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SpaceX agreed to buy Anysphere – the three-year-old San Francisco company behind AI coding tool Cursor – for $60 billion in stock, a deal meant to bolster SpaceX’s AI ambitions by pairing Cursor’s developer base and coding-agent business with Musk’s Colossus supercomputer. TechCrunch has more here.
The Financial Times says that audited figures first shared by PR-exec-turned-pundit Ed Zitron show OpenAI spent $34 billion in 2025, including about $19 billion on R&D and nearly $6 billion on sales and marketing, while revenue reached about $13 billion and the net loss attributable to the company jumped from $5 billion to around $39 billion. More here.
The Trump administration is refusing to give G7 allies access to Anthropic’s most advanced Fable and Mythos models after imposing export controls over national security concerns, with a White House official calling any carve-out “completely illogical” even as officials negotiate with Anthropic over how to resolve the ban. The New York Post has more here.
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Anthropic’s Latest Feud With the Trump Admin May Actually Help It, Sales Data Suggests

Image Credits: Benjamin Girette / Bloomberg / Getty Images
By Julie Bort
Anthropic is having a month.
The AI lab finished May by surpassing OpenAI in market share of business spending for the first time, Ramp just revealed. It raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation (also besting OpenAI) at the end of May, then waltzed into June by filing confidential paperwork for an IPO, reportedly on the strength of its first-ever profitable quarter.
Then on Friday, the Trump administration renewed its war on the model maker by sending a letter demanding it ban non-Americans, including Anthropic’s employees, from accessing its state-of-the-art models: the limited-release Mythos 5 and the more guarded version of Mythos released to the public three days earlier, called Fable 5.
This essentially forced Anthropic to pull its latest all-powerful model from the market altogether.
Although the White House invoked an obscure export control directive when ordering the ban, the exact cause remains unclear. The chatter was that hackers easily bypassed Fable 5’s guardrails, which were intended to prevent access to Mythos’ capabilities. That model is so good at finding security flaws in software code that Anthropic itself marketed it as dangerous and restricted its public release.
This new drama comes after Anthropic famously refused to allow the government to use its models for mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons. As a result, in March, the Trump administration declared the company a supply-chain risk.
That didn’t deter Anthropic’s sales to businesses. Quite the opposite, Ramp’s data shows. Ironically, this latest feud with the Trump administration, which also appears to validate the hubbub over Mythos’ mythological power, may help rather than hurt Anthropic, according to Ramp’s lead economist, Ara Kharazian. Kharazian is the person who compiled the business-spending AI data.
Massive Fundings
Atom Computing, an eight-year-old Berkeley startup that develops neutral-atom quantum computers, raised a $100 million Series C round led by Third Point Ventures, with Cisco Investments as well as previous investor DCVC also participating. The company also signed a letter of intent for $100 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce. More here.
Bland, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops proprietary voice AI models for handling long enterprise phone calls, raised a $50 million Series C round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with HubSpot Ventures, Archerman, and Tribeca as well as previous investors Emergence Capital, Upfront Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Max Levchin, Piotr Dąbkowski, and Jeff Lawson also investing. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. Fortune has more here.
DeepSeek, a three-year-old Chinese startup that develops open-source AI models and agentic AI tools, raised more than $7.4 billion in its first outside funding round at a $50+ billion post-money valuation. Investors included founder Liang Wenfeng, Tencent, Contemporary Amperex Technology, JD.com, NetEase, IDG Capital, Monolith Management, and China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund. The Wall Street Journal has more here.
Ent Security, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that develops software to stop risky actions by employees and AI agents before they are completed, raised a $100 million seed round led by Decibel Partners, with Sequoia Capital, Crosspoint Capital Partners, Craft Ventures, Shield Capital, Felicis, and In-Q-Tel also taking stakes. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Flutterwave, a 10-year-old Lagos and San Francisco company that provides payments infrastructure for businesses operating across Africa, raised an undisclosed Series E round at a $3.2 billion post-money valuation. Ripple was one of the investors. The company has raised a total of $500+ million. TechCrunch has more here.
GPS Renewables, a 14-year-old Bengaluru company that develops, builds, and operates compressed biogas and biofuel plants that convert agricultural and organic waste into renewable energy for oil and gas partners, raised a $66.3 million Series C round led by PixelSky Capital, with Spectrum Impact Family Office also contributing. Pulse 2.0 has more here.
Hydra Host, a five-year-old Miami startup that connects data centers and GPU owners with enterprises and developers seeking compute while providing tools to provision, orchestrate, and monetize unused AI server capacity, raised a $100 million Series A round at a valuation approaching $800 million valuation. The deal was led by Kindred Ventures, with Nvidia, Ark Invest, SPLY Capital, Era Funds, Comcast Ventures, Magnetar, Peak6, Founders Fund, 10x Founders, Sterling Road, and Flume Ventures also taking part. Refresh Miami has more here.
Interchecks, a 10-year-old Brooklyn company that provides payments infrastructure that enables businesses to move funds, fund accounts using debit credentials, and manage payouts and deposits across financial services and gaming, raised a $50 million Series C round. Investors included Bettor Capital, Commerce Ventures, Decades Holdings, and Thayer Street Partners. More here.
Respond.io, a nine-year-old Kuala Lumpur startup that develops customer conversation software for businesses to manage sales and support across messaging apps, voice calls, and web chat, raised a $62.5 million Series B round led by Camber Partners, with Endeavor Catalyst also participating. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Aston Power, a four-year-old startup based in Raleigh, NC, that coordinates power generation, transmission, firming, and delivery infrastructure to supply reliable electricity for data centers and large industrial projects, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by TDK Ventures and Building Ventures, with JLL Spark Global Ventures also engaging. Pulse 2.0 has more here.
Copia, a six-year-old New York startup that manages, versions, backs up, and restores programmable logic controller code to help industrial teams recover from cyberattacks and downtime across automation systems, raised a $26 million round co-led by AE Ventures and Squadra Ventures, with KAS Venture Partners as well as previous investors Construct Capital, Lux Capital, Ironspring Ventures, and Renegade Partners also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $55 million. More here.
Cortea, a two-year-old Berlin startup that deploys AI agents to review audit reports, financial statements, and filings to detect inconsistencies and compliance issues before audit sign-off for accounting firms, raised a $13.9 million seed round led by Dawn Capital, with Cherry Ventures and Mosaic Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $17.5 million. Tech Funding News has more here.
Everlab, a three-year-old Melbourne startup that combines diagnostics, clinicians, specialists, prescriptions, and wearable data into a preventative healthcare platform, raised a $46 million Series A round led by Airtree Ventures, with Plural, Left Lane Capital, b2venture, and Pat Cummins also participating. SmartCompany has more here.
Limitless Labs, a two-year-old Israeli startup that develops software to automate CNC manufacturing workflows for precision mechanical parts, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Dell Technologies Capital and Square Peg, with Grove Ventures, Meron Capital, and Kinetica also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $27.3 million. CTech has more here.
Luni, a nine-year-old startup based in Bordeaux, France, that develops and publishes mobile applications including a micro-drama streaming app and consumer utility apps for global audiences, raised $14 million in user acquisition financing. PvX Partners supplied the capital. Pulse 2.0 has more here.
Nox Metals, a one-year-old startup based in Detroit, MI, that produces and supplies industrial metals to U.S. manufacturers, shipping bulk materials from domestic facilities to factories across defense, automotive, and aerospace sectors, raised an $11.5 million seed round led by Hyperion and including Palmer Luckey, Y Combinator, Jared Friedman, RoboStrategy, Operator Collective, DTX, and Alumni Ventures. More here.
Powerus, a seven-year-old startup based in West Palm Beach, FL, that builds autonomous air, maritime, and counter-drone systems to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-risk environments, raised a $30 million round. Unusual Machines provided the funding. Stock Titan has more here.
Rainbow Crops, a two-year-old startup based in Ghent, Belgium, that uses AI and gene editing to create corn, sorghum, rice, and other crops with traits such as higher yield, drought tolerance, and heat resilience, raised an $11.3 million seed round led by LIFTT EuroInvest, with Agri Investment Fund, PINC, VIB, Corteva Catalyst, and Maia Ventures also opting in. More here.
Rocapine, a two-year-old Paris startup that builds and tests large volumes of consumer wellness apps, using gaming-style rapid experimentation and marketing to identify, launch, and scale high-performing mobile apps, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Educapital, with Ring Capital, Centre Court Capital, Athletico Ventures, and Better Angle as well as previous investor Daphni also chiming in. Tech Funding News has more here.
Undo, a 14-year-old company based in Cambridge, UK, that records and replays full execution histories of running programs to help engineering teams and AI agents diagnose and fix complex software bugs, raised a $37 million round led by Elsewhere Partners. UKTN has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Cordon Technologies, a three-year-old London startup that develops portable crop nutrient sensing devices that analyze leaf light reflectance to estimate nutrient levels and help farmers optimize fertilizer application, raised a $1.2 million round. British Design Fund led the transaction. Dealroom has more here.
El Dorado, a four-year-old startup based in Bogotá, Colombia, that provides a mobile app for users in Latin America to hold, send, and receive dollar-denominated stablecoins for payments and remittances, raised a $9 million Series A round led by Paradigm, with Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures also participating. The Defiant has more here.
Lightbringer, a three-year-old startup based in Malmö, Sweden, that helps deep tech startups file and manage patents through an AI platform that drafts applications, tracks portfolios, analyzes competitors, and works with in-house patent attorneys, raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by 6 Degrees Capital and Newion, with previous investors Luminar Ventures and Alliance VC also anteing up. Tech Funding News has more here.
Magnitude, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to monitor vendor, product, and supply-chain risks, helping companies identify exposed third parties, prioritize remediation, and govern external AI agents, raised a $10 million seed round. Ballistic Ventures was the deal lead. SecurityWeek has more here.
Picketa Systems, a five-year-old startup based in Fredericton, Canada, that develops portable leaf-testing devices and analytics that measure crop nutrient levels and help agronomists and farmers optimize fertilizer application decisions, raised a $1.5 million seed round led by Tall Grass Ventures, with BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, and Skull Diamond & Heart Capital as well as previous investors NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures also stepping up. iGrow News has more here.
Probably, a startup that develops tools to reduce AI hallucinations by checking model outputs against deterministic validation systems, raised a $9 million seed round from Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch has more here.
Sloneek, a seven-year-old Prague startup that manages employee lifecycle processes including onboarding, attendance, document management, performance tracking, and offboarding while automating HR tasks through conversational interfaces, raised a $6 million round co-led by Orbit Capital, with Venture to Future Fund also investing. Vestbee has more here.
Vaja, a three-year-old Swedish startup that develops and supplies vertical single-axis solar tracking systems that increase energy output and revenue for solar installations in higher-latitude regions, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by The Footprint Firm, with Node.vc also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $7 million. More here.
Waniwani, a San Francisco startup founded this year that enables financial services companies to sell quote-based products through AI chat interfaces and manages compliance, pricing, and performance across distribution funnels, raised an $8 million seed round led by Seedcamp, with Redstone, Plug & Play, Zone II Ventures, OPRTRs Club, and Kima Ventures as well as previous investor Hexa also piling on. FinTech Global has more here.
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Exits
Databricks has agreed to acquire Panther Labs, an eight-year-old San Francisco cybersecurity startup whose platform gathers security data in one place so AI agents can detect and respond to threats. Terms were not disclosed. Reuters has more here.
Hightouch, a seven-year-old San Francisco ad tech startup recently valued at $2.75 billion, has offered Publicis $800 million to $1.2 billion in cash and stock for LiveRamp’s identity and data onboarding assets, including RampID and LiveRamp Connect. The unsolicited bid comes just weeks after Publicis agreed to buy LiveRamp for $2.2 billion amid industry concerns that Publicis would control infrastructure used by rival agencies, brands, and ad tech providers. Axios has more here.
Going Public
Xiaohongshu — the Chinese lifestyle and video-sharing app known internationally as Rednote, which briefly captured a wave of American TikTok refugees last year — is eyeing a Hong Kong IPO as early as this year at a valuation of more than $70 billion, even as some investors fret that going public could draw unwanted scrutiny from Beijing, given its tight grip on China's biggest internet platforms in recent years. The WSJ has more here.
People
New York magazine digs into Sam Bankman-Fried’s life in federal prison and his increasingly desperate campaign for a pardon, from writing a prison memoir and helping fellow inmates with legal filings to recasting himself as a Trump-friendly victim of the Biden administration’s crypto crackdown. More here.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told employees that morale at the company is “probably one of the worst it’s ever been,” as layoffs, mandatory AI-training assignments, and internal AI initiatives unsettle staff even as leadership promises more transparency, career development, and cultural repair. Business Insider has more here.
Layoffs
Robinhood is cutting about 10% of its workforce, or roughly 290 employees, as CEO Vlad Tenev says the trading platform is flattening its organization and improving execution from “a position of business strength” despite weaker first-quarter results and a sharp drop in crypto trading volumes. TechCrunch has more here.
Post-Its
Data

Image Credits: Sensor Tower
ChatGPT remains the world’s most-used AI assistant with more than 1.1 billion monthly users, but its market share has slipped below 50% for the first time as Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude have gained ground. TechCrunch has more here.
Essential Reads
The Justice Department has sided with xAI in a lawsuit seeking to shut down dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines powering its Memphis data centers, arguing that cutting off the supply would threaten “national, economic, and energy security” because Grok supports mission-critical military operations. TechCrunch has more here.
Binance is set to lose permission to serve EU customers next month after Greek regulators moved to reject its MiCA license application, a setback that could force the world’s largest crypto exchange out of the bloc just as Europe’s new crypto rules take effect. Reuters has more here.
Microsoft is weighing the use of a self-hosted, fine-tuned version of China’s DeepSeek V4 as a cheaper optional model for Copilot Cowork, an extraordinary move given DeepSeek’s Chinese roots and Washington’s scrutiny of foreign AI models. The Decoder has more here.
Detours
The funniest commencement speeches of 2026.
David Hockney’s hidden depths.
Brain Rot
Retail Therapy
Snap is opening preorders for Specs, its $2,195 (!) consumer augmented-reality glasses, a standalone see-through wearable computer with dual displays, visible-light and infrared cameras, and prescription-ready removable inserts. They really went the extra mile, then about three more inches, looks like.
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