OpenAI has started testing ads in the U.S. for ChatGPT users on its Free and $8 Go tiers while insisting ads are labeled, separate from answers, and not tied to user data. TechCrunch has more here.

Alphabet is raising $15 billion in the U.S. bond market and pitching deals in the U.K. and Switzerland as it gears up to spend as much as $185 billion on AI-related capex this year. The package includes a rare 100-year bond, a dotcom-era throwback that underscores how aggressively Big Tech is locking in ultra-long-term capital for AI. Bloomberg has more here.

Opening statements began in a Los Angeles trial accusing Meta and YouTube of designing their platforms like “digital casinos” that addict children and cause personal harm, a bellwether case that could open tech companies to tobacco-style liability for how social media products are built. The New York Times has more here.

The payments powerhouse Stripe is reportedly discussing launching a tender offer that would value the company at $140 billion. Axios has the scoop here.

Looking to fundraise in 2026? Find the right set of events with the LP-GP Conferences Calendar 2026 - 100+ key events where you can meet LPs. Get dates, locations, agendas, and more - all in one place. 

By Julie Bort

On Monday, Databricks announced it reached a $5.4 billion revenue run rate, growing 65% year-over-year, of which more than $1.4 billion was from its AI products. 

Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi wanted to share these growth numbers because there’s so much talk about how AI is going to kill SaaS business, he told TechCrunch.

“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, it’s SaaS. What’s going to happen to all these companies? What’s AI going to do with all these companies? For us, it’s just increasing the usage,” he says.

To be sure, he also wants to deflect the SaaS label from Databricks, priced as it is by the private markets as an AI company. Databricks on Monday also officially closed on its massive, previously announced $5 billion raise at a $134 billion valuation, and nabbed a $2 billion loan facility as well.

But the company is straddling both worlds. Databricks is still best known as a cloud data warehouse provider. A data warehouse is where enterprises store massive amounts of data to analyze for business insights.

Ghodsi called out, in particular, one AI product that’s driving usage of its data warehouse: its LLM user interface named Genie.

Genie is an example of how a SaaS business may replace its user interface with natural language. For instance, he uses it to ask why warehouse usage and revenue spike on particular days.

Just a few years ago, such a request required a specific query language, or maybe a special report would have been programmed. Today, any product with an LLM interface can be used by anyone, Ghodsi noted. Genie is one reason for usage growth numbers, he said.

Harvey, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides AI software for lawyers to review documents and draft legal filings, is reportedly raising a $200 million round at an $11 billion valuation. In December, the company raised $160 million at an $8 billion valuation. The deal is purportedly being co-led by Sequoia and GIC. Forbes has more here.

Neara, a 10-year-old Sydney startup that provides digital models of power networks for utilities to plan and manage electricity grids, reportedly raised a $63.8 million Series D round at a $780 million valuation. The deal was led by TCV, with Partners Group, EQT, Square Peg Capital, and Skip Capital also participating. The Wall Street Journal has the scoop here.

Oxide Computer, a seven-year-old startup based in Emeryville, CA, that provides private cloud infrastructure systems for on-premises data centers, raised a $200 million round led by the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund. SiliconANGLE has more here.

SambaNova Systems, a nine-year-old Palo Alto startup that develops AI inference chips and competes with Nvidia, is reportedly close to finalizing a $350+ million Series E round co-led by Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital, with Intel also participating. Reuters has more here.

Urban SDK, an eight-year-old startup based in Jacksonville, FL, that provides geospatial AI tools to local and state governments to manage public safety and infrastructure operations, raised a $65 million round led by Riverwood Capital. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Aerska, a one-year-old Dublin startup that uses RNA interference to treat degenerative neurological diseases, raised a $39 million Series A round co-led by EQT Dementia Fund and age1, with Iaso Ventures also taking part. The Irish Times has more here.

Capalo AI, a four-year-old Helsinki startup that optimizes when batteries store and sell electricity across power markets, raised a $13.1 million Series A round led by Heartcore Capital, with Tesi, VentureFriends, PROfounders, Inventure, and Innovestor also contributing. Tech.eu has more here.

Gather AI, a nine-year-old startup that uses cameras and drones to monitor warehouse inventory and operations, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Smith Point Capital, with Bain Capital Ventures, XRC Ventures, and Hillman Investments also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $74 million. TechCrunch has more here.

VillageSQL, a one-year-old New York startup that lets developers add new features to MySQL databases without modifying the core code, raised $35 million across seed and Series A rounds co-led by FirstMark, GV, and Spark Capital, with Homebrew also investing. More here.

Cambiotics, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that offers probiotic solutions aimed at reducing a class of persistent industrial chemicals known as PFAS in the human body, raised a $4.8 million seed round led by Collaborative Fund, with EIFO and True also participating. More here. Fitt Insider has more here.

Modveon, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that provides a verified operating system for governments and citizens to manage digital identity and transactions, raised a $10 million round. Investors included Coinbase Ventures, Firebolt Ventures, Humla Ventures, and Strategic Cyber Ventures. More here.

Portfolio Data for the AI Era 

Visible centralizes your portfolio data in one platform, no chasing metrics, no manual follow-ups. With 50% of portfolio metrics now created using AI, investors on Visible are moving from insight to action faster than ever. See why 950+ VCs trust Visible. 

Uber agreed to buy the food delivery arm of Getir, an 11-year-old Istanbul company known for rapid on-demand delivery, paying $335 million upfront for the restaurant business while separately investing $100 million for a 15% stake in Getir’s grocery, retail, and water delivery unit. Getir had previously been valued as high as $12 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Beast Industries, the media company founded by YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, agreed to acquire Step, an eight-year-old Palo Alto fintech app that offers teen-focused banking, credit-building, and investing tools for Gen Z users. Step previously raised roughly $500 million and claims more than seven million users. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk said SpaceX is shifting its long-term vision back toward building a self-sustaining city on the Moon rather than Mars as the company refines its narrative ahead of a closely watched IPO expected as soon as this summer. Yahoo Finance has more here.

Once Upon a Farm, the 11-year-old Berkeley company backed by actress Jennifer Garner that makes refrigerated baby and kids food focused on organic, minimally processed ingredients, raised $198 million in its IPO at a $724 million valuation. Shares jumped nearly 40% from the $18 offering price as the company looks to expand beyond baby food into older kids’ meals. Fortune has more here.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told staffers that ChatGPT is back to exceeding 10% monthly growth as the company tests a new advertising model and pushes toward closing a roughly $100 billion funding round amid rising competition. CNBC has more here.

Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey has escalated his feud against angel investor and podcaster Jason Calcanis by tweeting yesterday that Calcanis visited sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island. More here.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are buying a newly completed waterfront mansion on Miami’s Indian Creek in a deal expected to land at between $150 million and $200 million as California billionaires increasingly decamp to Florida amid talk of a California billionaire tax. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Workday said CEO Carl Eschenbach is stepping down effective immediately, with co-founder Aneel Bhusri retaking the top job as the company navigates investor anxiety around AI disruption after shares fell more than 25% year to date. TechCrunch has more here.

The Wall Street Journal profiles Amanda Askell, Anthropic’s resident philosopher, whose job is to study Claude’s reasoning and guide its behavior by writing and refining extensive prompt frameworks intended to instill moral judgment and emotional intelligence as the AI scales to millions of users. More here.

UC Berkeley researchers followed generative AI adoption at a 200-person tech company and found that AI didn’t reduce workloads — instead it pushed employees to work faster, take on more tasks, and extend their hours, creating hidden risks of burnout and declining decision quality. TechCrunch has more here.

Super Bowl ads this year leaned hard into AI, with brands like Svedka, Anthropic, Meta, Amazon, and Google using the technology both as a production tool and a punchline. TechCrunch has more here.

Politico reports that Finnish smart-ring maker Oura has paired rapid growth with a sharp increase in lobbying to shape FDA rules and defend its patents, helping turn its wearables into a common sight on the fingers of Pentagon officials, lawmakers, and Trump administration allies. More here.

For the first time ever, next year’s Super Bowl will fall on Valentine’s Day, forcing couples to choose between romance and football.

Italian sports journalists said they will strike after a RaiSport commentator’s error-filled broadcast of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony — including misidentifying Mariah Carey and mistaking the IOC president for Italy’s president’s daughter — embarrassed the network during its home Games.

Ferrari unveiled the interior of its first all-electric car, the Luce, showing a cockpit designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s LoveFrom collective that favors physical controls, machined aluminum, and layered displays over the touchscreen-heavy layouts common in many EVs. More here and here.

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

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