All, we've reached that time of year where we're running on fumes and need to refuel with some eggnog, time with the "interns" (one of whom is now an actual college student), and a good book of short stories. In short, we're unplugging for the last two weeks of the year — as has been our tradition since the outset. We'll send one more reminder before Friday, but if you're wondering where we are next week, the answer is: on a giant sofa, with our feet up. We'll be back and recharged January 5th.:) — CL

Databricks, a 12-year-old San Francisco company that provides data-analytics software for enterprise AI, is reportedly raising a $4+ billion Series L at a $134 billion post-money valuation as private-market demand for AI infrastructure continues to remain red hot. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The U.S. government escalated its regulatory fight with Europe by warning that it may impose restrictions and fees on firms including Accenture, DHL, Mistral, SAP, Siemens, and Spotify unless the EU reins in what Washington calls discriminatory lawsuits, fines, taxes, and directives targeting American tech companies. The New York Times has more here.

According to Bloomberg, Waymo is in the market to raise over $15 billion at a valuation near $100 billion. Alphabet is set to lead, but Waymo is looking to fill out the round with billions from private backers. More here.

A California judge ruled that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing around its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, prompting regulators to give the company 90 days to fix misleading claims before imposing a 30-day suspension of its sales license. TechCrunch has more here.

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By Sean O’Kane

In early 2023, Luminar was riding high. After going public during the pandemic and scoring a key deal with Volvo, the company had added Mercedes-Benz and Polestar as customers of its “lifesaving” lidar sensors. Founder and CEO Austin Russell called it an “inflection point,” as Luminar prepped to have those sensors integrated into the first production vehicles.

Volvo in particular was all in on the technology. The Swedish automaker, which spent decades building a brand around the idea of making the safest cars, was the first to jump at integrating the laser-based sensors in its vehicles. Volvo initially tapped Luminar to provide 39,500 lidar sensors over the life of a deal signed in 2020. In 2021, Volvo upped that to 673,000. And in 2022, Volvo upped it again, this time to 1.1 million sensors.

Three years later, Luminar is now in bankruptcy. The company has already made a deal to sell off one subsidiary centered around semiconductors and is looking to sell its lidar business during the Chapter 11 process, which began on Monday.

The first batch of filings in the bankruptcy case shed new light on how Luminar’s cornerstone deal with Volvo came apart — and how its undoing helped push the once-promising startup over the edge.

Luminar made “substantial up-front investments in equipment, facilities, and workforce” to meet the demand from Volvo back in 2022, according to a declaration written by Luminar’s newly hired chief restructuring officer Robin Chiu. It built out a manufacturing facility in Monterrey, Mexico, and spent nearly $200 million to prepare to make its Iris lidar sensors for Volvo’s EX90 SUV.

Adaptive Security, a three-year-old New York startup that provides AI-powered social engineering prevention tools, raised an $81 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with NVentures, OpenAI Startup Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and Citi Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $146.5 million. More here.

Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, a 14-year-old Berkeley company that develops selective small molecule therapeutics for metabolic quality control, raised a $55 million Series B round co-led by Luma Group and CTI Life Sciences Fund, with Foresite Capital, SymBiosis, the TSC Alliance Endowment Fund, Wilson Sonsini, Apollo Health Ventures, Hevolution, Sofinnova Investments, and venBio also contributing. More here.

Databricks, a 12-year-old San Francisco company that provides data-analytics software for enterprise AI, is reportedly raising a $4 billion Series L round at a $134 billion post-money valuation. The deal is being co-led by Insight Partners, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with Andreessen Horowitz also joining in. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Last Energy, a six-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that builds small modular nuclear reactors, raised a $100 million Series C round led by the Astera Institute, with additional participation from AE Ventures, Galaxy Fund, Gigafund, JAM Fund, The Haskell Company, Ultranative, and Woori Technology. TechCrunch has more here.

RedotPay, a three-year-old Hong Kong startup that provides stablecoin-powered payment services, raised a $107 million Series B round led by Goodwater Capital, with Pantera Capital, Blockchain Capital, and Circle Ventures also participating. CoinDesk has more here.

Alphyn Biologics, a seven-year-old Cincinnati startup based in Annapolis, MD, that develops dermatology therapeutics for atopic dermatitis and other skin diseases, raised a $25 million Series B round led by QCA Investment Group, with Angel Physicians Fund, and Serial Stage Venture Partners also stepping up. More here.

DataLane, a two-year-old New York startup that builds an identity graph to help companies find and verify local business owners with greater accuracy, raised a $22.5 million Series A round led by Amplify Partners, with Basis Set, Mischief, and Harry Stebbings also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $27 million. CityBiz has more here.

Echo, a Tel Aviv startup founded this year that uses AI agents to build cleaner Docker base images with fewer vulnerabilities, raised a $35 million Series A round led by N47, with Notable Capital, Hyperwise Ventures, and S Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $50 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Fluency, an eight-year-old startup based in Burlington, VT, that provides a digital advertising operating system for scaling paid media operations, raised a $40 million Series A round. Integrity Growth Partners was the deal lead. More here.

IND Technology, a 13-year-old Melbourne company that provides early fault detection systems for utilities and grid operators, raised a $50 million round co-led by Angeleno Group and Energy Impact Partners, with Virescent Ventures and Edison International also investing. Business News Australia has more here.

Leona Health, a two-year-old Mexico City startup that helps Latin American doctors manage patient messages on WhatsApp through employing an AI assistant, raised a $14 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with General Catalyst and Accel also opting in. TechCrunch has more here.

MEQ Solutions, a ten-year-old Australian company that uses imaging and AI to assess red-meat quality and yield in real-time, raised a $15.3 million Series A round. Insight Partners provided the funding. Tech Funding News has more here.

Sequence, a five-year-old London and New York startup that automates billing, contract processing, and invoicing for finance teams, raised a $20 million round led by 645 Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz, Firstminute Capital, Passion Capital, Dig Ventures, and Vor Capital also participating. Sifted has more here.

Valerie Health, a two-year-old startup based in Lafayette, CA, that provides an AI front office for independent doctors’ offices, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, with General Catalyst, Primary Ventures, BoxGroup, Karman Ventures, 406 Ventures, and Waybury Capital also engaging. The company has raised a total of $39 million. Fortune has more here.

Vital Lyfe, a two-year-old startup based in Hawthorne, CA, that develops portable systems that turn almost any natural water source into drinkable water, raised a $24 million seed round co-led by Interlagos and General Catalyst and including Generational Partners, Cantos, Space VC, and Also Capital. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Workbooks, a 19-year-old company based in Reading, UK, that provides a mid-market SaaS platform that unifies sales, marketing, customer support, and commercial operations, raised a $22.3 million round. The deal was led by BGF. UK Tech Investment News has more here.

AIR, a two-year-old New York startup that provides an AI-driven credit intelligence platform for continuous credit ratings, raised a $6.1 million seed round co-led by Work-Bench Ventures and Lerer Hippeau. CityBiz has more here.

Dux Security, a one-year-old Tel Aviv and New York startup that uses agentic AI to identify exploitable security weaknesses and recommend rapid fixes, raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Redpoint Ventures, TLV Partners, and Maple Capital Partners. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Fida Biosystems, a 13-year-old Copenhagen company that provides a biophysical analysis platform that measures how drugs interact with their targets directly in liquid samples, raised a $5.9 million Series A round co-led by EIFO and FSG. European Biotechnology Magazine has more here.

First Voyage, a New York startup founded this year that provides an AI companion app called Momo to help users build habits through reminders and gamified interactions, raised a $2.5 million seed round. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, SignalFire, and True Global. TechCrunch has more here.

Mindoo, a Brussels startup founded this year that provides configurable AI agents to handle intake, documentation, follow-up, and front-desk communication for hospitals, raised a $5.9 million seed round. Investors included 6DC and Syndicate One. Tech.eu has more here.

MyDello, a five-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that provides a logistics platform for managing international shipments with real-time comparison and routing, raised a $3.6 million round led by Frumtak Ventures, with Superhero Capital also anteing up. EU-Startups has more here.

Soverli, a Zürich startup founded this year that develops a secure smartphone operating system that runs in parallel with Android or iOS, raised a $2.6 million pre-seed round led by Founderful, with ETH Zurich Foundation and Venture Kick also investing. SecurityWeek has more here.

Verisoul, a three-year-old Austin startup that provides an AI-driven fraud detection platform to identify bots, duplicate accounts, and fake users, raised an $8.8 million Series A round led by High Alpha, with Lookout Ventures, Bitkraft Ventures, and Future Back Ventures also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $12+ million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Inside Affinity: A Live Platform Demo 
 
When deal activity is scattered across emails, notes, and spreadsheets, it becomes harder to keep momentum. Affinity centralizes every touchpoint and pipeline update in one place. Join a walkthrough of how the platform supports private capital in sourcing, deal tracking, analytics, and fundraising on December 18 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. 
 
Register today.

Austin-based S3 Ventures says it just closed its eighth fund with $250 million in capital commitments, marking 20 years in business and pushing its total assets under management past $1 billion across 40+ portfolio companies. What makes S3 unique is it has been entirely backed by a single limited partner since 2005, one that it describes as a highly philanthropic family with a multibillion-dollar foundation focused on helping children and families. S3 hasn't publicly disclosed the identity of this family, so we can't confirm who they are (though we have our suspicions!). More here.

Authorities have moved FTX fraudster Caroline Ellison to community confinement after she served only 11 months of a two-year sentence, underscoring her cooperation in the prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried. Business Insider has more here.

Elon Musk’s X is moving to shore up ownership of the Twitter trademark by updating its terms and filing a countersuit against a startup trying to claim the name. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI debuted a faster image generator with tighter edit control as part of its broader push to counter Google’s recent gains in AI. TechCrunch has more here.

According to reporting from Reuters, many companies are slowing AI spending after struggling to get real returns from early deployments, prompting vendors like OpenAI and Anthropic to shift toward hands-on enterprise support that tackles narrower, high-impact use cases. More here.

The Washington Post is pressing ahead with its error-filled AI generated podcasts despite internal tests showing most scripts failed to meet editorial standards, deepening tensions between its newsroom and the product team driving the rollout. Futurism has more here.

A new Consumer Reports study suggests Instacart is running AI driven pricing tests that leave some shoppers paying up to 23% more for identical items. TechCrunch has more here.

A new viral TikTok series reimagines today’s workplace as a set of museum exhibits, highlighting both the absurd monotony of corporate life and a growing sense that the current work culture cannot endure indefinitely.

The trailer for Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi thriller just dropped.

A desk for fidgeters.

A $14,000 Christmas card.

A Fiat that looks like it could fit in your pocket.

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