Kalshi is reportedly in talks to raise new funding at a roughly $40 billion valuation just a month after raising $1 billion at $22 billion, based presumably on the prediction market’s surging trading volume and its expansion into sports, crypto, and financial-event contracts. The Financial Times has more here.

OpenAI unveiled Jalapeño, its first custom inference chip, built with Broadcom and designed to lower the cost of running its AI models, as the company doubles down on its own infrastructure to reduce its dependence on Nvidia GPUs. TechCrunch has more here.

Fidelity — Your Pitch Isn’t the Only Thing Investors Are Evaluating. 

Investors don’t just listen to what you say - they look at how your company operates. Is ownership clear? Do your numbers match your story? Can you answer follow-up questions without digging through spreadsheets? The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips founders with the materials investors expect to see, before pressure is on. Because confidence in the room doesn’t come from slides. It comes from preparation.

By Tim De Chant

Slate, maker of the stripped-down EV pickup truck, found another way to simplify its product: the battery.

When the startup revealed its starting price on Wednesday — $24,950 before destination, taxes, and other fees — it also said it had changed its battery strategy, eliminating the optional 240-mile pack but bumping the standard pack from 150 miles to 205. 

How Slate pulled that off illustrates just how significantly the battery market in the U.S. has changed in the past four years.

Initially, the startup planned to use nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells. The chemistry is widely used in the automotive industry and favored for its energy density, which translates into longer range. But NMC is also expensive, mostly due to high nickel and cobalt prices.

More recently, automakers have begun to use another chemistry, lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP). Battery packs that use LFP are less energy dense but cheaper by about 40%, thanks in part to lower-cost ingredients like iron, one of the main cathode materials, which replaces nickel and cobalt.

There were good reasons why Slate, and other automakers, started with NMC. The LFP supply chain today is concentrated in China. That wasn’t always the case — early U.S. battery startup A123 Systems was founded to commercialize the technology. But after a few missteps, it fell into bankruptcy and was bought in 2013 by a Chinese auto parts company. Since then, Chinese battery companies have embraced the chemistry and dominated production of LFP cells.

Alan, a 10-year-old Paris company that sells health insurance to corporate customers and offers virtual care and AI-powered patient support through its app, raised a $545.2 million round led by Prosus at a $6.2 billion post-money valuation, with Teachers’ Venture Growth and Index Ventures also engaging. The round includes both new capital and a secondary share sale. The Financial Times has more here.

Assort Health, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that automates patient access workflows for healthcare providers by handling calls, scheduling, intake, referrals, and payments across clinics and health systems, raised a $120 million Series C round at a $1.2 billion valuation. The deal was led by Menlo Ventures, with Lightspeed, Felicis, First Round Capital, Chemistry, Joe Montana, Tau Ventures, and Quiet Capital also taking part. The company has raised a total of $222+ million. More here.

Cadence, a six-year-old New York startup that monitors patients with chronic diseases at home and helps health systems adjust treatment and medications between visits using supervised AI agents, raised a $100 million Series C round led by Spark Capital, with Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Coatue, B Capital, Corewell Health Ventures, Memorial Hermann, and Duke Health also pitching in. Modern Healthcare has more here.

HyperLight, an eight-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that builds photonics chips that improve data transmission speed and reduce power use in optical interconnects for AI data centers and telecom networks, raised an $80 million Series C round led by MediaTek, with UMC Capital, Jabil, Foxconn, EDBI, CDIB-TEN Capital, and Qatar Investment Authority as well as previous investors Summit Partners, The Engine, Foothill Ventures, and Xora Innovation also piling on. More here.

Ollin Biosciences, a three-year-old Austin startup that develops antibody drugs for eye diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema, raised a $330 million Series B round co-led by TCGX and Arch Venture Partners, with Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone, Commodore Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, RA Capital Management, T. Rowe Price, and an unnamed sovereign wealth fund as well as previous investors Mubadala Capital and Monograph Capital also piling on. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Osanni Bio, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that discovers and develops new drug candidates and spins them into affiliate companies after early validation in areas like ophthalmology and cardiology, raised a $190 million Series B round led by Patient Square Capital, with Horowitz Group, Invus Opportunities, and the Retinal Degeneration Fund also anteing up. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Partly, a six-year-old Austin startup that uses a specialized model to identify correct vehicle parts from diagrams, photos, and repair descriptions to help auto repair shops order parts accurately, raised a $50 million Series B round at a $500 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by DST Global Partners. More here.

Runpod, a four-year-old startup based in Mt. Laurel, NJ, that rents cloud computing power to AI developers for experimenting, training, fine-tuning, and running models, raised a $100 million round at a $1 billion post-money valuation led by Summit Partners. The Next Web has more here.

SambaNova Systems, a nine-year-old Palo Alto startup that develops AI chips and server systems that compete with Nvidia, is reportedly set to raise $800 million to $1 billion at an approximately $10 billion valuation, up from $2 billion in February. The Information has more here.

Allium, a five-year-old New York startup that aggregates and standardizes blockchain transaction data for banks, fintechs, and government agencies to analyze markets, run queries, and integrate onchain activity into internal systems, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Amplify Partners, with previous investors Kleiner Perkins and Theory Ventures also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Astral Systems, a five-year-old startup based in Bristol, UK, that builds compact fusion reactors that produce medical isotopes for hospitals to use in cancer imaging and targeted therapies, raised a $30.3 million round led by Mercia Ventures, with Tees River, Daphni, and Blast Club as well as previous investors Speedinvest and Playfair also contributing. Tech Funding News has more here.

Caplight Technologies, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that provides private market data and runs a marketplace connecting investors and broker-dealers to trade venture stakes and access secondary market liquidity, raised a $16 million Series A round co-led by BlackRock, Fin Capital, and LEAP Global Partners, with UBS Investment Bank as well as previous investors DB1 Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, and Dash Fund also investing. More here.

Coval, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that runs simulations, monitors performance, and labels data to help enterprises test and improve voice and chat agents before and after deployment, raised a $28 million Series A round led by Norwest, with Base10 Partners, Twilio Ventures, and Y Combinator also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $31 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

CroíValve, a 10-year-old Dublin company that develops a minimally invasive heart valve device that treats tricuspid regurgitation in patients unsuitable for open-heart surgery, raised a $20 million Series B extension from BGF as well as previous investor MedTech Syndicate. Silicon Republic has more here.

Jupus, a four-year-old startup based in Cologne, Germany, that automates client communication, case organization, and document drafting for small and mid-sized law firms, raised a $14.8 million Series A round led by Semapa Next, with NRW.BANK and Combination VC as well as previous investors Acton Capital and High-Tech Gründerfonds also engaging. The company has raised a total of €20+ million. The SaaS News has more here.

JustAI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates customer marketing campaigns by generating messages, selecting next-best actions and optimizing engagement decisions for enterprise marketing teams, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Base10 Partners, with Y Combinator and Peak XV Partners also digging in. More here.

Kotoba Technologies, a three-year-old San Francisco and Tokyo startup that develops speech AI models for East Asian languages, raised an additional $10 million in seed funding led by Kindred Ventures, with Salesforce Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund also participating. The company has raised a total of $23 million. More here.

Onyx Odds, a two-year-old New York startup that operates a sports prediction marketplace where users trade exchange-based contracts tied to game outcomes, raised a $20 million round at a $220 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Payward (Kraken's parent company), with Xfund and Breyer Capital also participating. More here.

Ornn, a one-year-old New York startup that operates a marketplace for buying and selling compute, raised a $33 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz and including Galaxy Ventures, Nordstar, and SV Angel as well as previous investors Vine Ventures, Crucible Capital, Link Ventures, and Box Group. The Economic Times has more here.

Rapalogix Health, a four-year-old startup based in Carlsbad, CA, that develops skin-health products and prescription dermatology drugs based on compounds designed to target cellular aging in the skin, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Woodline Partners and GordonMD Global Investments. More here.

Runlayer, a one-year-old New York startup that provides a control layer for companies to govern employee use of AI agents and monitor what those agents access, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Felicis, with Khosla Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $42 million. Fortune has more here.

Seltz, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that is building a search engine for AI agents to retrieve machine-ready information from web pages, tables, and images, raised a $12.5 million seed round co-led by Speedinvest and B Capital, with Italian Founders Fund, United Ventures, and Future Back Ventures also taking stakes. Fortune has more here.

Sportway Media Group, a four-year-old Stockholm startup that provides automated camera systems and production services that help sports federations, leagues, and clubs produce, distribute, and monetize live games at scale, raised a $22.7 million round at a $104.5 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Gamma Waves. More here.

Taktile, a six-year-old New York and Berlin startup that helps banks and insurers automate high-stakes decisions such as underwriting, claims, and fraud reviews with AI agents, raised a $110 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Tiger Global, Y Combinator, and Dig Ventures also writing checks. The company has raised a total of $184 million. More here.

Tissium, a 13-year-old Paris company that makes polymers used in tissue reconstruction, including a sutureless nerve-repair product that recently received FDA authorization, raised a $34.1 million round. Investors included prior backers Mérieux Développement and Cathay. MassDevice has more here.

Trimtech Therapeutics, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that develops small molecule drugs that selectively degrade toxic protein aggregates to treat neurodegenerative diseases while preserving normal protein function, raised a $14 million seed extension. Johnson & Johnson Innovation was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $47 million. More here.

Trovy, a two-year-old New York startup that provides homeowners with a credit card backed by home equity, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Left Lane Capital, with previous investors Kleiner Perkins, DCM Ventures, and Camber Creek also taking part. The company has raised a total of $25 million. More here.

Tsuga, a two-year-old Paris startup that runs observability tools inside customers’ cloud accounts to help engineering teams monitor applications and AI workloads without exporting telemetry data, raised a $35 million Series A round led by Singular, with DST Global Partners, QuantumLight, Databricks Ventures, and Picus Capital as well as previous investor General Catalyst also contributing. The company has raised a total of $45 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Ubotica Technologies, a 10-year-old Dublin company that enables satellites to analyze Earth observation data onboard to help governments monitor maritime activity and detect threats to offshore infrastructure, raised an $11 million round co-led by Act Venture Capital and Greencode Ventures, with previous investor Atlantic Bridge also investing. Silicon Republic has more here.

xCures, an eight-year-old Oakland startup that uses AI to turn messy medical records into structured clinical data for healthcare providers, labs, telehealth companies, and Medicare Advantage plans, raised a $46 million Series B round at a $127 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Innovius Capital, with iGrow and Spring Mountain Capital also weighing in. The company has raised a total of $76+ million. Crunchbase News has more here.

CentSight, a one-year-old startup based in Lakewood, OH, that uses AI to help small and mid-sized businesses understand cash flow, expenses, revenue, profitability, and other financial trends, raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round from Mudita Venture Partners. More here.

Kinoa, a four-year-old Tel Aviv startup that deploys AI agents that help mobile app and game developers predict user behavior and automatically deliver personalized offers, messages, and feature changes to increase revenue, raised a $10 million round led by Transcend Fund, with Sisu Game Ventures also stepping up. GamesBeat has more here.

Longshot, a six-year-old startup based in Alameda, CA, that develops ground-based launch systems that use kinetic accelerators to propel payloads to hypersonic speeds for defense, research, and space access, raised a $5 million round. South Park Commons was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $20 million. More here.

Nudge, a two-year-old New York startup that aims to help ecommerce brands track how often their products appear in AI shopping recommendations, improve product data for AI agents, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed round co-led by s16vc and Antler. Dealroom has more here.

SuperPlane, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is building an open-source control layer to enable engineering and DevOps teams to run deployments, infrastructure changes, and incident response workflows with supervised AI agents, raised a $2.6 million pre-seed round led by Credo Ventures, with First Momentum Ventures also participating. The Recursive has more here.

Xella Health, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses biomarker testing, clinical guidance, and AI analysis to help women detect and understand hard-to-diagnose health conditions earlier, raised a $4.7 million round. Investors included Precursor Ventures, Capital F, and Ulu Ventures. Fast Company has more here.

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From AI-native startups to breakout growth companies, founders are scaling faster than ever in an increasingly complex market. Growth brings new expectations from investors, boards, and future stakeholders. Can your reporting, governance, and finance operations keep pace? PwC helps emerging companies build the capabilities needed to navigate growth with confidence and prepare for what comes next - from rapid expansion to public company readiness. Explore Emerging Company Solutions. 

Valor Equity Partners, a 25-year-old Chicago investment firm whose portfolio companies include SpaceX, Anduril, and Reddit, is raising at least $2.5 billion for its seventh fund, with part of the capital already earmarked for further investments in SpaceX. TechCrunch has more here.

Qualcomm has confirmed it will acquire Modular, a four-year-old Silicon Valley chip software startup that makes a platform and programming language for running AI software across different chips, for nearly $4 billion. Wired has more here.

Superhuman has purchased GPTZero, a three-year-old AI detection startup that helps users identify AI-generated text, hallucinations, and AI-generated content in social feeds, after GPTZero grew to more than 19 million registered users and $30 million in annual recurring revenue. Terms were not disclosed. Business Insider has more here.

MoEngage, an 11-year-old San Francisco and Bengaluru company that helps brands personalize customer messaging and marketing campaigns, has bought six-year-old San Francisco startup Aampe, whose software assigns an AI agent to each customer, in an all-cash deal reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars. TechCrunch has more here.

Agility Robotics, the 11-year-old Salem, OR, maker of Digit humanoid robots for manufacturing, distribution, and logistics work, is going public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI at a $2.5 billion pre-money equity value, with more than $620 million in expected gross proceeds. The company has raised approximately $640 million from investors like DCVC, Playground Global, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, WP Global Partners, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, NVentures, Foxconn, TDK Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Safar Partners, and Schaeffler Group. TechCrunch has more here.

The Trump White House has reportedly warmed to Anthropic in negotiations over re-releasing Claude Fable 5 following the replacement of CEO Dario Amodei in meetings by co-founder Tom Brown and policy chief Sarah Heck — though officials are still seeking assurances that the model's guardrails can’t be bypassed. Wired has more here.

According to Bloomberg, top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic after helping develop Gemini, extending a run of high-profile exits that also includes Noam Shazeer’s move to OpenAI and DeepMind director John Jumper’s departure for Anthropic. TechCrunch has more here.

M13 co-founder Carter Reum and Basis Set Ventures partner Chang Xu stopped by TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event in Los Angeles last week, where they made the case that the most interesting AI bets are still ahead and that the second and third ripple effects of this technology cycle will be harder to spot but far more rewarding. TechCrunch has more here.

A top quantum computing expert is challenging Microsoft’s claim that it has created a “topological qubit,” arguing in a new Nature commentary that the company’s latest evidence may be a measurement error, while Microsoft says it stands by its results and roadmap. Scientific American has more here.

The Washington Post tested major AI chatbots on hot-button political questions and found that most skewed to the liberal side of the spectrum, with OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 giving left-leaning-only answers 80% of the time and even conservative-marketed models such as Grok and Gab’s Arya embracing liberal positions. More here.

A DoorDash delivery robot wandered into a SWAT scene in Chandler, AZ, refused police orders to leave, and stayed put as officers detonated a flashbang, with DoorDash later saying the bot “behaved as designed” by stopping safely while authorities handled the situation. Futurism has more here.

The World Cup’s three-minute hydration breaks have become high-speed beer runs for fans, turning a safety measure FIFA says is needed for summer heat into a “very American” sprint for the concession stand.

Tobias Gough, a 42-year-old sound engineer, has become an unlikely fixture of British political chaos, reappearing outside 10 Downing Street to set up the lectern and microphones for a new prime minister so often that he has come to be known online as “Hot Podium Guy.”

Four Seasons is opening its first hotel in Mykonos, a 15-acre resort near Kalo Livadi Bay with 94 rooms and suites, private terraces, some plunge pools, a private beach, two infinity pools, four dining concepts, and a jetty for yacht charters around the Greek islands.

A smart beverage fridge.

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