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Table of Contents

• OpenAI Launches Two “Open” AI Reasoning Models

• Massive Fundings

• Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

• Smaller Fundings

• Exits

• Going Public

• People

• Essential Reads

• Detours

• Brain Rot

• Retail Therapy

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OpenAI Launches Two “Open” AI Reasoning Models

By Maxwell Zeff

OpenAI announced Tuesday the launch of two open-weight AI reasoning models with similar capabilities to its o-series. Both are freely available to download from the online developer platform Hugging Face, the company said, describing the models as “state of the art” when measured across several benchmarks for comparing open models.

The models come in two sizes: a larger and more capable gpt-oss-120b model that can run on a single Nvidia GPU, and a lighter-weight gpt-oss-20b model that can run on a consumer laptop with 16GB of memory.

The launch marks OpenAI’s first ‘open’ language model since GPT-2, which was released more than five years ago.

In a briefing, OpenAI said its open models will be capable of sending complex queries to AI models in the cloud, as TechCrunch previously reported. That means if OpenAI’s open model is not capable of a certain task, such as processing an image, developers can connect the open model to one of the company’s more capable closed models.

While OpenAI open sourced AI models in its early days, the company has generally favored a proprietary, closed source development approach. The latter strategy has helped OpenAI build a large business selling access to its AI models via an API to enterprises and developers.

However, CEO Sam Altman said in January he believes OpenAI has been “on the wrong side of history” when it comes to open sourcing its technologies.

Massive Fundings

Blue J, a 10-year-old Toronto company that employs AI to help tax professionals predict legal outcomes and generate written legal analyses based on past court decisions and statutes, raised a $122 million Series D round co-led by Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures, with Intrepid Growth Partners as well as previous investors Ten Coves Capital and CPA.com also engaging. More here.

Clay, an eight-year-old New York startup that helps sales and marketing teams find and manage leads using AI, raised a $100 million round at a $3.1 billion valuation just six months after it closed its last round at a $1.25 billion valuation. The deal was led by CapitalG, with Meritech Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital also chipping in. The New York Times confirms earlier reporting by TechCrunch here.

Uzum, a three-year-old Uzbekistan startup that operates an online marketplace and digital bank that allows consumers in Uzbekistan to shop for goods, make payments, and access credit in one app, raised a $65.5 million round at a post-money valuation of approximately $1.5 billion. The deal was co-led by Tencent and VR Capital, with FarSight Ventures also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Alaan, a four-year-old Dubai startup that provides corporate cards and software that help businesses in the Middle East automate spending, track expenses, and manage employee payments, raised a $48 million Series A round. Peak XV Partners was the deal lead. TechCrunch has more here.

GeoWealth, a 15-year-old Chicago company that provides software and investment management services to help registered investment advisors build, manage, and optimize client portfolios, raised a $38 million Series C round led by Apollo, with BlackRock, JPMorgan Asset Management, and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors also participating. More here.

Lyric, a four-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, that uses AI to assist large manufacturers and distributors in making better supply chain decisions by analyzing internal and external data, raised a $43.5 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, with Primary Venture Partners, Permanent Capital Ventures, VMG Partners, PSP Growth, and NewBuild Venture Capital also contributing. More here.

NG.Cash, a four-year-old São Paulo startup that provides young people in Brazil with a digital bank account that allows them to manage money transfers and use prepaid cards, raised a $26.5 million Series B round led by NEA, with Quantum Light, Monashees, Andreessen Horowitz, Endeavor Catalyst, 17Sigma, and Daphni also investing. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Approov, a 13-year-old Edinburgh company that provides software that ensures requests to APIs come from authentic apps or devices by verifying the integrity of the client before allowing access, raised a $6.6 million Series A round led by Maven Capital Partners, with Souter Investments, Lanza TechVentures, and Scottish Enterprise also taking part. SecurityWeek has more here.

Cafeteria, a three-year-old Los Angeles startup that collects real-time feedback from consumers through short-form video surveys and delivers insights to brands to help them improve products and marketing, raised a $3 million round at a $22 million valuation. Investors included Marquee Ventures, Listen Ventures, and Thayer Investment Partners. CityBiz has more here.

Doughlicious, an eight-year-old London startup that makes and sells gluten-free frozen cookie dough and gelato bites using natural ingredients, raised a $5 million round led by Rich Products Ventures, with The Angel Group also stepping up. EU-Startups has more here.

EVeez, a five-year-old Indian startup that provides electric vehicles on a subscription basis to companies that need fleets for last-mile delivery and commuting, raised a $5.4 million Series A round led by The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, with Caret Capital, ThinKuvate, Ev2 Ventures, Barbershop With Shantanu, SailThru Ventures, and Ah Ventures also piling on. Entrepreneur has more here.

Journey, a one-year-old New York startup that helps luxury hotels increase direct bookings and guest loyalty by replacing traditional booking engines with a streamlined, branded reservation experience, raised a $7.7 million seed round. Lerer Hippeau and Slow Ventures were the co-leads. PhocusWire has more here.

OLarry, a two-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that uses artificial intelligence to enable high-net-worth individuals and business owners to implement personalized tax strategies, raised a $10 million Series A round led by TTV Capital and including Walkabout Ventures and Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures. The company has raised a total of $14.5 million. More here.

Resolvd AI, a one-year-old New York startup whose AI-powered platform is designed to enable software development teams to detect, prioritize, and resolve incidents across their engineering and customer support systems, raised a $1.6 million pre-seed round. Spice Capital, Betaworks, and Factorial Capital invested in the deal. CityBiz has more here.

Streamline AI, a five-year-old startup based in Burlingame, CA, whose software helps legal teams at large companies manage and automate intake and tracking of legal requests from across the business, raised an $8.6 million Series A round led by Blumberg Capital, with additional participation from Tribeca Venture Partners, Acronym Venture Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and Scribble Ventures. The company has raised a total of $14 million. More here.

Vendict, a five-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses AI to assist companies in responding to security questionnaires and other compliance requests by pulling answers from internal documentation, raised a $10 million Series A round. Moneta Ventures and JAL Ventures were the co-leads, with NFX, Cardumen Capital, Disruptive AI, and Cyber Club London also joining in. The company has raised a total of $20 million. More here.

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New Funds

Draper Associates, a 40-year-old VC firm based in San Mateo, California, has raised $200 million for its eighth fund as crypto markets roar back to life and longtime Bitcoin evangelist Tim Draper doubles down on digital assets. Fortune has more here.

Smart Infrastructure Ventures, a six-year-old VC firm based in Leipzig, has launched a €30 million second fund to back around 30 early-stage B2B startups across AI, software, and enterprise tech in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Tech.eu has more here.

Exits

Destinus, a four-year-old Dutch developer of unmanned flight systems for civil and defense use, is acquiring Daedalean, a nine-year-old Swiss maker of AI-powered avionics software, in a $225 million cash-and-stock deal. Tech.eu has more here.

Going Public

Heartflow, a 13-year-old medtech company based in Mountain View, CA, that builds AI‑powered tools that generate 3D heart models for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, has filed confidentially to go public on Nasdaq, aiming to raise up to $212 million at a valuation of up to $1.3 billion. The company’s backers include Bain Capital, Panorama Point Partners, and Capricorn Investment Group. Fast Company has more here.

People

In offering exit packages to Windsurf’s remaining staff, Cognition CEO Scott Wu made it clear he wasn’t interested in keeping the team he had just acquired, telling them in an email that “we don’t believe in work-life balance” and offering a choice between nine months’ severance or 80-hour weeks in the office. TechCrunch has more here.

Former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who may or may not have left X under her own power, is back, this time as CEO of eMed, an AI health tech startup, despite the fact that she has no background in healthcare. TechCrunch has more here.

Eclipse has hired former T. Rowe Price portfolio manager Joe Fath, known for early calls on Tesla and Rivian, to lead its growth strategy as it doubles down on industrial and manufacturing bets. Bloomberg has more here.

Essential Reads

Delta and other airlines are drawing heat from lawmakers for testing AI-based pricing models that adjust fares in real-time using market data and pricing structures so complex they “go beyond human cognitive limits.” Bloomberg has more here.

As part of its lawsuit against OpenAI, The New York Times may soon be poring through as many as 120 million user chats in an effort to prove that the maker of ChatGPT scraped its content. Ars Technica has more here.

A growing unease with automation is surfacing online as TikTokers are increasingly using the term “clanker” (a sci-fi-inspired slur for robots and AI) to express their frustration over technology replacing humans in jobs, customer service, and daily life. NBC News has more here.

Detours

Paris’s niche viager market, where buyers snag apartments at steep discounts in exchange for monthly payments until the seller dies, is booming with foreign investors even as a notorious case involving a madeleine, a 92-year-old, and a manslaughter conviction shows how morbid the gamble can get.

Brain Rot

How centuries-old cathedrals are being restored …

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Retail Therapy

This new $2,995 electric minibike allows anybody to pop a perfect wheelie at the push of a button.

The U.S. Open’s caviar chicken nuggets are back.

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