Former OpenAI executive Mira Murati's startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders, both of whom are returning to OpenAI. Another former OpenAI staffer who joined Murati's startup is also headed back to the company. The departures don't appear to have been entirely amicable; either way, Thinking Machines has now parted ways with half of its original six co-founders, which is par for the course in the AI world. TechCrunch has more details.

California announced today that it has launched an investigation into xAI over sexualized, nonconsensual images generated by its chatbot, Grok, escalating global regulatory pressure as the U.K., EU officials, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the U.S. Senate also scrutinize Grok’s images. (Responding to the California news, Elon Musk tweeted, I [am] not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero.") TechCrunch has more here.

China’s customs authorities have told customs agents that Nvidia’s H200 AI chips are not permitted to enter the country and warned domestic tech firms not to buy them, signaling a de facto ban as Beijing resists U.S. tech export controls and puts its weight behind local chipmakers. Reuters has more here.

In related news, Chinese authorities have told told local companies to stop using U.S. and Israeli cybersecurity software over national security concerns, blacklisting vendors including VMware, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Check Point, and CrowdStrike as the country accelerates efforts to replace Western technology with domestic alternatives. Reuters has more here.

OpenAI has struck a multibillion-dollar deal to buy up to 750 megawatts of computing power over three years from Cerebras Systems, a chip startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that has been trying to go public since 2024. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Sponsored by ... Affinity 

Dealmaking is shifting, with U.S. PE deal value climbing 10.7% YoY and networks expanding by 29%. Affinity’s PE benchmark report reveals the practices that set top performers apart—from stronger origination to sustained engagement. See where your firm stands and uncover benchmarks to refine your strategy for the year ahead. 

Get the insights.

By Sarah Perez

The reboot of the early internet online community Digg, a one-time rival to Reddit, is moving forward. The company, which is today back under the ownership of its original founder, Kevin Rose, along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is launching its open beta to the public on Wednesday.

Similar to Reddit, the new Digg offers a website and mobile app where you can browse feeds featuring posts from across a selection of its communities and join other communities that align with your interests. There, you can post, comment, and upvote (or “digg”) the site’s content.

Originally a Web 2.0-era news aggregation site, Digg was once valued at $175 million in 2008 but was ultimately outpaced by Reddit. That earlier version was split up in 2012, with its largest stake sold to the incubator Betaworks, while LinkedIn and The Washington Post picked up other pieces. This iteration of Digg drew additional investment in 2016 but was later sold to a digital advertising company in 2018.

Meanwhile, Reddit continued to grow as a community-focused site that has since gone public and is currently generating additional revenue from content licensing agreements with major players in AI, including Google and OpenAI.

However, the rise of AI has presented an opportunity to rebuild Digg, Rose and Ohanian believe, leading them to acquire Digg last March through a leveraged buyout by True Ventures, Ohanian’s firm Seven Seven Six, Rose and Ohanian themselves, and the venture firm S32. The company has not disclosed its funding.

They’re betting that AI can help to address some of the messiness and toxicity of today’s social media landscape. At the same time, social platforms will need a new set of tools to ensure they’re not taken over by AI bots posing as people.

Aikido Security, a three-year-old startup based in Ghent, Belgium, that provides developers with a unified security platform for scanning code, cloud infrastructure, and runtime environments, raised a $60 million Series B round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by DST Global, with PSG Equity, Notion Capital, and Singular also engaging. The company has raised a total of $84+ million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Alpaca, a 10-year-old company based in San Mateo, CA, that builds brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto, raised a $150 million Series D round at a $1.15 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Drive Capital, with Citadel Securities, Kraken, and BNP Paribas Ventures also chiming in. Fortune has more here.

Mirador Therapeutics, a two-year-old San Diego startup that develops precision medicines for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, raised a $250 million Series B round. Investors included T. Rowe Price, Adage Capital Partners, and Fidelity as well as previous investors ARCH Venture Partners, OrbiMed, Fairmount, Point72, Farallon Capital Management, Boxer Capital, TCGX, Invus, Logos Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Woodline Partners, and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. The company has raised a total of $650+ million. More here.

Novee, an eight-month-old Israeli startup that uses AI agents to run continuous penetration testing that mimics offensive cyber tactics, raised a $51.5 million seed and Series A round. Investors included YL Ventures, Canaan Partners, and Zeev Ventures. CTech has more here.

Skild AI, a three-year-old Pittsburgh startup that develops artificial intelligence software for robots, raised a $1.4 billion round at a $14 billion post-money valuation. SoftBank was the deal lead, with NVentures, Bezos Expeditions, Salesforce Ventures, and Samsung Electronics also teaming up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Wasabi Technologies, an 11-year-old Boston company that provides cloud storage, raised a $70 million round at a $1.8 billion valuation. The deal was led by L2 Point Management, with Pure Storage as well as previous investors Fidelity also participating. The company has raised a total of $600+ million. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

WitnessAI, a two-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that provides a unified AI security and governance platform for governing and protecting enterprise AI operations, raised a $58 million round led by Sound Ventures, with Fin Capital, Forgepoint Capital Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, and Samsung Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $85+ million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Depthfirst, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies scan and analyze codebases and workflows for security risks, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Accel, with SV Angel, Mantis VC, and Alt Capital also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Emversity, a two-year-old Bengaluru startup that builds employer-designed training programs for healthcare and hospitality roles, raised a $30 million Series A round at a $120 million post-money valuation. Premji Invest led the transaction, with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Z47 also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $46 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Enspire DBS Therapy, a 14-year-old Cleveland company that develops implantable deep brain stimulation systems paired with structured rehabilitation for post-stroke recovery, raised a $10.3 million Series B1 round led by Genesys Capital, with Cleveland Clinic and JobsOhio Ventures also stepping up. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

HPS/PayMedix, a 21-year-old Milwaukee company that provides healthcare financing and payments software for employers, providers, and health plans, raised a $16 million round led by HLM Investment Partners, with Escalate Capital Partners, RVM Enterprises, and SV Health Investors also participating. It also secured $17 million in debt. More here.

IO River, a four-year-old Tel Aviv startup that provides a neutral virtualization layer to let enterprises run edge and content delivery services across multiple networks as a single system, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Venture Guides and New Era Capital, with S Capital also chiming in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Monnai, a five-year-old Los Angeles startup that provides identity and risk data infrastructure for real-time fraud, credit, and onboarding decisioning, raised a $12 million round led by Motive Partners, with previous investors Commerce Ventures and 500 Global also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $23+ million. More here.

Project Eleven, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that builds tooling to help blockchain networks migrate to post-quantum cryptography, raised a $20 million Series A round at a $120 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Castle Island Ventures, with Coinbase Ventures, Fin Capital, Variant, Quantonation, Nebular, Formation, Lattice Fund, Satstreet Ventures, Nascent Ventures, and Balaji Srinivasan also piling on. The Block has more here.

SkyFi, a five-year-old Austin startup that provides on-demand access to satellite imagery and geospatial insights, raised a $12.7 million Series A round co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors, with DNV Ventures, Beyond Earth Ventures, and TFX Capital also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Tive, an 11-year-old Boston company that specializes in supply chain and logistics visibility technology, raised a $20 million round led by Lightsmith Group and including Sageview Capital, World Innovation Lab, AVP, and Supply Chain Ventures. More here.

GrowthPal, a six-year-old startup based in Pune, India, that builds an AI M&A copilot for mid-market deal sourcing, raised a $2.6 million round led by Ideaspring Capital. TipRanks has more here.

OurPetPolicy, a five-year-old Boise startup that provides property owners and managers with software to manage resident pets and verify emotional support animal documentation, raised an $8 million Series A round led by RET Ventures, with StageDotO and Capital Eleven also investing. More here.

Titl, a four-year-old Miami startup that uses AI to analyze property records and blockchain to create tamper-resistant title and ownership verification, raised a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Cofounders Capital and FIT Ventures. More here.

VoiceRun, a one-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that lets developers build, test, and deploy AI voice agents in code, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Flybridge Capital, with RRE Ventures and Link Ventures also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Cast AI, a six-year-old Miami startup that uses machine learning to automate cost, performance, and security optimization for Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure, raised an undisclosed amount at a $1 billion valuation. Pacific Alliance Ventures was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $180+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Inside CES 2026: AI goes physical 

CES 2026 showed AI moving from the cloud into the physical world. From robotics and autonomous vehicles to AI PCs, wearables, and smart devices, physical AI and edge AI took center stage. In a new wrap-up blog, Arm highlights the key takeaways from CES 2026 and explains why real-time, power-efficient compute is essential as AI increasingly runs locally across devices and systems. 

Read the CES 2026 takeaways 

Former Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg just closed a $100 million fund for his venture firm, bringing his total assets under management to $200 million—making him one of the biggest tech investors to emerge from professional sports. The retired driver writes relatively small checks from his home in Monaco (between $2 million and $5 million) and isn't shy about leveraging his celebrity status, regularly hosting entrepreneurs and investors at Grand Prix races and cold-messaging startup founders on LinkedIn. Bloomberg has more here.

Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are taking early steps toward blockbuster public listings in 2026, setting up what bankers call an unprecedented IPO supercycle that could unleash hundreds of billions in market value and reshape Silicon Valley’s AI boom. The New York Times has more here.

In a Wired podcast, LinkedIn founder and VC Reid Hoffman describes the biggest difference between him and Elon Musk as “sanity” and urges Silicon Valley to “[speak] truth to power.” More here.

Ahmad Al-Dahle is joining Airbnb as chief technology officer after leading generative AI at Meta and running the team behind its Llama open-source models. Bloomberg has more here.

Murali Joshi, who has been an investor with ICONIQ since 2018, was just promoted to the position of general partner. More here.

According to a report in The Information, Microsoft is on track to spend about $500 million a year on Anthropic’s AI and is pushing its Azure sales force to sell Anthropic models like first-party software, deepening ties after it decided in September to invest up to $5 billion investment in the startup. PYMNTS has more here.

The Trump administration is weighing a major shift in U.S. cyberstrategy that would enlist private companies in offensive cyberoperations. The New York Times has more here.

Bandcamp says it will ban music and audio generated wholly or substantially by AI and block artist impersonations. TechCrunch has more here.

McKinsey is piloting a revamped graduate recruitment process that asks candidates to use its Lilli AI assistant during case interviews, grading how they prompt, challenge, and contextualize its outputs as the firm pushes deeper into AI agents and prepares for more efficiency-driven cuts. Financial Times has more here.

AI models are starting to solve high-level open math problems, with researchers finding that recent large language models helped move 15 Erdős problems from open to solved since Christmas, signaling a real shift in how mathematical research gets done. TechCrunch has more here.

A rogue developer has launched MTV Rewind, an unofficial site and app that recreates classic-era MTV with nonstop, era-sorted video channels and retro ads as an antidote to algorithm feeds. The New York Times has more here.

Chevy says its 2026 Corvette ZR1X can hit 0 to 60 mph in just 1.68 seconds and complete a quarter-mile in only 8.675 seconds, which, if true, would make it a relative bargain for hypercars at its $209,700 sticker price.

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

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