Well, we had an amazing time this week at Disrupt. Giant thanks to an incredible lineup of speakers who made this one so special (along with the 10,000 attendees who showed up from all corners of the world throughout the week). It was TechCrunch’s 20th birthday celebration, and we definitely ended on a high note today, with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, Kevin Rose, Roy Lee of Cluely, Box’s Aaron Levie, NBA-star-turned-entrepreneur Tristan Thompson, Elad Gil, Aileen Lee, Kirsten Green, Kevin Hartz, and Solana creator Anatoly Yakovenko in the mix. (More below.) Congratulations, too, to Battlefield winner Glīd! It was an inspiring few days; thank you all. :)

Nvidia became the world’s first $5 trillion company on Wednesday as relentless demand for its AI chips and new partnerships with OpenAI and Intel fueled record growth. CNN has more here.

Microsoft’s Azure and 365 services went down for several hours on Wednesday due to a configuration error, disrupting major customers just before its earnings release and underscoring the fragility of big cloud infrastructure. CNBC has more here.

Turn your next raise into news 

Your raise shapes how the market sees you. At Songue PR, we work with founders to turn momentum into meaningful coverage. We understand how stories move through the venture ecosystem—who picks them up, how they spread, and what builds credibility. The right narrative drives the deals that follow. [email protected] 

By Sarah Perez

“The dead internet theory is real,” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told Digg founder Kevin Rose, referring to the idea that much of the internet isn’t human — it’s mostly bots.

The two entrepreneurs have since teamed up to re-envision how to build a social community in this world where, very soon, it will be hard to tell who’s a real person online.

Earlier this year, the two bought the remaining assets belonging to Digg, the long-shuttered news aggregation site originally founded by Rose that was a staple of the Web 2.0 era.

Now again under Rose’s control, the new Digg is creating a place for people to socialize and connect online within communities, similar to Reddit, but it has different ideas about how such a platform should work at a time when bots are nearly indistinguishable from humans.

Backstage at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Wednesday, Rose explained that he sees the future of social as being more focused on protected online spaces and “micro communities of trusted users.”

“I just have to imagine that, as the cost to deploy agents drops to next to nothing, we’re just gonna see…bots act as though they’re humans,” he said. “So, small trusted communities, proof of heartbeat — there’s an actual human on the other end…is important.”

But today’s verification methods often involve things like facial recognition, ID uploads, or small payments with a credit card to ensure that someone is a person and not a bot. Not everyone online will feel comfortable doing something like that to access an online social community, of course.

Harvey, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides AI tools for law firms and financial institutions, raised a $150 million round at an $8+ billion post-money valuation, according to reporting from Forbes. The round was purportedly led by Andreessen Horowitz. Forbes has more here.

Synthesia, an eight-year-old London startup that uses AI to generate corporate training and marketing videos featuring virtual presenters, has reportedly raised a $200 million round at a $4 billion post-money valuation, almost double the valuation of the $180 million round it closed in January. GV was the deal lead. Forbes has the scoop here.

Arya Health, a three-year-old New York startup that builds AI agents to automate administrative tasks for post-acute care providers, raised an $18.2 million Series A round led by ACME Capital, with Ridge Ventures and Twelve Below also participating. The startup has raised a total of $25 million. More here.

CoreStory, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to help enterprises modernize and document legacy software, raised a $32 million Series A round co-led by Tribeca Venture Partners, NEA, and SineWave Ventures, with additional participation from Harrison Metal, Singtel Innov8, Samsung Next, Nimble Partners, and Alumni Ventures. More here.

Curve Biosciences, a five-year-old startup based in San Mateo, CA, that develops AI-powered diagnostic tests to detect and monitor chronic diseases through tissue-based molecular mapping, raised a $40 million round. Luma Group was the deal lead, with First Spark Ventures, Techas Capital, Micah Spear, Civilization Ventures, LifeX Ventures, Incite, Mintaka VC, and NZVC also taking part. More here.

CyberRidge, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that develops photonic encryption technology, raised a $16 million Series A round co-led by Arkin, Redseed VC, and Elron Ventures, with support from a European Innovation Council grant. The company has raised a total of $26 million. CTech has more here.

i6 Group, a 13-year-old UK company that develops cloud software to help airports and airlines manage fuel inventory, lifecycle, and analytics, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Yttrium, with World Kinect, Shell Ventures, and International Airlines Group also pitching in. UKTN has more here.

Impala AI, an Israeli startup founded this year that develops infrastructure to reduce large language model inference costs for enterprises, raised an $11 million seed round co-led by Viola Ventures and NFX. StartupHub.ai has more here.

Ridepanda, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that provides e-bikes, cargo bikes, and scooters as employee benefits through enterprise partners, raised $12.6 million in equity and debt. The deal was led by Bikeleasing Group, with CSC Leasing and Camber Road as well as previous investors Blackhorn Ventures, Yamaha Motor Ventures, Proeza Ventures, Somersault Ventures, and Oyster Ventures also piling on. More here.

Sweatpals, a four-year-old Austin startup that helps people build in-person fitness communities and lets gyms, studios, and independent hosts turn workouts into social hubs, raised a $12 million seed round co-led by Patron, Andreessen Horowitz, and HartBeat Ventures, with WndrCo, Antler, and Pear also participating. The company has raised a total of $17.2 million. CityBiz has more here.

Syllo, a seven-year-old New York startup that develops an AI-powered litigation workspace for law firms and legal teams, raised a $30 million round. Investors included Venrock and Two Seas Capital. More here.

Uptiq.ai, a four-year-old startup based in Plano, TX, that builds AI infrastructure for financial institutions, raised a $12 million round led by Silverton Partners and including Live Oak Venture Partners, Tau Ventures, First Capital, and Green Visor Capital. More here.

ZAR, a one-year-old UAE startup that aims to give unbanked adults in Pakistan access to dollar-backed stablecoins through local kiosks and remittance agents, raised a $12.9 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Dragonfly Capital, VanEck Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst also joining in. FinTech Weekly has more here.

Cylerity, a seven-year-old startup based in Madison, WI, that helps healthcare providers get paid faster by advancing insured claim payments within 24 hours, raised a $4 million seed round and set up a $24 million debt facility. The deal was led by HealthX Ventures, with C2 Ventures, Upstream Ventures, Wisconsin Investment Partners, and Tundra Angels also contributing. More here.

Hercle, a seven-year-old Milan startup that helps global businesses and payment providers move money instantly using stablecoin infrastructure, raised a $10 million round. F-Prime was the deal lead, and the company also set up a $50 million credit facility to support international expansion. Fortune has more here.

Loon, a one-year-old Calgary startup that is developing a Canadian-dollar-backed stablecoin designed to operate under Canadian regulations, raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by Version One Ventures, with Garage Capital also stepping up. More here.

Maket, a five-year-old Montreal startup that lets homeowners, builders, and developers generate and edit floor plans in seconds, raised a $2.6 million seed round led by Amiral Ventures, with Blitzscaling Ventures, BY Venture Partners, Hidden Layers, Spatial Capital, and Desjardins Group also contributing. More here.

Ornn, a one-year-old New York startup that is building a financial exchange for trading standardized GPU compute futures and derivatives, raised a $5.7 million seed round co-led by Crucible Ventures and Vine Ventures, with Link Ventures and Box Group also chiming in. More here.

Polygraf, a two-year-old Austin startup that develops small language model technology to help organizations detect and mitigate AI risks, raised a $9.5 million seed round led by Allegis Capital and including Alumni Ventures, DataPower VC, and Domino Ventures. SecurityWeek has more here.

Socratix AI, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops autonomous AI coworkers for fraud and risk teams at banks and fintechs, raised a $4.1 million seed round led by Pear VC, with Y Combinator, Twenty Two Ventures, and Transpose Platform also investing. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Spacial, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that automates residential engineering and permitting, raised a $10 million seed round led by TLV Partners, with Mango Capital, Re Angels, and HTV also opting in. More here.

Standard Economics, a San Francisco startup founded this year that enables unbanked users to send cross-border payments and access U.S. dollars through stablecoins, raised a $9 million seed round led by Paradigm, with Lightspeed also joining in. Fortune has more here.

Tessaract, a seven-year-old London and Singapore startup that helps law firms manage casework, billing, finance, and collaboration through a unified cloud system, raised a $6.1 million seed round led by Mercia Ventures, with Fuel Ventures also investing. More here.

VeroSkills, a five-year-old startup based in Birmingham, AL, that operates an AI-driven staffing platform for blue-collar employers, raised a $5.3 million round co-led by Yonder Ventures, Circadian Ventures, and Motivate Ventures, with Colchuck also taking part. More here.

Share your perspective on venture capital in 2026 
 
Affinity is gathering insights from venture capital leaders to understand how firms are preparing for 2026. The survey only takes 5 mins and your input will help shape Affinity’s 2026 Predictions Report, highlighting how VCs are approaching sourcing, portfolio support, and fundraising strategies in the year ahead. 
 
As a bonus, you’ll be entered into a draw to win a $500 Airbnb gift card. 

Bending Spoons, the Milan-based app developer behind Evernote and Vimeo, is buying AOL from Yahoo for about $1.4 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Discord, a 9-year-old San Francisco startup that provides voice, video, and chat tools for online communities, has filed to go public after reaching $890 million in revenue and rejecting a $12 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft. More here.

At Disrupt today …

Box CEO Aaron Levie said the future of enterprise software will pair SaaS with AI agents, forcing a shift from per-seat pricing to consumption-based models and opening fresh opportunities for agent-first startups. TechCrunch has more here.

ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski said AI audio models will soon become commoditized, pushing the company to focus on combining its voice technology with other modalities and open-source collaborations to stay ahead. TechCrunch has more here.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city should serve as a testbed for emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles and AI. TechCrunch has more here.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said AI-driven “agentic coding” has become a powerful accelerator for developers as Solana rides a surge in institutional crypto adoption and ETF-fueled growth. TechCrunch has more here.

Former NBA champion Tristan Thompson and World Mobile launched Uplift, a blockchain-based, community-owned wireless service offering unlimited data from $9.99 and sharing revenue with local hosts to bring affordable connectivity to underserved U.S. neighborhoods. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI faces fresh pressure in the AGI race after its recent recapitalization gave Microsoft rights to pursue AGI independently and influence how it’s defined. The Verge has more here.

Uber plans to launch its first autonomous taxis in the Bay Area in 2026 using Lucid’s Gravity SUV equipped with Nuro’s self-driving technology. The AP has more here.

The best ‘80s albums.

Check out this trailer for Fackham Hall, a new movie that asks the question, “What would happen if when Downton Abbey and Naked Gun had a baby?”

The most interesting thing about this 1967 Pontiac GTO muscle car isn’t its 400 cubic-inch engine or the 493 miles on its odometer but the fact that it’s right-hand-drive.

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

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