Wow. If we’re being honest, we don’t really care all that much about the Houston Rockets or the Oklahoma City Thunder, but what an incredible game tonight! If you love basketball, it was truly one to watch. And how ‘bout those Dubs?! - CL

According to internal documents obtained by The New York Times, Amazon is preparing to replace more than half a million warehouse jobs with robots as it moves to automate up to 75% of its operations, a shift that could transform the U.S. labor market. More here.

Anthropic is in early talks with Google on a cloud computing deal worth tens of billions, signaling deepening ties between the AI startup and its investor as competition for compute power intensifies. Bloomberg has more here.

OpenAI today launched Atlas, an AI-powered browser that bakes chat, on-page context, and agent-driven task automation into everyday browsing, signaling a direct shot at Chrome’s dominance and opening a new battleground for LLMs. TechCrunch has more here.

Leading private capital firms rely on Affinity to identify the right opportunities, make critical connections, and drive better outcomes—from sourcing and diligence to portfolio management and fundraising. Affinity AI lets deal teams instantly add, sort, and surface critical people and deal notes, ask questions about their network, and integrate data into existing tools. Affinity is the Relationship Intelligence Platform purpose-built for the unique workflows and deal processes in private capital. See how top firms use Affinity AI. 

By Marina Temkin

Fal.ai, a startup that hosts image, video, and audio AI models for developers, has closed a new round valuing the company at over $4 billion, four people familiar with the deal said. The company raised approximately $250 million, two of the people said.

Major investors in the round are Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia, according to our sources. Fal didn’t respond to a request for comment. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins declined to comment.

The new round is coming less than three months after Fal announced a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation led by Meritech. At that time, the company’s revenue crossed $95 million and its platform was used by over two million developers, Todd Jackson, a partner at First Round Capital wrote on LinkedIn. That was massive growth from a year ago, when TechCrunch reported Fal had $10 million in annualized recurring revenue (ARR) and 500,000 developers.

Since Fal provides the infrastructure layer for multimodal AI models (as well as media-specific ones), the company’s explosive growth is directly tied to the user adoption of applications built on top of it. And multimodal AI is in heavy demand right now, especially video, as evidenced by the soaring popularity of OpenAI’s Sora, which surged to the top of the U.S. App Store even faster than ChatGPT did.  This massive consumer demand for applications like Sora underscores the market potential of Fal’s offering.

Findem, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that builds AI tools to help businesses identify and manage job candidates, raised a $51 million Series C round. The round was led by SLW, with Wing Ventures, Harmony Capital, and Four Rivers Group also taking part. The company has raised a total of $105 million. More here.

Moniepoint, a 10-year-old Nigerian company that provides a financial platform for businesses and consumers across Africa, raised a $90 million Series C extension at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. Investors included Visa, Development Partners International, Leapfrog, and Google Africa Investment Fund. More here.

Sesame, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that develops conversational AI technology and lightweight smart glasses, raised a $250 million Series B round led by Sequoia, with Spark also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Spiro, an 11-year-old Kenyan company that manufactures electric motorbikes and operates a battery-swapping network across Africa, raised a $100 million round co-led by The Fund for Export Development. TechCrunch has more here.

AdsGency, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to plan, create, and manage digital ad campaigns across multiple channels, raised a $12 million seed round led by XYZ Venture Capital, with Streamlined Ventures, HF0, and Hat-Trick Capital also chiming in. MediaPost has more here.

Bronto, a Dublin startup that helps enterprises manage and analyze log data for AI applications, raised a $13.9 million seed round. The deal was led by Cercano Management, with Heavybit and Conviction Capital also opting in. EU-Startups has more here.

Cercli, a two-year-old Dubai startup that helps MENA businesses manage HR, payroll, and compliance in one system, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Picus Capital and including Knollwood Investment Advisory, Y Combinator, Afore Capital, and COTU Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

ChipAgents, a one-year-old Santa Barbara startup that automates chip design and verification with agent-based AI, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Micron Technology, MediaTek, Ericsson, ScOp Venture Capital, and Amino Capital also weighing in. The company has raised a total of $24 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Conceal, a 14-year-old company based in Augusta, GA, that enables secure, zero-trust access directly within web browsers, raised a $26 million Series B round. Two Bear Capital was the deal lead, with AllegisCyber Capital and Gula Tech Adventures also engaging. More here.

Defakto, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup that provides identity and access management tools to secure automated interactions among non-human actors such as AI agents, raised a $30.75 million Series B round led by XYZ Venture Capital, with The General Partnership, Bloomberg Beta, WndrCo, Adverb Ventures, and J.P. Morgan also contributing. More here.

Estuary, a six-year-old New York company that helps enterprises move and synchronize data between systems in real-time to support AI and analytics, raised a $17 million Series A round led by M13, with Firstmark and Operator Partners also pitching in. More here.

Hyperlayer, a three-year-old London startup that helps banks, wealth managers, and asset managers launch products such as programmable accounts, rewards and loyalty programs, and cash management tools on existing infrastructure, raised a $40.1 million round led by CDAM, with Mouro Capital, Iona Star, Flintlock Capital, and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments also investing. More here.

Hyro, a seven-year-old New York company that develops AI agents that handle patient interactions typically managed by healthcare call centers, raised a $45 million round led by Healthier Capital and including Norwest, Define Ventures, Bon Secours Mercy Health, and ServiceNow Ventures. The company has raised a total of $95 million. CTech has more here.

Keycard, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops identity and access control tools for AI agents, announced that it has raised $38 million in seed and Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz and boldstart ventures co-led an $8 million seed round, and Acrew Capital led a $30 million Series A. More here.

knownwell, a four-year-old Boston startup that provides hybrid primary and metabolic care for patients with obesity through in-person and virtual clinics, raised a $25 million round led by CVS Health Ventures, with MassMutual Catalyst Fund, Intermountain Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Flare Capital Partners also contributing. The startup has raised a total of $50+ million. Mobi Health News has more here.

Nexos.ai, a one-year-old Vilnius startup that helps enterprises adopt AI tools securely by acting as a control layer between employees and AI systems, raised a $34.8 million Series A round at a $348.2 million valuation. The round was co-led by Index Ventures and Evantic Capital, with Creandum and Dig Ventures also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Sage Care, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that helps healthcare providers manage patient navigation and scheduling through AI agents, raised a $20 million round. Yosemite was the lead investor, with General Catalyst, Metrodora, OVTR.VC, SV Angel, Liquid 2, Seven Stars, Refract Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Serval, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that automates IT service management with agent-based AI tools, raised a $47 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, with First Round, General Catalyst, and Box Group also digging in. TechCrunch has more here.

Streetbeat, a five-year-old Palo Alto startup that helps wealth managers and retail investors automate investing, risk management, and portfolio analysis through the use of AI agents, raised a $15 million Series A round led by CDP Venture Capital, with TTV Capital, Monte Carlo Capital, and 3Lines VC also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $25 million. More here.

Casium, a two-year-old Seattle startup that helps employers manage and file work visas, raised a $5 million seed round. Maverick Ventures was the deal lead, with AI2 Incubator, GTMfund, and Success Venture Partners also joining in. GeekWire has more here.

Chipmind, a two-year-old Zurich startup that automates semiconductor design and verification tasks, raised a $2.4 million seed round led by Founderful. Tech Funding News has more here.

Cyclana Bio, a biotechnology startup founded this year and based in Cambridge, UK, that is developing tissue-level drug discovery models to treat endometriosis, raised a $6.7 million pre-seed round co-led by NfX and Eka VC, with additional participation from Cocoa VC and Wilbe. More here.

Fourier Health, a two-year-old Miami startup that uses AI to summarize and organize patient data for clinicians, raised an $8.4 million seed round led by Yosemite, with Innospark Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, and Tau Ventures also participating. Refresh Miami has more here.

Moonshot AI, a three-year-old New York and Tel Aviv startup that uses generative AI to automatically test, redesign, and optimize online stores for better performance, raised a $10 million seed round. Mighty Capital was the deal lead, with Oceans Ventures, Uncorrelated, Garuda Ventures, and Almaz Capital also taking stakes. CTech has more here.

Yaga, an eight-year-old Tallinn startup that operates an online marketplace for secondhand fashion, raised a $4.6 million pre-Series A round. The round was led by Specialist VC, with H&M Group, Trind Ventures, and StartupWiseguys. The company has raised a total of $8.4 million. EU-Startups has more here.

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BoxGroup, a 16-year-old New York and San Francisco VC firm that backs startups at the earliest stages, raised its seventh core fund and a fourth follow-on fund totaling $550 million ($275 million each). More here.

Investissement Québec, a 25-year-old Montréal government agency that manages venture programs to support Québec’s tech ecosystem, has spun up a $200 million venture fund called Fonds Impulsion that will back pre-seed and seed-stage tech startups across Québec. BetaKit has more here.

Asymmetric Capital Partners, a four-year-old Boston VC firm that backs software, tech-enabled services, and small-business consolidations, raised its second fund in the amount of $137 million. Boston Business Journal has more here.

Veeam, a Kirkland, WA–based data resilience company owned by Insight Partners, agreed to acquire Securiti AI, a six-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that helps enterprises identify, manage, and secure all of their data from a single interface, for $1.7 billion in cash and stock. TechCrunch has more here.

Coinbase agreed to acquire Echo, a one-year-old London startup that enables crypto companies to raise capital directly on the blockchain, in a deal valued at roughly $375 million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Dataminr, a 16-year-old New York company that provides real-time event and risk detection, agreed to acquire Arlington, VA–based ThreatConnect, a 14-year-old cyberthreat intelligence and risk quantification company, for $290 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

A Los Angeles judge has ordered Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, and Instagram’s Adam Mosseri to testify at a January trial over social media’s alleged harms to minors, marking a pivotal moment in tech accountability. CNBC has more here.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pushed back on claims by Trump’s AI czar David Sacks that the four-year-old San Francisco company is promoting “woke” regulation, saying the $183 billion AI startup shares the administration’s policy goals. CNBC has more here.

Elon Musk publicly attacked acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy on X, calling him “Sean Dummy” and escalating tensions between SpaceX and with the agency that remains one of SpaceX’s largest and most critical partners. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Jason Bennett has been appointed Global VP of AWS Startups and Venture Capital after serving in a variety of roles at AWS over the last 15 years. More here.

Meta led all tech firms in Q3 lobbying at $5.8 million, while Nvidia, Anthropic, and Andreessen Horowitz each topped $1 million for the first time, as AI and defense policy drew growing attention in Washington. Axios has more here.

OpenAI is using more than 100 former bankers to teach it how to build and refine financial models that could automate entry-level tasks. Bloomberg has more here.

It turns out that a minor software update triggered the massive AWS outage yesterday that crippled major online services from Zoom to Venmo, exposing just how unstable the global internet can become when a single cloud provider stumbles. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

How the sausage gets made.

Could Divorced Dad Rock be the new Yacht Rock?

TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling spent a month with Casio’s $430 Moflin, a furry AI pet that wiggles, squeaks, and gradually develops its own distinct personality. She didn’t hate it.

For the person who has everything and owns a Ferrari, a Ferrari “spatial book.”

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