Top News

Meta just inked a six-year, $10 billion deal to run its AI workloads on Google Cloud, a rare détente between two ad rivals and a sign of how frantically Big Tech is stockpiling infrastructure to feed its AI ambitions. CNBC has more here.

Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise up to $10 billion in a round led by Iconiq Capital with backing from TPG, Lightspeed, Spark, Menlo, and sovereign funds; it’s more than double the amount that had been previously reported. Bloomberg has more here.

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OpenAI Lawyers Question Meta’s Role in Elon Musk’s $97B Takeover Bid

By Maxwell Zeff

OpenAI is asking Meta to produce evidence related to any coordinated plans with Elon Musk and xAI to acquire or invest in the ChatGPT-maker.

The request was made public in a brief filed Thursday in Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI. Lawyers representing OpenAI said they subpoenaed Meta in June for documents related to its potential involvement in Musk’s unsolicited, $97 billion bid to take over the startup in February. It’s unclear from the filing whether such documents exist. OpenAI ultimately denied Musk’s bid.

OpenAI’s lawyers say they discovered that Musk communicated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg concerning xAI’s bid to purchase the ChatGPT-maker, including “about potential financing arrangements or investments.”

Meta objected to OpenAI’s initial subpoena in July; the ChatGPT-maker’s lawyers are now seeking a court order to obtain such evidence. OpenAI is also asking the court for any of Meta’s documents and communications related to “any actual or potential restructuring or recapitalization of OpenAI” — the core issue in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone directed TechCrunch towards a section of OpenAI’s filing which states that neither Meta nor Zuckerberg signed Musk’s letter of intent to acquire the ChatGPT-maker.

Meta declined to comment further. OpenAI and legal counsel for Musk did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Massive Fundings

Nuro, a nine-year-old company based in Mountain View, CA, that develops self-driving software that automakers and mobility companies use to power ride-hailing and delivery services, raised a $97 million Series E extension round. Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, NVIDIA, and Pledge Ventures as well as previous investors Uber and Baillie Gifford invested in the deal. The company has raised a total of $2.3 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Twin, a seven-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that uses digital twins linked to health data to help people manage and reverse metabolic diseases like diabetes, raised a $53 million Series E round at a $950+ million valuation, according to Fortune. The deal lead was Maj Invest, with previous investors Iconiq and Temasek also stepping up. Fortune has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Better Meat, an eight-year-old Sacramento startup that produces a mycoprotein ingredient made through fermentation that it claims can replace or be blended with meat in food products, raised a $31 million round co-led by Future Ventures and Resilience Reserve, with Epic Ventures and Sigmas Group also engaging. Food Business News has more here.

General Fusion, a beleaguered 23-year-old company based in Richmond, Canada, that’s developing nuclear fusion reactors that generate clean energy by creating and compressing plasma, raised a $22 million round. Investors included Segra Capital, PenderFund, Chrysalix Venture Capital, Milfam, Jimco, Gaingels, Thistledown Capital, Presight Capital, and Hatch. TechCrunch has more here.

Loft Dynamics, a 10-year-old company based in Santa Monica, CA, that makes virtual reality flight simulators that airlines, helicopter operators, and training programs use to train pilots more safely and affordably, raised a $24 million Series B round led by The Friedkin Group, with Alaska Airlines, Sky Dayton, Craft Ventures, and UP.Partners also opting in. More here.

Upstage, a six-year-old South Korean startup that develops AI tools that turn unstructured documents into structured data for tasks like insurance claims processing and other paperwork-heavy workflows, raised a $45 million Series B round. Korea Development Bank, Amazon, and AMD invested in the deal. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Agenda Hero, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that turns notes, PDFs, and other documents into structured calendar events and shareable schedules that sync across digital calendars, raised a $5.6 million round led by Upfront Ventures and including Precursor Ventures and K9 Ventures. More here.

Cascala Health, a two-year-old Boston startup that is developing software to help nursing facilities and care teams manage patient transitions after hospital stays by using AI to summarize records, flag risks, and guide treatment decisions, raised an $8.6 million seed round co-led by Flare Capital Partners and Eniac Ventures, with Tau Ventures, Digital Health Venture Partners, Ziegler Linkage Fund, and Omega Healthcare Investors also piling on. The company has raised a total of $11.2 million. More here.

Definite, a one-year-old startup based in Wilmington, DE, that is building an AI-powered system that lets companies analyze their data without stitching together multiple tools, raised a $10 million seed round led by Costanoa, with Acrew Capital also pitching in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Legion, a two-year-old New York startup that is building a marketplace for companies to run ICOs in a regulated, IPO-style process, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital and including Kraken, Crypto.com, and Coinbase Ventures. Fortune has more here.

Molecular You, a 12-year-old Vancouver company whose blood tests measure hundreds of biomarkers to help people and clinics assess disease risk and guide preventive health decisions, raised a $5 million Series A round led by Voloridge Health, with Dynamic Leap also stepping up. GeekWire has more here.

Quantinuum, a four-year-old startup based in Broomfield, CO, that develops quantum computers and software used by industries like finance, automotive, and energy to model materials, improve security, and explore new applications in AI and chemistry, raised a $300 million round at a $5 billion pre-money valuation. JPMorgan Chase was the deal lead, with Mitsui & Co., Amgen, and majority shareholder Honeywell also participating. More here.

SugaROx, a four-year-old UK startup that develops crop-boosting biostimulants that help plants grow more efficiently and withstand stress, raised a $1.3 million seed round. Investors included Mosaic Co., the U.K. Innovation & Science Seed Fund, and Regenerate Ventures. EU-Startups has more here.

Wallround, a two-year-old Berlin startup that renovates residential buildings to make them more energy efficient, using software to calculate costs and carbon savings while managing the construction process for landlords, raised a $4.9 million seed round led by Revent, with additional participation from GGF and Vonovia. Tech Funding News has more here.

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Going Public

Pattern, a 12-year-old company based in Lehi, UT, that helps brands sell on marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart, is planning to file for a U.S. IPO by September that could raise about $400 million. Bloomberg has more here.

Soaring first-day pops from Figma, Circle, and other splashy IPOs are reigniting complaints that Wall Street banks are pricing too cautiously, handing investors windfalls while leaving billions in proceeds on the table for issuers. Reuters has more here.

People

Joe Gebbia, Airbnb’s co-founder, has been named the country’s first chief design officer under Trump, tasked with fixing government pain points like tax filings and Medicare enrollment by July 2026. Bloomberg has more here.

Jay Blahnik, the longtime head of Apple’s fitness division and architect of its signature “Close Your Rings” feature, is facing lawsuits and employee claims of harassment and retaliation that have raised questions about Apple’s willingness to shield a star executive despite mounting workplace complaints. The New York Times has more here.

Andreessen Horowitz has tapped former Biden White House cyber official Anne Neuberger as a senior adviser on “American Dynamism,” AI, and cyber strategy. Bloomberg has more here.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman just blasted the study of “AI welfare” as premature and dangerous, putting him at odds with rivals like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI that are leaning into the idea that future chatbots might deserve rights. TechCrunch has more here.

Essential Reads

Raya, the velvet-rope dating app with a 2.5 million–person waitlist, is quietly thriving as rivals stumble, growing revenue 50% a year and pulling in Gen Z by leaning on scarcity and cachet rather than chasing scale. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Elon Musk’s X is moving to settle a $500 million class action over unpaid severance for thousands of ex-Twitter staff, a belated concession after years of litigation that could finally bring closure to one of the messiest chapters of his 2022 takeover. TechCrunch has more here.

Detours

A Wall Street Journal writer joined friends at Citi Field to attempt the viral 9-9-9 challenge: nine beers and nine hot dogs in nine innings.

The trailer for Black Rabbit (the new Netflix series starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law) just dropped.

South Park’s growing tendency to mock Silicon Valley was on full display this week as it skewered ketamine-popping founders, a sycophantic chatbot, and Tim Cook’s Oval Office visit.

Brain Rot

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Retail Therapy

How far will you go to rehab your knee?

According to Wired, Brompton’s 50-year-old folding bike design is proving timeless, as the UK maker not only retrofits decades-old models with modern titanium parts and gearing but also doubles down on electric upgrades.

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