Just "dropped": the newest episode of StrictlyVC Download, featuring George Arison, CEO of Grindr, whose overarching mission is to transform the gay-dating app into a one-stop shop, including healthcare and travel concierge services. He's succeeding, at least from a revenue standpoint: the company has grown 25% every year he's been in charge, dating back to 2022.

Arison is trying to paint that bigger picture for investors, but he also talked about the big changes in how his customers think about life and family. (We wondered if he worries Grindr is turning into Facebook; he says he's not.) We enjoyed it — we hope you will, too.

Google avoided a breakup of its ad-tech business after a federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s demand that it sell key assets, instead ordering changes to its business practices whose details remain under seal. TechCrunch has more here.

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By Russell Brandom

OpenAI’s new Astra model will use a reasoning technique called “recurrent depth” that allows it to operate outside of the sequential thinking that characterizes most reasoning models, The Information reported on Tuesday. This technique, also called “opaque recurrence,” will likely make the model’s chain of thought more difficult to monitor — and that has AI safety experts rattled.

While Astra’s use of the technique is reportedly limited, its emergence has still raised significant concerns among AI safety experts.

“I am extremely concerned by the reporting that Astra uses opaque recurrence,” wrote Redwood CEO Buck Shlegeris in a post after the news broke. “I don’t know whether Astra is much less CoT monitorable than previous models. But if OpenAI pushes this technique further, they’ll have the option to massively increase the recurrence and totally destroys CoT monitorability.”

Longtime AI safety advocate Zvi Mowshowitz also weighed in and wrote that laws might be necessary to prevent a “race to the bottom” among AI labs. 

“The technique is playing with fire, risking a taboo that OpenAI and Anthropic have fought to establish that we work hard to maintain Chain of Thought faithfulness and monitorability for as long as we can,” Mowshowitz wrote. “More intensive use of such techniques would probably damage monitorability.”

Under normal circumstances, a reasoning model’s chain of thought provides the sequential steps taken by the model as it attempts to solve a problem. While the representation is imperfect, it still serves as a valuable tool for monitoring misbehavior or misalignment. In the case of OpenAI’s recent rogue agent activity, chain-of-thought records were an important tool in teasing out why agents behaved the way they did.

In opaque recurrence, the model takes a less linear approach, processing the same query several times in a loop. The result leaves fewer legible traces, effectively side-stepping a conventional chain-of-thought record.

Cognition, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops Devin, an AI engineering agent that autonomously handles software development tasks, is reportedly set to raise around $1 billion at a $47 billion post-money valuation. Bloomberg has more here.

Conveo, a two-year-old Antwerp startup that conducts adaptive video interviews with consumers to help brands test advertising concepts and maintain ongoing research data, raised a $50 million Series A round co-led by DST Global Partners and Balderton Capital, with Visionaries and 6 Degrees Capital as well as previous investor Y Combinator also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $55.8 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

HiddenLayer, a four-year-old Austin startup that protects AI models, agents, and workflows from adversarial attacks, vulnerabilities, and malicious code injections, raised a $100 million Series B led by Delta-v Capital, with Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, M12, and Booz Allen Hamilton also digging in. TechCrunch has more here.

HyImpulse, an eight-year-old startup based in Neuenstadt am Kocher, Germany, that builds hybrid-engine launch vehicles that carry satellites to orbit and support hypersonic testing for defense and research customers, raised a $58 million Series A round co-led by JOIN Capital and Ace Capital Partners, with German Aerospace Center as well as previous investors North Ventures, BW-Capital, Bayern Kapital, and Campus Founders Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $145+ million in equity and public funding. Tech Funding News has more here.

iPronics, a seven-year-old startup based in Valencia, Spain, that develops silicon-photonics optical switches for connecting GPUs and other computing infrastructure in AI data centers, raised a $125 million Series B co-led by Maverick Silicon and Light Street Capital, with Nvidia, Triatomic Capital, Bosch Ventures, Catalight Capital, European Innovation Council Fund, The Tate Family Trust, Fine Structure Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Build Collective, and Criteria Venture Tech also opting in. The company has raised a total of $177 million. More here.

Lyte, a five-year-old Mountain View, CA, startup that develops custom silicon, sensors, and spatial software to help robots perceive and navigate their surroundings, raised a $165 million Series C at a $1.6 billion post-money valuation led by Maverick Silicon, with Fidelity, Atreides Management, Key1 Capital, and Ora Global also anteing up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

TabaPay, a nine-year-old Palo Alto startup that moves payments and payouts for fintechs, lenders, and high-growth platforms across bank and card networks through one API, raised a $155 million round led by FTV Capital. More here.

Thyme Care, a six-year-old Nashville startup that helps cancer patients navigate care between appointments through virtual clinical support and care coordination, raised a $125 million Series E at a $2+ billion valuation. The deal was led by Morgan Health, with Humana, CVS Health Ventures, AlleyCorp, HealthQuest Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz also engaging. CNBC has more here.

Tripo AI, a three-year-old startup that develops AI models and tools that help businesses create production-ready 3D assets for manufacturing, virtual reality, and entertainment workflows, raised a $446 million Series B round led by MPCi, with Perfect World, BlueFocus, SPC, Yanqu Games, ThunderSoft, 37 Interactive Entertainment, CDH Venture, Growth Capital, CICC, CMC Capital Partners, Hongtai Aplus, 3H Health, Zhongping Capital, and GreatOrigin Asia as well as previous investors Fortune Capital, Primavera Capital, 4399 Network, Muhua Tech Ventures, Vitalbridge Capital, INCE Capital, and T-Capital also piling on. More here.

Typewriter Therapeutics, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops RNA-based gene therapies that insert therapeutic genes into patient cells to treat cancer, autoimmune, and severe genetic diseases, raised a $56 million Series A round co-led by AN Venture Partners and RA Capital Management, with ANRI, Gemseki, and SBI US Gateway Fund also chipping in. More here.

Wonderful, a one-year-old Amsterdam startup that helps large enterprises deploy AI agents across business workflows, raised a $550 million Series C at a $5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by previous investor Insight Partners, with Salesforce as well as previous investors Index Ventures, IVP, Vine Ventures, 9Yards, and Bessemer Venture Partners also taking part. Investors also bought $170 million of shares from employees and early angel investors in a secondary transaction. The company has raised a total of $800+ million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

AITAN, an 11-year-old Israeli company that develops software for deploying and coordinating drones and other robotic combat systems, raised a $41 million round co-led by Deep33 and Dell Technologies Capital, with individual investors Gokul Rajaram, Benjamin Ling, and Kevin Weil also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $54 million. CTech has more here.

Huskeys, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that orchestrates network-edge security controls across cloud providers, firewalls, load balancers, and applications for enterprise security teams, raised a $27 million Series A round led by Blackstone Innovations Investments, with Merlin Ventures, Skinos Ventures, Zscaler Ventures, Okta Ventures, Bright Pixel Capital, SV Angel, and Eran Reshef also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $35 million. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

InLeap Photonics, a three-year-old startup based in Hanover, Germany, that develops laser beam steering systems that improve industrial laser manufacturing and neutralize drones near critical infrastructure, raised a $23.2 million seed round led by UVC Partners, with HTGF, Balnord, Sentries, and Scale Capital also engaging. EU-Startups has more here.

Medici Brands, a one-year-old New York startup that owns food brands including David Protein and HallPass, raised a $250 million Series B co-led by previous investors Greenoaks and Valor Equity Partners, with CEO Peter Rahal, ICONIQ, and Imaginary Ventures also participating. More here.

N-Power Medicine, a five-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that creates trial-grade external control arms from community cancer care data to help drugmakers run oncology studies with fewer randomized-control patients, raised a $32 million Series B round. Investors included Labcorp Venture Fund as well as previous investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Innovatus Capital Partners. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Norbert Health, a seven-year-old Brooklyn startup that turns mobile robots into nursing assistants that make rounds, capture contactless vitals, run assessments, and document patient encounters, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Cardinal Group, with Exor Seeds and CareIT also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $19 million. More here.

Odyssey Energy Solutions, a nine-year-old Boulder startup that provides procurement and working-capital financing for solar installers and EPCs building distributed solar and storage projects in emerging markets, raised a $27 million round. Investors included Broadscale Group, FMO, Al Mada Ventures, British International Investment, BIO, the Facility for Energy Inclusion, and the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund as well as previous investors Union Square Ventures, Equal Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Twelve Below, FJ Labs, MCJ, and Transition Ventures. The company has raised a total of $94 million. More here.

Particula, a nine-year-old startup based in Netanya, Israel, that makes connected physical games that add app guidance, coaching, and online play to toys like Rubik's-style cubes and chess boards, raised a $15 million round led by Elah Fund, with Grove Ventures and Flashpoint also participating. More here.

Wafer, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that deploys autonomous agents to tune AI inference workloads across hardware and model architectures so companies use more of their GPU capacity, raised a $40 million Series A round at a $200+ million valuation. The deal was co-led by Marathon and Chemistry, with Wing and AMD Ventures also engaging. Crypto Briefing has more here.

Catch, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses AI agents to handle routine administrative work for executives across calendars, travel, and email, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Entrée Capital and Pitango, with Seedcamp and Factorial Capital also participating. CTech has more here.

Flamingo, a one-year-old Miami startup that combines open-source IT and security tools with agents that automate service delivery, security operations, and end-user support for managed service providers, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Vertex Ventures. The company has raised a total of $6.7 million. CRN has more here.

Holifya, a five-year-old Milan startup that runs a digital obesity clinic that helps physicians personalize GLP-1 treatments using diagnostics, patient monitoring, and follow-up support, raised a $1.9 million round led by Next Age, with Doorway, 20Fund, and Zooga VC as well as previous investor Growth Engine also chiming in. More here.

Instarc, a six-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that helps financial firms and other regulated organizations handle customer onboarding, identity checks, due diligence, and regulatory reporting, raised a $1.45 million round led by HFO Investments. The SaaS News has more here.

Ki 13, a four-year-old London startup that converts agricultural and forestry biomass residues into green hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ feedstocks for synthetic fuels and chemicals, raised a $5 million seed round led by HICO Investment Group, with additional capital from Burgest, Triple Impact Ventures, GiTV, and previous investor Desai Ventures as well as non-dilutive matching grants from Innovate UK. More here.

Orchestra, a three-year-old London startup that connects enterprise data tools and AI agents so engineering teams can build, monitor, and repair automated data workflows, raised a $3.3 million seed round co-led by Differential Ventures, with Breakers, Tokyo Black and Contour Venture Partners as well as previous investor Moonfire also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $4.6 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Plenti, a four-year-old Medellín fintech that lets individuals and businesses hold and transfer multiple currencies and invest in U.S.-listed stocks, ETFs, and crypto assets, raised a $3 million seed round led by Tether, with Verda Ventures also participating. Dealroom has more here.

Scopia Surgical, a two-year-old Montreal startup that develops surgical navigation tools that bring preoperative imaging into minimally invasive and robotic procedures on existing hospital systems, raised a $2.7 million pre-seed round co-led by Linearis Ventures and Anges Québec, with Fonds Impulsion and HaloHealth also anteing up. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Visko, a one-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, that develops AI models that generate continuously running interactive video worlds users can modify while the stream remains active, raised a $10 million pre-seed round led by Llama Ventures. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Archive, a five-year-old San Francisco company that helps brands track short-form video and manage creator campaigns from discovery through paid partnership ads, raised an undisclosed round co-led by Anti Fund and Florida Funders, with Battery Ventures, Stripe, Tiger Global, Lux Capital, and Human Capital also participating. More here.

Adobe has acquired Rilo, a one-year-old India-based marketing intelligence startup that helps go-to-market teams automate competitor research, content distribution, and sales-call analysis, bringing its six-person team and some of its technology into Adobe. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Last night, we reported that Palo Alto Networks acquired Console for an undisclosed sum. It turns out Palo Alto Networks may have paid as much as $500 million in cash and stock to acquire the company. TechCrunch has more here.

According to The Information, Nscale, a UK-based Nvidia-backed AI cloud infrastructure provider, is telling prospective IPO investors it has about $103 billion in contracted revenue, with contracts averaging 5.7 years in duration. This figure would imply roughly $18 billion in annualized contracted revenue. Reuters has more here.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Anthropic is “back on the right side” with the Trump administration, days after a federal judge blocked the Pentagon from blacklisting the AI company over its refusal to allow Claude to be used for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. Reuters has more here.

Playground Global promoted Rahul Meka and Daniel Yum to partner, elevating two principals on the Palo Alto deep-tech venture firm’s investment team. More here.

Think of Charlie Dolman as Burning Man’s Winston Wolfe. “If you do meet me in Black Rock City, you’re either in jail, or dead, or in some other ungodly mess that you really probably don’t want to be in, because that’s what I do,” he says. SFGATE has more here.

Uber is laying off about 3,300 employees or 10% of its workforce as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi cuts management layers, consolidates teams, and redirects spending toward ridesharing, delivery, and robotaxis; remote jobs will fall to less than 1% of staff. TechCrunch has more here.

The Trump administration has inserted itself into The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, urging a federal court to find that training AI models on copyrighted material generally qualifies as fair use and arguing that restrictions could undermine U.S. scientific progress, economic competitiveness, and national security. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI faces 30 additional lawsuits over the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, with plaintiffs for the first time accusing the company of aiding and abetting the attack after employees reportedly urged leaders to alert Canadian authorities about the gunman’s ChatGPT activity. TechCrunch has more here.

A dark-web identity-theft service is selling scans of more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s licenses, apparently sourced from identity-verification provider idscan.net, whose customers include Hertz, Target, FedEx, and Caesars; the FBI has opened an investigation. KrebsOnSecurity has more here.

Norway is considering banning or restricting camera-equipped smart glasses and other wearables — dubbed “pervert glasses” by critics — over privacy concerns, including potentially prohibiting facial recognition of people in public places. TechCrunch has more here.

San Francisco’s wealthy, single AI workers are increasingly hiring stylists to escape the Patagonia-and-Lululemon tech uniform and improve their dating prospects.

An anonymous Waymo depot contractor describes the decidedly human labor behind the company’s “driverless” fleet: workers charge cars, clean sensors, reboot malfunctioning vehicles, offload trip data, untangle robotaxi traffic jams, and clean up vomit, feces, discarded joints, and even the occasional pig head.

A 31-year-old New York construction manager has become a guerrilla subway heat monitor, installing thermometers in some of Manhattan’s hottest stations and recording heat-index readings as high as 132°F.

The 151-acre Renamor estate in New York’s historic Tuxedo Park is headed to auction after failing to sell at $29.5 million, with bidding expected to start between $5 million and $11 million. The property includes a 14,000-square-foot 1928 French Provincial mansion, guesthouse, carriage house, boathouse, two pools, tennis court, putting green, bridle trails, and a $1 million-plus geothermal and solar microgrid.

Starting at $286,650, the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet pairs a 701-hp hybrid powertrain with a 2.2-second 0-to-60 time and 10-second quarter mile. Car & Driver’s advice: “Superglue that toupee and fire up the Valentine One.”

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