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Hello from Athens! I'm here for our StrictlyVC event with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and other European notables. Please join us if you're in town, and giant thanks again to our partner in the evening, the global entrepreneurship organization for "high-impact" founders, Endeavor. Also, in this week's StrictlyVC Download podcast, Alex interviews Erik Slesinger from 201 Ventures, a firm focused on seed-stage defense tech startups in Europe. They discuss Slesinger's journey from CIA officer to investor and how he’s working to overcome cultural taboos that once made defense investments “bad manners” in European VC circles. Check it out here. -- CL |
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Top NewsElon Musk will move forward with his lawsuit against OpenAI, despite the company’s revised plan to maintain nonprofit control of its for-profit arm. Musk’s lawyer called the changes a smokescreen, arguing OpenAI still benefits private interests like Sam Altman and Microsoft while obscuring key ownership details. Reuters has more here. In a court filing today, the Justice Department formally demanded that Google sell off its AdX exchange and DFP ad server, escalating its antitrust case just weeks after a judge ruled the company illegally monopolized the ad tech market. Google pushed back hard, calling the breakup unworkable and pitching milder conduct fixes instead. The Wall Street Journal has more here. The CFTC just dropped its appeal against Kalshi, clearing the way for the exchange to legally offer bets on U.S. election outcomes—including who wins the Senate or becomes the 2028 presidential nominee. CNBC has more here. |
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Sponsored By ...Harmonic: The startup discovery engine trusted by 1000s of investors, including GV, NEA, and USV. See Harry Stebbings’ jaw drop when he sees Scout for the first time. |
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What OpenAI’s Restructuring Plan Means for Its Corporate Future
By Maxwell Zeff OpenAI said on Monday it is pursuing a new restructuring plan after conversations with Delaware’s and California’s attorneys general, both of whom were closely watching as OpenAI tried to break free of its odd corporate structure. Currently, OpenAI’s nonprofit board governs the organization’s for-profit operations. Under the new plan, OpenAI’s for-profit arm will become a public benefit corporation (PBC) but will still be controlled by OpenAI’s nonprofit. The new restructuring plan may be enough to appease regulators and OpenAI’s investors, who’ve poured billions into the company in expectation of a return someday. But it could also throw a wrench into OpenAI’s future plans, particularly if the company seeks to one day go public. The IPO route Last December, OpenAI outlined a path that would’ve allowed it to spin its for-profit arm out from under the control of its nonprofit board, which is bound by certain obligations, including a clause in its charter to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all humanity. That plan went out the window on Monday. Now OpenAI intends to have its nonprofit control and be a large shareholder of the aforementioned PBC. Besides allowing OpenAI to operate more like a conventional company, a simpler structure could open the door to OpenAI raising additional capital by going public via an IPO. Given OpenAI’s scale, the huge amount of cash it burns, and the public’s massive interest, an IPO seems like something OpenAI might eventually explore. Stephen Diamond, a corporate governance professor at Santa Clara University, told TechCrunch there’s a very narrow path to OpenAI becoming a public company under its newly proposed transition plan. While nonprofits can’t go public, PBCs can. |
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Massive FundingsAtlas Data Storage, a startup spun out of Twist Bioscience that develops synthetic DNA-based archival data storage systems for long-term, high-density digital information preservation, raised a $155 million seed round. Investors included ARCH Venture Partners, Deerfield Management, Bezos Expeditions, Tao Capital Partners, Rsquared VC, Earth Foundry, and In-Q-Tel. More here. Parloa, a seven-year-old Berlin startup that builds AI voice and chat agents to handle customer service calls for large enterprises, raised a $120 million Series B round co-led by Durable Capital Partners, Altimeter Capital Management, and General Catalyst Group Management, with EQT Ventures, RPT Capital Partners, Senovo, and Mosaic Ventures also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here. Quantum Systems, a ten-year-old German company that builds AI-powered drones for defense and commercial applications including aerial intelligence and geospatial data collection, raised a $181.4 million Series A round led by Balderton, with Hensoldt, Airbus Defense, Bullhound Capital, and LP&E as well as previous investors HV Capital, Project A, Peter Thiel, DTCP, Omnes Capital, Airbus Ventures, Porsche, and Notion also stepping up. EU-Startups has more here. Statsig, a four-year-old startup based in Bellevue, WA, that helps companies building digital products like apps, websites, and internal tools make faster, data-driven decisions by testing features and measuring their impact with real-time data and AI, raised a $100 million Series C round at a $1.1 billion valuation. The deal was led by Iconiq Growth, with previous investors Sequoia and Madrona also reupping. GeekWire has more here. Wonder, a five-year-old New York startup founded by Marc Lore that operates hybrid food halls and cloud kitchens and also owns Grubhub and Blue Apron to support its vertically integrated delivery and meal kit operations, raised a $600 million round at a $7+ billion valuation. The deal was led by NEA, with Accel, GV, Forerunner Ventures, and Amex Ventures also anteing up. Bloomberg has more here. |
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Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big FundingsAppSignal, a 13-year-old Dutch company that provides performance monitoring tools for developers to track errors, metrics, and logs in their applications, raised a $22 million Series A round. Elsewhere Partners was the deal lead. SiliconANGLE has more here. Dinari, a four-year-old Palo Alto startup that enables tokenized equity trading backed by real-world assets such as U.S. stocks, raised a $12.7 million Series A round co-led by Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures, with VanEck Ventures, F-Prime, and Blizzard also joining in. CoinDesk has more here. HealthPlan Data Solutions, a fifteen-year-old company based in Columbus, OH, that offers pharmacy benefit management software and analytics to help employers and health plans reduce prescription drug costs, raised a $15 million round led by MK Capital, with Tamarind Hill, JobsOhio, and Rev1 Ventures also buying in. OhioTechNews has more here. Hilo, a seven-year-old Swiss startup that develops wearable devices for continuous, cuffless blood pressure monitoring, raised a $42 million Series B round co-led by Earlybird Health and Wellington Partners, with Kfund and naturalX Health Ventures as well as previous investors redalpine, Khosla Ventures, Molten Ventures, Translink Capital, and Verve Ventures also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. More here. Nuevocor, a five-year-old Singapore startup that is developing gene therapies for genetic cardiomyopathies such as arrhythmogenic and dilated cardiomyopathy, raised a $45 million Series B round co-led by Kurma Partners and Angelini Ventures, with Highlight Capital and SEEDS Capital as well as previous investors EDBI, ClavystBio, and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund also participating. CityBiz has more here. QbDVision, a nine-year-old Austin startup that provides a digital chemistry, manufacturing, and controls platform for pharmaceutical and biotech companies to streamline drug development by transforming fragmented data into structured process intelligence, raised a $13 million round co-led by prior investors Northpond Ventures and S3 Ventures, with Create Health Ventures also opting in. More here. Recraft, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to generate and edit high-quality vector illustrations and icons for designers and marketing teams using its red_panda model, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Accel, with Khosla Ventures and Madrona also participating. TechCrunch has more here. RightRev, a five-year-old startup based in Roseville, CA, that provides revenue recognition automation software for subscription and usage-based businesses, raised a $13 million Series A round co-led by Cheyenne Ventures and Innovius Capital, with Norwest Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Snowflake Ventures also investing. More here. StackOne, a two-year-old London startup that provides AI agents to help businesses integrate and manage their software tools more effectively, raised a $20 million Series A round led by GV, with Workday Ventures, XTX Ventures, Episode 1, and Playfair also participating. More here. Unblocked, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that offers an AI assistant to help developers understand and work with legacy codebases, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by B Capital and Radical Ventures. The company has raised a total of $30 million. TechCrunch has more here. |
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Smaller Fundings3D Spark, a four-year-old Hamburg startup that builds manufacturing and procurement software to help industrial customers analyze 3D print jobs for cost and sustainability, raised a $2.3 million seed round. Triplefair led the transaction. TCT Magazine has more here. AltaResource Technologies, a two-year-old Boulder startup that develops mineral separation technology for critical metals used in batteries and clean energy systems, raised a $4.4 million seed round. DCVC and Voyager Ventures were the co-leads. More here. diio, a two-year-old Chilean startup that builds an AI-powered sales assistant to help food and beverage brands identify leads and automate outreach to retail customers, raised a $2.5 million seed round. Base10 Partners was the lead investor. LatamList has more here. Gestalt Diagnostics, a ten-year-old Spokane company that provides digital pathology software to help pathologists review and diagnose cases remotely and collaboratively, raised a $7.5 million Series A round. Investors included Cowles Ventures, TVF Funds, Inland Imaging Investments, and McKesson Ventures. More here. Goparity, an eight-year-old Lisbon startup that runs a sustainable finance platform allowing individuals to invest in impact projects and earn interest, raised a $3.3 million seed round led by 3XP Global, with Mustard Seed Maze, Schneider Electric, Energy Access, Regenerative.eco, and InvestEco Capital also participating. Silicon Canals has more here. IPercept, a six-year-old Stockholm startup that provides AI-powered predictive maintenance and machine performance optimization tools for industrial manufacturers, raised a $5.7 million round led by Luminar Ventures, with RunwayFBU, Backstage Invest, AI.Fund, and J12 also stepping up. ArcticStartup has more here. Lightsonic, a one-year-old Norwegian startup that turns existing fiber optic cables into AI-powered sensors for detecting leaks and threats across water, gas, and telecom networks, energy grids, and subsea infrastructure, raised a $3.7 million seed round led by Maki.vc, with Raise Ventures and Sondo also digging in. ArcticStartup has more here. Marveri, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that uses AI to automate and accelerate corporate due diligence by organizing, analyzing, and identifying risks across large sets of legal documents, raised a $3.2 million round. Investors included Alven, Day One Ventures, and Lightscape Partners. Business Insider has more here. ReportAId, a one-year-old Milan company that uses AI to interpret and extract insights from medical reports to help healthcare providers improve patient care, engagement, and retention, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Italian Founders Fund, with Heartfelt, Exceptional Ventures, and 2100 Ventures also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here. Row Zero, a four-year-old Seattle company that builds AI-native spreadsheet software designed to let analysts query, transform, and analyze data using natural language, raised a $10 million Series A round led by IA Ventures, with Trilogy Equity Partners, Founder's Co-op, Ludlow Ventures, K9 Ventures, and Functional Capital also buying in. GeekWire has more here. Trilobio, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that builds an AI-powered robotic "lab-in-a-box" that automates biology research workflows, raised an $8 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Argon Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital. More here. |
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Sponsored By ...Seurat, a nine-year-old Boston area startup, is reshoring metal manufacturing with advanced American-born technology. Investors looking to capitalize on the shift to U.S.-led digital manufacturing can read more here. |
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New FundsCoatue just dropped a new tech fund backed by $1 billion from the family offices of Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell offering retail investors a rare seat at the table with a $50,000 minimum. The hybrid vehicle blends public tech stocks with private VC deals—marking yet another step in elite firms lowering the velvet rope for high-net-worth individuals. The Wall Street Journal has more here. |
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ExitsDoorDash announced plans to acquire Deliveroo, a British food delivery company operating in nine countries, for $3.9 billion, and SevenRooms, a New York-based platform that helps restaurants and hotels manage reservations and marketing, for $1.2 billion. The deals aim to grow DoorDash’s global footprint and add software capabilities to its core food delivery business. The New York Times has more here. |
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Going PublicHinge Health, a 10-year-old San Francisco company offering digital physical therapy for joint and muscle pain, is pushing ahead with its IPO despite market jitters from Trump's tariff-induced volatility. Backed by over $825 million from backers like Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, Tiger Global Management, and TCV, was last valued at $6 billion. PharmaPhorum has more here. |
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PeopleX is apparently looking for a public relations executive to ingratiate the company with reporters. The challenges are mighty, Elon Musk's flamethrower personality chief among them. "It certainly would be the challenge of a lifetime," one PR pro commented. Business Insider has more here. |
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Essential ReadsA 2019 internal Meta report revealed that Instagram’s recommendation algorithm pushed minors' profiles to accounts flagged as potential groomers—surfacing 2 million child accounts over three months. The FTC is using the data in its antitrust case to argue that Meta deliberately underfunded Instagram’s safety efforts even after repeated internal warnings about risks to kids. Bloomberg has more here. |
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DetoursThe New York Times takes a hard look at Your Friends & Neighbors, an Apple TV show about a down-and-out hedge funder, and wonders, "Does money always make us miserable?" |
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Retail TherapyThis $22.8 million Nantucket compound sits on an acre of land overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. |
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