In a surprise move, OpenAI has acquired TBPN, an 18-month-old tech talk show and interview platform with an audience of approximately 70,000 viewers that generated about $5 million in ad revenue last year. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s chief rival, Anthropic, just acquired Coefficient Bio, an eight-month-old stealth startup building AI models for biological research, in a stock deal worth just over $400 million. The Information has more here.

Coinbase says it has won conditional approval for a national trust company charter, a move that could expand its custody business and eventually open the door to offerings like stablecoins and tokenized securities. Bloomberg has more here.

By Tim Fernholz

SpaceX launched its IPO on the same day the U.S. sent astronauts to the moon for the first time in 54 years. And the timing is appropriate: This is likely the last time NASA will try to send people to deep space without major assistance from a company that emerged from the venture-backed tech scene.

The origins of NASA’s current lunar campaign trace a complicated path back to the second Bush administration, which began developing an enormous rocket and a spacecraft called Orion to return to the moon. By 2010, the project had grown over budget and was pared back — and paired with a new program to back private companies building new orbital rockets.

That decision led to a company-saving contract for SpaceX and a rush of venture capital into extraterrestrial technology, and to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that is now carrying three Americans and one Canadian around the moon and back. 

The SLS is the most powerful operational rocket in the world today. It has flown just once before, when it launched an empty Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the moon in preparation for this week’s historic mission, which will set a record for the furthest humans have gone into the solar system. 

Next time around, however, the pressure will be on SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The two companies are competing to see who will put boots on the lunar regolith. 

Alcatraz, a 10-year-old company based in Cupertino, CA, that secures building entry points with facial authentication that verifies employees without storing their images, raised a $50 million Series B round led by BlackPeak Capital, Cogito Capital, and Taiwania Capital, with additional support from Almaz Capital, EBRD, and Ray Stata. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. More here.

Linx Security, a three-year-old New York startup that monitors and governs human and machine identities across enterprise systems, raised a $50 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, with previous investors Cyberstarts and Index Ventures also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Manna Air Delivery, a seven-year-old Dublin startup that operates a drone delivery network for suburban last-mile deliveries, raised a $50 million round led by ARK Invest, with Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Schooner Capital as well as previous investors Coca-Cola HBC and Molten Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $110 million. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Monarch Quantum, a one-year-old San Diego startup that builds photonic control systems for quantum computing, sensing, and networking, raised a $55 million round led by Serendipity Capital, with 55 North and Global Innovation Labs also stepping up. More here.

Generare, a three-year-old Paris startup that uses AI to discover small molecules from microbial genomes for drug development, raised a $22.9 million Series A round co-led by Alven and Daphni, with previous investors Galion.exe, Teampact Ventures, and Vives Partners also contributing. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Alien, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses a decentralized network to verify humans and link AI agents to their human owners, raised a $7.1 million pre-seed round co-led by Initialized Capital and Finality, with Mantaray, Commonmetal, Scenius, Lvna Capital, and Pioneer also opting in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Anvil Robotics, an eight-month-old San Francisco startup that builds customizable robots for physical AI teams, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Matter Venture Partners, with Humba Ventures, DNX Ventures, Spacecadet Ventures, and Position Ventures also participating. Crunchbase News has more here.

Audicin, a four-year-old Finnish startup that delivers nervous-system regulation through audio sessions that adapt to biometric signals, raised a $1.9 million round from previous investors Virpi Tuomivaara and Oura ring co-founder Petteri Lahtela. The company has raised a total of approximately $3 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Earlyasset, a one-year-old startup based in Park City, UT, that aims to build a platform for secondary sales of private startup shares, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by New Stack Ventures, with Cervin Ventures also taking part. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Numos, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to analyze financial data across accounting, billing, and planning systems, raised a $4.25 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with Operator Collective also engaging. More here.

Omniscient, a two-year-old Paris startup that uses AI agents to monitor reputation, competitive, and operational signals for executives, raised a $4.1 million pre-seed round led by Seedcamp, with Drysdale, Plug and Play, MS&AD, Raise, Anamcara, xdeck, and Bpifrance also taking stakes. The Next Web has more here.

Soma Energy, a recently founded San Francisco startup that aims to optimize power generation, storage, and load for data centers and power producers in real-time, raised a $7 million seed round led by Category Ventures, with Haystack, RRE Ventures, TO VC, and Uncork Capital as well as previous investors Panache Ventures and Walter Kortschak also digging in. More here.

TippingPoint Biosciences, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that models disease-specific chromatin environments to identify epigenetic drug targets, raised a $4.5 million round co-led by SOSV and LKS Fund, with Sazze Partners, Freeflow Ventures, StoryHouse Ventures, Sontag Innovation Fund, American Cancer Society BrightEdge, XEIA, and WeCAN also piling on. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

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Gateway Capital, a six-year-old Milwaukee VC firm that invests across sectors with a bias toward Midwest industries like supply chain, logistics, and manufacturing AI, has announced the first close of its $25 million second fund. TechCrunch has more here.

d-Matrix, a seven-year-old Santa Clara-based startup that develops low-latency AI inference hardware and software for data centers, has acquired the data center business of GigaIO, a 14-year-old company based in Carlsbad, CA, that builds rack-scale and composable infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing. Terms were not disclosed. More here.

Mercury, a nine-year-old San Francisco fintech that provides banking and financial software for startups, has acquired Central, a three-year-old startup that uses AI agents and human experts to handle payroll, benefits, HR, PTO, and compliance for founders. The price was not disclosed. More here.

Kintsugi, a seven-year-old Berkeley startup that built AI to detect depression and anxiety from speech patterns, is shutting down after failing to secure FDA clearance and will open-source most of its technology. The Verge has more here.

Zhongji Innolight, a 17-year-old Chinese supplier of high-speed optical transceivers to Nvidia, has reportedly filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing that could raise at least $3 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission say they are headed to trial over allegations that Musk delayed disclosing his growing 2022 stake in Twitter, allowing him to buy shares at artificially low prices before his takeover bid. Bloomberg has more here.

In an interview with Esquire, Apple CEO Tim Cook says Apple still runs on the “crazy ideas” ethos that defined Steve Jobs even as the company navigates tariffs, political scrutiny, and a broad push to expand U.S. manufacturing. More here.

VC Steve Jurvetson has reportedly bought a Lake Tahoe estate for $125 million in a record-setting deal for Incline Village, NV, underscoring how the tax-friendly enclave has become an increasingly attractive magnet for tech billionaires. Robb Report has more here.

Medvi, a Los Angeles-based telehealth seller of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, says it generated $401 million in 2025 sales and is on track for $1.8 billion this year with just two employees, relying heavily on AI tools to handle everything from coding and marketing to customer service. The New York Times has more here.

A new survey of more than 20,000 Americans found that people who spend at least five hours a day on social media are less likely to believe democracy is the best form of government and more open to political violence, even as they feel more politically heard. The Washington Post has more here.

Poolside, the high-profile, three-year-old San Francisco startup building coding-focused AI for government and defense customers, is seeking new data center partners after a deal with CoreWeave collapsed and a $2 billion funding round anchored by Nvidia fell apart. The Financial Times has more here.

The crew of Artemis II had a very relatable first day in space, calling NASA Mission Control for help with a stubborn Microsoft Outlook issue and a malfunctioning toilet fan aboard the spacecraft. TechCrunch has more here.

In Apple’s reboot of Cape Fear, Javier Bardem plays the murderous Max Cady, a role Robert Mitchum and Robert De Niro both carved into film history’s figurative dermis.

The Big Bear Jeep Off-Road Experience is offering drivers the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a custom Jeep above Big Bear Lake in California’s San Bernardino Mountains and tackle terrain ranging from beginner trails to advanced routes featuring obstacles like the Ledge, the Brain, and the Rock Garden.

When a jumping-hour watch meets a disco ball. [H/T Gear Patrol]

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