Norway’s $1.9 trillion sovereign-wealth fund, which owns about 1.2% of Tesla and is one of its largest shareholders, voted against Elon Musk’s proposed $1 trillion compensation package, citing dilution and key-person risk as investors await Thursday’s vote. TechCrunch has more here.

Perplexity accused Amazon of bullying for sending the AI search a cease-and-desist-style letter demanding it stop letting users make Amazon purchases through its AI browser. TechCrunch has more here.

According to a report in The Information, Anthropic is projecting as much as $70 billion in revenue and $17 billion in cash flow by 2028, growth that appears to be driven by the LLM’s booming enterprise business. TechCrunch has more here.

Observations from ingesting 20,000+ private company quarterly updates:  

- Net Dollar Retention showed up under 23 different names  
- ARR restatements are a quarterly ritual. Always revised down, never explained 
- Headline metrics have at least 2 different reported values every quarter, close but not equal 

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By Marina Temkin

Just over three years after taking the reins as the top leader of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha is stepping down as senior steward of the storied VC firm. The firm announced Tuesday that partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady will succeed him as co-stewards.

Lin joined the storied firm in 2010, where he has led major investments into category-defining companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Kalshi. Meanwhile, Pat Grady has been a partner for nearly 19 years and has led Sequoia’s growth-stage investing since 2015, backing iconic companies such as ServiceNow, OpenAI, and the legal AI platform Harvey.

Since taking over leadership of Sequoia’s U.S. and European operations in 2017, Botha has overseen the distribution of $50 billion to the firm’s limited partners. He assumed the highest leadership role at the firm in mid-2022 and immediately oversaw a period of upheaval. He took the helm just as the downturn decimated the public markets, severely slashing the valuations of many companies across Sequoia’s portfolio. The firm also wrote off $200 million when its investment in cryptocurrency exchange FTX blew up — a small loss in the bigger scheme of things for Sequoia but a financial hit all the same. Further, in 2023, amid growing political tensions between the U.S. and China and regulatory pressures on both sides, Sequoia spun off its India and China operations into separate independent firms. 

This year, Sequoia became embroiled in a controversy over partner Shaun Maguire’s comments attacking New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, calling the politician an “Islamist” who “comes from a culture that lies about everything.” Though Maguire later walked back some of those remarks, they led to a sizable online backlash and debate. In August, Sequoia’s chief operating officer, Sumaiya Balbale, a practicing Muslim, quit over the firm’s decision not to discipline Maguire following his remarks, as first reported by the Financial Times and was discussed last week during an onstage sit-down with Botha during TechCrunch Disrupt.

Azalea Therapeutics, a two-year-old Berkeley startup that engineers therapeutic cells directly inside patients, raised a $65 million Series A round led by Third Rock Ventures, with additional participation from RA Capital Management, Yosemite, and Sozo Ventures. The company has raised a total of $82 million. More here.

Beacon Software, a two-year-old Toronto startup that acquires smaller software businesses and uses AI to transform them, raised a $250 million Series B round at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and D1 Capital. The company has raised a total of $335 million. More here.

Mind Robotics, a startup that appears to be focused on developing industrial AI and robotics to help run manufacturing plants more efficiently, raised a $115 million seed round. Eclipse was the deal lead. TechCrunch has more here.

Daylight, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that provides an autonomous managed detection and response cybersecurity platform, raised a $33 million Series A round led by Craft Ventures, with Bain Capital Ventures and Maple VC also participating. The company has raised a total of $40 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Hullbot, an 11-year-old Sydney company that makes autonomous underwater robots that scrub ship hulls, raised a $10.4 million Series A round led by Regeneration.VC, with Katapult Ocean, Climate Tech Partners, Folklore Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Rypples, NewSouth Innovations, Artesian, and Impact Ventures/Ocean Impact Collective also piling on. Forbes Australia has more here.

Source.ag, a five-year-old Amsterdam startup that develops AI software for controlled-environment agriculture, raised a $17.4 million Series B round. Astanor was the deal lead, with Enza Zaden and Harvest House also taking part. The company has raised a total of $59.7 million. EU-Startups has more here.

GitLaw, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps businesses draft, review, and manage legal contracts with AI, raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by Jackson Square Ventures. StartupHub.ai has more here.

Helex, a five-year-old New York startup that develops targeted non-viral gene therapies for kidney diseases, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by pi Ventures, with Bluehill Capital and SOSV also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $6+ million. Pharmaceutical Technology has more here.

Liquid, am 11-year-old New York company that aggregates decentralized perpetual-futures exchanges into one noncustodial app, raised a $7.6 million seed round led by Paradigm, with General Catalyst also contributing. The Block has more here.

Ruli.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides a legal intelligence platform for in-house teams, raised a $6 million seed round. The deal was led by Album VC, with SignalFire, PJC, Foothill Ventures, Mana, and Genius Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $8 million. More here.

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United Founders, a new Europe-based pre-seed and seed fund backed by more than 100 founders and operators, launched to write up to €1 million checks into deeptech, dual-use, and medtech startups. Tech.eu has more here.

Beta Technologies, an eight-year-old Vermont startup that builds electric aircraft, soared to a $7.4 billion valuation and raised $1 billion in its NYSE debut today. TechCrunch has more here.

As Tesla seeks shareholder approval for Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package, he is spending significant time on xAI efforts like Grok and employee-trained avatars rather than Tesla’s core EV business. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp ranted against short sellers today, calling out Michael Burry after a filing revealed The Big Short investor had bets against Karp’s company, as well as Nvidia, at the end of the last quarter. “The two companies he’s shorting are the ones making all the money, which is super weird,” Karp told CNBC. “The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats--- crazy."

The U.S. government estimates roughly $41 billion is being spent annually on data-center buildouts, and just 1% of U.S. counties hold 72% of server-farm capacity, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Tesla is leaning in on a vague “Master Plan 4” to help win shareholder approval for a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk, but as TechCrunch’s Sean O’Kane points out, the details about said plan “remain woefully absent.” More here.

Shopify says traffic from AI shopping tools to its merchants is up sevenfold since January, and AI-driven purchases are up elevenfold, underscoring how agentic commerce is starting to reshape online retail behavior. TechCrunch has more here.

A wave of ideologically tailored chatbots like Arya, Grok, and Truth Search is emerging as right-wing creators build systems that echo conservative media narratives. The New York Times has more here.

Saxophones are showing up at more weddings as couples look to add a live-music flourish to DJ sets, but the trend is definitely not for everyone. The New York Times has more here.

Steven Colbert on the end of “The Late Show.” In GQ.

Sotheby's is auctioning off artist Maurizio Cattelan’s sculpture, a fully functioning, solid-gold toilet, with an opening bid of $10 million.

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