Anthropic expects to hit a $9 billion annualized run rate by year-end and is targeting as much as $26 billion in 2026 revenue as demand for its enterprise and code-generation products accelerates, sharpening its rivalry with OpenAI and bolstering the AI investment boom. Reuters has the scoop here.

Cybersecurity giant F5 Networks disclosed that government-backed hackers maintained long-term access to its systems, stealing source code and customer configuration data, a breach that now forces Fortune 500 clients and federal agencies to rush critical security patches. TechCrunch has more here.

Palmer Luckey’s Erebor, backed by Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, secured conditional OCC approval to build a crypto-friendly bank for tech founders and stablecoin deposits, signaling a regulatory shift toward alternative banking. The New York Post has more here.

Open Source AI raised $3.5B+ in 2025!  

Cost efficiency, customization, and rapid iteration are winning over developers and enterprises. Startup activity in monitoring & observability is heating up as models move from lab to production. 
 
Check out our research on Open Source AI in 2025 - market map, funding landscape, and model comparisons. 

By Marina Temkin

While employees spend much of their day communicating and coordinating amongst themselves on projects, this effort is often undermined by the availability of specific individuals. When a colleague with vital information is away — whether on vacation or in a different time zone — the rest of the team must delay progress until that person responds.

Ashutosh Garg and Varun Kacholia, the co-founders of Eightfold — an AI recruiting startup last valued at $2.1 billion — believe that advances in LLMs and data privacy technologies can help solve some aspects of this costly problem. Earlier this year, they launched Viven, a digital twin startup with a mission to grant employees access to crucial information from teammates even when those colleagues are unavailable.

On Wednesday, Viven emerged out of stealth mode with $35 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Foundation Capital, FPV Ventures, and others.

Viven develops a specialized LLM for each employee, effectively creating a digital twin by accessing their internal electronic documents such as email, Slack, and Google Docs. Other employees in the organization can then query that person’s digital twin to get immediate answers related to common projects and shared knowledge.

“When each and every person has a digital twin, you can just talk to their twin as if you’re talking to that person and get the response,” Ashutosh Garg told TechCrunch.

One major hurdle is that people just can’t share everything with anyone who asks. Employees often handle sensitive information or have personal files they want to keep private from the rest of the team.

Dreamdata, a seven-year-old startup based in Copenhagen and New York that provides a B2B marketing analytics platform, raised a $55 million Series B round led by PeakSpan Capital, with InReach Ventures, Angel Invest, Curiosity Venture Capital, and Crowberry Capital also contributing. The company has raised a total of $67 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Ecorobotix, an 11-year-old Swiss company that uses AI-powered machinery to deliver ultra-precise crop spraying and reduce pesticide use, raised a $105 million Series D round led by Highland Europe, with ECBF and McWin Capital Partners also participating. The company has raised a total of $150 million. Vestbee has more here.

Liberate, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds AI systems to automate sales, service, and claims for property and casualty insurers, raised a $50 million Series B round at a $300 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Battery Ventures and included Canapi Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Eclipse, and Commerce Ventures. The company has raised a total of $72 million. TechCrunch has more here.

MD Integrations, a six-year-old New York startup that operates a virtual care platform staffed by physicians, raised a $77 million round co-led by Updata Partners and Denali Growth Partners. More here.

Pelage Pharmaceuticals, an eight-year-old Los Angeles startup that develops regenerative hair loss treatments, raised a $120 million Series B round co-led by Arch Venture Partners and GV, with Main Street Advisors, Visionary Ventures, and YK Bioventures also participating. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Poolside, a two-year-old Paris startup that fashions generative AI tools that help developers write, debug, and transform code more efficiently, is raising a $2 billion round at a $14 billion post-money valuation, an almost 5x increase over the valuation of a $500 million round it raised last year. Nvidia is one of Poolside’s investors. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Tubulis, a six-year-old Munich startup that is concocting antibody-drug conjugates for oncology, raised a $358.1 million Series C round led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital as well as previous investors Nextech Invest, EQT Life Sciences, Frazier Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Deep Track Capital, Bayern Kapital, Fund+, High-Tech Gründerfonds, OCCIDENT, and Seventure Partners also piling on. BioPharma Dive has more here.

ABK Biomedical, a 14-year-old Halifax company that develops imageable embolic medical devices, raised a $35 million Series D round led by J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, with F-Prime, Santé Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures, and an undisclosed medical device company also participating. More here.

Ascribe Bio, an eight-year-old startup based in Ithaca, NY, that develops natural crop protection products, raised a $12 million Series A round co-led by Acre Venture Partners and Corteva, with Syngenta Group Ventures, Trailhead Capital, Silver Blue, Cultivation Capital, and The Yield Lab also chiming in. More here.

Basis Theory, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that helps merchants tokenize and securely route payment data, raised a $33 million Series B round led by Costanoa, with additional participation from Stage 2 Capital, Moneta VC, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, Box Group, and Offline Ventures. More here.

Launchpad, a fifteen-year-old company based in El Segundo, CA, and Edinburgh, Scotland, that builds robots that use artificial intelligence to perform complex assembly manufacturing tasks, raised an $11 million Series A round co-led by Lavrock Ventures and Squadra Ventures, with Ericsson Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Cox Exponential, and the Scottish National Investment Bank also joining in. More here.

Marble Health, a three-year-old New York startup that provides virtual mental health care for students via their schools, raised a $15.5 million Series A round led by Costanoa, with Town Hall Ventures and Khosla Ventures also investing. MobiHealthNews has more here.

MediView, an eight-year-old Cleveland startup that develops augmented reality surgical navigation technology, raised a $24 million Series A round led by GE HealthCare and including Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Edge Ventures, and JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund. More here.

Medmo, a nine-year-old New York startup that provides an orchestration platform for radiology appointments, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Covera Health, with Origin Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Digital Health Venture Partners, and Toppan Global Venture Partners also taking stakes. More here.

Nova Credit, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that helps lenders assess consumers using alternative credit data, raised a $35 million Series D round led by Socium Ventures, with Canapi Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, NAVentures, Harmonic Growth Partners, Radiate Capital, and Gaingels also stepping up. PYMNTS has more here.

Vertical Semiconductor, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops vertically stacked gallium nitride chips to improve power delivery for AI data centers, raised an $11 million seed round led by Playground Global, with Jimco Technology Ventures, Milemark-Capital, and Shin-Etsu also digging in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

WellTheory, a five-year-old New York startup that provides virtual care for autoimmune patients, raised a $14 million Series A round led by General Catalyst, with 7wire Ventures, Box Group, Ingeborg Investments, Up2 Opportunity Fund, and Accel also chipping in. More here.

Alleviate Health, a three-year-old startup based in Durham, NC, that uses AI agents to recruit and screen patients for clinical trials, raised a $4.3 million seed round. Andreessen Horowitz was the deal lead, with Jack Altman also investing. More here.

LuxQuanta, a four-year-old Barcelona startup that develops quantum-safe encryption systems using CV-QKD, raised a $9.3 million Series A round led by Big Sur Ventures, with A&G, GMV, Wayra, EIC Fund, Corning, and GTD also anteing up. Tech Funding News has more here.

NxLite, a 10-year-old company based in Canton, MI, and Toronto that is working on air-stable low-E and solar-control coatings for glass, acrylic, and polycarbonate, raised a $9.2 million Series A round led by Crabtree Lane Alt and including Earth Foundry, MUUS, New Climate Ventures, and ACT Venture Partners. CityBiz has more here.

Smartlens, an eleven-year-old company based in Sunnyvale, CA, that is developing an electronics-free contact lens to monitor intraocular pressure for glaucoma care, raised a $5.2 million bridge round led by Ambit Health Ventures, with Graphene Ventures, Boutique Venture Partners, and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels GNY also opting in. More here.

Affinity’s 2026 Predictions Survey 
 
Affinity is collecting input from venture capital professionals on how firms are planning for 2026. The survey takes five minutes, and your perspective will be included in our upcoming 2026 Predictions Report. 
 
The report will share how VC teams are approaching sourcing, portfolio support, and fundraising as the market shifts. As a bonus, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $500 Airbnb gift card. 

Odyssey Ventures, a London venture firm that focuses on early-stage European startups in science, deep tech, and industrial innovation, raised a $75 million debut fund to back founders building startups in areas like manufacturing, chemicals, and neurotechnology. Tech Funding News has more here.

Beta Technologies, an eight-year-old Vermont startup building electric aircraft for regional cargo and passenger transport, is seeking up to $825 million in an IPO at a $7.2 billion valuation, possibly signaling growing investor appetite for next-gen aviation bets. TechCrunch has more here.

Nscale, a seven-year-old London company that provides AI infrastructure and cloud capacity for enterprises, is weighing a 2026 IPO after inking a $14 billion GPU supply deal with Microsoft. CNBC has more here.

VC and White House AI czar David Sacks accused Anthropic of pushing state-level AI rules to protect its market position, while Anthropic policy chief Jack Clark dismissed the charge as baffling and pressed Sacks to offer a federal plan instead. Bloomberg has more here.

Sam Altman defended OpenAI’s move to allow adult content by arguing it should not act as society’s moral arbiter, even as critics warn the shift risks blurring safety lines for minors and invites regulatory scrutiny. CNBC has more here.

MrBeast is exploring a financial-services venture called MrBeast Financial, signaling a bid to convert his massive fan base into banking and fintech customers through money management tools, lending products, and financial literacy content. Business Insider has more here.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan talks about steering the service past mobile and into the living room through exclusive NFL games, a $100 billion creator payout, and a TV-style redesign. More here.

Waymo will bring its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis to London in 2026, expanding its commercial footprint beyond the U.S. and Tokyo and testing whether the U.K.’s evolving regulatory landscape is ready for autonomous ride-hailing at scale. TechCrunch has more here.

Coreweave and the AI coding startup Poolside (see Massive Fundings above) are betting that fracking will give them an unfair power advantage over other companies as they lay plans to construct a massive data center on a 500-acre site replete with natural gas. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Two MIT-educated brothers are on trial for allegedly orchestrating a 12-second Ethereum exploit that siphoned $25 million from trading bots, a case that could test the legal line between aggressive crypto strategy and outright fraud. Business Insider has more here.

After discovering their cat had secretly ridden 100 miles atop their van en route to a New England marathon, a Pennsylvania family leaned in, strapping him into a harness and backpack bringing him along on their sightseeing through New York and New Hampshire.

A nonsense meme built around the numbers “six seven” is derailing classrooms nationwide, with students erupting anytime the pair appears in math, prompting teachers to dodge page numbers, group sizes, and even test answers as the trend spreads from TikTok to real life.

The Ketel One heirs are listing their two-story Sunny Isles penthouse for $29.75 million, featuring 22-foot glass walls, a Dior-and-Baccarat primary suite, a 1,000-square-foot panic-room closet, and a 4,000-square-foot terrace with a private pool.

A $6,439 geodesic tent capable of withstanding 112 mph winds. (Perfect for that trip to Mars you’ve been planning.)

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