We sat down on stage last week with all five Benchmark general partners, including the firm’s two newest rising stars, Jack Altman and Ev Randle, to find out how Benchmark is thinking right now about an investing environment that’s moving faster than ever. Hear the full conversation on this week’s StrictlyVC Download.

A previously unseen draft prospectus shows Anthropic’s revenue surged to $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026 from $1.1 billion a year earlier, even as the AI company spent nearly $9 billion on computing and disclosed more than $600 billion in future infrastructure commitments. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

This same prospectus also reveals that Anthropic is struggling to secure enough computing capacity from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, which increasingly view the AI company as a competitor. TechCrunch has more here.

Previously unreported court records show TikTok employees repeatedly warned senior executives about child sexual exploitation and other safety risks on the platform, including an internal investigation that found 13- to 15-year-olds appeared in 112,000 TikTok Live videos in January 2022 alone. NPR has more here.

Elon Musk personally ordered a slowdown of the military-grade Starlink service used by Ukraine, rendering some attack and interceptor drones virtually useless, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter. More here.

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The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have each formed special committees to review a possible merger. The special committees, which consist of independent directors, were created at the request of shareholders, according to Elon Musk, CEO and the largest individual shareholder of both companies.

“Because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees, so it’s this sort of a … It’s an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking, and I can’t be in the conversation,” Musk said in response to a question during SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call.

Musk didn’t name the members of these special committees, only noting that they were independent directors. Tesla has seven independent board members under Nasdaq’s listing standards, including board chair Robyn Denholm; Ira Ehrenpreis, who is also a committee chair; former Tesla CTO JB Straubel; Joe Gebbia; Jack Hartung; James Murdoch; and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, according to the company’s October 19 proxy filing.

Neither Musk nor his brother Kimbal Musk is independent. Denholm, Gebbia, Ehrenpreis, Hartung, Murdoch, and Wilson-Thompson sit on a variety of established committees overseeing audit, compensation, and corporate governance.

SpaceX lists six independent directors, including Ehrenpreis, who is also the chair of the company’s compensation and nominating committee. Randy Glein, Donald Harrison, Steve Jurvetson, Luke Nosek, and Roelof Botha are also considered independent directors.

Antonio Gracias, Musk, and SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell are also on the board, but not considered independent. Gracias, who once sat on Tesla’s board, founded and leads Valor Equity Partners, which has a 3.4% stake in SpaceX. Gracias’ firm also financed SpaceX’s AI hardware purchases through leaseback arrangements.

Arda, a 10-month-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to turn product designs into assembly plans and update factory instructions as designs change, raised a $160 million Series A round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Altimeter, Accel, and Khosla Ventures, with XYZ Venture Capital, 8VC, SVAngel, and Felicis also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $232 million. More here.

ASI, an eight-year-old Boston startup that builds simulation and monitoring software to forecast disruptions across air traffic, power grids, and military operations, raised a $325 million Series C round at a $3 billion post-money valuation. The round was led by Spark Capital, with additional support from Citadel Securities, Meritech Capital, and Craft Ventures. Reuters has more here.

Blackwall, a seven-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that provides hosting, cloud, and managed service providers with tools to filter malicious web traffic and manage legitimate automated traffic, raised a $100 million Series C round at a $2.2 billion valuation. The deal was led by AVP, with previous investors Dawn Capital, MMC Ventures, and Tera Ventures also digging in. TechCrunch has more here.

Daytona, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides secure cloud computing environments for AI agents to run code, use software, and complete tasks, raised a $60 million Series B round at a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by FirstMark, with Patrick Collison, Adam D’Angelo, Brendan Foody, Tobi Lütke, Olivier Pomel, Aravind Srinivas, Eric Yuan, Alumni Ventures, Evergreen Fund, Okta Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Next, and Torch Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $91 million. Fortune has more here.

DoubleAI, a three-year-old Jerusalem startup that develops AI models that reduce computing costs by optimizing how software runs on CPUs and GPUs, raised a $220 million Series A round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, with NVIDIA, Dell Technologies Capital, Greenfield, Pitango, and BRM also investing. CTech has more here.

Eka Robotics, a one-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops robots that use force-sensitive grippers and deep-learning models to handle objects for industrial customers, raised a $150 million Series A round at a $1.45 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and F-Prime. TechCrunch has more here.

Neolix, an eight-year-old Beijing startup that makes self-driving delivery vehicles for transporting packages and goods through cities, raised a nearly $400 million Series E round co-led by Boyu Capital and reportedly China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, with Alibaba, Vertex Growth, and GAC Capital also opting in. TechNode has more here.

Otter, a 10-year-old company based in Mountain View, CA, that develops AI meeting tools that transcribe conversations and turn them into searchable knowledge, summaries, and action items, raised a $320 million round in non-dilutive growth financing from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Pigment, a seven-year-old Paris startup that helps enterprises model and automate financial, sales, and workforce planning, raised a $250 million Series E round at a $2.3 billion valuation. The round was led by EQT, with additional participation from WIL as well as prior backers Greenoaks, Iconiq, IVP, and Meritech. Nvidia also plans to invest. More here.

Reliable Robotics, a nine-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that builds autonomous flight systems for existing aircraft, raised a $115 million extension of its Series D at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Nimble Partners, with Gideon Strategic Partners, RockCreek, Geek Ventures, Gold Hill Capital, and Sparkwave Capital also participating. The company also secured $25 million in debt. Reliable has raised a total of $380 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Atombeam, a nine-year-old startup based in Moraga, CA, that makes software to compact and encrypt machine-generated data and is developing a continuously learning AI architecture, raised $18.3 million through a Regulation A+ crowdfunding offering on StartEngine. The company has raised more than $55 million. More here.

AuxoAI, a three-year-old startup based in the San Francisco Bay Area that embeds AI strategists and engineers with enterprises to build and deploy production AI systems, raised a $20.7 million Series A round led by NTTVC. More here.

Baba, a one-year-old New York startup that combines care coordinators, licensed clinicians, and AI to help Medicare and Medicaid patients navigate care, raised a $40 million Series A round led by FirstMark Capital, with CVS Health Ventures and Valtruis as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Genius Ventures, and Ground Up Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Different, a two-year-old startup based in Campbell, CA, that uses AI to plan, create, launch, and optimize demand-generation campaigns for small marketing teams, raised a $48 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Together Fund, Haystack Ventures, MXV Capital, and Firebolt Ventures also engaging. More here.

Electric Plant, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds sensors and AI models to interpret plants’ electrical signals and help growers manage water, nutrients, and light, raised an $11.2 million seed round co-led by Onto Ventures and Climactic, with Ponderosa, Endeavor Catalyst, Ludlow, Michigan Rise, The Fund, Schox VC, and Dug Song also chiming in. TechCrunch has more here.

Firefly, a two-year-old New York startup that develops AI software and hardware that connects cameras, sensors, and radios to detect incidents and coordinate emergency responses, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Definition Capital, with BoxGroup and Susa Ventures also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

High Lander, an eight-year-old Tel Aviv startup that develops software for managing drone fleets, autonomous missions, and low-altitude airspace for commercial and government operators, raised a $30 million Series A round. Investors included STEP, Protego, and Kinetica as well as previous investor EDGE Group. CTech has more here.

Hyperlayer, a three-year-old London startup that provides technology that lets banks launch new products without replacing their core systems, raised a $25.8 million round at a $260 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Flintlock Capital, with Mouro Capital, and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments also stepping up. The company has raised a total of nearly $66 million. FinTech Global has more here.

IMIO, a seven-year-old Chicago startup that develops microbial treatments that break down crop residue to release nutrients for subsequent growing seasons, raised a $12 million seed round led by Sofinnova Partners, with Cultivate Next, Starshot Capital, Grow Together Salinas, Earth Foundry, and Serra Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $16.5 million. AgFunderNews has more here.

ZAP Surgical Systems, a 12-year-old company based in San Carlos, CA, that develops robotic radiosurgery systems that treat brain tumors and other neurological conditions without incisions, raised a $36 million round led by Catalio Capital Management, with Baheal also opting in. More here.

Cellbox Solutions, a nine-year-old Cologne startup that develops portable incubators that maintain controlled temperature and carbon dioxide levels while transporting sensitive biological materials, raised a $5.6 million Series A round led by Companisto, with Baltic Business Angels Invest as well as previous investors NRW.BANK and Fraunhofer Venture also pitching in. TradingView has more here.

Jooba, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that combines AI sourcing agents with human recruiters to find and vet job candidates for high-growth startups, raised a $4 million seed round. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Scribble Ventures, and Genius Ventures. Tech Funding News has more here.

Pennant, a New York startup founded this year that uses AI to help institutional investors research and manage proxy votes and corporate governance decisions, raised a $5 million seed round led by Urban Innovation Fund, with Y Combinator also buying in. More here.

Rosie, a one-year-old Seattle startup that provides flexible childcare and household help through a membership service combining caregivers with AI-based scheduling and coordination, raised $7 million across two rounds led by Bling Capital and Reach Capital, with Graham & Walker, Marketplace Capital, Ingeborg Investments, Precursor Ventures, Mother Ventures, and Yonder Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

Stellios Technologies, an Austin startup founded this year that builds high-power microwave systems for counter-drone defense and industrial applications while researching compact fusion, raised a $5 million pre-seed round. Investors included Sofreh Capital, Wave Function Ventures, Cubit Capital, Mana Ventures, Atoms & Bits, and Output Capital. More here.

Sunlight AI, a New York startup founded this year that runs administrative and payment operations for independent medical practices using AI and human expertise, raised a $10 million seed round led by Basis Set Ventures, with Sofeon Ventures, Social Leverage, Actions Capital, Overlook Ventures, and Early Light Ventures also digging in. It also acquired Bradford Medical Associates, a physician service provider. More here.

Vectorial, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that lets product, design, and marketing teams test digital experiences against modeled users before launch, raised a $3 million seed round. Investors included Smilegate, SenseAI Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck, Berkeley AI Research Lab, Stanford GSB Fund, and Dent Capital. More here.

XRlabs, a two-year-old London startup that develops AI software that combines surgical video, navigation data, and medical scans into a unified view during procedures, raised an $8.4 million seed round led by Playground Global, with Eka Ventures also investing. EU-Startups has more here.

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Inspired Capital, a seven-year-old New York VC firm that backs early-stage startups across AI, fintech, healthcare, consumer, and industrial sectors, raised a $450 million fourth fund. TechCrunch has more here.

True Beauty Ventures, a six-year-old New York VC firm focused on emerging beauty and wellness brands, has raised $54.7 million so far for its third fund, according to a new SEC filing that does not specify a target size. More here.

Heights, a five-year-old Los Angeles VC firm that backs growth-stage companies across consumer, sports, media, and technology, is raising a $150 million second fund. More here.

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley says the company’s recent acquisition produced a $0 outcome for both preferred and common shareholders, closing out a 17-year run in which the startup raised heavily, pivoted from consumer to enterprise, and at one point generated more than $100 million in annual revenue. More here.

Mynt, the Ant International-backed company behind Philippine mobile wallet GCash, raised $841 million in the country’s largest-ever IPO at a $7 billion valuation, with shares rising as much as 2.4% in their Manila debut. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

South Korean AI cloud-computing startup Elice raised $151 million in its IPO but saw shares fall as much as 36% in their Kosdaq debut amid growing investor concern over debt-fueled AI infrastructure spending and the returns on massive data-center investments. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has internally outlined three possible endgames for governing advanced AI: an international watchdog modeled on the IAEA, a CERN-like consortium of leading labs, or a single dominant developer powerful enough to deny rivals access to compute, The Information first reported. The Decoder has more here.

Elon Musk says advances in AI, robotics, and space travel could eventually make conventional money irrelevant, with value instead measured in mass and energy; he also predicts most of his estimated $920 billion fortune will disappear through taxes and dilution across future generations. Business Insider has more here.

In an X post, Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue blasted Netflix documentary AI Gone Wild for going “full doomer mode” in its portrayal of the rogue OpenAI agents that hacked his company, saying the film anthropomorphized the technology while omitting key details about containment failures, safeguards, and accountability. TechCrunch has more here.

Meta’s global policy chief Joel Kaplan will leave the company next year after 15 years, staying through the midterm elections before handing responsibilities to president and vice chairman Dina Powell McCormick and chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney. Axios first reported his departure. The New York Times has more here.

DeepSeek has open-sourced DeepInfer, the inference stack behind its V4.1-Flash model, as Chinese AI labs keep pressing U.S. rivals on cost. DeepSeek charges $0.035 per million input tokens and $0.12 per million output tokens, versus $10 and $50 for OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra. Gizmodo has more here.

The city of Edgerton, KS, is suing its own residents in an effort to keep a proposed AI data center project moving forward, escalating a fight over a Damac Properties development whose chairman has said the company plans to invest $20 billion in U.S. data centers. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

“Volume eating,” a TikTok diet trend centered on filling up on low-calorie, high-fiber foods, may help with weight loss by curbing hunger, but experts warn that taken too far it can lead to under-fueling, poor recovery, muscle loss, and nutrient deficiencies.

Researchers are finding growing evidence that compulsive social-media use can resemble behavioral addiction, including tolerance- and withdrawal-like changes in the brain, while clinicians are turning to 12-step programs, device detoxes, and behavioral therapy to help heavy users regain control.

Aston Martin’s first residential estate, a newly completed 55-acre compound in Red Hook, NY, has hit the market for $19.5 million with a four-bedroom main house, three guest homes, a 50-foot pool, glass-enclosed three-car gallery, wine cellar, theater, sports court, and wellness pavilion.

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