At Meta's Connect event today, Mark Zuckerberg gave his new AI agent Muse a face, an email address, a spot in your smart glasses, and the keys to your Mac. It's all free, in exchange for just a little training data. TechCrunch has more here.

Meta's big Connect surprise: $1,300 VR glasses that don't look insane or weigh a pound and a half and put IMAX right on your face, TechCrunch reported from the show.

Bloop. Turns out OpenAI's AI agents went rogue at least four more times this spring, trying to hack a university library, a public data site, and two Australian government health portals (and succeeding with one) just because they got frustrated doing routine data collection. The New York Times has more here.

"I write 100s of emails every quarter requesting data. There are different information rights, so I need to ask different things to each company. Then many many follow ups. This is my life." - Associate, $7B+ AUM VC                                                

Automate your data requests with PortfolioIQ. 

By Sean O’Kane

If you live in Canada, this year’s set of snow tires might be installed by a robot.

San Francisco startup PitPro Automation said Wednesday that it has installed its first automatic tire-changing system at a tire shop in Calgary, Alberta. The startup says its robotic system, first revealed last year, can swap a full set of four tires in under 15 minutes. The first deployment is at a Kal Tire location — one of Canada’s largest independent tire service chains.

PitPro is one of myriad startups trying to disrupt different parts of the car ownership experience. While founder and CEO Jeremy Conrad told TechCrunch he ultimately wants to move into other kinds of automated maintenance, he thinks there’s big opportunity to build a business around tires in the near term.

Changing tires is “backbreaking” work, and tire shops are facing a major labor shortage, he said in an interview. Even when shops can find people for the job, he said, those workers often leave within a few months to a year.

“One shop manager was telling me they had to get special permission to pay more because a Panda Express opened across the street and it took about half their employees,” he said.

Anaconda Biomed, an 11-year-old Spanish company that develops catheters and related devices for removing blood clots from the brain during ischemic strokes, raised a $56 million round led by Omega Funds, with FOCO as well as previous investors Asabys, Ysios Capital, and CDTI also anteing up. More here.

Basecamp Research, a seven-year-old London startup that uses AI and genomic data to design new medicines, raised a $140 million Series C round led by S32, with NVentures, Anthology Fund, Catalio, NATO Innovation Fund, Rockefeller, European Tech Collective, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund as well as previous investors Firebrand, River Capital King Philanthropies, and Redalpine also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $225 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Ema, a three-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, whose AI agents automate HR, IT, and finance workflows, raised a $77 million Series B round led by Creaegis, with previous investors Accel, S32, and Prosus also participating. The company has raised a total of $140 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Enveda, a seven-year-old Boulder startup that uses AI to identify naturally occurring molecules and develop promising candidates into medicines, raised a $311 million Series E round at a $2 billion valuation. The deal was led by Catalio Capital Management, with Durable Capital Partners, ICONIQ, Lightspeed, Surveyor Capital, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Digitalis Ventures, and Alderline Group as well as previous investors Baillie Gifford, Premji Invest, FPV Ventures, True Ventures, Kinnevik, Dimension, Lifeforce Capital, and Lux Capital also piling on. The company has raised a total of $845+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

Hubble Network, a five-year-old Seattle startup that enables standard Bluetooth devices to connect directly to satellites for global asset tracking, raised a $200 million Series C round at a $1.6 billion valuation. The deal was led by Smith Point Capital, with Seraphim, Carthona Capital, Earthshot Ventures, Y Combinator, and RPM Ventures also opting in. The company has raised a total of $300 million. GeekWire has more here.

Modal Labs, a five-year-old New York startup that provides cloud infrastructure and isolated testing environments for AI developers, is in discussions to raise a new round at a roughly $15 billion valuation. Reuters has more here.

Numeral, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that automates sales tax registration, calculation, filing, remittance, and exemption-certificate management for businesses operating across jurisdictions, raised a $100 million Series C round led by Insight Partners, with additional support from Salesforce Ventures and Geodesic as well as previous investors Benchmark, Mayfield, FCVC, Y Combinator, and Uncork. The company has raised a total of $157 million. More here.

Tekever, a 25-year-old Lisbon company that designs surveillance drones and sells the intelligence they gather through a subscription service, raised a $580 million Series D round at a $6.4 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by UC Investments and Baillie Gifford, with Merlyn Advisors as well as previous investors Crescent Cove, Ventura Capital, and Iberis Capital also chipping in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Ultraviolette, a 10-year-old Bengaluru company that develops high-performance electric motorcycles and EV platforms, raised an $85 million round co-led by Yali Capital and TDK Ventures, with Lip-Bu Tan also participating. ETAuto has more here.

Dialybrid, a six-year-old startup based in Cantù, Italy, that develops silk-and-polyurethane vascular grafts that provide bloodstream access for patients undergoing dialysis, raised a $17.2 million Series A round led by XGEN Venture, with CDP Venture Capital also chipping in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Mojave Energy Systems, a four-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, that makes commercial air-conditioning systems that control humidity and temperature independently using liquid desiccant technology, raised a $19 million Series B round led by Fairtree Elevant Ventures, with River Bay Investments, Cleo Capital, and MetaTrail as well as previous investors At One Ventures, Fifth Wall, Myriad Venture Partners, and Starshot Capital also taking part. More here.

Nexstrom, a two-year-old Singapore startup that builds equipment and processes for growing atomically thin semiconductor materials directly on commercial chip wafers, raised a $12 million seed round led by Xora Innovation, with Foothill Ventures and SEEDS also taking part. The company has raised a total of $15 million. TechCrunch has more here.

NG.Cash, a five-year-old São Paulo startup that provides digital accounts, payments, and credit products to teens and young adults in Brazil, raised a $15 million round led by Blockchain Capital. The company has raised a total of $65+ million. More here.

Pilgrim, a four-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that develops hardware using air sampling and genomic sequencing to detect airborne biological threats, raised a $25 million seed round at a $150 million valuation. The deal was led by Buckley Ventures, with Logan Graham, Sholto Douglas, and Fred Ehrsam also investing. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Ramona Optics, a nine-year-old startup based in Durham, NC, that develops microscopy systems that capture and analyze high-resolution biological images across large areas for life sciences researchers, raised a $25 million Series A round led by ARCH Venture Partners, with Stealthpoint Ventures, ND Capital, Fall Line Capital, Hamamatsu Ventures, Murchison Capital Partners, and Overlap Holdings also anteing up. More here.

StandardX, a one-year-old London startup that develops compact particle accelerators that produce rare isotopes for cancer care and fusion energy, raised a $13.4 million seed round co-led by Vsquared Ventures and East X Ventures, with firstminute Capital, UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund, Brevan Howard Macro Venture, and Geometry also chiming in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Terasi, a six-year-old Stockholm startup that develops compact directional radios that create high-speed wireless links resistant to detection, interception, and jamming, raised a $12.6 million seed round co-led by NATO Innovation Fund and Join Capital, with In-Q-Tel and D3 as well as previous investors Navigare Ventures, Almi Invest, Onsight Ventures, Further Than Capital, and KTH Ventures also chiming in. More here.

Beagle Labs, a four-year-old New York startup that combines field inspections with AI analysis to help commercial insurers assess property and liability risks, raised a $4.1 million pre-seed round led by Chingona Ventures, with Sovereign's Capital, Remarkable Ventures, C2 Ventures, South Loop Ventures, and Red Bike Capital also anteing up. More here.

Ekai, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that turns company data and expert knowledge into verified business context for AI systems, raised a $1.7 million pre-seed round led by Misneach, with C10 Labs also participating. Dealroom has more here.

F13, a Berlin startup founded this year that develops AI models that generate accurate, editable vector graphics from text, images, or existing designs, raised a $5 million pre-seed round co-led by Credo Ventures and Point Nine Capital. Tech Funding News has more here.

Fearn, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that operates a patent law firm that uses AI and human lawyers to draft and file applications, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Kindred Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz, Designer Fund, and Essence VC also opting in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Mika, a three-year-old Berlin startup that automates bookkeeping, tax filings, and accounting for small and midsize German businesses using AI, raised a $6.9 million seed round led by Smedvig Ventures, with Wecken & Cie. as well as previous investors Keen Venture Partners and Dutch Founders Fund also pitching in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Palma.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that lets enterprises control AI agent permissions, enforce policies, and audit interactions with company systems, raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round led by D11Z, with Plug and Play Ventures, Deel, and Scale Now Ventures also participating. Tech.eu has more here.

Topdog, a two-year-old New York startup that develops multiplayer skill games in which players compete against one another for cash prizes, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Boston Seed Capital, with The Raine Group, Bullpen Capital, Versus Ventures, Spoondrift Capital, and Permit Ventures also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $4.1 million. More here.

Within, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that maps how employees work to identify automation opportunities and give AI agents operational context, raised an undisclosed round from Accenture Ventures. More here.

Bessemer Venture Partners, a 45-year-old San Francisco venture firm, raised $5.75 billion across two new funds: $1.75 billion for seed and early-stage investing and $4 billion for its first dedicated growth fund. TechCrunch has more here.

1789 Capital, a four-year-old Palm Beach investment firm that counts Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, is in talks to raise $3 billion for its second growth fund and has already secured $2 billion from existing backers. The firm has more than $3 billion under management. Bloomberg has more here.

Nvidia-backed Nscale, a two-year-old London AI cloud startup pursuing a $35 billion IPO, did not name ByteDance in its main S-1 even though the Chinese tech giant accounted for 73% of its revenue last year. Separately, ByteDance used Nscale’s Norwegian data center to access advanced Nvidia chips it could not buy directly in China. The Financial Times has more here.

Sensofusion, a 10-year-old Finnish anti-drone technology company whose software is used in Ukraine and the Middle East and by the U.S. Marine Corps, plans to raise about $344 million in a Helsinki IPO at a valuation of up to $1.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

In a New York Times interview, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argues that AI alarmism has gone too far, predicting net job creation, dismissing existential-risk forecasts as unscientific, and insisting that safety is fundamentally an engineering problem that companies should solve through testing, containment, and verification. More here.

In a Financial Times op-ed, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes argues that frontier AI labs should be supervised more like banks, with independent examiners embedded inside companies to monitor systems continuously, oversee stress tests, and assess whether management is adequately controlling risk. Financial Times has more here.

Business Insider profiles Noah Shinn, the 23-year-old college dropout behind Instinct, an invite-only AI assistant that went viral among Silicon Valley insiders and raised $250 million at a $2.5 billion valuation on top of $100 million previously raised. It’s now competing directly with Meta’s Muse and is reportedly in talks to raise again at a $10 billion valuation. Business Insider has more here.

The first trailer has dropped for Nathan Fielder’s A24 documentary about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything, which hits theaters October 16. TechCrunch has more here.

The U.S. AI build-out is on track to become the largest infrastructure investment in the country’s history, with data centers and related infrastructure projected to attract $10.3 trillion from 2025 through 2032, or an average 3.6% of GDP annually. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Anthropic says nearly 950 Claude agents spent 21 hours and 210 million tokens autonomously identifying a previously unknown enzyme system in bacteriophages, a discovery the company is comparing to the machinery behind Crispr, although its practical applications remain unclear. TechCrunch has more here.

A Microsoft-commissioned Gallup survey found that 68% of Americans who use AI daily are worried about the technology, while 74% of Americans overall expressed concern and just 36% expect AI to mostly help the country. TechCrunch has more here.

French artisanal butter has become a status souvenir for Paris tourists, with Maison Bordier at the center of the craze. La Grande Épicerie sold more than 700,000 blocks last year, as travelers devised elaborate schemes to keep their purchases cold on the flight home.

Massimo’s retro-styled Mini Truck may look like a toy, but it’s actually a six-foot-long, two-seat off-road runabout with coilover suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, a 300-pound payload, and a top speed of 28 mph. Uncrate has more here.

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