More than 450 tech workers across Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Salesforce have signed a petition urging their CEOs to pressure the White House to rein in ICE operations after recent killings in Minneapolis. TechCrunch has more here.

European Union regulators opened a Digital Services Act investigation into X over sexualized AI images tied to its Grok chatbot, a decision sure to fuel more tension over European regulation of U.S. tech companies. The New York Times has more 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 Julie Bort

To understand the stance of an unwavering Trump loyalist after a Federal border patrol agent shocked the nation this weekend by shooting another American citizen in Minneapolis, look no further than Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois.

Rabois’ public support for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the killing of Alex Pretti, made via posts on X, was so vehement that Khosla Ventures partner Ethan Choi and firm founder Vinod Khosla both publicly disavowed it.

Rabois argued that Pretti was at fault, writing that the protester was committing a “felony.” One of Rabois’ posts said, “[N]o law enforcement has shot an innocent person. [I[llegals are committing violent crimes every day.” Another said: “[H]e unequivocally attempted to draw his weapon. [F]uck you.” In another post that discussed citizens’ ability to exercise their First, Second and Fourth Amendment rights, the VC weighed in: “[Y]es but interfering w a law enforcement operation is not protected by any of those amendments.”

Among other comments, Rabois went on to say he doesn’t believe that the Minneapolis police could be credible sources in an investigation. “[I] don’t think you should ask any law enforcement in MN. But i am very open to reading views from any other urban jurisdiction.” He instead blamed the city’s police for the situation. “Because the MN police’s refusal to cooperate is exactly what is leading to these treacherous conditions (for everyone).”

And so on.

X reacted as you might expect. Other Trump supporters cheered Rabois on, while those who condemn ICE’s actions argued with and condemned the investor.

The situation spiraled so much that when one person suggested that founders remove Khosla Ventures from their cap tables altogether, Khosla partner Choi piped up to distance himself.

Orbital, an eight-year-old London startup that uses AI and geospatial data to automate due diligence and document review in real estate transactions, raised a $60 million Series B round led by Brighton Park Capital, with additional support from REV, The LegalTech Fund, Moderne Ventures, and Grosvenor Group as well as previous investors JLL Spark, Outward, and Seedcamp. Artificial Lawyer has more here.

Ricursive Intelligence, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that applies AI to semiconductor design, raised a $300 million Series A round at a $4 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with DST Global, NVentures, Felicis Ventures, 49 Palms Ventures, Radical AI, and Sequoia Capital also participating. More here.

Standard Nuclear, a one-year-old startup based in Oak Ridge, TN, that produces TRISO nuclear fuel, raised a $140 million Series A round led by Decisive Point, with Chevron Technology Ventures, StepStone Group, and XTX Ventures as well as previous investors Welara, Fundomo, Andreessen Horowitz, Washington Harbour Partners, and Crucible Capital also taking part. More here.

Synthesia, a nine-year-old London startup that develops AI-generated video tools for enterprises, raised a $200 million Series E round at a $4 billion post-money valuation, almost twice the valuation it secured a year ago. An unspecified portion of the raise will be devoted to employee secondary share sales. The deal was led by previous investor GV, with additional participation from Kleiner Perkins, Accel, New Enterprise Associates, NVentures, Air Street Capital, and PSP Growth. TechCrunch has more here.

Tandem Technology, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to automate prescription paperwork, prior authorizations, and pharmacy routing for patients and providers, is reportedly in the market to raise a $100 million round at a $1 billion valuation. According to Bloomberg, the deal lead is Accel, with Thrive Capital and General Catalyst also chipping in. PYMNTS has more here.

Upwind, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides cloud security using runtime data, raised a $250 million Series B round at a $1.5 billion post-money valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital as well as previous investors Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Ventures, and Penny Jar Capital also piling on. The company has raised a total of $430 million. More here.

Compa, a startup that provides AI-driven compensation intelligence using real-time pay data from enterprise systems, raised a $35 million Series B round led by Jump Capital, with Crosslink Capital, Storm Ventures, Permanent Capital, HR Tech Investments, and PagsGroup also taking stakes. More here.

GlassPoint, a 17-year-old New York company that provides solar thermal systems for industrial process heat, raised a $20 million round led by N.I.S. New Investment Solutions, with previous investor MIG Capital also participating. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Mine, a four-year-old New York startup that offers a credit card and AI-powered financial planning tools for young adults, raised a $14 million Series A round led by 359 Capital, with FJ Labs as well as previous investors Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator and U.S. News & World Report also pitching in. More here.

Tradespace, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that manages patents and invention disclosures through an AI-driven filing and legal-grade redaction platform, raised a $15 million Series A round led by AVP, with Eniac Ventures, Amplo VC, and Scrum Ventures also investing. More here.

Visitt, a 10-year-old New York startup that uses AI to manage and automate commercial property operations, raised a $22 million Series B round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, with prior backers Vertex Ventures Israel, Anfield, and Sarona Ventures also contributing. CTech has more here.

Zocks, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI assistant for financial advisers to extract and organize client information from conversations, raised a $45 million Series B round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors, with previous investors Motive Ventures and 14Peaks Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $65 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

CVector, a one-year-old New York startup that uses AI to model how specific operational actions like valve changes, energy use, and equipment downtime affect costs and margins in industrial facilities, raised a $5 million seed round led by Powerhouse Ventures, with Fusion Fund, Myriad Venture Partners, and Hitachi Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Jelou, an eight-year-old New York startup that uses AI to enable payments, identity checks, and account actions to run inside WhatsApp conversations, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Wellington Access Ventures and including Krealo and Collide Capital as well as previous investors Act One Ventures and Arca Continental Ventures. Tech Funding News has more here.

Kime, a one-year-old Copenhagen startup that tracks how brands appear and are cited in AI-generated search results, raised a $2.4 million pre-seed round led by PSV Tech, with Nordic Makers also anteing up. Startup Rise has more here.

Lucend, a three-year-old New York startup that uses AI to analyze sensor and operational data from data center infrastructure to improve efficiency and uptime, raised a $3.3 million seed round led by Remarkable Ventures Climate, with Mitsubishi Electric Innovation Fund, New Climate Ventures, Avesta, and Stepchange as well as previous investor 4impact capital also chiming in. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

SpotDraft, a nine-year-old New York and Bengaluru startup that uses on-device AI to review and edit enterprise contracts without sending sensitive data to the cloud, raised an $8 million Series B extension at a $380 million post-money valuation. Qualcomm Ventures provided the capital. The company has raised a total of $92 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Stamp, a three-year-old Madrid startup that provides infrastructure to integrate VAT incentives into payments for global shoppers, raised a $4.7 million round led by Dozen, with EBISU Digital and Barça Innovation Hub also stepping up. More here.

Centralized AI-Powered Portfolio Monitoring 

Stop duct-taping emails, spreadsheets, and PDFs. Visible brings all your portfolio data into one centralized, AI-native system. From founder update and board deck extraction to trend detection and MCP server integration, our platform equips 950+ VCs with insights, reporting, and clarity, without chasing metrics. Discover the power of a smarter stack: https://visible.vc/monitor/ 

Obvious Ventures, a 12-year-old San Francisco VC firm that backs startups in climate and energy, human health and biotechnology, and technology aimed at improving economic systems, raised its fifth fund in the amount of $360,360,360. TechCrunch has more here.

Basis Set Ventures, a nine-year-old Palo Alto VC firm that focuses on early-stage AI and automation startups developing infrastructure, collaborative tools, workflow automation, and robotics, closed its fourth fund to the tune of $250 million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

2150, a seven-year-old London VC firm that invests in climate-focused startups tackling urban emissions, industrial systems, and city infrastructure, raised €210 million for its second fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Entropy, a five-year-old New York startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz that developed decentralized crypto custody and automation tools, is winding down after failing to find a venture-scale business model and will return remaining capital to investors following multiple pivots and layoffs. The Block has more here.

Zoom shares jumped after Baird’s equity research team estimated the company’s largely undisclosed 2023 investment in Anthropic could now be worth $2 billion to $4 billion, turning a $51 million strategic bet into a potential windfall as IPO speculation around the AI startup builds. CNBC has more here.

Global capital is flooding into Asian markets as IPO proceeds double, equity benchmarks hit records, and tech-led gains in Japan, South Korea, and China pull in foreign investors (despite fresh tariff threats from the U.S.). CNBC has more here.

In a lengthy essay, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns that humanity is entering a perilous “technological adolescence” as AI capabilities surge faster than governance and safeguards can keep up, and he calls for sober planning and coordinated action to confront the risks ahead. “We have no time to lose,” he concludes. More here.

Wired reports that increasingly sophisticated and easy-to-use “nudify” tools are turning a once-niche deepfake problem into a large-scale abuse economy, with dozens of services now generating explicit images and videos of women and children from a single photo. More here.

Doctors and therapists report that conversations with AI chatbots have pushed some patients into delusions, psychosis, and dangerous isolation, raising fresh concerns that widely used consumer tools can reinforce mental health crises rather than merely reflect them. The New York Times has more here.

Anthropic launched interactive apps inside Claude that let users access live, logged-in versions of tools like Slack, Figma, Canva, and Box directly within the chatbot to send messages, edit designs, and work with files without leaving the interface. TechCrunch has more here.

Manufacturers like PPG, 3M, and Procter & Gamble are using AI systems to speed up product development, uncovering counterintuitive formulations that cut R&D timelines from weeks to days and signal a structural shift in how physical goods are designed. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The world’s richest families.

Dancing at big clubs is dwindling thanks to cellphones and social anxiety, but it’s reappearing in some unexpected places.

When his flight was canceled thanks to the massive winter storm that hit so much of the U.S. this weekend, three-time Olympic gold medal winner Shaun White decided to catch some air in New York City’s Central Park.

A $14.95 million East Hampton estate that prioritizes charm over flash, with 7 bedrooms, a 45-foot pool, and 3.2 acres near Georgica Pond.

On Friday, we published a chart that included incorrect information. The chart, which appeared in this presentation, had been shared in a tweet and misstated what the data represented. Specifically, the chart showed relative dollar spend on consumer credit and debit cards, not time spent, as the headline suggested. The error originated when the chart was scraped and relabeled by Andreessen Horowitz; our apologies for any confusion.

Please send all of your hot gossip to [email protected] or [email protected].

To book ads directly, contact us at [email protected].