Top News | Tesla’s robotaxis launch: Tesla’s self-driving taxi service launched over the weekend with cars operating in part of the Austin area. The Waymo competitor charges $4.20 per ride, and for now, it’s only available on an invite basis. But as with Waymo, we expect Tesla’s self-driving Uber competitor to expand its geographic area of service, add more cars, work towards not having humans in the car to help in case of an emergency, and continue expanding to new cities. Competition sharpens swords, so it’s great to see one trillion dollar company take on another! DeepSeek gets drafted: After making global headlines for its AI work — recall the industry-wide panic after R1 showed you could do more AI with less compute — DeepSeek has has become a very visible company in China. Behind the scenes, the United States now claims that the company is both helping China’s military, and using shell companies to skirt chip import rules. The States’ “conclusions reflect a growing conviction in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on U.S. technology,” Reuters writes. Cold compute: Flush with $23 million worth worth of capital, Snowcap threw its hat into the supercomputing ring today. The goal: supporting computing systems at very, very low temperatures. Think quantum-computing level cold. Why does that matter? If you cool compute down far enough, chip materials superconduct, which means no electric resistance. That could mean more efficient computing systems just at the moment when the technology industry is grappling with exploding power needs and aging grids that may struggle to support. One to watch.
| TWiST500 | We might add SnowCap to the TWiST500 as part of our upcoming mega batch — we have 40-50 companies that should get added later this week. | But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t news aplenty from the current set of member companies. Two items have particular weight today: | Thinking Labs: Crunchbase News reports that the $2 billion round that Thinking Labs raised last Friday — we touched on it here in the newsletter — is a funding event of “unprecedented hugeness.” While we’ve become inured to the scale of AI rounds in 2025, Thinking Labs’ Seed round may be simply the largest we’ve ever seen. Chalk up one for Mira Murati, a former OpenAI exec who is already setting records after going out on her own. Harvey: Mere months after raising $300 million at a $3 billion valuation, legal tech AI startup Harvey has raised another $300 million, this time at a $5 billion valuation, Fortune reports. How did the company manage to raise another nine-figure round when it was still taking the rubber bands off its last megaround? Simple. Harvey grew its revenue from an annualized $50 million figure “earlier this year” to $75 million in April. Given that April is the fourth month of the year, Harvey must be growing like a weed.
| So much for concerns about AI revenue quality and durability, yeah? Or at least investors are not worrying about it. The last time we saw companies raise back-to-back rounds worth hundreds of millions of dollars was almost never, making the Harvey news a true outlier. | Perhaps in 2026 we’ll add one more zero to everything in AI-land, but for now, it’s all systems go for pushing even more capital into today’s buzziest startups. Onward! — Alex | A message from LinkedIn Jobs | A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/twist to post your first job for free. Terms and conditions apply. | This Week in Startups | E2141: It’s a Friday TWiST-apalooza, with Jason and Alex talking Meta’s aggressive AI strategy, Midjourney’s major recent advancements, the ongoing debate about copyright and AI model training, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s cautionary memo. PLUS a visit from Giram Taitana of Doctours to talk about the growing field of medical tourism and why so many Americans are traveling overseas to get work done. | E2140: On a Wednesday TWiST, Jason and Alex consider Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s cautionary AI memo to staff, Pano AI’s $44M raise to detect wildfires with drones, OpenAI’s big podcast plans, and Traversal’s emergence from stealth. PLUS Actuality founder Rishabh Gupta stops by to explain how they’re improving the RFP process. | E2139: It’s time for a fresh TWiST! Alex and Jason are investigating Meta taking a 49% stake in Scale AI, and ponder Zuckerberg’s motives behind this mega-deal. Plus tactical advice for founders looking to capitalize when major incumbents stumble, why the US Navy is recruiting defense startups, Jason flirting with AI doomerism, and much much more. | TWiST Partner Offers | Northwest Registered Agent: Starting your business should be simple. With Northwest Registered Agent, you can form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. From LLCs to trademarks, domains to custom websites, they’ve got you covered. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today! Retool: Bridge the gap between AI demos and business impact with technology that's designed for developers, and built for the enterprise. Visit retool.com/twist and try it out today. Pilot: Focus on your product, let Pilot handle your bookkeeping. Pilot provides the most reliable accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses. Head to https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.
| LAUNCH Accelerator | We’re hosting an in-person Demo Day for LA34 in SF on July 16 from 9a-12p PT, the latest cohort from Jason Calacanis’ Accelerator. | If you are an early-stage investor and interested in attending, please reach out to bianca@launch.co. | Want to Work for This Week in Startups? | We’re looking to fill two in-person sales positions at our Austin, Texas HQ! First, a high-performing Sales Executive to help us seek out and promote clients, sponsorships, branded content, and more. Plus an experienced Sales Manager to lead, coach, and scale our sales executive team, while setting performance goals. Love the podcast and have B2B sales experience? We want to hear from you! | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | Founder University | Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 11, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Summer 2025! | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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