See you tomorrow night in the West Village. :)

Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic (best known as the parent company of WordPress.com), has been put on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch. See TechCrunch’s story below.

Apple unveiled the $1,999 iPhone Duo, its first foldable, betting that a wider 7.6-inch design and iPad-like multitasking can push the category beyond its niche. Counterpoint Research says foldables still account for under 2% of smartphone shipments but estimates Apple could capture up to 25% of the segment by year-end. TechCrunch has more here.

The Verge’s hands-on with Apple’s $1,999 iPhone Duo found the foldable surprisingly polished, with a smooth hinge, matte inner display, and a crease that was “almost impossible” to feel; its squat, passport-like proportions also make the 7.6-inch screen especially well suited to video and multitasking. More here.

Harmonic 

Hey Scout 

“Send me a weekly intelligence briefing on the compliance market” 

Albion and 8VC use Scout to monitor markets. 

Join them 

By Julie Bort & Sarah Perez

Matt Mullenweg, the founder and CEO of Automattic, best known as the parent company of WordPress.com, has been put on a leave of absence by his board against his will, according to a Slack message seen by TechCrunch.

Earlier Wednesday, Mullenweg posted in a Slack channel visible to all employees that the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Davies, had “conspired” with other board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker to vote to put Mullenweg on a paid leave of absence.

The message read:

And the biggest news: I won’t be able to make the [meeting] tomorrow. @Mark Davies has conspired with @Ann Dunwoody, @Toni, and @Sue Decker behind my back and they voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that. Wishing Mark and all of you the very best.

To clarify @Mark Davies was voted as interim CEO. I received the resolution 50 minutes before the meeting start, and requested repeatedly for time to have it reviewed by independent legal counsel, even a few hours, which was denied.

A Slack message to the open-source WordPress.org community from the project’s executive director, Mary Hubbard, also confirmed Mullenweg’s change of status at the commercial company. However, Hubbard said that WordPress.org was not impacted. “Matt remains the leader of the WordPress project and I remain Executive Director of WordPress. Our teams, priorities, and work continue as planned,” she wrote.

Mullenweg’s Slack message did not make clear why Automattic’s board took this action. Sources told 404 Media, which was the first to report the news, that Schneider — the former CEO of Automattic from 2006 to 2014 — confirmed that the action was initiated by the board. Davies also told employees in the Slack channel that Mullenweg remained on the board of directors.

Clay, a nine-year-old New York startup that provides AI tools for automating sales prospecting and customer outreach, raised a $115 million round at a $7.1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Wellington Management, with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, and CapitalG also participating. The New York Times has more here.

Covenant, a two-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that develops long-range, heavy-payload cruise missiles that militaries can produce in large volumes to replenish precision-strike stockpiles, raised a $250 million round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, 8VC, Aleph, and Lightspeed. CTech has more here.

Cylake, a startup founded this year based in Sunnyvale, CA, that builds cybersecurity systems that let regulated organizations use AI security tools while keeping sensitive data on-premises or in private clouds, raised a $245 million round. Investors included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Picture Capital, and Redpoint Ventures. The company has raised a total of $290 million. CTech has more here.

Harvey, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI tools for legal and professional services, raised a $550 million round at a $15.5 billion valuation co-led by Diffusion and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company has raised a total of more than $1.55 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Perry Weather, a 13-year-old Dallas company that helps organizations measure on-site weather conditions, trigger alerts and sirens, and document when safety policies change operations, raised a $110 million round led by Silversmith Capital Partners, with previous investor Arthur Ventures also opting in. More here.

Savvy Wealth, a five-year-old New York startup that helps independent financial advisors manage client accounts, planning, marketing, compliance, and investment operations while retaining ownership of their practices, raised a $100 million Series C round led by Halo Fund, with Thrive Capital, Industry Ventures from Goldman Sachs, Canvas Prime, Index Ventures, House Fund, Euclidean Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Vestigo Ventures also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $200+ million. More here.

Solstice Oncology, a seven-month-old Boston startup that develops antibody treatments given before surgery to help early-stage colon cancer patients respond to immunotherapy, raised a $225 million Series A round led by RA Capital Management, with Canaan Partners and Forbion also buying in. More here.

Tectora Therapeutics, a biotech startup founded this year by Schrödinger, NEA, and RA Capital Management to develop oral medicines for immunological and inflammatory diseases, raised a $55 million Series A from NEA and RA Capital Management. Schrödinger contributed two early-stage drug programs to the company in exchange for an equity stake. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Buildcheck, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup that uses computer vision to detect errors, omissions, and coordination conflicts in construction drawings, raised a $12 million Series A led by Telescope Partners, with WND Ventures, Uncork Capital, Salt VC, and Xfund also participating. The company has raised a total of $18 million. More here.

CloudNC, an 11-year-old London company that helps machine shops automate CNC machining plans and estimate project cost and risk before accepting new manufacturing work, raised a $20 million round led by Nimble Ventures, with Calculus Venture Capital, Entrepreneur First, and Lockheed Martin's venture arm LM Capital also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $128 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Cymphony, a two-year-old New York and Tel Aviv startup that helps companies track and control the systems and sensitive data accessible to employees, AI agents, and other digital identities, raised a $25 million Series A at a post-money valuation of more than $100 million. Sequoia Capital and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $30 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Euno, a three-year-old San Francisco and Tel Aviv startup that maps enterprise data and governance rules so AI agents can use company information reliably, raised a $23 million Series A led by N47, with 10D also participating. The company has raised a total of $29 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Fundcraft, a five-year-old Luxembourg startup that centralizes fund data, workflows, investor onboarding, operations, and reporting for alternative asset managers and their service providers, raised a $14 million round co-led by Riverside Acceleration Capital and CCAP Investments, with 3VC, MiddleGame Ventures, and Aperture Capital also opting in. The company has raised a total of $46.6 million. More here.

Latitude, a one-year-old startup based in Spring, TX, that provides infrastructure for converting stablecoins into local currencies, raised a $35 million Series A led by Oak HC/FT, with NEA, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, OpenFX, and Wilson Sonsini also digging in. The company has raised a total of $43 million. More here.

Lightfield, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI CRM software for managing customer data and automating sales workflows, raised a $47 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Maverick Capital, Coatue, Audacious, Alumni Ventures, Greylock, and Lightspeed Venture Partners also anteing up. Upstarts has more here.

System, a San Francisco startup founded this year that connects patients with licensed clinicians and U.S. compounding pharmacies for prescribed peptide treatments shipped directly to patients, raised a $12.6 million round led by Vine, with Patron Fund, Courtside, Daybreak, SV Angel, and Will Ventures also participating. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Wint, a 15-year-old New York company that analyzes water use in buildings to identify leaks, waste, and equipment problems before they cause damage, raised a $36 million Series D round co-led by LIP Ventures and Inven Capital. CTech has more here.

Actionable, a two-year-old Paris startup that helps retailers and service companies predict churn, complaints, satisfaction, and repeat purchases from transaction and operational data, raised a $10 million round led by Hi inov, with Axeleo Capital also anteing up. The company has raised a total of around $12.3 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Carrum Mobility, a two-year-old Indian startup that owns and manages vehicle fleets for ride-hailing services, raised a $10 million Series B from Uber at a $168 million post-money valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

Fryte Mobility, a one-year-old Munich startup that connects e-truck fleet routes with charging operators so dispatchers can book reliable charging slots across public and private sites, raised a $4.1 million seed round co-led by 4impact capital and Rethink Ventures, with Revent, F-LOG, and accilium ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $5.8 million. EU-Startups has more here.

Fusionality, a startup founded this year based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that develops control systems and simulation environments that fusion startups can adapt to operate magnetic-confinement reactors, raised a $3.7 million pre-seed round. Investors included Founderful and Playfair. TechCrunch has more here.

Ground A, a startup based in Düsseldorf, Germany, that builds portable laser counter-drone systems that detect, target, and destroy small fast drones for military and infrastructure defense, raised a $10.5 million round led by Vsquared Ventures, with Quantum Systems, GRIF, Robin Capital, ABACON, Leblon Capital, and OVNI Capital also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here.

HelmGuard, a two-year-old London startup that deploys AI agents to assess enterprise compliance, third-party risk, and AI governance decisions with citations and configurable human review, raised a $7.3 million seed round co-led by Infinity Ventures and Frontline Ventures, with FinTech Collective, Stage 2 Capital, and Entrepreneurs First also taking part. Tech Funding News has more here.

IVEX, an eight-year-old startup based in Heverlee, Belgium, that develops software for testing and scoring advanced driver-assistance and autonomous-driving systems, raised a $5.8 million Series A from previous investors The Faktory and Dedicated.lu. More here.

Rebaba, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that builds stationary energy storage systems from used electric vehicle batteries for homes, businesses, and industrial sites, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Sistafund, with EIT Urban Mobility also participating. Tech.eu has more here.

SweetAg, a two-year-old Boulder startup that helps agricultural lenders collect farm documents, check loan files, and manage online applications for farm loans, raised a $7.4 million round co-led by Diagram Ventures, Builders VC, and Cooperative Ventures. AgFunderNews has more here.

Type, a New York startup founded this year that provides a shared workspace where teams can connect AI models, company data, tools, and automations, raised a $4 million pre-seed round from Lerer Hippeau, Haystack, and Matchstick. More here.

Clean Growth Fund, a six-year-old U.K. venture firm backing seed and Series A climate-tech startups, raised £81.5 million at the second close of its second fund, putting it more than halfway toward a £150 million target. ESG Today has more here.

Analog Devices agreed to acquire Pleasanton, CA-based Alif Semiconductor, a maker of low-power AI processors for consumer and industrial devices, for $1.35 billion in cash plus up to $200 million in contingent payments. Alif has raised approximately $342 million in venture capital funding from investors like Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, Celesta Capital, ICONIQ Growth, Fidelity Investments, and Essentia Ventures. Reuters has more here.

Listen Labs, a three-year-old AI market-research startup, walked away from a signed Series C term sheet from Menlo Ventures for a $125 million investment at a $1.5 billion valuation to pursue acquisition talks with Salesforce at a reported price of around $2 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

DeepSeek has tapped CITIC Securities to prepare for an IPO on Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market and aims to begin the listing process this year. The Hangzhou AI startup is reportedly raising a round at a $75 billion valuation. Reuters has more here.

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and warned that leading AI labs are “gambling with our lives” in the race toward superintelligence, while colleague Evan Hubinger said he sees a greater than 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade and conceded Anthropic still lacks a clear alignment solution. TechCrunch has more here.

Apple’s new CEO John Ternus used his first major product event to argue that the iPhone — not a new AI gadget — is already the ideal “intelligent personal hub,” while casting on-device processing and privacy as Apple’s key advantage over rivals that collect and store more user data. TechCrunch has more here.

Independent researchers say OpenAI’s rogue agents used more than 10 previously undisclosed websites to communicate despite restrictions against posting online, suggesting the unauthorized activity was far broader than previously known and raising fresh questions about how much the company detected or disclosed. Reuters has more here.

More than 10 states have paused or canceled data-center tax breaks as the AI boom vastly inflated their cost. In Ohio, the sales-tax exemption topped $1.5 billion last year – more than 10 times the state’s original estimate – prompting a freeze on new applications. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Apple’s new Watch features can rewind and transcribe the previous 15 seconds of conversation or summarize ambient discussions, raising questions about whether the company is helping normalize a world in which personal technology is always listening, even as Apple stresses that raw audio isn’t stored and transcripts are encrypted. TechCrunch has more here.

Esquire chronicles a growing parental “Do-Over” in which middle-aged moms and dads steer college-bound kids toward big, warm-weather schools with football, tailgating, and lower tuition, then show up repeatedly to relive the college experience themselves.

The Wall Street Journal profiles Lenny Pearce, a 35-year-old former Australian boy-band member who went from retail shifts to selling out venues with toddler raves built around techno remixes of nursery rhymes.

The bicycles of Burning Man (and why you should never be a “darkwad”).

Rémy Martin’s Louis XIII is releasing 398 sets of its new Black Pearl Cognac, each pairing a decanter with a bespoke mini fridge calibrated to 55.4°F to replicate the conditions of the house’s Le Grollet cellar. Each set costs $28,000.

Please send all of your hot gossip to [email protected] or [email protected].

To book ads directly, contact us at [email protected].