Anthropic announced today that it will cover consumer electricity price increases tied to its expanding data centers, fund 100% of required grid upgrades, and invest in new power generation as data center demand could rise from 4.4% of U.S. electricity use in 2024 to 12% by 2028. NBC News has more here.

Elon Musk is casting the departure of six of xAI’s 12 co-founders and at least nine engineers as a deliberate reorganization to “improve speed of execution,” tweeting that rapid growth “required parting ways with some people.” (Musk also spoke about xAI’s reorganization in an all-hands video that the company released today.) TechCrunch has more here.

Activist fund Ancora Holdings has built a roughly $200 million stake in Warner Bros. Discovery and is urging the company to abandon its $72 billion deal with Netflix in favor of David Ellison’s nearly $78 billion Paramount Skydance bid, threatening a proxy fight. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified in a California tech addiction trial that the Meta-owned app is not “clinically addictive,” defended its safety testing for teens, and warned that a plaintiff win could expose social platforms to significant damages and design changes. The New York Times has more here.

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By Tim Fernholz

In a sense, this whole thing was inevitable. Elon Musk and his coterie have been talking about AI in space for years—mainly in the context of Iain Banks’ science fiction series about a far-future universe where sentient spaceships roam and control the galaxy. 

Now, Musk sees an opportunity to realize a version of this vision. His company SpaceX has requested regulatory permission to build solar-powered orbital data centers, distributed across as many as a million satellites, that could shift as much as 100 GW of compute power off the planet. He has reportedly suggested some of his AI satellites will be built on the Moon.

“By far the cheapest place to put AI will be space in 36 months or less,” Musk said last week on a podcast hosted by Stripe cofounder John Collison. 

He’s not alone. xAI’s head of compute has reportedly bet his counterpart at Anthropic that 1% of global compute will be in orbit by 2028. Google (which has a significant ownership stake in SpaceX) has announced a space AI effort called Project Suncatcher, which will launch prototype vehicles in 2027. Starcloud, a start-up that has raised $34 million backed by Google and Andreessen Horowitz, filed its own plans for an 80,000 satellite constellation last week. Even Jeff Bezos has said this is the future.

But behind the hype, what will it actually take to get data centers into space? 

In a first analysis, today’s terrestrial data centers remain cheaper than those in orbit. Andrew McCalip, a space engineer, has built a helpful calculator comparing the two models. His baseline results show that a 1 Gw orbital data center might cost $42.4B—almost three times its ground-bound equivalent, thanks to the up-front costs of building the satellites and launching them to orbit. 

Changing that equation, experts say, will require technology development across several fields, massive capital expenditure, and a lot of work on the supply chain for space-grade components. It also depends on costs on the ground rising as resources and supply chains are strained by growing demand.

Apptronik, a nine-year-old Austin startup that makes humanoid robots for industrial and warehouse use, raised a $935 million Series A round at a $5.3 billion post-money valuation. Investors included Google, Mercedes-Benz, and B Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Garner Health, a seven-year-old New York startup that uses insurance claims data to identify high-quality, lower-cost physicians for employers, raised a $118 million round at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Kleiner Perkins, with Redpoint, Maverick Ventures, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures also opting in. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

GitGuardian, a nine-year-old Paris startup that detects exposed credentials in code and manages non-human identities across enterprise systems, raised a $50 million Series C round led by Insight Partners, with Quadrille Capital as well as previous investors Balderton, BPI, Eurazeo, Fly Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures also contributing. The company has raised a total of $106 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

ILiAD Biotechnologies, a 14-year-old company based in Weston, FL, that develops vaccines to prevent and treat whooping cough, raised a $115 million Series B round led by RA Capital Management, with Janus Henderson Investors and BNP Paribas Asset Management also engaging. The company has raised a total of $215 million. Refresh Miami has more here.

Inertia Enterprises, a two-year-old startup based in Livermore, CA, and co-founded by Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson that develops high-powered lasers for fusion power plants, raised a $450 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and including GV, Modern Capital, and Threshold Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Modal Labs, a five-year-old, New York-based startup specializing in AI inference infrastructure, is reportedly meeting with VCs about a new round at a valuation of about $2.5 billion, with General Catalyst in talks to lead it. The funding round would more than double the company’s valuation of $1.1 billion announced less than five months ago, when it announced an $87 million Series B round. TechCrunch has the scoop here.

Olix, a two-year-old UK startup that develops photonic AI chips designed to avoid high-bandwidth memory constraints, raised a $220 million round at a $1 billion post-money valuation led by Hummingbird Ventures, according to the Financial Times. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Algorized, a two-year-old Swiss startup that provides edge AI models that interpret human presence and intent for industrial robotics, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Run Ventures, with the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund and Acrobator Ventures also participating. AI Insider has more here.

Andercore, a five-year-old Berlin startup that operates an AI-enabled cross-border industrial trade platform, raised a $40 million Series B round. Investors included Inven Capital as well as previous investors Atomico and Project A. The company has raised a total of $75 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Archimetis, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI-powered operational reasoning system for energy and industrial plants, raised an $11.5 million seed round led by Inspired Capital, with Homebrew, MCJ, Borusan Ventures, and Incite Capital also investing. More here.

The Biological Computing Co. (TBC), a four-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing biological computing systems using living neurons as an alternative to silicon-based AI, raised a $25 million seed round led by Primary, with Builders VC, E1 Ventures, Proximity, Refactor Capital, Tusk Ventures, and Wonder Ventures also stepping up. Fortune has more here.

Brandlight, a two-year-old Tel Aviv and New York startup that provides software that manages brand visibility inside generative AI platforms, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Pelion Venture Partners, with previous investors Cardumen Capital and G20 Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $36 million. CTech has more here.

Complyance, a five-year-old New York startup that provides AI agents to manage governance, risk, and data compliance for enterprises, raised a $20 million Series A round led by GV, with Speedinvest and Everywhere Ventures also chiming in. TechCrunch has more here.

Constellr, a six-year-old Munich startup that provides thermal intelligence satellite data for defense and security use, raised a $44 million Series A round co-led by Alpine Space Ventures and Lakestar. Via Satellite has more here.

Integrate, a four-year-old Seattle startup that provides secure collaboration software for government and defense projects, raised a $17 million Series A round led by FPV Ventures, with additional participation from Fuse VC and Rsquared VC as well as previous investors New Vista, Hyperplane, and Riot Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Lema AI, a three-year-old startup based in New York and Israel that provides a platform that analyzes third-party and supplier cyber risk, raised a $17.5 million Series A round led by Team8 Fund. CTech has more here.

Meridian, a three-year-old Miami and New York startup that provides an AI-powered workspace for financial modeling, raised a $17 million seed round at a $100 million post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and The General Partnership, with QED Investors, FPV Ventures, and Liquidity Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Monaco, a recently founded San Francisco startup that provides an AI-powered sales platform with human sales support, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Founders Fund, with Human Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $35 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Project Omega, a startup based in Washington, DC, that is developing technologies to recycle spent nuclear fuel into long-duration power sources and critical nuclear materials, raised a $12 million seed round led by Starship Ventures, with Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, and Slow Ventures also joining in. More here.

Tenna Systems, a three-year-old startup based in New York and Israel that develops software to monitor the electromagnetic spectrum and turn existing sensors into a real-time map to detect jamming and spoofing, raised a $13.5 million seed round led by Costanoa Ventures, with Viola Ventures, Fresh Fund, and 202 Ventures also anteing up. CTech has more here.

Hubbl Technologies, a four-year-old Canadian startup that provides contextual intelligence tools for Salesforce environments, raised a $6 million Series A round led by Salesforce Ventures, with Industry Ventures also investing. More here.

Mozart AI, a one-year-old London startup that is building a generative AI music creation platform, raised a $6 million seed round led by Balderton Capital, with Kevin Hartz, Mercuri, and EWOR also stepping up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Scala, a one-year-old Seattle startup that provides an operational intelligence platform for contact centers, raised an $8.5 million seed round co-led by Madrona and FUSE. More here.

Seamflow, a one-year-old London startup that provides AI software for testing, inspection, and certification organizations in sectors such as medical devices and industrial infrastructure, raised a $4.5 million seed round co-led by Northzone and Initialized Capital, with Entrepreneur First and Nebular also joining in. Tech.eu has more here.

Take2, a three-year-old New York startup that provides an AI agents platform for healthcare recruiting, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Human Capital, with Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, Reach Capital, SemperVirens VC, and Honeystone Ventures also digging in. More here.

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Elaia, a 20-year-old Paris-based VC firm that backs early-stage European B2B deeptech startups, raised €120 million for the first close of its fifth Digital Venture fund. Tech.eu has more here.

Rezolve Ai, a 10-year-old London company that builds AI-driven shopping and transaction platforms, acquired Reward, a 25-year-old London company that operates cash-back rewards programs for Visa, Mastercard, NatWest, and Barclays. The deal was valued at $230 million. PYMNTS has more here.

A roughly 25% slide in software stocks from their October peak is stalling M&A and IPO activity as volatile valuations, AI fears, and buyer caution derail deals and push some listings to delay their IPO plans, bankers told Reuters. More here.

Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek told TBPN that “right after” he purchased ai.com for $70 million, he was offered $500+ million for the domain. “I think I could have pushed it to a billion if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to … I am ‘pot committed,’” he said, invoking poker terminology. More here.

Mistral CEO and co-founder Arthur Mensch said the Paris-based AI start-up’s annualized revenue run rate has climbed past $400 million – up from $20 million a year ago – and should surpass $1 billion by the end of the year. The Financial Times has more here.

Paul Smith, chief commercial officer of Anthropic, took a swipe at OpenAI’s ad plans and infrastructure spending, telling CNBC his company is focused on revenue growth, enterprise customers, and disciplined compute investment rather than flashy headlines or ad-driven consumer scale. CNBC has more here.

In a New York Times op-ed today, former OpenAI researcher Zoë Hitzig says she quit after the company began testing ads on ChatGPT, arguing that chasing engagement and ad revenue from 800 million weekly users could push the company to compromise its own principles, much as Facebook did. More here.

Online bettors on Kalshi and Polymarket are matching or beating Wall Street economists at forecasting jobs, inflation, Fed moves, and earnings, with more than $60 million wagered daily on economic and political contracts, according to recent academic papers. The New York Times has more here.

Amazon is reportedly exploring a marketplace that would let publishers license content directly to AI companies, a move that could formalize training data deals as lawsuits mount. Microsoft has already rolled out its own Publisher Content Marketplace. TechCrunch has more here.

What Olympians can teach us about disappointment.

Helen Goh, a London-based psychologist and longtime pastry chef for Yotam Ottolenghi, warns that baking on Valentine’s Day can backfire bigly.

In a move hailed as a breakthrough for round-the-clock gambling, sports betting company DraftKings announced Tuesday that users would now be able to place wagers directly from within their dreams.

Well, this is confusing. Elrow Industries has introduced Miniphone, a 3D-printed PETG case that turns select Apple Watches into palm-sized handheld mini phones, freeing up the wrist for an analog watch while retaining calls, apps, and wireless charging in a compact, lanyard-ready form factor.

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