Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion over 10 years to settle claims from 48 states and four U.S. jurisdictions that Facebook and Instagram harmed children. It will also enact sweeping teen protections, including a two-hour daily limit, overnight lockout, hidden like counts, and stronger age checks. TechCrunch has more here and here.

Three-year-old Beijing startup Moonshot AI is reportedly in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to host its Kimi K3 model, a move that could give a low-cost Chinese open-weight rival broad U.S. enterprise distribution and challenge the dominance of closed systems from OpenAI and Anthropic. Reuters has more here.

Nvidia reported record quarterly sales of $96.2 billion, beating expectations, but its shares slipped as investors questioned the sustainability of AI spending. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, The Information reported Wednesday night, citing a source familiar with the matter. Business Insider, which first reported over the weekend that Hugging Face was fielding takeover interest, reported Wednesday night that the talks — which would value the company at more than $13 billion — had not yet produced a signed agreement and could still atomize.

TechCrunch reached out earlier to both Nvidia and Hugging Face for comment, and neither has yet responded. (Nvidia’s silence is particularly noteworthy here as the company has moved quickly in the past to address reports it considers inaccurate.)

Maybe it was destined from the start. Hugging Face, founded in 2016, is one of the most popular hubs where developers share and download open-source AI models. Buying it would give Nvidia a strong foothold in the world of open-source AI, right as open-source developers are doing their level best to catch up to closed AI systems from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI.

Why would Nvidia want that? Most obviously, it comes down to protecting its dominance in AI chips, which, from the outside at least, appears increasingly at risk, even with Nvidia’s aggressive chip-release schedule. Pretty much all of the biggest closed-source AI labs (OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Anthropic) are now in the process of building their own AI chips to lessen their reliance on Nvidia. A thriving ecosystem of open-source AI models gives customers more alternatives to those closed labs, which in turn keeps more of the market dependent on Nvidia’s hardware. That’s also why Nvidia has already poured tens of billions of dollars into building its own open-source AI models.

Should we be surprised that Hugging Face’s days as an independent outfit appear numbered? Not really. Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue has spent much of this year publicly aligned with Nvidia’s open-source push, amid a debate that has been building for months, as Washington officials reportedly weighed restrictions on open-weight models. (Chinese labs like Moonshot AI had released systems — like its Kimi K3 model — that matched leading U.S. models on benchmarks while costing a lot less to run, and talk of competitive and national-security concerns grew in Washington as a result. Some critics of closed labs, like White House advisor David Sacks, suggested those fears were being fanned by the "duopoly" of Anthropic and OpenAI.)

Instinct, a one-year-old AI assistant startup that lets users call or text a bot to handle emails, calendars, ride-booking, shopping, and other personal tasks, is reportedly raising a $250 million Series B round at a $2.5 billion valuation in a deal co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Agentrys, a one-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that helps chipmakers build AI agents to automate chip-design workflows across verification and physical design, announced that it has raised a total of $24.5 million, including a $19.1 million seed round led by Etna Labs and a $5.4 million pre-seed round led by MediaTek. More here.

Breedr, an eight-year-old Austin startup that helps cattle producers track animal weight, health, ancestry, and sales through digital records and a livestock marketplace, raised a $27 million Series B round led by Partech, with Latitude and Outsiders Fund also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $46.6 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Celera Semiconductor, an eight-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, CA, that develops custom and standard analog chips using AI and design automation to shorten development cycles for electronics customers, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Maverick Silicon. More here.

Deep Cogito, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies build specialized open-weight AI models trained on their proprietary data and outcomes, raised a $43 million Series A round led by TQ Ventures, with Benchmark, Nexus Venture Partners, Atreides Management, South Park Commons, and Zscaler also participating. The company has raised a total of $56+ million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Digs, a four-year-old Vancouver startup that helps homebuilders manage estimates, blueprints, maintenance records, and warranty information through an AI platform, raised a $25.3 million Series A round led by Builders FirstSource. The company has raised a total of $47+ million. GeekWire has more here.

Helcim, a 20-year-old company based in Calgary, Canada, that helps small and mid-sized businesses accept in-person, online, invoice, and embedded payments through its own processing infrastructure, raised a $38.2 million Series C round at a $180.1 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Business Development Bank's (BDC) Growth Venture Fund, with Curql Collective and Gold House Ventures as well as previous investors Headline, Aquiline, Information Venture Partners, Vesey Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, and Alberta Accelerate Fund also engaging. PYMNTS has more here.

Legato, a two-year-old Boston startup that makes AI hearing glasses designed to provide hearing assistance through everyday eyewear, raised a $12 million round. Investors include Neotribe Ventures, Listen, and Village Global. More here.

Liner, an 11-year-old Seoul and San Francisco company that provides citation-backed AI search tools that help students, professionals, and enterprises find source-based answers they can verify, raised a $36.1 million Series C round led by LB Investment, with Korea Development Bank (KDB), KB Securities, Daishin Securities, STIC Ventures, and Helios Private Equity as well as previous investors InterVest, Atinum Investment, and CJ Investment also opting in. The company has raised a total of approximately $64.3 million. More here.

Newcode, a five-year-old Oslo startup that deploys AI workflows that help law firms and government agencies search institutional knowledge, analyze documents, and run auditable legal work, raised a $12.8 million Series A round led by OnDean Forward, with The LegalTech Fund, Antiportfolio Ventures, and Rel Labs also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $19.8 million. Silicon Republic has more here.

Onos Health, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps health plans analyze behavioral health data to assess care quality, utilization, fraud, and waste, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Costanoa, with Flare Capital Partners and CVS Health Ventures also participating. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Runable, a one-year-old Bengaluru startup that deploys AI agents that help small businesses build websites, launch ads, manage social media, and attract customers, raised a $21 million Series A round at a $65 million post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Susquehanna Venture Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, with Together Fund and Array VC also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Voya Energy, a one-year-old startup based in Hayward, CA, that converts recycled scrap aluminum into on-demand backup electricity for data centers seeking alternatives to diesel generators, raised a $35 million round led by Energy Impact Partners, with John Doerr, Mantis VC, StepStone Group, Founders Fund, Overmatch Ventures, and Seven Stars also chiming in. More here.

Arga Labs, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that builds digital replicas of enterprise software so companies can train AI agents across tools like Salesforce, Workday, and email clients before deployment, raised a $10 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with BoxGroup, Emergence, Gradient, and SV Angel also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Certain Energy, a nine-year-old London startup that develops manganese-based flow batteries that store renewable energy for hours or days to help electricity grids stay stable, raised a $13.6 million Series A round led by British Business Bank, with Centrica, Ceres Power Holdings, Temasek Trust also chiming in. ESG Today has more here.

Cloverleaf AI, a five-year-old Denver startup that helps government sales teams spot and shape public-sector deals before RFPs are issued by monitoring agency meetings, budgets, documents, and stakeholder activity, closed an $8 million Series A round in January led by S3 Ventures, with Jackson Square Ventures, Ivy Ventures, and Tawani Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

Hermetiq, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that automates the diagnosis of software build failures so engineering teams spend less time waiting on specialist engineers, raised a $2.2 million seed round led by Jet Investment. Dealroom has more here.

Mara, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds autonomous counter-drone systems that detect and intercept low-flying FPV drones around battlefields and critical infrastructure, raised a $7 million pre-seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz, Night Capital, Palmdrive, Protagonist, Freedom Fund, and Indicator Fund also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

OmicsBank, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that standardizes and de-identifies hospital records, imaging, and multi-omics data for drug developers and clinical AI teams, raised a $2.3 million seed round led by Redesign Health. HIT Consultant has more here.

Ringg, a three-year-old Bengaluru startup that deploys AI voice agents to automate enterprise customer calls for bookings, onboarding, collections, and support, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Peak XV Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

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Capital F, a San Francisco-based all-female-led venture firm, closed a $17 million debut fund to back early-stage startups serving the “female economy,” including women’s health, digital commerce, and AI tools, with checks of $250,000 to $1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Ventures Platform, a Nigeria-based Pan-African venture firm, raised an $84 million second fund to back early-stage startups across Africa, expanding beyond its home market with checks of up to $3 million in sectors including fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and AI. TechCrunch has more here.

Vanguard agreed to acquire eight-year-old wealth-management platform Altruist for about $4 billion – more than double the startup’s $1.9 billion valuation last year – as the $12 trillion asset manager pushes deeper into financial advice and technology for independent advisers. Altruist has raised $600+ million from investors like Insight Partners, ICONIQ Growth, GIC, Venrock, Vanguard, Salesforce Ventures, Adams Street Partners, Baillie Gifford, Geodesic Capital, Granite Capital Management, Declaration Partners, and Sound Ventures. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Amazon is buying DuckLabs, the five-year-old Amsterdam company behind the fast-growing open-source analytics database DuckDB, bringing its 30-plus-person team into AWS as Amazon pushes S3 deeper into data analytics. Terms were not disclosed. GeekWire has more here.

Flipboard, the news aggregation company, has purchased Graze, a 21-month-old Portland startup that lets users build and monetize custom Bluesky feeds with privacy-friendly contextual ads, for an undisclosed price. Graze raised a total of $1 million from Betaworks, Salesforce Ventures, Factorial, Apertu Capital, and Skyseed. TechCrunch has more here.

Bill Gates says Big Tech is knowingly downplaying AI’s dangers because too much money is at stake, warning in a nearly 6,000-word essay and hourlong interview that the technology could cause mass unemployment, bioterrorism, and other grave harms without urgent government intervention. The New York Times has more here.

Time chronicles OpenAI’s attempt to reboot after falling behind Anthropic, with Sam Altman acknowledging product and research missteps while the company slows some frontier work after a serious safety failure and pushes toward what executives believe could be AGI by year-end. Time has more here.

SemiAnalysis founder Dylan Patel predicts that OpenAI and Anthropic could control most of the world’s usable AI compute by the end of 2028, as their superior ability to monetize models lets them outbid rivals for scarce capacity and drives the industry toward extreme centralization. The Dwarkesh Podcast has more here.

Big Tech’s AI data-center buildout is expected to cost roughly $7 trillion by 2030, but lenders and insurers are growing wary of risks ranging from obsolete chips and local opposition to thin insurance coverage and the possibility that some facilities become stranded assets. The Financial Times has more here.

A Reuters investigation found that Meta explored replacing much of the work done by thousands of employees with AI and shrinking some teams by as much as 60%, but staff revolt and disappointing AI-agent productivity helped derail the plan. More here.

Google’s Gemini is highlighting a broader problem with consumer AI: companies are exposing users to far too much internal product architecture instead of hiding all of it behind a simple interface, potentially giving Apple’s more seamless approach to Siri an advantage. TechCrunch has more here.

Salesforce and Anthropic unveiled Claudeforce, which lets users access Salesforce data and take CRM actions directly inside Claude, possibly pointing to a future in which AI assistants become the primary interface while traditional SaaS products increasingly sit underneath as systems of record. CNBC has more here.

The latest trailer for The Social Reckoning - the sequel to The Social Network – just dropped.

A new crop of books for babies and toddlers is teaching coding, quantum physics, thermodynamics, and aerospace engineering, but child-development experts say the trend may reflect parental anxiety more than good early learning, which involves simple language, repetition, and interaction.

Thousands of revelers descended on Buñol, Spain, today for the annual La Tomatina food fight, hurling tons of overripe tomatoes in a century-old tradition that has become an international tourist draw, helped in part by a hit Bollywood movie.

In a trend seemingly destined to become Adam Sandler‘s next summer comedy, burned-out professionals are increasingly going to clown school to shake off career doldrums.

An oceanfront villa at Amanpuri – the ultra-luxury Phuket resort favored by celebrities including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Madonna – is on the market for $24.88 million, with 2.6 acres, eight bedrooms, an 82-foot pool, private beach access, and a chef and housekeeper.

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