Anthropic released Claude Fable 5, the first public version of its powerful Mythos model, making the technology available through its API and enterprise plans while blocking or deferring answers in high-risk areas like cybersecurity, biology, chemistry, and model distillation. The launch comes with a mandatory 30-day data-retention policy for all Fable 5 and Mythos 5 traffic, which Anthropic says is needed to detect jailbreaks and other novel attacks. TechCrunch has more here.

EU regulators rejected Apple’s claim that the bloc’s tech rules forced it to delay Siri AI in Europe, saying Apple alone chose not to roll out the upgraded assistant after regulators denied its request for an 18-month exemption from Digital Markets Act interoperability obligations. Reuters has more here.

Speaking of the EU, European regulators ordered Meta to reverse a WhatsApp policy that effectively barred rival AI chatbots from using its business messaging API, saying the interim measure is needed to prevent competition from being lost before the bloc finishes its antitrust probe. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Kalshi plans to require users in certain prediction markets to disclose their employers, adding new guardrails for bets tied to sensitive information such as company performance and national security after an audit committee recommended stronger protections against insider trading and market manipulation. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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By Marina Temkin

Last year, Justin Ernest noticed a massive gap in how venture capital was working: Family offices and smaller institutional investors were eager to invest in the fastest-growing AI companies but couldn’t get access to those cap tables.

Having spent over five years at Playground Global investing in deep tech and helping lead fundraising, Ernest was confident his connections to both investors and founders would allow him to bridge that gap.

Instead of launching a formal VC fund, a process he says takes new managers anywhere from 12 to 18 months, Ernest used his network to secure allocations of stock in high-profile, later-stage companies. He then offers these individual deals to a group of about 30 smaller institutional investors using special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which act as single-deal funds.

Over the last 12 months, his firm, Sabertooth VC, has invested nearly $400 million into 10 companies, including Anthropic, Anduril, Databricks, PsiQuantum, and SpaceX. The firm treats each deal as its own separate fund, in most cases structuring it as a special purpose vehicle (SPV), in which the fund’s investors buy shares in the vehicle that owns the stock. 

He’s writing checks ranging from $10 million to $275 million — meaning he’s gaining significant chunks of shares — and always participating in official, company-approved funding rounds.

Sabertooth is not the only firm offering family offices an opportunity to purchase equity in individual high-profile, late-stage startups.  However, Ernest quickly raised a significant amount of cash from them because, in the sometimes-shady world of small allocations and SPVs targeting family offices, he’s earned a solid reputation. 

Alta Ares, a two-year-old French startup that develops AI-powered air defense systems to detect, identify, and intercept enemy aircraft and drones, raised a $57.7 million Series A round led by Air Street Capital, with Cherry Ventures, OTB Ventures, and Harpoon Ventures also opting in. Sifted has more here.

Beacon, a three-year-old Toronto startup that acquires essential software businesses and integrates them into a shared operating system that automates engineering, back-office, and go-to-market workflows to improve performance, raised a $225 million Series C round co-led by General Catalyst and HarbourVest, with additional support from Lightspeed, Intrepid Growth Partners, Valiant Peregrine, BDT & MSD Partners, Journey, and Sator Grove. The company has raised a total of $500+ million. More here.

City Therapeutics, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops RNA interference therapies that silence disease-causing genes for blood clotting disorders, retinal disease, and other conditions, raised a $99.5 million Series B round led by Viking Global Investors and Sofinnova Investments, with Casdin Capital, NYBC Ventures, insiders Arch Venture Partners, Fidelity, Invus, Slate Path Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Regeneron Ventures, and AN Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $230+ million. More here.

Iceye, a 12-year-old company based in Espoo, Finland, that operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites to capture Earth observation imagery for governments and commercial users in all weather conditions, raised a $520.5 million round at an $11.6 billion valuation. It also sold $636 million in secondary shares. The deal was led by General Atlantic, with Nokia Oyj, Qatar Investment Authority, and Solidium also participating. Payload has more here.

Innovafeed, a 10-year-old Paris company that produces insect-based protein and oil ingredients for animal feed, pet food, and agriculture using industrial-scale insect farming, raised a $59 million round. Investors included prior backers Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Morpho, a five-year-old Paris startup that operates blockchain-based lending markets where users create customized lending pools and institutions set borrowing terms for onchain credit transactions, raised a $175 million round at a valuation of up to $2 billion. Investors included Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo, Circle, and VanEck. The Block has more here.

NinjaOne, a 13-year-old Austin company that manages endpoint devices, patching, backup, and remote access for IT teams through a single operations platform, sold $400 million in a secondary share transaction at a $12.3 billion valuation. It raised a round at a $5 billion valuation in February. Investors included Wellington Management, Teachers’ Venture Growth, BDT and MSD Partners, Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ, Hedosophia, NEA, Washington Harbour Partners, CapitalG, and Pinegrove Opportunity Partners. Bloomberg has more here.

Standard Bots, a 15-year-old New York company that develops AI-native industrial robot arms that can learn manufacturing tasks through demonstration rather than code, raised a $200 million Series C round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by General Catalyst and RoboStrategy. Tech Funding News has more here.

Stepful, a five-year-old New York startup that provides online training programs that prepare individuals for entry-level healthcare roles such as medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, and patient care technicians, raised a $55 million Series C round led by Oak HC/FT, with Foresite Capital, Hearst Ventures, and the Citi Impact Fund as well as previous investors SemperVirens, Y Combinator, Intermountain Health, and ECMC Education Impact Fund also piling on. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Evotrex, a five-year-old Los Angeles startup that builds hybrid RV travel trailers using battery packs recharged by onboard gas engines to enable extended off-grid living, raised a $30 million Series A round. Investors included GSR United Capital, Forebright Concerto Capital, TTGG Ventures, and Pegasus Capital. The company has raised a total of $46 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Galvany Energy, a four-year-old Berlin startup that integrates acquisition, installation, and management of heat pump systems for multifamily buildings, combining hardware, storage, and energy management to help property owners reduce energy costs, raised an $11.6 million seed round co-led by SET Ventures and AENU. Tech.eu has more here.

NewOrbit, a five-year-old startup based in Reading, UK, that develops very low Earth orbit satellites with air-breathing ion propulsion to operate below 300 km for higher-resolution earth observation and communications, raised an $18.5 million Series A round. Voyager Ventures was the deal lead. Payload has more here.

Vinyl Equity, a four-year-old Chicago startup that provides transfer agent services and integrated workflows for issuers to manage shareholder records, distributions, KYC/KYB, tax filings, and corporate actions across IPOs and M&A, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Jump Capital, with MUFG Innovation Partners, Index Ventures, Spark Capital, Infinity Ventures, and Cambrian Fintech also contributing. More here.

Clear Robotics, a six-year-old Hong Kong startup that is developing autonomous electric surface vessels that perform maritime surveying, infrastructure inspection, and environmental monitoring with minimal human intervention, raised a $1.75 million Series A round led by Shipsfocus Ventures, with Katapult Ocean, SGInnovate, M7 Holdings, and MGS Ventures also anteing up. AI Insider has more here.

Lexful, a one-year-old startup based in Hallandale, FL, that automates capture, maintenance, and retrieval of IT documentation across managed service provider systems to replace outdated records and tribal knowledge with searchable operational information, raised a $7 million seed round co-led by Top Down Ventures and York IE. More here.

Merchantee, a three-year-old Prague startup that automates pricing, promotions, and product-catalog management for e-commerce sellers, raised a $2.1 million round led by Reflex Capital, with Czech Founders VC and Lighthouse Ventures also engaging. More here.

Rejuvenate Bio, a nine-year-old San Diego startup that develops gene therapies that modify biological pathways to treat chronic and age-related diseases in companion animals, raised a $6 million round led by VCapital, with Merck Animal Health, Kendall Capital Partners, Connecticut Innovations, and Digitalis also investing. More here.

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Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says the AI search company is still planning to go public in 2028, regardless of how the market receives the upcoming SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI IPOs, though he acknowledged those offerings will shape investor appetite for AI listings. CNBC has more here.

SpaceX executives are reportedly telling IPO investors that the company aims to begin testing orbital AI computing systems by late 2027, using demonstrator satellites to validate a long-term plan for space-based data centers that depends heavily on Starship lowering the cost of moving hardware into orbit. Reuters has more here.

Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale says many CEOs are using “AI productivity” as cover for layoffs that really stem from overhiring, lowered standards, or missed growth targets during the 2021-to-2023 boom, a view echoed by Marc Andreessen and others as companies from Block to Atlassian to Coinbase cite AI in workforce cuts. Business Insider has more here.

China has begun operating what it says is the world’s first wind-powered underwater data center, a 24-megawatt facility submerged off the coast of Shanghai that uses seawater for cooling and power from a nearby offshore wind farm, reducing electricity and freshwater demands as AI drives a surge in data-center construction. The Guardian has more here.

Meta will start using people’s activity on other websites and apps – including purchases and games they play – to personalize Facebook and Instagram feeds and AI responses, expanding a data-sharing system it already uses for ad targeting. The Verge has more here.

The White House is urging the U.K. not to ban social media for children under 16, warning that such restrictions could place a disproportionate burden on U.S. tech companies and calling instead for stronger parental controls and platform safety tools. The Guardian has more here.

Colleges are racing to launch AI degrees, with at least 74 majors and 89 minors now available on U.S. campuses, up from just five AI majors in 2021, though the programs vary widely and employers’ appetite for the new credentials remains untested. The New York Times has more here.

Catherine Breed, a 33-year-old Bay Area open-water swimmer and former UC Berkeley athlete, plans to become the first person to swim the full 900-mile length of the California coast, spending up to four months in the Pacific while contending with great white sharks, jellyfish, elephant seals, storms, currents, hypothermia, and exhaustion.

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