CEO, cofounder, and key R&D staff to boost its agentic coding efforts.

IPO WATCH

Firefly Aerospace — The Texas aerospace company has filed for an IPO with $56M in Q1 revenue and $1.1B in launch contracts. Despite losses and debt, it plans to grow through strong demand and new partnerships.

Lens Technology — The Chinese glass manufacturer with Apple contracts raised HK$4.69B in its Hong Kong IPO, oversubscribed 462 times. Major investors like UBS and Oaktree Capital acquired substantial shares.

THE FUNDING BUZZ

VC & PE Activity To Watch

Drive Capital — The Ohio-based VC firm successfully returned $500M to investors after a co-founder split. It focuses on investments outside Silicon Valley, emphasizing traditional industries and significant ownership stakes.

OnePrime Capital — The firm has closed its Secondary Fund III at $305M, supported by family offices and pension funds globally. It focuses on direct secondary investments in late-stage software companies.

Boldstart — The VC firm has launched Fund VII with $250M to support innovative technical founders focusing on AI-native infrastructure and new business models to shape the future of enterprise technology.

Propel Venture Partners — The San Francisco-based VC firm closed a $100M Fund V to boost global investments in fintech focusing on startups tackling legacy infrastructure issues. 62 companies backed, 10 at over $100M ARR.

Sarah Smith — Sarah Smith has launched a $16M fund targeting solo general partners, using AI to enhance decision-making in startups, focusing on the Stanford ecosystem.

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