WHAT’S INSIDE

Top Signals: Apple $109.4B Q3, Amazon AWS +37% AI cloud boom, & Meta-BlackRock $14B AI data center

Big Movers: Nvidia backs OpenAI $250B data-center build, OpenAI full-stack AI push, Tesla China exit, & Nscale IPO watch

Open Deals: The Boring Company seeks $4B at $20B, & Whatnot targets ~$20B valuation

Mega Rounds: Moonshot AI $3.5B at $35B, Commonwealth Fusion $1B, Antora $550M, K2 Space $500M, & Function $450M

Exit Watching: Nscale-Anyscale $1.6B, Cyera-Oasis $1B, Okta-Permiso ~$200M, Databricks $188B pre-IPO, & Unitree IPO

The Funding Buzz: Index Ventures $3.5B, Highland Europe €1.1B, & VC pressure/fraud governance signals

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TOP SIGNAL ALERTS

The hottest Signals & News To Watch This Week

Big Tech Earnings Reports

Apple — Reported Q3 EPS $2.02 revenue $109.4B driven strong iPhone sales but Services/Greater China underperformed causing stock to drop 3%+ with upcoming CEO John Ternus transition. Plans letting users pay to boost AI usage limits.

Amazon — Shares soared 14% after reporting 37% revenue growth in AWS for Q2 on robust AI cloud growth + its Chip division achieved $25B revenue challenging Nvidia in AI chip market using Graviton, Trainium silicon.

Meta — Reported strong Q2 ad revenue growth but investors seek clarity on AI investments/diversification with concerns lingering over Reality Labs profitability. Meta and BlackRock finalized $14B data center partnership enhancing AI compute.

Big Movers

Big tech moves, movers and trends to watch this week

Nvidia — Supporting OpenAI's $250B data-center partnership demonstrating strong confidence in the venture significantly enhancing computing power access.

OpenAI — Unveiled "Building Abundant Intelligence" full-stack strategy controlling chips to model design enabling enterprises to deploy AI at scale efficiently/cost-effectively. + reducing prices on two latest GPT-5.6 models.

Tesla — Planning withdrawal from China operations in preparation for upcoming merger with SpaceX marking strategic pivot away from Chinese market.

Nscale — The UK AI cloud provider backed by Nvidia is preparing potential IPO this fall partnering with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan engaging investors amid volatility.

Coinbase — SF crypto exchange reported 19% revenue decline to $1.2B Q2 while renewing revenue-sharing agreement with Circle highlighting continued collab.

DoorDash — Launched FAA-approved drone division enhancing delivery speed/autonomy positioning to expand its service reshaping delivery logistics.

OPEN DEALS

Open Funding Rounds or VC Fund Raises to watch this week

The Boring Company — Elon Musk's tunnel transportation startup is seeking $4B funding at $20B valuation, operating in Las Vegas with major city expansion plans.

Anduril — Costa Mesa autonomous drones/defense startup reportedly in talks securing funding at $100B valuation up from $61B in May signaling rapid growth.

Moonshot — Beijing LLM/AI chat startup closing funding at $31.5B valuation backed Meituan, Tencent targeting follow-on at $50B signaling rapid growth.

Whatnot — LA livestream shopping startup in fashion/sneakers/sports cards reportedly seeking new funding at ~$20B valuation underscoring rapid growth.

IN THE MONEY

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

Massive Deals

Moonshot AI — Beijing Kimi chatbot/open-weight AI startup raised $3.5B at $35B valuation backed China's National AI Industry Investment Fund.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems — Devens MA fusion demonstration reactor startup secured a $1B round as part of total $4B raised from unnamed investor group building commercial fusion power plants.

Antora Energy — Sunnyvale thermal battery startup for industrial/data center electricity raised $550M Series C led G2 Venture Partners, Eclipse with Ribbit Capital, John Doerr.

K2 Space — Torrance large high-power satellite manufacturer raised $500M Series D at $6.8B valuation co-led Kleiner Perkins, ICONIQ with CapitalG, Lightspeed.

Function — Austin recurring lab tests/personalized health startup secured $450M led General Catalyst Customer Value Fund advancing early healthcare risk detection.

Xsight Labs — Tel Aviv programmable data processing units/Ethernet switches startup raised $300M+ at $2.8B valuation led Fidelity for AI/cloud networks.

Simile — SF synthetic user/AI simulation startup raised $200M Series B at $2B valuation led Greenoaks with Index Ventures, Bain Capital after a $100M Series A.

ThreatLocker — Orlando cybersecurity startup blocking unauthorized applications, network activities raised $190M Series F led Elephant with D.E. Shaw, Koch Disruptive totaling ~$500M.

CAIS — NY alternative investment decision firm for independent advisors raised $170M Series D at $2B+ valuation led Vista Equity with AllianceBernstein, Carlyle totaling ~$600M.

Eliyan — Santa Clara chiplet interconnect technology startup raised $145M Series C at $1B valuation led Seligman Ventures with Cisco Investments, Lumentum totaling $1B+.

Large Deals

Freehand — SF AI supplier bill/supply-chain milestone management startup raised $75M seed at $300M valuation co-led Battery Ventures, NewRoad - total $100M.

ChipAgents — San Jose AI agent semiconductor design/verification startup raised $60M Series A2 led B Capital, Bessemer with Micron, MediaTek totaling $134M.

Enigma — Robot control/industrial tech startup raised $70M seed democratizing access to advanced robotics enhancing robotics/UX-UI innovation.

Claros Technologies — Minneapolis PFAS chemical destruction/measurement startup raised $55M Series B led Treehouse Family Capital with Daikin America, Veralto for industrial water/groundwater.

Inforcer — London Microsoft 365 security management startup for MSPs raised $50M Series C led Insight Partners with Dawn Capital, Meritech totaling $110M.

P-1 AI — San Mateo AI industrial design workflow automation startup raised $50M Series A led New Enterprise Associates focused on mechanical/electrical/systems design.

Harmony — NY/Tel Aviv workplace request automation via Slack/Teams raised $34M seed led Lightspeed with Hitachi Ventures, Fin Capital backed Assaf Rappaport.

Encore AI — Tel Aviv customer support/sales agent training startup raised $30M Series A led Team8 with Planven, Garage using communications data analysis.

Smaller Deals

Epitel — Salt Lake City wireless EEG home/clinic seizure monitoring startup raised $26M Series B co-led Catalyst Health Ventures, Genoa Ventures.

Mate — Tel Aviv AI enterprise security/alert investigation startup raised $25M Series A led Canaan Partners with M12, Insight Partners totaling $50M+.

Array Labs — Redwood City radar-satellite fleet mapping/defense startup raised $21M led Mitsubishi Electric with Catapult Ventures, Y Combinator.

Bloom Security — Tel Aviv employee device application blocking startup raised $20M seed led Glilot Capital, Ten Eleven with Okta Ventures, Runtime Ventures.

Centralize — SF enterprise revenue team buying committee mapping startup raised $19M led by NEA with Salesforce Ventures, YC, Stewart Butterfield.

Henry AI — NY commercial real estate document automation startup raised $16.5M Series A led FirstMark Capital with Thomson Reuters Ventures.

Dili — NY payroll/wage/compliance audit error detection startup raised $15M Series A led Khosla with Garry Tan, Allianz totaling $21.7M for federal projects.

Smallest — SF multilingual voice AI startup automating customer conversations, transcription/speech raised $13M Series A led Seligman Ventures totaling $21M+.

Discern — Stamford CT state compliance filings/legal entity management startup raised $10M Series A co-led Walkabout Ventures, Bungalow totaling $17.5M.

Sent — NY SMS/WhatsApp/RCS messaging API startup raised $12M Series A led Companyon Ventures with Bessemer, Urban Innovation Fund.

EXIT WATCHING

Mergers & Acquisitions and IPOs

Nscale — UK cloud provider is acquiring Anyscale AI model training/deployment startup for $1.6B integrating capabilities with existing data centers.

Cyera — Cloud/data/enterprise security leader acquiring Oasis Security for $1B bolstering AI agent defense capabilities solidifying position in AI security market.

Okta — Acquiring Permiso Security Palo Alto identity-based cloud attack detection startup for ~$200M cash founded six years ago raised $29M enhancing identity management.

IPO Watch

Open or upcoming IPOs to watch:

Clear Street — Financial services firm offering pre-IPO access to Databricks valued $188B enabling investment in late-stage private markets ahead of public offering.

Unitree Robotics — Leading Chinese robotics firm launching Shanghai IPO offering 40.45M shares with founder Wang Xingxing retaining control reporting 1.7B yuan revenue.

Ionic Digital — Emerging Celsius Mining bankruptcy launched Nasdaq with 25% share price increase to $2.75B valuation pivoting to AI data-center infrastructure securing $2B 10-year lease.

Jersey Mike's — Sandwich chain launched an IPO with shares opening $21 valuing company $7B+ marking significant event for food retail sector investors.

THE FUNDING BUZZ

VC & PE Activity To Watch

Open Deals

Thrive Holdings — The OpenAI-backed AI holding company is raising $2B from Altimeter/D1 Capital/SoftBank to acquire traditional service businesses transforming with AI tools partnering Accenture on ChatGPT Enterprise.

Khosla Ventures — Menlo Park VC raising $5.5B across new funds in largest yet effort with $1B early-stage, $2B venture, $2.5B mature startup allocations.

Index Ventures — Global VC announced $3.5B new capital with $400M seed fund, $900M venture fund, $2.2B growth vehicle with AI as central investment focus.

Highland Europe — The European VC closed €1.1B sixth fund supporting growth-stage EU tech - brings total raised since 2012 to €3.75B following €1B last year.

VC Pressure — New research highlights intense VC-backed growth expectations leading to higher fraud rates vs bootstrapped firms suggesting stronger governance/financial controls/regulatory oversight.

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FOR INVESTORS
Open Deals
Investors– request an intro to startups - [email protected].

Before we restart our placements of raising startups, we’re sharing an open call to send in your own company. Just shoot us an email with a deck and we may feature you in this bulletin.

For detailed pitch materials, please email [email protected] with your deck.
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