Have a great weekend, all. ❄️

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that HR software company Deel recruited a spy inside rival Rippling, escalating a dispute that could complicate the $17.3 billion startup’s IPO ambitions. More here. (Very weirdly, Deel tells TechCrunch it knows nothing about it.)

China has told tech giants including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance to prepare orders for Nvidia’s H200 AI chips, signaling Beijing is close to approving limited imports of the processors. Bloomberg has more here.

TikTok users in the U.S. are collectively freaking out over the company’s updated privacy policy after being alerted to the changes through an in-app message. TechCrunch looks at what's happening here.

Affinity’s 7 Modern Workflows to Win Deals Faster in 2026. 

Most private capital firms are sitting on networks worth millions in deal flow. The firms pulling ahead have built systems to actually activate those relationships. In this new guide, Affinity breaks down 7 real workflows used by firms like BlackRock ($13T AUM), Bessemer Venture Partners, SpeedInvest (€1.2B), and Notable Capital to win proprietary deals faster, prevent critical relationships from going cold, and reclaim hundreds of hours per year. The guide goes beyond theory, showing exactly what worked, what didn’t, and why these systems matter heading into 2026.

By Anna Heim

Yann LeCun’s new venture, AMI Labs, has drawn intense attention since the AI scientist left Meta to found it. This week, the startup finally confirmed what it’s building — and several key details have been hiding in plain sight.

On its newly launched website, the startup disclosed its plans to develop “world models” in order to “build intelligent systems that understand the real world.” The focus on world models was already hinted at by AMI’s name, which stands for Advanced Machine Intelligence, but it has now officially joined the ranks of the hottest AI research startups.

Building foundational models that bridge AI and the real world has become one of the field’s most exciting pursuits, attracting top scientists and deep-pocketed investors alike — product or no product.

World Labs, a direct rival founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, became a unicorn shortly after coming out of stealth. After launching its first product, Marble, which generates physically sound 3D worlds, World Labs is now reportedly in talks to raise fresh funding at a valuation of $5 billion. 

There’s little doubt that VCs would be equally eager to invest in LeCun, adding credibility to rumors that AMI Labs might be raising funding at a $3.5 billion valuation. According to Bloomberg, VCs in talks with the startup include Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, and Hiro Capital, to which LeCun is an advisor. Other potential investors reportedly include 20VC, Bpifrance, Daphni, and HV Capital. 

Regardless of who writes the checks, investors may want to note an important detail: As LeCun has made clear, he is AMI’s executive chairman, not its CEO. Instead, that role belongs to Alex LeBrun, previously co-founder and CEO at Nabla, a health AI startup with offices in Paris and New York.

Corxel, a seven-year-old startup based in Berkeley Heights, NJ, that develops cardiometabolic drugs including an oral GLP-1 treatment for obesity, raised a $287 million Series D1 round. Investors included SR One, TCGX, RA Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, and SymBiosis as well as previous investors RTW Investments, and Hengdian Group Capital. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Cubby, a five-year-old New York startup that provides software for managing pricing, calls, and online rentals at self-storage facilities, raised a $63 million Series A round. Goldman Sachs Alternatives was the deal lead. More here.

Juspay, a 14-year-old Bengaluru company that provides payments infrastructure for enterprises and banks, raised a $50 million Series D round at a $1.2 billion post-money valuation. The deal, which consisted of both primary and secondary investments, was led by WestBridge Capital. More here.

Mews, a 14-year-old Amsterdam company that provides hotels with an operating system that unifies revenue, and operations, raised a $300 million Series D round at a $2.5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by EQT Growth, with Atomico and HarbourVest Partners as well as previous investors Kinnevik, Battery Ventures, and Tiger Global also investing. Silicon Republic has more here.

Oura, the 13-year-old Finnish startup behind the Oura Ring, a smart wearable device used to track, analyze, and improve sleep, activity, and overall health metrics, is planning a tender offer that would let existing shareholders sell shares at about a 25% discount to its $11 billion Series E valuation, a move aimed at enabling the company to stay private longer. Bloomberg has more here.

Recursive, a Palo Alto startup founded late last year by well-known AI researcher Richard Socher that aims to develop superintelligent systems capable of autonomous self-improvement and automating the AI research process itself, is reportedly raising hundreds of millions of dollars at a $4 billion valuation. GV and Greycroft are in discussions to lead the deal. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

World Labs, a three-year-old San Francisco startup led by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li that develops world models for generating and simulating 3D virtual environments, is reportedly in talks to raise up to $500 million at a $5 billion valuation, up from about $1 billion in 2024. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Artie, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that streams live database updates from operational systems into analytics and applications, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Standard Capital, with Y Combinator and Pathlight Ventures also stepping up. More here.

PAQ Therapeutics, a six-year-old startup based in Burlington, MA, that develops targeted protein degradation therapies for KRAS-driven cancers, raised a $77 million Series B extension. The deal was co-led by Bayland Capital and MRL Ventures Fund led, with additional participation from J&J Innovation, LAV Fund, BioTrack Capital, and Sherpa Health Partners. More here.

Agileday, a four-year-old Helsinki startup that provides an AI platform for managing projects and staffing at professional services firms, raised a $7.6 million Series A round led by Newion, with Specialist VC, Vendep Capital, and Business Finland also participating. EU-Startups has more here.

Innocent Meat, a six-year-old startup based in Rostock, Germany, that develops systems to grow animal cells into meat at industrial scale for conventional meat producers, raised a $7.1 million round. Investors included prior backer Genius Venture Capital. Green Queen Media has more here.

Klir, a seven-year-old startup based in Reno, NV, that provides a data platform that helps water utilities manage compliance records and daily operations in one system, raised a $10 million Series B round. Investors included prior backer Insight Partners. More here.

River, a startup founded last year that operates a decentralized finance platform, raised an $8 million round led by Justin Sun. Bitcoin World has more here.

Salvo Health, a four-year-old New York startup that provides hybrid gastrointestinal and metabolic care supported by AI-enabled monitoring, raised an $8.5 million Series A round co-led by ManchesterStory, City Light Capital, and Threshold Ventures, with The Artemis Fund and Contour Venture Partners also contributing. More here.

The next platform shift: Physical and edge AI, powered by Arm. 

As AI moves beyond the cloud and into the real world, a new platform shift is underway. From robots and vehicles to XR and edge systems, AI now must act in real time, under real-world constraints. At CES 2026, Arm-powered platforms are enabling this next phase - delivering efficient, secure, and scalable intelligence across cloud, edge, and physical systems. Read how Arm is powering the future AI. 

Ananda Impact Ventures, a 16-year-old Munich-based VC firm that backs early-stage European startups focused on climate, biodiversity, healthcare, and social inclusion, completed a €73 million first close for its fifth impact fund. ESG Today has more here.

Harvey, the high-flying legal AI startup, has acquired Hexus -- a two-year-old startup that builds tools for creating product demos, videos, and guides -- as the company continues its aggressive expansion amid fierce competition in the legal tech market. TechCrunch has the skinny here.

Merkle Manufactory, the venture-backed company founded in 2020 to build and steward the decentralized social protocol Farcaster, said it will return $180 million to investors after selling the protocol to infrastructure firm Neynar and shifting operations toward a more developer-focused model. Decrypt has more here.

Ledger, an 11-year-old Paris company that sells hardware devices that let crypto holders securely store digital assets offline, is working with Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays on a potential New York IPO that could value the company at more than $4 billion. The Financial Times has more here.

Databricks, a 12-year-old San Francisco company that provides data-analytics software for enterprise AI, has closed on $1.8 billion in new debt, lifting its total debt access above $7 billion as it fortifies its balance sheet ahead of a potential 2026 IPO. The company recently raised a $4+ billion Series L (!) at a $134 billion valuation. CNBC has more here.

Business Insider’s examination of MrBeast’s messy breakup with MrBeast Burger shows how a ghost kitchen deal meant to launch a $10 billion food empire devolved into lawsuits, reputational damage, and a zombie brand. More here.

When journalist Chris Hayes recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he discovered that his pre-recorded interview had become an $800,000+ betting market on Kalshi. (Bettors were wagering how many times he would say “affordability,” etc.). More here.

Adam Presser, TikTok’s former head of operations and trust and safety, was named CEO of its newly formed U.S. joint venture. CNBC has more here.

The L.A.-based venture firm Amplify LA has promoted Connor Sundberg to partner, and Alex Rubilcava, formerly a GP at Stage Venture Partners, has joined the firm as a GP. More here.

ByteDance’s forced split of TikTok into U.S. and non-U.S. entities signals how Chinese tech companies are rethinking global expansion, with geopolitical pressure, regulatory risk, and mistrust pushing many to bypass the United States despite its market size. The New York Times has more here.

Anthropic’s Claude Code has quietly become a major growth engine, generating at least $1.1 billion in ARR by the end of 2025 and accounting for roughly 12% of the company’s total ARR. Wired has more here.

Big Tech is piling on record debt to bankroll AI data centers, issuing $108.7 billion in bonds in Q4 2025 alone, a surge that worries economists who say the scale and risk now extend well beyond Silicon Valley. The Washington Post has more here.

AI labs including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google are increasingly using Nintendo’s original Pokémon games as an informal but revealing benchmark to test how well advanced AI models reason, plan, and pursue long-term goals beyond standard question-and-answer evaluations. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

In a gripping story that is surely headed to a big screen near you, the FBI has finally taken former Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding into custody in Mexico, accusing him of running a billion-dollar cocaine trafficking operation and ordering a hit on a former colleague.

Tomorrow, legendary climber Alex Honnold is free soloing a 1,667-foot-tall Taiwanese skyscraper live on Netflix. (While we ask collectively why, Honnold instead asks, “Why wouldn’t you?”)

Five longevity lessons from The Oldest Person in the World.

A24 is leaning into awards-season buzz for Marty Supreme with a set of orange, championship-quality ping-pong balls branded with the film’s title and its “Dream Big” tagline.

Where polished pitch decks meet napkin sketches: TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 takes over Moscone Center October 13-15. Our lowest pricing is available through February 27, and the first 500 buyers unlock in an additional 50% off companion passes. You won’t want to miss the event, so snag the year's best deal before it disappears like a VC's available calendar slot. 😉

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