TECH IN THE NEWS

"Smartest AI on Earth" — Elon Musk announced xAI’s Grok 3 release with 100k H100 chips, claiming it will lead all AI metrics. xAI is installing more powerful B100 chips.

Funds Found — HUD Secretary Turner recovered $1.9B in misplaced funds, and launched a DOGE task force saving an estimated extra $260M.

Vision Pro AI — Apple is adding an AI features and spatial content app to Vision Pro in an April update, including Writing Tools. Its Siri overhaul faces bugs, likely pushing release to May or later.

Amazon Updates — NC workers rejected unionization by 75% as Amazon's robotics investment aims to save $10B by 2030 through automation.

$LIBRA Rugpull — Argentinian president Javier Milei backed a memecoin, leading to a $4.4B loss as insiders dumped tokens on 50,000 investors. It’s been described as “biggest rugpull” in crypto history. The opposition threatened an impeachment trial.

Intel's Chip Shift — Struggling Intel is in talks with TSMC to transfer manufacturing, splitting design, production arms with Trump admin backing amid US chip concerns.

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:

MASSIVE DEALS

Sardine AI — SF-based AI fraud prevention platform raised a $70M Series C led by Activant Capital, with a16z, GV, and others participating.

ICON — The Austin-based 3D printing construction startup raised a $56M Series C co-led by NVP and Tiger Global. Total raised: $500M+.

K2 Space — The California-based satellite startup raised $110M Series B co-led by Lightspeed and Altimeter. Total raised: $180M.

QuEra Computing — Boston-based quantum computing startup raised $170M (plus $60M conditional) from Google, SoftBank, and Valor.

Stellaromics — The Boston-based 3D tissue analysis startup raised $80M Series B led by Catalyst4, with Stanford Ventures participating.

Archer Aviation — The Toyota-backed US startup secured $300M from institutional investors to co-produce military eVTOLs with Anduril.

75F — The MN-based HVAC optimization company raised $45M Series B led by Accurant, with Carrier, Climate Investment, and others participating.

LARGE DEALS

Eudia — The Palo Alto-based legal AI software startup raised a $30M Series A with additional $75M contingent on acquisitions, led by General Catalyst.

Fal — The Oakland-based AI content creation tools provider raised a $49M Series B, total raised $72M, co-led by Notable Capital and a16z.

Validus — The NY/London-based financial risk management software provider raised $45M from FTV Capital.

Collate — The San Francisco-based medical documentation AI platform raised a $30M seed led by Redpoint.

Endeara — The Ottawa-based electric bus manufacturer raised $36M equity plus $13M of debt led by Magnetar.

Epicore Biosystems — The Cambridge-based wearable sweat monitoring device maker raised a $26M Series B led by Steele Foundation for Hope.

SMALLER DEALS

Comulate — The insurance billing and revenue operations platform raised $20M amid increasing disaster-related insurance losses.

ConverzAI — The Seattle-based AI virtual recruiter platform raised $16M Series A led by Menlo Ventures, with Left Lane Capital and existing investors joining.

Koala — The San Francisco-based AI sales enablement platform raised a $15M Series A led by CRV, with input from HubSpot Ventures, Recall Capital, and Afore.

Tofu — The San Francisco-based AI marketing platform startup raised $12M Series A led by SignalFire, with participation from 12 other investors including previous backers.

Datalign — The Cambridge-based financial advisory matchmaking platform raised $9M at $75M valuation from Link Ventures.

Human.org — The San Francisco-based human-AI distinction blockchain platform raised $7.3M pre-seed from HF0, Soma Capital, and 3 other VCs.

Future AGI — The San Francisco-based AI testing and improvement platform raised $1.6M pre-seed co-led by Powerhouse and Snow Leopard, with 3 others joining.

Companies to Watch:

[Open Deal] xAI — Elon Musk’s AI startup is reportedly in discussions to raise $10B at $75B from a syndicate including previous investors Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Valor Equity.

Pinkfish — The deterministic AI agents platform emerged from stealth with $7.6M pre-seed and over 100 users. The round was led by Norwest with Storm Ventures and angel investors joining.

Groq — The innovative AI chip startup agreed on a $1.5B investment from Saudi Arabia in one of largest single-country commitments to specialized AI chips.

Mercury Technologies — The San Fran startup providing online banking services tailored for startups and small businesses, is reportedly in talks with Sequoia to lead a round valuing it at $3B+.

Island — The Coatue, Sequoia, Insight-backed Dallas unicorn runs an enterprise browser customized for control over security, data, and IT. It just raised a round at a $4.5B valuation (4x up on 2023).

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
The Funding Buzz 

Founders Fund — Peter Thiel is closing a $3B growth fund by March 2025 for late-stage investments. A previous $3.4B fund invested in Rippling and Anduril.

Ulu Ventures — The Palo Alto VC raises a $208M fourth fund to back tech founders from diverse backgrounds, now $400M+ AUM.

Thomson Reuters Ventures — Launching a $150M second fund for early-stage startups in tax, fintech, compliance, and media, following a $100M debut fund.

Vanessa Larco — The former NEA partner is departing to raise a $100M+ fund focused on consumer startups and software.

Slow Ventures — The SF-based firm launched a $60M+ creator fund backed by University of Michigan, MIT, and Rutgers to support individual entrepreneurs.

ARK Digital Asset Innovation Fund — Cathie Woods' Ark Invest is partnering with Tampa area VCs to raise a $50M fund (hard cap $100M) for local startups and Ark Innovation Center members.

Brian Quintenz — The venture community is widely supportive of Trump’s pick for CFTC head – Brian Quintenz, policy lead at a16z’s crypto team.

Exit Watch:

Zilla Security — The Identity governance startup was acquired by CyberArk for $175M total ($165M cash + $10M earn-out). It previously raised $19M from FirstMark, Pillar VC, and others.

SailPoint — Identity management company IPOs at $12.8B valuation, marking $4B+ windfall for owner Thomas Bravo.

Turo — The car-sharing platform touted as ‘the Airbnb for cars’ canceled its IPO plans (filed in 2022) one day after p2p car-sharing company Getaround shut down in the U.S.

Meta — In talks to acquire FuriosaAI, Seoul-based AI chip startup that raised $115M from Naver and DSC Investment.

Plaid — Banking API platform planning $300-400M secondary sale for employees and early investors, potentially signaling IPO preparation.

Stripe — Stripe is reportedly weighing an employee sale share, at a valuation of $85B or more.