WHAT’S INSIDE

• The latest in Tech: Tech Tariff exemption, Epstein Appeal, OpenAI Updates

• The biggest startup deals: xAI, Fleet.io, Mercury, Island + more.

• Companies To Watch: Thinking Machines, Genspark, Isomorphic lab, Rippling

• The latest exit deals: and companies going public, IPOs 

• The latest VC & PE news and funds raised

TECH IN THE NEWS

Tech Tariff Relief — President Trump exempts smartphones, computers, and key electronic components including semiconductors from his recent 145% China tariffs, bringing relief to tech companies like Apple.

Trade War Heats Up — China imposes 125% tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation for U.S. measures. China remains open to dialogue. Goldman Sachs lowers China's GDP forecast, impacting millions in export-dependent jobs.

Water Diplomacy — Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's president, pledges immediate water deliveries to Texas farmers to honor a 1944 treaty after a Trump demand.

Epstein Appeal — Ghislaine Maxwell seeks to overturn her 20-year sentence, appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. She argues a non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein should protect her.

OpenAI Updates — OpenAI is launching GPT-4.1 and its mini and nano versions and a the o3 reasoning model and o4 mini are expected this week. Also open-sourced BrowseComp, a benchmark to assess agents' research skills.

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Companies to Watch:

Thinking Machines Lab — Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new AI Research Lab startup aims to raise a record $2B seed round at $10B valuation. Despite no product, the company has attracted interest due to its team of high-profile AI researchers.

Genspark Super Agent — The AI-driven platform reached $10M ARR in just 9 days. With new features on the horizon, the company expresses gratitude for the trust and support from its users, marking it as a fast-growing player in the industry.

Isomorphic Labs — The Google DeepMind spinoff transform drug discovery using AI just gave scientists full access to its breakthrough model AlphaFold 3, which can predict the structures of proteins, DNA, and RNA to boost drug, materials discovery.

Rippling — The HR SaaS startup is in talks to raise hundreds of millions at a $16B valuation, signal in significant growth potential and resilience in the HR technology space.

Slate Auto — The Jeff Bezos, backed Michigan EV startup developing a two-seat EV pickup truck has raised over $111M total. Led by CEO Christine Barman, it plans to boost margins through accessories.

Deep Cogito — The ex-Google AI team founded AI startup has launched reasoning / non-reasoning hybrid models outperforming current models in math and language tasks. The models are aimed at superintelligence.

Heron Power — Founded by Drew Baglino, a former Tesla executive, Heron Power focuses on solid-state transformers for the electric grid. The startup is raising $30-$50M in a Series A round to address this longstanding technology gap.

​See SignalFires — All our signals and startups to watch last week

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:

MASSIVE DEALS

SSI — Ilya Sutskever's latest venture with Daniel Gross and Daniel Levy, focused on AI superintelligence and safety, raised an additional $2 billion at a $32B valuation from undisclosed investors.

Base Power — The Texas-based home backup battery company raised a $200M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. It plans to build a domestic factory and install 100 MWh of storage by summer, targeting grid-balancing operations.

SandboxAQ — The California-based AI startup secured an extra $150M in its Series E round, with investments from Google and Nvidia, raising its valuation to $5.75B.

Merida Therapeutics — This biotech company launched with $121M in funding from Third Rock Ventures to focus on developing Fc-based therapeutics for autoimmune disorders like Graves' disease, aiming to create precision treatments.

Nuro — The California-based autonomous driving company raised $106M in a Series E round at a $6B valuation (up from its previous valuation of $8.6B in 2021.) It’s now focusing on licensing.

Krea — The generative AI startup for designers, co-founded by Victor Perez and Diego Rodriguez, raised $83M at a $500M valuation. Krea plans to expand its tools for image, video, and audio generation, prioritizing user creative control.

LARGE DEALS

Brinc Drones —This Seattle public safety drone company raised $75M led by Index Ventures to advance drone technology, and integrate with Motorola Solutions for 911 responses.

Rain — The LA-based fintech startup with 2.5M employee users secured a $75M Series B to enhance its earned wage access app and introduce credit card and savings products.

Blackbird Labs — The blockchain-based payment and loyalty platform with 1,000 restaurants onboard.for restaurants raised $50M to launch the Blackbird Club and expand market presence.

NEye Systems — The Silicon Valley optical networking chip startup raised $58M to enhance AI data centers' energy efficiency and flexibility. Key investors include CapitalG, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Prototypes are anticipated by next year.

LiveKit — LiveKit, a voice AI platform raised a $45M Series B at a $345M valuation led by Altimeter Capital. The funding will enhance ops and platform development, supporting over 100K devs and facilitating 3B calls annually.

Moonvalley — The startup, specializing in AI video creation tools, has raised $43M. Its Marey model focuses on customizable video generation with licensing arrangements to address copyright issues.

Meanwhile — A life insurance startup offering policies in bitcoin raised a $40M Series A led by Framework and Fulgur Ventures to support global expansion.

SMALLER DEALS

Artisan — The infamous "Stop Hiring Humans" San Fran-based AI sales agent startup raised a $25M Series A led by Glade Brook. 250 clients with $5M ARR.

Solve Intelligence — The AI-driven document editor startup, located in New York, raised a $12M Series A backed by Microsoft. Currently supporting 200 IP teams, focusing on legal tech solutions.

Inventex — Former Coinbase engineer-funded startup revolutionizing patent applications using AI, raised $2.4M in pre-seed funding, aiming to enhance patents.

Bliss Aesthetics — This AI-driven cosmetic surgery founded by Dr. Miami raised a $17.5M Seed to revolutionize the $200B cosmetic procedure market

Outtake — The NYC-based cybersecurity automation platform raised $16.5M in Series A funding led by CRV. It aims to enhance its self-learning AI technology for threat classification and automated responses across major platforms.

Conductor AI — A compliance tech startup focused on using AI to streamline government compliance processes, raised a $15M Series A backed by Lux Capital. It has US Air Force contracts and plans to expand ops and its team.

Blue Water Autonomy — A maritime technology startup founded by former U.S. Navy members, raised $14M to develop autonomous naval ships. It aims to modernize the maritime economy and partner with the Navy and DoD.

HoneyHive — The NYC-based AI agent observability platform raised $7.4M in total, with a $5.5M Seed round led by Insight Partners and a $1.9M Pre-Seed round.

DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
The Funding Buzz 

Founders Fund — Peter Thiel's firm closed an oversubscribed $4.6B late-stage venture fund backed by 270 investors to support private tech companies amid a challenging IPO market.

SignalFire — SignalFire has raised over $1B (now $3B AUM) to back early-stage applied AI startups. Using its Beacon AI platform, it aims to identify talent and market trends, offering strategic guidance and operational support to accelerate growth and innovation.

Matt Miller — Former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Miller is launching a $300M fund to lead Series B and C rounds in AI and B2B startups across Europe.

Dig Ventures — Founded by former MuleSoft execs, this European VC firm launched a $100M fund to invest in early-stage startups. Focused on B2B SaaS, AI, and cloud infrastructure.

Exit Watch:

Ripple — Ripple will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25B to boost its institutional presence. The deal leverages Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD and integrates Hidden Road's post-trade operations into the XRP Ledger.

io Products — OpenAI is contemplating acquiring io Products, an AI hardware startup co-founded by Sam Altman and Jony Ive, for approximately $500M. The startup is focused on AI-enabled devices and backed by Emerson Collective.

Qualcomm — Qualcomm has acquired MovianAI to boost its gen AI capabilities across industries, focusing on smartphones and software-defined vehicles, under the leadership of Dr. Hung Bui.

Honeycomb — Honeycomb has acquired Grit, a coding startup that helps companies maintain their software and code base. It aims to bolster Honeycomb's software management and optimization.

Canoo — EV startup Canoo will have its assets purchased by CEO Anthony Aquila for $4 million following court approval, despite objections from rival Harbinger.

IPO Watch

Klarna and StubHub — Klarna, (fintech), and StubHub, a U.S. ticket exchange platform, have reportedly postponed their IPOs due to stock market declines following Trump's tariffs announcement.