Another great day at Disrupt! Giant thanks to everyone who came to the show today as an attendee or speaker; it actually does take a village, as it turns out, and we're grateful for you.

Special shout-out to Michael Kim and his team at Cendana Capital for helping spearhead our second annual StrictlyVC event inside Disrupt. The five-person LP panel they organized was packed with insights (much more on this to come). We also thoroughly enjoyed sitting down today with Vinod Khosla, Kevin Hartz, Elizabeth Stone, and Brynn Putnam. (More coverage coming soon, but check out some related stories below.)

Sean O'Kane's sit-down with Slate Auto — a customizable truck company backed by Amazon that you'll be hearing a lot more about — was also a big hit. You can check out just some of the day's interviews here.

We'll be back tomorrow morning, kicking off the day with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.

OpenAI has finalized its shift to a for-profit structure controlled by a non-profit foundation, giving Microsoft a 27% stake worth about $135 billion while freeing the company to raise capital more flexibly from other investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Further on the OpenAI reorganization, Bloomberg reports that Microsoft will receive 20% of OpenAI’s revenue until 2032, and Sam Altman holds no stake in the newly formed for-profit entity. More here.

Amazon has made it official: the company is axing 14,000 corporate jobs, a total that could rise to 30,000 in the near future. TechCrunch 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

Vinod Khosla has a bold vision for how society could be reconfigured to share the abundance created by AI technology. Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Tuesday, the Khosla Ventures founder suggested the U.S. government could take a 10% stake in all public corporations and redistribute that corporate wealth to the public at large.

As Khosla put it, the idea was spurred by President Donald Trump’s decision for the U.S. government to purchase a 10% stake in Intel. “When Trump bought 10% of Intel, I wondered if it wasn’t a good idea,” Khosla said onstage at Disrupt. “Take 10% of every corporation and put it in a national pool for the people. That’s really interesting. Just take 10% of every public company.”

AI leaders have explored universal basic income proposals in the past, most notably in OpenResearch’s extended study on cash payments, backed in part by Sam Altman. Still it’s rare for a prominent investor to so explicitly endorse a national stake in private industry. Khosla acknowledged the controversy onstage but said extreme proposals were necessary to sustain social cohesion through the disruption of artificial general intelligence.

“I’ll get critiqued for this idea,” Khosla said. “But you know, sharing the wealth of AI is a really, really big need to level the benefits to everybody … We won’t need to do it in 15 years, but we do have to take care of those people. We will, by 2035, have a hugely, hugely deflationary economy.”

ConductorOne, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that manages identity security for human, non-human, and AI accounts, raised a $79 million Series B round led by Greycroft, with CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, Accel, and Felicis Ventures also participating. The startup has raised a total of $100+ million. More here.

Fireworks AI, a three-year-old startup that helps developers access advanced chips and optimize AI model inference, raised a $250 million Series C round at a $4+ billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, and Evantic, with previous investor Sequoia Capital also joining in. The startup has raised a total of $250 million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Sublime Security, a seven-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that develops AI-powered tools to detect and prevent email attacks, raised a $150 million Series C round led by Georgian, with Avenir, 01A, Index Ventures, IVP, Citi Ventures, and Slow Ventures also participating. More here.

Substrate, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing a particle-accelerator-based process to manufacture semiconductors at lower cost, raised $100+ million from Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Valor Equity Partners, and Allen & Company at a $1+ billion valuation . The New York Times has more here.

Whatnot, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that enables small businesses to sell products through live video streams, raised a $225 million Series F round at a $11.5 billion post-money valuation, more than double the valuation of the $265 million round it raised in January. The deal was co-led by CapitalG and DST Global, with additional participation from Sequoia Capital, Alkeon Capital, Greycroft, Andreessen Horowitz, Avra, and BOND. The startup has raised a total of $968 million. The Business of Fashion has more here.

Zag Bio, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that develops thymus-targeted medicines to treat autoimmune diseases, raised an $80 million Series A round co-led by Polaris Partners and the T1D Fund, with Mission BioCapital, AbbVie Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Sanofi Ventures, KdT Ventures, Regeneron Ventures, Boxer Capital, and Pear VC also taking part. CityBiz has more here.

Agtonomy, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that develops software to automate farm equipment and autonomous fleets, raised an $18 million Series B round led by DBL Partners and including Nuveen as well as previous investors Autotech, Allison Transmission, Rethink Food, and Black Forest Ventures. AgFunderNews has more here.

Blueprint, a Los Angeles startup that offers a personalized health and longevity program based on Bryan Johnson’s Blueprint protocol, raised a $60 million round from angel investors including Kim Kardashian, Andrej Karpathy, Naval Ravikant, Tyler Winklevoss, Kevin Hartz, and Joe Lonsdale. More here.

Cartesia, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds state space model–based voice AI for real-time multilingual conversation, raised $100 million from Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, and Nvidia. More here.

Formalize, a four-year-old Copenhagen startup that provides software to help businesses manage governance, risk, and compliance requirements, raised a $32.4 million Series B round co-led by Acton Capital and BlackFin Capital Partners, with West Hill Capital and CIBC Innovation Banking also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $58.3 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Frontline Wildfire Defense, an eight-year-old startup based in Jackson Hole, WY, that develops wildfire defense systems for homes, businesses, and communities, raised a $48 million Series A round led by Norwest. More here.

Mem0, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that builds a memory layer enabling AI applications to retain context across models and platforms, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Basis Set Ventures, with Peak XV Partners and the GitHub Fund as well as previous investors Y Combinator and Kindred Ventures also opting in. The startup has raised a total of $24 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Onfire, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses AI to analyze developer discussions on public forums and identify buying signals for software vendors, raised a $14 million Series A round co-led by Grove Ventures and TLV Partners, with IN Venture and LeumiTech 77 also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.

SimSpace, a 10-year-old Boston company that builds simulated training environments to help organizations test and improve their cybersecurity defenses, raised $39 million in debt and equity. The deal was led by BTG Pactual U.S. Private Credit Investments and Communitas Capital, with previous investor L2 Point Management also investing. CityBiz has more here.

AccessGrid, a one-year-old Miami startup that lets companies issue and manage digital key fobs through Apple and Google Wallet, raised a $4.4 million seed round led by Harlem Capital, with Exceptional Capital, Spice Capital, and HF0 also digging in. TechCrunch has more here.

Adaptam Therapeutics, a Spanish startup that is working on antibody-based therapies to overcome immune suppression in solid tumours, raised a $3.2 million pre-seed round led by Criteria Bio Ventures. Tech Funding News has more here.

Forum AI, a New York startup founded this year that evaluates how major AI systems handle subjective and high-stakes topics using human expert judgment, raised a $3 million seed round led by Lerer Hippeau, with Perplexity AI’s venture fund also contributing. The Wrap has more here.

Grasp, a five-year-old Stockholm startup that automates finance workflows for investment banks and consulting firms using multi-agent AI, raised a $7 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures, with Yanno Capital also engaging. The company has raised a total of $9 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Lula Commerce, a five-year-old Philadelphia startup that develops software to help convenience retailers manage online ordering, pickup, and delivery, raised an $8 million Series A round. SEMCAP AI was the deal lead, with Rich Products Ventures, GO PA Fund, NZVC, UP.Partners, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, and Outlander VC also stepping up. The startup has raised a total of $16+ million. CSP Daily News has more here.

PodPlay Technologies, a five-year-old New York startup that provides software, hardware, and automation to help sports clubs manage reservations, payments, access, and on-site operations, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Frontier Growth. Athletech News has more here.

Tempo Labs, a three-year-old Toronto startup that provides an AI-powered design and code collaboration tool for product teams, raised a $5 million seed round. Investors included Y Combinator, Golden Ventures, Box Group, Webflow Ventures, iNovia, and General Catalyst. More here.

Vesence, a one-year-old Swedish and San Francisco startup that uses AI to check legal and professional documents for accuracy and consistency, raised a $9 million seed round led by Emergence Capital, with Creandum, 20VC, and Y Combinator also taking stakes. Tech Funding News has more here.

Wild Moose, a two-year-old Israeli and San Francisco startup that uses AI to identify and explain the root causes of system failures and outages, raised a $7 million seed round. The deal was led by iAngels, with F2 Venture Capital, Y Combinator, Demo Capital, and Maverick Ventures also anteing up. CTech has more here.

Affinity’s 2026 Predictions Survey. Affinity is collecting input from venture capital professionals on how firms are planning for 2026. The survey takes five minutes, and your perspective will be included in our upcoming 2026 Predictions Report. 
 
The report will share how VC teams are approaching sourcing, portfolio support, and fundraising as the market shifts. 
 
As a bonus, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $500 Airbnb gift card. 

Maple Bridge Ventures, a two-year-old Ottawa VC firm that backs immigrant founders building startups in agriculture, health, and enterprise software, completed the first close of its debut $20 million CAD fund at $10.2 million CAD. Business Wire has more here.

Pony AI has launched a Hong Kong IPO that could value the Chinese autonomous driving company at $10+ billion. Zag Daily has more here.

At today’s Disrupt, Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone said that the company is testing a vertical video feed on mobile to explore short-form and podcast content, aiming to meet users’ evolving viewing habits without directly competing with TikTok. TechCrunch has more here.

Mirror founder Brynn Putnam is back with Board, a $500 touchscreen gaming device designed to “bring people physically together around the table again,” as she put it to Disrupt attendees. TechCrunch has more here.

Humanoid robotics startup 1X is opening preorders for Neo, a $20,000 home robot that can do chores but still relies on human teleoperators who can see inside your house. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia heavily mirrors Wikipedia’s design and even uses some of its licensed content, says The Verge, which has more here.

A former OpenAI product safety lead warns that reopening access to erotic content is reckless given the company has provided no evidence it can safely manage users with mental health issues. The New York Times has more here.

As AI-fueled data center projects spread across the U.S., major tech firms are pressuring local officials and landowners to sign NDAs that conceal project details, sparking backlash from residents who say secrecy erodes public trust. NBC News has more here.

The 40 best Halloween movies for people who hate horror movies.

A $65 million oceanfront mansion in Puerto Rico’s Dorado Beach Reserve spans 17,000 square feet with an 80-foot infinity pool, 22-foot ceilings, and panoramic views of the Atlantic and a Robert Trent Jones Sr.–designed golf course. Robb Report has more here.

For those of you who have always coveted a Rolex Submariner wristwatch, now it’s also available as a $10,000 desk clock.

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

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