Top News | OpenAI released GPT-5 after two years of development, claiming it offers sharper reasoning, improved coding performance, and the ability to build full applications from simple prompts. TechCrunch has more here. | In its announcement today, OpenAI apparently indulged in a little “vibe graphing.” The Verge has more here. | | | |
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| By Sarah Perez | After a second-quarter earnings beat, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky shared his thoughts on the company’s AI strategy, cautioning investors that AI chatbots can’t yet be thought of as the “new Google.” That is, AI chatbots, while potentially driving new leads to the travel and services business, aren’t entirely a replacement for the referrals that the dominant search engine brings. | At least not at this time. | “I think we’re still kind of feeling out the space,” the exec told investors on the Q2 earnings call. “The thing I want to caution is I don’t think that AI agents — I don’t think we should think of chatbots like Google — I don’t think we should think of them as the ‘new Google’ yet.” | This, Chesky explained, is because AI models aren’t “proprietary.” | “We also have to remember that the model powering ChatGPT is not proprietary. It’s not exclusive to ChatGPT. We — Airbnb — can also use the API, and there are other models that we can use,” he said. | Painting a broader picture of the AI landscape, Chesky said that in addition to chatbots and other AI agents, there will be custom-built startups designed for specific applications, as well as other incumbents that have made the shift to AI. | “One of the things we’ve noticed is it’s not enough to just have … the best model. You have to be able to tune the model and build a custom interface for the right application. And I think that’s the key,” he said. | | | Massive Fundings | Capitolis, a nine-year-old New York startup that builds software that helps banks and other financial institutions reduce redundant exposures in their trading books so they can free up capital, raised a $56 million round co-led by Barclays, BNP Paribas, and JPMorgan, with Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Greenfield Partners also taking part. More here. | Decart, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds AI models that allow users to transform live or pre-recorded video streams frame by frame using only text prompts, raised a $100 million round at a $3.1 billion valuation, its third funding round in 11 months. Investors included Aleph as well as previous investors Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, and Zeev Ventures. The company has raised a total of $153 million. CTech has more here. | Stavtar, a nine-year-old New York startup that automates how alternative asset managers handle business expenses, raised a $55 million Series A round. Elephant supplied the capital. More here. | Strand Therapeutics, a nine-year-old Boston startup that engineers synthetic mRNA therapies that are programmed to activate only inside tumors with the aim of helping doctors visualize and destroy cancer cells with greater precision, raised a $153 million Series B round led by Kinnevik, with Regeneron Ventures, Iconiq, Amgen Ventures, Alderline Group, JIC-VGI, LG Technology Ventures, and Gradiant Corp. as well as previous investors FPV Ventures, Playground Global, Eli Lilly, ANRI, and Potentum also piling on. The company has raised a total of $250+ million. More here. | | Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings | DISA Technologies, an eight-year-old startup based in Casper, WY, that builds dry mineral separation systems that let mining companies recover valuable metals from waste rock without using water or chemicals, raised a $30 million Series A extension round led by Evok Innovations, with Constellation Technology Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Veriten, and Halliburton Labs also contributing. More here. | Docyt, a 10-year-old company based in Santa Clara, CA, that builds AI-powered software that automates bookkeeping and accounting tasks for SMBs, raised a $12 million round. Pivot Investment Partners was the deal lead. More here. | Kustomer, a 10-year-old company based in Short Hills, NJ, that builds software that helps brands manage their customer service messages in one place and use AI to automate replies and support tasks, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Norwest, with previous investors Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Boldstart also investing. More here. | | Smaller Fundings | Elion, a four-year-old New York startup that helps healthcare organizations evaluate and choose AI products by providing evidence-based research, product comparisons, and expert insights, raised a $9.3 million seed round led by previous investor NEA and including Cedars Sinai Health Ventures, TMV, Scrub Capital, and Alumni Ventures. More here. | ️Hylenr, a one-year-old Hyderabad startup that builds modular clean fuel generation systems that use advanced thermal and electrical energy sources, including nuclear, to produce green hydrogen and other fuels onsite, raised a $3 million round. Valour Capital and Chhattisgarh Investments were the co-leads. The Times of India has more here. | Lava Payments, a three-year-old company that builds digital wallets that let brands pay their independent sales agents directly and manage billing and payouts in real-time, raised a $5.8 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau, with Harlem Capital, Streamlined Ventures, and Westbound also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here. | Orbital Operations, a one-year-old startup based in Huntington Beach, CA, that is building a hydrogen-fueled spacecraft designed to transport cargo and refuel satellites in orbit, raised an $8.8 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with Harpoon Ventures, DTX Ventures, Rebel Fund, TRAC VC, Karman Ventures, and Immad Akhund also participating. Space News has more here. | Tracelight, a two-year-old London startup that develops AI tools that help finance teams build and manage financial models by automatically generating forecasts, valuations, and scenario analyses from company data, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by Chalfen Ventures, with Acequia Capital, Inovo, and EF also anteing up. Silicon Canals has more here. | WiseBee, a year-old New York startup that provides autonomous cybersecurity tools that are designed to detect, respond to, and contain threats to SMBs with limited internal security teams, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round. Frontline Ventures and BrightCap Ventures were the co-leads. Tech Funding News has more here. | | |
Harmonic | New: Search by deal data and track investor activity. | Harmonic is the startup discovery platform trusted by 1000s of investors, including Insight, Pear, and Spark. | Book a demo to check it out → | | New Funds | Scenius Capital, a two-year-old New York firm, closed a “slightly oversubscribed” $20 million fund of funds focused on emerging crypto venture managers, while also selling a strategic GP stake to ParaFi to help scale its business and expand into token capital markets advisory. Blockworks has more here. | | Exits | Meta has acquired San Francisco–based WaveForms AI, a year-old startup that raised a $40 million seed led by Andreessen Horowitz to develop voice models that detect and mimic emotion. The Information has the scoop here. | Ripple is paying $300 million for three-year-old Rail, a Toronto startup that handles 10% of all stablecoin-based payments, in order to tighten its grip on cross-border crypto transfers. Reuters has the scoop here. | | Going Public | Firefly Aerospace, a 10-year-old company based in Cedar Park, TX, that makes rockets, spacecraft, and lunar landers, soared 34% in its Nasdaq debut after raising $868 million in an upsized IPO. The Wall Street Journal has more here. | IPO wannabe Brex just scored a major win: an EU license to issue cards and sell its spend management tools across all 30 member countries. TechCrunch has more here. | | People | President Trump is demanding that Intel CEO and former VC Lip-Bu Tan resign “immediately,” calling him “highly CONFLICTED” over past ties to Chinese tech firms. TechCrunch has more here. | Robert Keele, the head of legal at xAI, has stepped down after just over a year, saying he wants to spend more time with his children. In his announcement, Keele also acknowledged “daylight between our worldviews” with boss Elon Musk, who hasn’t commented on Keele’s exit. TechCrunch has more here. | Bain Capital Ventures has two new partners: Abby Meyers, who joined the firm in 2022 and is based in New York; and Ron Miasnik, who has been at BCV since 2023 and splits his time between New York and Tel Aviv. More here and here. | | Essential Reads | Apple has lost roughly a dozen top AI researchers in recent weeks including leaders of its foundation model team as rivals like Meta and OpenAI poach talent amid what recruiters call a “crisis of confidence” in the company’s ability to catch up in the AI race. 9to5Mac has more here. | Speaking of the AI talent war, Anthropic is growing its engineering ranks faster than Meta, OpenAI, and Google as its safety-first mission and culture prove a stronger draw than Mark Zuckerberg’s checkbook. The Wall Street Journal has |
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