News/Startups
Cognition raises $300M at $10B valuation after acquiring Windsurf
Cognition, the AI coding startup behind the Devin assistant, is in talks to raise over $300 million at a $10 billion valuation, according to five sources familiar with the deal. The funding round, backed by Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures, would more than double the company's $4 billion valuation from March and comes as Cognition announced its acquisition of rival AI coding startup Windsurf. What you should know: The potential funding represents one of the largest AI startup valuations in the competitive coding assistant market. The deal would value Cognition at $10 billion, up from its $4 billion March valuation...
read Jul 23, 2025Ex-Anthropic executive raises $15M to insure enterprise AI deployments
Former Anthropic executive Rune Kvist has launched The Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) with $15 million in seed funding to provide insurance coverage for AI agent deployments in enterprises. The startup addresses a critical trust gap preventing companies from adopting AI systems due to fears of catastrophic failures, offering both insurance policies and rigorous safety standards that could accelerate enterprise AI adoption while maintaining accountability. The big picture: AIUC combines insurance coverage with independent safety audits to give enterprises confidence in deploying AI agents for tasks like customer service, coding, and data analysis—creating a market-based solution that moves faster than...
read Jul 22, 2025Former journalists help AI startups craft compelling investor narratives
Outside The Box Ventures has launched Founder's Box, an "accelerator" program that pairs former journalists with AI startups to help them craft compelling narratives for investors and the media. The 10-week program will invest $150,000 in each of 15 accepted AI companies, addressing what managing partner Katie Tarbox calls "a critical gap in the AI market: narrative clarity." Why this matters: Many AI startups struggle to articulate their value propositions clearly, especially when their technical advantages are subtle, making it harder for investors to differentiate between companies in an increasingly crowded market. How it works: The program connects AI founders...
read Jul 21, 2025Emerald AI raises $24.5M to cut data center power use by 25%
Emerald AI has raised $24.5 million in funding from high-profile investors including Nvidia, former climate envoy John Kerry, and Kleiner Perkins chair John Doerr to develop technology that makes data centers more flexible power consumers. The startup's platform allows grid managers to remotely reduce AI data center power consumption by up to 25% during peak demand periods without affecting AI performance, potentially transforming data centers from grid burdens into "grid allies." The big picture: Energy demand has emerged as the primary constraint limiting AI growth, with the Department of Energy predicting that U.S. data center electricity consumption could nearly triple...
read Jul 18, 2025Job alert: Y Combinator startup seeks founding engineer for AI-powered OCD therapy
Mango Health, a Y Combinator-backed startup, is hiring a founding engineer to build AI-powered therapy tools for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The San Francisco-based company aims to democratize OCD treatment by creating an AI guide that makes therapeutic interventions accessible without requiring expensive specialist care that can cost thousands of dollars. What you should know: Mango Health is developing what they call the world's leading AI Guide for individuals with OCD, positioning itself as the "Headspace for OCD treatment." The company was founded in 2023 by Zachary Gittelman and Jamison Mercurio, went through Y Combinator's W24 batch, and currently...
read Jul 15, 2025Tech titans back Erebor Bank with $250M+ for crypto, AI, and defense startups
Tech titans Palmer Luckey and Joe Lonsdale are backing Erebor Bank, a new financial institution targeting crypto, AI, and defense startups in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's 2023 collapse. The venture aims to fill a critical gap in specialized banking services for high-risk frontier industries, leveraging the Trump administration's deregulatory stance toward crypto-friendly banking. What you should know: Erebor Bank has filed for a national bank charter with backing exceeding $250 million from prominent tech investors and firms. Palmer Luckey (Anduril cofounder), Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, and crypto-focused Haun Ventures are among the key investors. The...
read Jul 15, 2025Mira Murati’s AI startup raises $2B at $12B valuation
Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines has raised approximately $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in an early-stage funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent venture capital firm. The massive investment in a company launched just five months ago with no revenue or products yet highlights the intense competition for top AI talent and the continued investor enthusiasm for AI startups from former OpenAI executives. The big picture: This funding round exemplifies the extraordinary valuations being assigned to AI startups led by high-profile executives, even in pre-revenue stages. The company was founded in February 2025 by Murati after...
read Jul 15, 2025US startup funding surges 75% to $162.8B as AI deals dominate 2025
U.S. startup funding surged 75.6% in the first half of 2025 to $162.8 billion, driven by massive AI investments including OpenAI's $40 billion round and Meta's $14.3 billion stake in Scale AI. This marks the strongest performance since 2021's historic peak, with AI deals accounting for 64.1% of total deal value, even as venture capital firms face a 33.7% decline in fundraising amid longer timelines and limited partner concerns. The big picture: The disconnect between startup funding abundance and VC fundraising struggles reflects a market where AI investments dominate while traditional venture capital faces structural headwinds. AI investments accounted for...
read Jul 14, 2025Moonvalley brings Disney, TikTok alum as it raises $84M for ethical AI video generation
Moonvalley, an AI research company focused on "ethical" video generation, has secured $84 million in additional funding led by General Catalyst, with strategic investments from CAA and Comcast Ventures. The startup claims to differentiate itself by training its AI models exclusively on licensed content, positioning itself as a responsible alternative to competitors who use unlicensed material for training data. What you should know: Moonvalley recently launched Marey, which it describes as the industry's "first production-grade AI generative videography platform built for professional filmmakers and visionary brands." The company works through its filmmaking arm, Asteria, led by Bryn Mooser, to develop...
read Jul 14, 2025Battle of the Clone: Voice actors win court battle against AI voice cloning startup
A federal judge in New York has allowed a lawsuit from voice-over artists Paul Skye Lehrman and Linnea Sage to proceed against AI voice startup Lovo Inc., which allegedly used their voices without permission to create AI voice clones. The decision marks a significant development in the growing wave of litigation against AI companies over unauthorized use of creative work, potentially setting precedent for how courts handle voice rights in the age of artificial intelligence. What you should know: The judge dismissed federal copyright claims for the voices themselves but allowed breach of contract and deceptive business practices claims to...
read Jul 10, 2025Kaya AI emerges from stealth with $5.3M to digitize construction supply chains
Kaya AI has emerged from stealth mode with $5.3 million in pre-seed funding to tackle construction supply chain management through artificial intelligence. The startup's platform promises to reduce procurement management time by 80% and improve lead-time accuracy by 90%, targeting an industry that has remained stubbornly resistant to technology upgrades despite widespread adoption of cloud-based project management tools. What you should know: Kaya's AI-driven platform focuses on mission-critical infrastructure projects like data centers, where tight timelines and demanding schedules create the most challenging procurement environments. The platform includes an AI assistant called Jarvis that centralizes communications, automates ordering tasks, and...
read Jul 10, 2025Human-friendly startup Kartel.ai raises $2M to blend AI workflows with embodied creativity
Kartel.ai, a Beverly Hills-based startup, has emerged from stealth with $2 million in early funding and a human-centric AI production platform that promises to streamline creative media production. The company's approach combines AI-enhanced workflow orchestration with vetted human talent, targeting the growing demand for faster, cost-effective content creation across brands, studios, and agencies. How it works: Kartel operates as a full-stack production platform that matches projects with curated artists through an AI-powered intake system. Clients can call a dedicated number (1-838-NEW-IDEA) to discuss projects, with AI generating creative briefs in real-time and matching jobs to appropriate artists. The platform manages...
read Jul 9, 2025Polimorphic raises $18.6M to bring AI chatbots to local governments
New York-based startup Polimorphic has raised $18.6 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered chatbots and support services for local governments. The round, led by General Catalyst with participation from M13 and Shine, brings the company's total funding to $28 million as it targets a market that Silicon Valley has historically overlooked despite its critical need for technological modernization. Why this matters: Local governments face a severe staffing crisis and work overload, with administrative employees bogged down in routine tasks that could be automated while more impactful community work falls through the cracks. "Folks underestimate how critical a...
read Jun 30, 2025AI mental health tools attract $700M despite efficacy concerns
AI-powered mental health tools are attracting massive investment, with nearly $700 million flowing into startups in the first half of 2024 alone, making it the most funded digital healthcare segment. However, experts warn that many of these tools create an "illusion of support" rather than delivering clinically validated care, raising questions about whether the technology can scale genuine healing or merely simulate it. The big picture: The mental health AI market is booming as traditional care systems struggle with accessibility and cost barriers, but the gap between promise and proven outcomes remains significant. Mental health conditions cost the global economy...
read Jun 30, 2025Catio raises $7M to transform tech diagrams with 31 AI agents
Catio, a Palo Alto-based AI architecture platform, won the "Coolest Technology" award at VentureBeat Transform 2025 on Wednesday. The startup, which has raised $7 million since its 2023 founding, offers an AI copilot that transforms static tech architecture diagrams into living, continuously updated systems managed by 31 specialized AI agents. What you should know: Catio replaces traditional whiteboard planning and spreadsheet-based architecture management with a dynamic, AI-driven platform that creates digital twins of entire tech stacks. The platform integrates with existing infrastructure services like AWS (Amazon's cloud computing service), Kubernetes (container management software), and Prometheus (monitoring tools) to build comprehensive,...
read Jun 29, 2025Job alert: Y Combinator-backed Spark seeks engineer for $15B clean energy AI tools
Spark, a Y Combinator-backed startup building AI-powered tools for renewable energy developers, is hiring its first full-stack software engineer to join the founding team in San Francisco. The company has already secured major clients including Colliers Engineering & Design, Standard Solar (backed by Brookfield), Pine Gate Renewables (backed by Blackstone), and Cypress Creek Renewables, representing over $15 billion in clean energy financing and 70GW+ of renewable power capacity. What you should know: Spark is positioned at the intersection of AI and clean energy infrastructure, targeting one of the most complex challenges in renewable development. The company builds applications that help...
read Jun 25, 2025Startup plans to design AI-powered shoes in space using orbital satellite
A footwear startup is partnering with two space companies to design shoes in orbit using AI automation, marking an unusual intersection of fashion technology and space-based manufacturing. The mission aims to demonstrate how artificial intelligence and blockchain operations could become more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable when conducted in space rather than on Earth. The big picture: OrbitsEdge, which supports AI and blockchain applications, and Copernic Space, a digital marketplace for space assets, plan to launch a solar- and battery-powered satellite equipped with AI-powered computers to automatically generate shoe designs for the Syntilay brand. Why this matters: The project represents an...
read Jun 25, 2025Motorica raises $5.4M to make game animation 200x faster with AI
Motorica has emerged from stealth with €5 million ($5.4 million) in seed funding to replace traditional motion capture with generative AI for character animation in video games. The Stockholm-based startup's technology promises to reduce animation costs by over 90% while accelerating workflows up to 200 times faster than conventional mocap pipelines, potentially transforming how studios approach one of game development's most expensive bottlenecks. The big picture: Motion capture represents a massive production challenge for AAA game studios, with animation alone accounting for 10-30% of total budgets and requiring millions of dollars for single projects like Red Dead Redemption 2, which...
read Jun 24, 2025$3B AI startup OpenEvidence sues Doximity for alleged corporate espionage
Cambridge-based medical AI company OpenEvidence has filed a federal lawsuit against San Francisco competitor Doximity, alleging corporate espionage that included executives impersonating physicians to steal proprietary technology. The suit claims Doximity's top executives used fake medical credentials to access OpenEvidence's physician-only platform and extract trade secrets, representing what OpenEvidence calls "an egregious case of corporate theft in the emerging AI industry." What you should know: OpenEvidence is valued at $3 billion and backed by major venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins. The company provides AI-powered medical information to physicians, described by Forbes as "ChatGPT for...
read Jun 23, 2025The end of free AI is coming—and ads will replace VC funding
AI-powered consumer applications are currently subsidized by venture capital funding, similar to how companies like Uber and DoorDash operated at losses to build market share in the 2010s. This "AI lifestyle subsidy" is expected to end as companies shift toward advertising-based revenue models, fundamentally changing how users discover and interact with AI-generated content. The big picture: Just as venture capital previously funded unprofitable startups that sold services below cost, investors are now subsidizing AI applications that provide expensive large language model access at artificially low prices. Dedicated groups are already exploiting free trial accounts from AI startups to resell access...
read Jun 23, 2025Snowcap raises $23M for superconducting AI chips promising 25x efficiency gains
Snowcap Compute has raised $23 million to develop superconducting AI chips that could dramatically outperform current systems while consuming far less electricity. The startup claims its technology will be 25 times more efficient than today's best chips in performance per watt, even after accounting for the energy needed to keep the superconducting materials at extremely cold temperatures. The big picture: As AI systems demand increasingly massive amounts of power—with Nvidia's upcoming "Rubin Ultra" server expected to consume 600 kilowatts—the industry is desperately seeking alternatives to conventional silicon chips that are hitting physical limits. How it works: Superconductors are materials that...
read Jun 23, 2025“Baywatch” stars, in 2025? OhChat charges $30 monthly for AI celebrity chats
OhChat, an eight-month-old AI startup, has launched a platform where users can interact with AI-powered "digital twins" of celebrities and creators, including former British glamor model Katie Price and "Baywatch" actress Carmen Electra. The platform, which has attracted 200,000 users primarily in the United States, allows subscribers to engage in intimate conversations and receive personalized content from these AI avatars that operate autonomously 24/7. How it works: OhChat creates lifelike digital replicas using just 30 images and a 30-minute voice recording from creators. The platform uses Meta's large language model (the AI system that powers Facebook) to generate avatars "within...
read Jun 23, 2025Failing upward: Expelled student’s AI startup raises $15M with “cheat on everything” slogan
Andreessen Horowitz has led a $15 million funding round for Cluely Inc., an AI startup that markets itself with the controversial slogan "cheat on everything." The investment signals the venture capital firm's willingness to back provocative AI companies, even those with founders who have faced academic consequences for creating tools designed to circumvent traditional systems. What you should know: The startup's 21-year-old co-founder Roy Lee was expelled from Columbia University earlier this year for developing Interview Coder, an AI tool that helped job candidates cheat during technical interviews.• Lee responded to his expulsion with characteristic irreverence, posting on LinkedIn: "I'm...
read Jun 18, 2025SandboxAQ releases 5.2M synthetic molecules to accelerate AI drug discovery
SandboxAQ, an AI startup spun out of Google and backed by Nvidia, has released a massive dataset of 5.2 million synthetic molecular structures designed to accelerate drug discovery by predicting how pharmaceutical compounds bind to proteins. This computational approach could dramatically reduce the time and cost of identifying promising drug candidates by using AI to simulate what traditionally required extensive laboratory experiments. What you should know: The dataset represents a breakthrough in computational drug discovery, combining traditional scientific computing with modern AI capabilities. SandboxAQ generated the synthetic molecules using Nvidia's chips and existing experimental data, creating three-dimensional molecular structures that...
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