Top News | OpenAI is prepping a multibillion-dollar secondary sale that would value the company at $500 billion, possibly hoping that a little liquidity will stop staff from jumping ship to Meta, xAI, and Anthropic. Bloomberg has the scoop here. | Apple announced a $100 billion plan to expand domestic production and shift more of its supply chain to the U.S. in a move likely aimed at dodging Trump’s latest tariff threats. Bloomberg has more here. | | | |
Private capital firms are moving from exploring AI to actively using it, and investors need to keep pace. | Join Affinity on August 28 for a live discussion with BlackRock and OpenAI experts as they explore where AI is showing up in enterprise workflows, how it’s expanding deal team capabilities, and what signals matter most. Register now to learn how to better evaluate opportunities and stay ahead in today’s evolving market. | | A Rival Tea App for Men Is Leaking Its Users’ Personal Data and Driver’s Licenses | | By Amanda Silberling & Zack Whittaker | TeaOnHer, an app designed for men to share photos and information about women they have supposedly dated, has exposed users’ personal information, including government IDs and selfies, TechCrunch can confirm. | The app, which launched on the Apple App Store earlier this week, is a response to another viral app Tea that allows women to post about the men they date. Tea is advertised as a women’s safety app with more than 6 million users that is similar to “Are we dating the same guy?” Facebook networks. However, the app is controversial, since many of the claims that women post cannot be verified. | The backlash surrounding Tea escalated last week, after 404 Media reported 4chan users retaliated by discovering a publicly exposed database belonging to the app, which revealed over 72,000 images, including thousands of selfies and photo IDs submitted for account verification. A subsequent hack exposed more than 1 million private messages sent over the app, prompting the app to disable its messaging feature. | TeaOnHer, which is now ranked No. 2 among Lifestyle apps on iOS, appears to be a direct rebuttal to the Tea app, even copying the language from Tea’s App Store description in its own listing. | But like the app it sought to emulate, TeaOnHer contains security flaws of its own. | TechCrunch has found at least one security flaw that allows anyone access to data belonging to TeaOnHer app users, including their usernames and associated email addresses, as well as driver’s licenses and selfies that users uploaded to TeaOnHer. Images of these driver’s licenses are publicly accessible web addresses, allowing anyone with the links to access them using their web browser. | | | Massive Fundings | Chai Discovery, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose AI models aim to design novel antibodies and other molecules from scratch by predicting target epitopes, raised a $70 million Series A financing round at a post-money valuation of approximately $550 million. Menlo Ventures and its Anthology Fund (Menlo's joint partnership with Anthropic) were the co-leads, with participation from Yosemite, DST Global Partners, SV Angel, Avenir, and DCVC as well as previous investors Thrive Capital, OpenAI, Dimension, Neo, Lachy Groom, and Fred Ehrsam. The Financial Times has more here. | Metis Technologies, a 10-year-old Beijing company whose nanotechnology-based instruments allow drug developers to observe and manipulate molecular interactions inside living cells for faster and more precise drug discovery, raised a $55.7 million Series D round. The investment was co-led by Beijing Medical and Health Industry Investment Fund and Daxing Industrial Investment Fund. More here. | Positive Development, a seven-year-old startup based in McLean, VA, that provides in-home and community-based developmental therapy for children with autism by pairing families with therapists and guides trained in a non-behavioral approach, raised a $51.5 million Series C round. aMoon and previous investors B Capital and Flare Capital Partners co-led the deal, with prior backers Digitalis Ventures and Healthworx also taking part. More here. | Rillet, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to automate accounting tasks, raised a $70 million Series B round at a rumored $500 million valuation, according to Reuters. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ, with Sequoia and Oak HC/FT also taking part. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. Reuters has more here. | | Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings | D-Tools, a 27-year-old company based in Concord, CA, whose business management software helps electronic systems contractors streamline project workflows from sales through installation, raised a $12 million Series C round led by StellarIQ, with Greybull Stewardship also pitching in. More here. | Kotoba Technologies, a seven-year-old company based in Seattle and Tokyo whose software enables real-time simultaneous interpretation of spoken conversations into multiple languages, using voice-to-voice translation models that retain speaker tone and emotional nuance, raised an $11.8 million Seed 2 round co-led by Globis Capital Partners and Boost Capital, with SIP Capital, Joi Ito, and Thomas Wolf also stepping up. Built in Seattle has more here. | Lorikeet, a three-year-old Australian startup whose AI-powered concierges take actions to resolve customer issues, such as replacing lost debit cards, raised a $35 million Series A round led by QED Investors, with Blackbird, Square Peg, Airtree, Obvious Ventures, Skip Capital, and Athletic Ventures also contributing. More here. | Tavily, a one-year-old New York startup that helps companies connect AI agents to the internet in a way that complies with corporate policies by enforcing guardrails around how agents browse, retrieve, and use real-time web data, raised a $20 million Series A co-led by Insight Partners and Alpha Wave Global. The company has raised a total of $25 million. TechCrunch has more here. | | Smaller Fundings | August, a two-year-old New York startup whose AI-powered software aims to help midsize law firms draft and review litigation documents faster and more accurately, raised a $7 million round co-led by NEA and Pear VC and including Afore Capital and Gokul Rajaram. Reuters has more here. | Bisly, an eight-year-old Tallinn startup that makes AI-powered building automation systems that help reduce energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings by controlling systems like lighting, heating, and ventilation, raised a $5 million round. 2C Ventures led the investment, with Aconterra, Pinorena, and SmartCap also anteing up. EU-Startups has more here. | CodeKarma, a two-year-old Indian startup that helps software teams improve productivity by analyzing engineering workflows and delivering personalized suggestions to boost performance, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round. Prosus, Accel, and Xeed Ventures were the co-leads. The Economic Times has more here. | Kontext, a five-year-old Czech startup that helps brands embed AI-powered chatbots directly into their online ads so that consumers can interact with products and services inside the ad unit itself, raised a $10 million seed round led by M13, with Torch Capital and Parable VC also investing. The Recursive has more here. | ️Wattch, a five-year-old Atlanta startup whose sensors and controls systems let energy managers observe and optimize solar panels, battery storage arrays, electric vehicle chargers, and grid-connected assets, raised a $6 million seed round. Spero Ventures was the deal lead. More here. | | |
Harmonic | The AI startup platform trusted by 1000s of investors, including GV, NEA, and USV. | Or book a demo! | | New Funds | Airtree Ventures, an 11-year-old Sydney VC firm, just closed a $420 million fifth fund with backing from Harvard, MetLife, and the University of Wisconsin, marking a big step up in foreign interest as Australia’s once-overlooked tech scene draws attention for minting unicorns like Canva. The Financial Times has more here. | | Going Public | Carro, a 10-year-old Singapore company that operates an online used car marketplace and sells financing and insurance, is preparing for a U.S. IPO as early as 2026 that could raise up to $500 million and value the company at more than $3 billion. The company has raised over $1 billion in debt and equity from investors such as Temasek and SoftBank. Reuters has more here. | | People | Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old ex-DOGE staffer known as "Big Balls," was beaten unconscious by a mob of teens during a brazen carjacking attempt in Washington, DC, prompting President Trump to muse about “federalizing” the city. The New York Post has more here. | In a podcast on Monday, former Google X chief business officer Mo Gawdat called the idea that AI will create new jobs “100% crap” and predicted that AI could even replace CEOs. CNBC has |
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