Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals on multiple networks after a suspected hack that crypto watchers estimate may have drained at least $2 billion — and possibly as much as $5.7 billion — from the exchange’s hot wallets, though the losses remain unconfirmed. Circle and Tether have frozen roughly $2.36 billion in related funds. TechCrunch has more here.

The New York Times is reporting that President Trump took no action after being briefed roughly a year ago that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman with a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, was a Chinese intelligence asset passing information to Beijing. More here.

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By Marina Temkin

Andy Elder and Arjun Mathur were Stanford roommates who both studied computer science before spending a decade at Palantir. Elder led product design for a team of 800 people building software for U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, while Mathur served as a senior vice president in the company’s commercial practice. When the friends decided to build a startup early last year, there was no question they would do it together.

Despite having no direct background in architecture, Elder and Mathur were troubled by a growing problem: Fewer buildings are constructed in the U.S. today than a few decades ago, as development costs have surged.

“We’ve gone from dial-up internet to superintelligent AI, but our ability to build the physical world around us has actually decreased,” Mathur told TechCrunch.

Believing AI can boost productivity across the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, they set out to build Dream, a startup developing built world models that automate building design and engineering. Dream has emerged from stealth with $17 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, alongside other backers, including SV Angel, XYZ, and Zigg Capital. The startup aims to replace cumbersome, outdated AEC tools like Autodesk’s AutoCAD and Revit.

If you sit next to an architect or a structural engineer, you’ll notice that they are still “drawing” every piece of their designs part by part on legacy software, Mathur said. “AI really plays no role in that equation.”

While a standard LLM like ChatGPT can generate an image of a building, the result won’t be structurally sound. Dream, by contrast, is grounded in real physics and construction standards. Just as LLMs learn from text, Dream’s world model is trained on more than 100 million square feet of building data gathered from permit archives across the United States.

BioGeometry, a Beijing startup that builds AI models to predict biomolecular structures and design new drug candidates from scratch, raised a Series A+ extension that brought its Series A funding to $100+ million. The deal was led by China Life Capital, with China Development Venture Capital, Reliance Investment, and Guofang Venture Capital as well as previous investors Shanghai Biomedical Industry Fund and Dacheng Wealth Capital also opting in. VentureBurn has more here.

Cognition, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds AI coding agents to automate software engineering tasks, is reportedly considering a new round at a $70 billion to $80 billion valuation after receiving investor offers in that range. Business Insider has more here.

Cohere, a seven-year-old Toronto startup that builds enterprise AI models and software for regulated industries and governments, announced the initial close of a Series E targeting up to $5 billion at a $25.5 billion valuation. The deal was led by Schwarz Group, with additional participation from Bell Ventures, Bullhound Capital, the Government of Canada, and previous investors Inovia Capital, Nvidia and Prosperity7 Ventures. Unite.AI has more here.

Dulo, a San Francisco startup founded this year that builds foundation models for hardware design, raised a $130 million seed round. Investors included Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, DST Global, Construct Capital, and Lowercarbon Capital. Dealroom has more here.

Fluidstack, a nine-year-old New York startup that provides GPU cloud infrastructure for AI workloads, is reportedly raising a round at a $40 billion valuation. Situational Awareness is asking its investors to commit capital alongside the hedge fund in the financing, Bloomberg reports. Bloomberg has more here.

Firehawk, a six-year-old startup based in Addison, TX, that uses thermoplastic manufacturing and 3D printing to produce propellant, rocket motors, and artillery motors, raised a $150+ million Series D round at a $1.4+ billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Advent and Rochefort Asset Management. Tectonic Defense has more here.

Fragment, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose AI agents resolve purchasing and payment problems across manufacturers’ existing systems, announced $56 million in combined seed and Series A funding. The Series A was led by 8VC, while the seed round was co-led by General Catalyst and A*. Tech Funding News has more here.

FuriosaAI, a nine-year-old Seoul startup that designs energy-efficient processors for running AI models in data centers, raised a $620 million round at a $2.9 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by South Korea’s National Growth Fund, with Cisco Investments, NeoFort Holdings, QUDA Capital Partners, Jericho Capital, and Worldline Capital as well as previous investors Korea Development Bank, Kako Investment, and NAVER also taking stakes. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Kalshi, the eight-year-old New York startup that operates a federally regulated prediction market for trading contracts on real-world events, raised a $1 billion Series G round at a $40 billion post-money valuation, up from $22 billion in May. The deal was co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, with Baillie Gifford, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Coatue Management, and Andreessen Horowitz also digging in. The New York Times has more here.

NeuroXess, a five-year-old Shanghai startup that develops implantable wireless brain-computer interfaces for neural signal decoding and device control, raised a $105 million Series B round co-led by SDIC Juli, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Qinzhi Capital, with China Fortune-Tech Capital, Huangpu River Capital, Co-Stone Capital, IDG Capital, Xichen Capital, Junxi Capital, Huafu Securities, ZWC Partners, Jiangxi Financial Holding, Shanda Capital, Zhongping Capital, and Huasai Zhihui also piling on. Investing.com has more here.

Serval, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates employee service requests across IT, human resources, finance, and legal teams using AI agents, raised a $150 million Series C round at a $3 billion valuation. The deal was led by Sequoia Capital, with Conviction Capital and Headline Management Co. as well as previous investors Redpoint Ventures, General Catalyst, First Round Capital, Evantic Capital, and Elad Gil also investing. The company has raised a total of $277 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Solink, a 17-year-old Ottawa company that uses AI to analyze security-camera footage for theft, security incidents, and activity inside stores, restaurants, and warehouses, raised a $100+ million round led by Vertu Capital, with previous investor Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives as well as Golub Growth and Comcast Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $198+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Wabi, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that builds personalized mini apps to help users plan, track, and coordinate everyday tasks, raised a $55 million round at a $1.25 billion valuation. The deal was led by IVP, with Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner, and Amazon Alexa Fund also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Bites, a six-year-old New York and Tel Aviv startup that delivers short AI-generated training videos to frontline workers through the communication tools they already use, raised a $40 million Series A round led by PeakSpan Capital, with previous investors Vertex Ventures, Horizon Capital, Rittenhouse Ventures, and Lyra Ventures also buying in. The company has raised a total of $55 million. More here.

Blue Arbor Technologies, a startup based in Grass Lake, MI, that develops systems connecting patients’ nerves to robotic prosthetic limbs for more precise control, raised a $10.5 million Series A round led by Ottobock. More here.

Collective, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that automates accounting, payroll, taxes, and other back-office work for solo business owners, raised a $40 million Series B round co-led by General Catalyst, QED Investors, and Gradient Ventures, with Intuit Ventures, FT Partners, and SemperVirens also chiming in. It also received a $60 million growth facility from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund to fund customer acquisition. Tech Funding News has more here.

Midstream Health, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to identify financial discrepancies and recover lost revenue for hospitals and health systems, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Valtruis, with additional support from previous investors Andreessen Horowitz, Foundry, and CommonSpirit Ventures. The company has raised a total of $29.2 million. More here.

Mintive, a San Francisco startup that helps companies control which systems and AI models their agents can access and tracks what those agents do, raised a $7 million seed round led by Cowboy Ventures, with Coatue, Operator Collective, and Hustle Fund also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $11 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Opentrons, a 12-year-old New York company that builds laboratory robots and software for automating biological experiments, raised a $40 million Series E round led by Avego, with BroadOak Capital Partners also chipping in. More here.

Ozlo, a four-year-old Boston startup that develops wireless earbuds that mask snoring, traffic, and other nighttime sounds, raised a $22 million Series B round alongside previously issued convertible instruments. The deal was led by Modi Ventures, with previous investors LifeArc, Artis Ventures, Resmed, Scrum Ventures, Drive by DraftKings, Wheelhouse 360, WISE Ventures, Niremia Collective, Accelerate Ventures, and World Solver Syndicate also chiming in. More here.

Pathfinder, a two-year-old Phoenix startup that helps families track and spend education funds through charge cards and eligibility tools, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Portage, with Reach Capital, Gradient, and Stand Together Ventures Lab also engaging. Dealroom has more here.

Phonic, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds speech-to-speech AI models for voice agents to understand callers, respond naturally, and execute tasks during conversations, raised a $27.5 million Series A round led by First Round, with Lux Capital, Felicis, Definition, and Essence VC also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $31.5 million. More here.

Reflex, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to build bespoke internal applications around companies’ specific workflows, replacing off-the-shelf software and manual processes, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Standard Capital, with Databricks Ventures, Y Combinator, Lux Capital, and Abstract Ventures also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $19 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Rendezvous Robotics, a one-year-old startup based in Golden, CO, that develops modular spacecraft tiles that autonomously assemble and reconfigure in orbit, raised a $20 million seed round co-led by MaC Venture Capital and Toyota Ventures, with the University of Michigan Endowment, Astera, and Industrious Ventures as well as previous investors Aurelia Foundry, ATX Venture Partners, and Mana Ventures also engaging. More here.

SuperMe, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that creates AI profiles from real experts’ knowledge and matches users’ questions with relevant experts, is reportedly raising a $20 million round led by Forerunner, with Greylock Partners also chipping in. TechCrunch has more here.

TrashLab, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides dispatch, routing, billing, and customer-service software for waste haulers and facilities, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Ventana. More here.

Bleu Robotics, a one-year-old Paris startup that develops AI models that teach industrial humanoid robots new tasks from a small number of operator demonstrations, raised a $5.6 million pre-seed round co-led by Contrarian Ventures and OVNI Capital, with Kvanted, WEPA Ventures, and Motier Ventures also stepping up. EU-Startups has more here.

i23, a London startup founded this year that uses AI to automate routine administrative work for insurance brokers, raised a $6.5 million seed round. Investors included Four Cities Capital, Outward VC, Seedcamp, and Insiders Ventures. Tech.eu has more here.

Omabit, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to analyze life science companies’ internal data and published research for drug development decisions, raised a $2 million seed round led by Bright Ventures. More here.

ShareWillow, a three-year-old New York startup that automates performance-pay calculations and earnings tracking for home-service technicians, raised an $8.5 million seed round. Investors included Lerer Hippeau, Circadian Ventures, Twelve Below, Charge Ventures, and Notation. Unite.AI has more here.

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Monolith, a five-year-old Hong Kong venture capital and investment management firm, disclosed plans to raise up to $561 million for Monolith Venture Fund III A, with the filing reporting $0 sold so far. The firm, whose portfolio includes DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, closed its debut U.S.-dollar fund at $264 million in 2023. The SEC filing has more here.

Mettle Capital, a new India-focused VC firm launched by three former Sequoia India partners following an acrimonious split with the spun-off unit, has raised a $350 million fund to invest in Indian tech startups. Newcomer has more here.

DPI Venture Capital, the venture arm of Development Partners International, closed its Nclude Fund at more than $112 million to back seed- through Series C-stage startups across Africa and the Middle East, with checks ranging from $500,000 to $10 million. The fund, which focuses on fintech, AI, and financial inclusion and has already backed 15 companies, will invest primarily in Egypt while allocating up to 30% of its capital elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East. More here.

BY Venture Partners, a Dubai-based early-stage VC firm, closed its third fund at $60 million to back pre-seed through Series A AI-native startups, typically investing up to $1 million. The firm, which now manages more than $200 million and has already made 15 investments from the new fund, has more here.

Otherwise Fund, a nine-year-old San Francisco early-stage VC firm led by former Index Ventures investor Terrence Rohan, disclosed plans to raise up to $50 million for Otherwise Fund VI. Otherwise describes itself as a network that lets founders invest in other founders, and Rohan’s past investments include Figma, Hugging Face, Notion, Robinhood, and Vanta. More here.

U&I Ventures, a one-year-old San Francisco seed-stage VC firm, closed a $32.2 million debut fund to back 40 to 45 pre-seed and seed-stage AI-native infrastructure startups across security, engineering, and IT, with initial checks ranging from $250,000 to more than $800,000. More here.

Thrive Holdings, the private-equity spinout of Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, agreed to acquire home-security company ADT for $10 per share, valuing the equity at about $7.6 billion and the company at $15.3 billion including debt. Thrive Holdings, which is backed by and partnered with OpenAI, plans to make ADT the foundation of its smart-home security business and use OpenAI models and engineers across the company. TechCrunch has more here.

DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart for $17 billion or $65 per share in a deal that would combine DoorDash’s restaurant-delivery network with Instacart’s grocery-delivery business. Instacart’s brand, app, and enterprise products are expected to remain intact. TechCrunch has more here.

Corridor, a nearly two-year-old AI security startup based in San Francisco and founded by former CISA cybersecurity officials Jack Cable and Ashwin Ramaswami, is joining Cognition, where its team will work on expanding Devin Security as AI agents become increasingly capable of executing end-to-end cyberattacks. Terms were not disclosed. More here.

Kipp, a fintech platform that helps card issuers and merchants recover transactions that would otherwise be declined for insufficient funds, was acquired for an undisclosed price by an investor group led by The Lifetime Value Company and its founders. More here.

Deepgram is acquiring Daily, the company behind the popular open-source Pipecat framework for building real-time voice and video AI applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pipecat will remain open source, and the acquisition gives Deepgram a broader foothold in voice-agent infrastructure. TechCrunch has more here.

Coveo, a Montreal enterprise AI company, acquired Anglera, a San Francisco-based, Y Combinator-backed startup whose AI agents extract and standardize product information from specifications, PDFs, supplier data, and other sources. Terms were not disclosed. More here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Elon Musk “truly a genius” and said Russia remains in “close contact” with the SpaceX chief as Moscow develops Rassvet, a homegrown Starlink rival that currently has 31 satellites in orbit versus more than 11,000 for Starlink. CNBC has more here.

Airbnb’s charitable arm held its first gala in Los Angeles this week, and the internet seemed less surprised by the event itself than by the caliber of celebrities who actually showed up, including Serena Williams, Demi Lovato, Charlize Theron, and Cynthia Erivo. Jimmy Kimmel hosted, and Charli XCX performed. TechCrunch has more here.

Computer and information science enrollment at U.S. colleges fell more than 12% in undergraduate programs and more than 10% in graduate programs this fall, extending a decline that began last year after years of growth, according to preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that aggregates enrollment and degree records from thousands of U.S. colleges and universities. Bloomberg has more here.

Anthropic is SpaceX’s largest single customer, accounting for roughly 34.5% of the company’s third-quarter revenue through payments to its Super Intelligence division for computing power, according to Bloomberg, which identified the previously unnamed “Customer B” in a recent SpaceX filing. The relationship is reportedly worth about $3 billion a month to SpaceX. More here.

Meta pulled an Instagram ad promoting Muse, its AI agent, after the campaign touted the ability to track who unfollows you, a feature Instagram itself has long avoided because it could make users less comfortable pruning their feeds. Business Insider has more here.

Prediction markets are turning the midterms into a high-stakes trading arena, with professional bettors wagering hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on individual races and control of Congress. U.S. midterm trading on platforms including Polymarket and Kalshi has already topped $221 million. The New York Times has more here.

An Accenture contractor allegedly connected a personal Claude Code agent to a secure Pentagon network containing controlled unclassified information, where it ran for two months and may have sent login credentials, passwords, and a map of the network to a high-risk third-party site. WIRED has more here.

Liberty Mutual’s new fuzzy yellow “Liberty Biberty” mascot has inspired a surprisingly intense backlash, including a Boston protest and a Facebook hate group with more than 40,000 members, but the insurer says the character is performing above average on attention and brand attribution, suggesting all that outrage may be working in its favor.

Visit Iceland has launched “AI Knittaker,” a tongue-in-cheek alternative to AI meeting assistants in which more than 20 Icelandic knitters join workplace calls, listen in, and hand-knit a one-word summary such as “pivot,” “align,” or “WTF?” The tourism campaign is offering roughly 330 free one-hour sessions through Nov. 20, with participants receiving a photo of their knitter and, in the U.S. and Europe, the option to have the finished piece shipped to them.

The era of “hot Halloween” may be waning, with creators and partygoers increasingly trading sexy costumes for genuinely scary, grotesque, or deliberately goofy looks featuring prosthetics, gore, and elaborate special-effects makeup.

Aston Martin has unveiled the Valhalla Spider, its first mid-engined open-cockpit supercar and fastest-ever roofless model, pairing a twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors for 1,064 horsepower and a 217 mph top speed. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2027.

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