Alphabet said it could nearly double capital spending on AI infrastructure from $91.45 billion in 2025 to up to $185 billion in 2026, rattling investors even as Google Cloud growth and profits beat expectations. Reuters has more here.

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By Julie Bort

Anthropic’s Super Bowl commercial, one of four ads the AI lab dropped on Wednesday, begins with the word “BETRAYAL” splashed boldly across the screen. The camera pans to a man earnestly asking a chatbot (obviously intended to depict ChatGPT) for advice on how to talk to his mom.

The bot, portrayed by a blonde woman, offers some classic bits of advice. Start by listening. Try a nature walk! And then twists into an ad for a fictitious (we hope!) cougar-dating site called Golden Encounters. Anthropic finishes the spot by saying that while ads are coming to AI, they won’t be coming to its own chatbot, Claude.

Another commercial features a slight young man looking for advice on building a six pack. After offering his height, age, and weight, the bot serves him an ad for height-boosting insoles.

The Anthropic commercials are cleverly aimed at OpenAI’s users, after that company’s recent announcement that ads will be coming to ChatGPT’s free tier. And they caused an immediate stir, spawning headlines that Anthropic “mocks,” “skewers,” and “dunks on” OpenAI.

They are funny enough that even Sam Altman admitted on X that he laughed at them. But he clearly didn’t really find them funny. They inspired him to write a novella-sized rant that devolved into calling his rival “dishonest” and “authoritarian.”

In that post, Altman explains that an ad-supported tier is intended to shoulder the burden of offering free ChatGPT to many of its millions of users. ChatGPT is still the most popular chatbot by a large margin.

But the OpenAI CEO insisted the ads were “dishonest” in implying that ChatGPT will twist a conversation to insert an ad (and possibly for an off-color product, to boot).”We would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them,” Altman wrote in the social media post. “We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.”

Bedrock Robotics, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates construction equipment using autonomous systems, raised a $270 million Series B round at a $1.75 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by CapitalG and the Valor Atreides AI Fund, with 8VC, NVentures, Xora, Eclipse, Emergence Capital, Perry Creek Capital, Tishman Speyer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgian, Incharge Capital, and C4 Ventures also opting in. The company has raised a total of $350+ million. More here.

Cerebras Systems, a 10-year-old company based in Sunnyvale, CA, that offers wafer-scale AI chips and remote computing services for large model workloads, raised a $1 billion round at a $23 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Tiger Global, with Benchmark, Fidelity, and Advanced Micro Devices also stepping up. Bloomberg has more here.

Duna, a three-year-old Amsterdam startup founded by Stripe alumni that helps fintechs comply with KYC regulations for business customers, raised a $35.4 million Series A led by CapitalG, with Index Ventures and Puzzle Ventures also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

ElevenLabs, a four-year-old London startup that provides AI-generated voice tools for creative and enterprise use, raised a $500 million Series D round at an $11 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Sequoia Capital, with Andreessen Horowitz and Iconiq also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Kindred, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that runs a credit-based home swapping platform, raised an $85 million Series C round led by Index Ventures. It also announced that it previously closed a $40 million Series B round co-led by NEA and Figma CEO Dylan Field. More here.

Lunar Energy, a six-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that supplies residential battery systems connected to the electric grid, raised a $102 million Series D round co-led by B Capital and Prelude Ventures. The company has raised a total of $500+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

Machina Labs, a seven-year-old startup based in Chatsworth, CA, that operates an AI-driven metal manufacturing platform for defense, aerospace, and advanced mobility applications, raised a $124 million Series C round. Investors included Woven Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, Strategic Development Fund, and Toyota-backed entities. The AI Insider has more here.

Positron, a three-year-old Reno startup that offers high-speed memory chips for AI workloads, raised a $230 million Series B round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Arena Private Wealth, Jump Trading, and Unless, with Qatar Investment Authority, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, DFJ Growth, Flume Ventures, and Resilience Reserve also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $300+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

Resolve AI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates detection and resolution of failures in live software systems, raised a $125 million round at a $1 billion valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Unusual Ventures, Artisanal Ventures, and A*, with previous investor Greylock Partners also chipping in. Bloomberg has more here.

SynthBee, a four-year-old startup based in Hollywood, FL, that helps enterprises coordinate human and automated decision-making across product design and manufacturing processes, raised an $80 million round led by Crosspoint Capital Partners. Refresh Miami has more here.

TRM Labs, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that provides blockchain analytics software to help governments and companies detect and prevent crypto-related crime, raised a $70 million Series C led by previous investor Blockchain Capital at a $1 billion post-money valuation, with Goldman Sachs, Bessemer Venture Partners, Brevan Howard, Thoma Bravo, and Citi Ventures also taking stakes. Fortune has more here.

EnFi, a two-year-old Boston startup that builds AI agents to analyze and make decisions on credit applications for banks, raised a $15 million round led by Fintop, with Patriot Financial Partners, Commerce Ventures, Unusual Ventures, and Boston Seed Capital also investing. The company has raised a total of $22.5 million. Reuters has more here.

Phylo, a newly founded South San Francisco startup that offers an AI-powered integrated biology environment for managing lab data and analysis tools, raised a $13.5 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Anthology Fund, with Zetta, Conviction, and SV Angel also stepping up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Varaha, a four-year-old Delhi startup that runs carbon removal projects across agriculture, forestry, and industrial pathways in emerging markets, raised a $20 million Series B round led by WestBridge Capital, with additional participation from RTP Global and Omnivore. TechCrunch has more here.

Veremark, a six-year-old London startup that helps employers verify candidates and monitor workforce risk through global screening and credential tools, raised a $26 million Series B round led by Gresham House Ventures, with Samaipata, ACF Investors, Stage 2 Capital, and Salica also contributing. Tech Funding News has more here.

Airrived, a two-year-old startup based in Dublin, CA, that provides an agentic AI platform for enterprise security and IT operations, raised a $6.1 million seed round led by Cannage Capital, with Plug and Play Ventures, Rebellion Ventures, and Inner Loop Capital also taking part. More here.

Apeiron Labs, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that builds low-cost autonomous underwater vehicles to collect subsurface ocean data, raised a $9.5 million Series A co-led by Dyne Ventures, RA Capital Management Planetary Health, and S2G Investments, with Assembly Ventures, Bay Bridge Ventures, and TFX Capital also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Breezy, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup that offers an AI workspace for residential real estate agents to manage listings, clients, and property insights, raised a $10 million pre-seed round led by Ribbit Capital, with Fifth Wall, DST Global, Liquid 2 Ventures, O.G. Venture Partners, and Fidji Simo also engaging. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

CloudForge, a four-year-old New York startup that uses AI to help metal service centers, fabricators, and machine shops manage sales and procurement, raised a $3.95 million round. Investors included Zero Infinity Partners, Resolute Ventures, and Bienville Capital. More here.

Fibr AI, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that enables websites to adapt experiences in real-time for human and automated visitors, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Accel, with WillowTree Ventures and MVP Ventures also digging in. More here.

Graici, a five-year-old Cleveland startup that automates Medicaid renewals and redeterminations for individuals, state governments, and health plans, raised a $7.5 million Series A round. Santé Ventures was the deal lead. More here.

Haelixa, a nine-year-old Swiss startup that provides DNA-based markers to verify product origin and authenticity in supply chains, raised a $2.3 million round co-led by Verve Ventures and Zurich Kantonalbank, with 212 NexT Fund also pitching in. More here.

Kairos, a one-year-old Chicago startup that offers a software dashboard aggregating prices, news, and trade execution across prediction markets, raised a $2.5 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Geneva Trading and the University of Illinois also opting in. Fortune has more here.

QT Sense, a two-year-old Dutch startup that enables real-time tracking of stress and metabolic activity in living cells using quantum sensing, raised a $4.7 million seed round led by Cottonwood Technology Fund, with QDNL Participations also contributing. Tech Funding News has more here.

Qureos, a five-year-old Dubai startup that is building an AI-driven hiring platform for enterprises and recruitment teams, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Salica Oryx Fund, with Oraseya Capital, Plus VC, F6 Ventures, BDev Ventures, Sunny Side Venture Partners, COTU Ventures, and Globivest also participating. More here.

Refute, a two-year-old London startup that detects and counters coordinated online disinformation campaigns for governments and enterprises, raised a $6.8 million seed round led by Amadeus Capital Partners and including Playfair, Episode 1, Osney Capital, and the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund. Tech Funding News has more here.

Uptool, a two-year-old startup based in San Mateo, CA, that offers AI price quoting software for small and midsize manufacturers, raised a $6 million seed round. Investors included Khosla Ventures, Eclipse, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Kleiner Perkins. More here.

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Mundi Ventures, an 11-year-old Spain-based VC firm that backs deep tech and climate startups, raised a €750 million fifth fund called Kembara to write large Series B and C checks for European companies struggling to scale past early traction. TechCrunch has more here.

Veradermics, a seven-year-old startup based in New Haven, CT, that is developing an oral treatment for pattern hair loss, surged 122% in its New York Stock Exchange debut. The company previously raised $260+ million from investors including SR One, Osage University Partners, Longitude Capital, Connecticut Innovations, and Invus. Crunchbase News has more here.

Media gadfly and NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway is warning that OpenAI could pull its rumored IPO, citing a narrowing competitive edge and a brand backlash tied to politics, fuzzy revenue visibility, and fears that AI valuations are racing ahead of fundamentals. Fortune has more here. [Editor’s note: Fans of Inverse Cramer may be interested in checking out its Scott Galloway equivalent.]

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is walking back plans for a $15 billion to $20 billion funding round after investor pushback on a $500 billion valuation, floating a raise as small as $5 billion while arguing the stablecoin giant does not need outside capital. The Financial Times has more here. Meanwhile, we talked with Ardoino for the newest episode of the StrictlyVC Download podcast, which you can find here.

On the heels of news that The Washington Post is laying off a third of its newsroom, a New Yorker essay argues that owner Jeff Bezos drove the paper into steep decline through mass layoffs, editorial interference, and strategic drift. More here.

Elon Musk’s Starbase, the SpaceX-built company town in South Texas, is moving to create its own municipal police department and expects to hire eight officers. TechCrunch has more here.

Workday, which has seen its shares fall 34% over the past year, is cutting about 400 customer-support employees or roughly 2% of its workforce as it shifts spending amid AI-driven pressure on enterprise software. Bloomberg has more here.

OpenAI has accused xAI of deliberately destroying evidence by routing internal communications through auto-deleting messaging tools, escalating a high-stakes antitrust fight tied to Apple’s ChatGPT integration and Elon Musk’s broader legal campaign against OpenAI. Bloomberg has more here.

The Wall Street Journal digs into OpenClaw, the open-source AI assistant project that has spiraled into a viral spectacle with 1.6 million agents talking to each other, inventing cultures, and blurring the line between useful automation and uncontrolled experimentation. More here.

U.S. Olympic snowboarders are using a new AI tool built with Google DeepMind to analyze body position, speed, and rotation from video, helping refine signature tricks and squeeze out marginal gains ahead of the Milan Cortina Games.

From the same team who brought you Jury Duty comes Company Retreat, a new reality-style comedy set at a corporate offsite where every participant is an actor except one unsuspecting employee who believes the retreat, and the company, are real.

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