Top News

Stripe is spinning up a new blockchain outfit called Tempo that will be built for high-volume stablecoin payments like remittances and business transactions, with Paradigm’s Matt Huang at the helm and an A-list of partners from OpenAI to Visa already lined up to test it. TechCrunch has more here.

Anthropic will no longer sell its technology to companies majority owned by Chinese entities or other U.S. adversaries. The Financial Times has more here.

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OpenAI Announces AI-Powered Hiring Platform to Take On LinkedIn

By Maxwell Zeff

OpenAI says it’s developing an AI-powered hiring platform to connect businesses and employees, a service that would put the outfit in close competition with LinkedIn. The product is called the OpenAI Jobs Platform, and the company expects to launch the service by mid-2026, an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch.

OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo announced the new endeavor in a blog post Thursday, saying the company will “use AI to help find the perfect matches between what companies need and what workers can offer.” Simo said the service would offer a dedicated track for small businesses and local governments to access top AI talent.

OpenAI is interested in expanding into several new markets beyond its core consumer offering, ChatGPT. At a recent dinner with reporters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that Simo would oversee several applications beyond the chatbot. This will apparently include the OpenAI Jobs Platform and potentially other offerings OpenAI is reportedly working on, such as a browser and a social media app.

Notably, OpenAI’s hiring platform could put the company in direct competition with LinkedIn, which was co-founded by Reid Hoffman, one of OpenAI’s earliest investors. LinkedIn is also owned by Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest financial backer.

In the last year, LinkedIn has worked to infuse its platform with AI features to help match job candidates with businesses.

Massive Fundings

Augment, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to automate routine logistics tasks for shippers, carriers, and brokers, raised an $85 million Series A round led by Redpoint, with 8VC and Autotech Ventures also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

BETA Technologies, an eight-year-old startup based in South Burlington, VT, that develops electric aircraft and hybrid propulsion systems for regional transport, raised a $300 million round from GE Aerospace. ePlane AI has more here.

Enveda, a seven-year-old Boulder startup that uses AI to discover and develop small-molecule drugs from natural compounds, raised a $150 million Series D round led by Premji Invest, with Baillie Gifford, Kinnevik, Lingotto Investment Management, Peakline Partners, FPV, Socium Ventures, Dimension, Level Ventures, Henry Kravis, IA Ventures, and Lux Capital also piling on. The company has raised a total of $517 million. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Lead Bank, a 97-year-old (!) company based in Kansas City, MO, that provides banking services to fintech and crypto firms, raised a $70 million round at a $1.47 billion valuation. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Iconiq Capital, and Greycroft as well as prior backers Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and Zeev Ventures. Bloomberg has more here.

Quantinuum, a four-year-old startup based in Broomfield, CO, that develops quantum computing hardware and software and builds full-stack systems for scientific, commercial, and industrial use, raised a $600 million round at a $10 billion pre-money valuation, double the valuation of its previous January 2024 round. Investors included Quanta Computer, NVentures, QED Investors, MESH, and Korea Investment Partners as well as previous investors JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui, Amgen, Cambridge Quantum Holdings, Serendipity Capital, and Honeywell. More here.

ViCentra, a 12-year-old Dutch company that makes a small wearable insulin patch pump that delivers insulin for people with diabetes and works with glucose monitors to automate dosing, raised a $85 million Series D round co-led by Innovation Industries, Partners in Equity, and Invest-NL, with EQT Life Sciences and Health Innovations also investing. More here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Dispatch, a three-year-old Miami startup that helps wealth management firms sync and manage client data across different software systems so advisors can avoid manual errors and streamline their workflows, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with additional participation from New York Life Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, and Perceptive Ventures as well as previous investors F-Prime, Flyover Capital, and Fika Ventures. The company has raised a total of $30 million. More here.

Hemi Labs, a three-year-old startup that is developing a system that lets developers run Ethereum-style smart contracts while anchoring transactions to Bitcoin’s security model, raised a $15 million round co-led by YZi Labs, Republic Digital, and HyperChain Capital, with participation from Breyer Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Crypto.com, DNA Fund, Selini Capital, Protein Capital, Quantstamp, and Web3.com. The Block has more here.

Ketryx, a four-year-old Boston-based startup that uses AI to automate compliance and documentation for medical device makers, raised a $39 million Series B round led by Transformation Capital and joined by previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, MIT’s E14 Fund, Ubiquity Ventures, and 53 Stations. The company has raised a total of $55+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

ModernFi, a four-year-old New York startup that enables banks and credit unions to manage deposits, access funding through deposit networks, and improve balance sheet stability, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Canapi Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz, Curql, Remarkable Ventures, and Intercontinental Exchange also taking part. More here.

Orbital Paradigm, a two-year-old Madrid startup that is building reentry capsules to enable repeat access to and from orbit for research and manufacturing, raised €1.5 million in seed funding with investors including Id4, Demium, Pinama, Evercurious, and Akka. TechCrunch has more here.

Recall.ai, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an API that lets developers capture and use recordings, transcripts, and metadata from meetings, calls, and in-person conversations, raised a $38 million Series B round at a $250 million valuation. The lead investor was Bessemer Venture Partners, with HubSpot Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Ridge Ventures, Y Combinator, and RTP Ventures also contributing. More here.

Reggora, a 10-year-old Boston company that provides software to streamline and speed up residential real estate appraisals for mortgage lenders, raised an $18 million round led by Centana Growth Partners. Finextra has more here.

Sola Security, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that enables cybersecurity teams to use AI to build their own custom protection tools and agents for tasks like identity management, cloud security, and compliance, raised a $35 million Series A round led by previous investor S32, with M12 and New Era Capital Partners as well as prior backers Mike Moritz, S Capital, and Glilot Capital Partners also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $65 million. CTech has more here.

Vouched, a six-year-old Seattle startup that develops digital identity verification technology to confirm the identity of both human users and AI agents across sectors such as healthcare, finance, and ecommerce, raised a $17 million Series A round. Spring Rock Ventures was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $22 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Xampla, an eight-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that makes plant-based materials to replace single-use plastics in packaging and films, raised a $14 million Series A round co-led by Emerald Technology Ventures, BGF, and Matterwave Ventures, with additional participation from previous investors Amadeus Capital Partners and Horizons Ventures. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Alpic, a Paris and San Francisco startup founded this year that is developing a cloud platform that lets developers quickly deploy and manage Model Context Protocol servers so AI agents can securely interact with external services, raised a $6 million pre-seed round. Partech was the deal lead. More here.

ArcaScience, a seven-year-old Paris startup that develops AI tools that help pharmaceutical companies assess the safety and effectiveness of new drugs and provide data for use in regulatory reviews, raised a $7 million seed round led by The Moon Venture and including Pléiade Venture, Plug&Play Ventures, Bpifrance, and AKKA Technologies. EU-Startups has more here.

Flax Health, a two-year-old Salt Lake City startup that automates administrative workflows for skilled nursing facilities, raised a $3.5 million pre-seed round co-led by Sorenson Capital and Pear VC. More here.

MEGA, a two-year-old Copenhagen startup that uses AI voice agents to automate the order-to-cash process by handling customer calls that require compliance steps like identity checks and call disclosures, raised a $2 million round. Spintop Ventures led the financing. EU-Startups has more here.

NewDays, a one-year-old Seattle startup that provides AI-powered cognitive treatment programs for people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, raised a $7 million seed round co-led by General Catalyst and Madrona. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Orbital Paradigm, a two-year-old Madrid startup that is building reentry capsules to enable repeat access to and from orbit for research and manufacturing, raised a $1.7 million seed round from Id4, Demium, Pinama, Evercurious, and Akka. TechCrunch has more here.

Supersonik, a Barcelona and San Francisco startup founded this year that is developing an AI agent that gives live, multilingual software demos tailored to prospective buyers, raised a $5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Forbes has more here.

Tobe Energy, a one-year-old Oklahoma City startup that develops high-efficiency green hydrogen electrolyzers, raised a $1.8 million seed round led by Cortado Ventures and including 46 VC, Techstars, and Wavefunction VC. More here.

Welcome Tech, a 16-year-old Los Angeles company that connects immigrant workers with jobs, healthcare, and financial services while helping employers recruit and retain staff, raised a $7.5 million round. TTV Capital, Mubadala Capital, Westbound Equity Partners, CityRock Ventures Partners, Next Legacy Partners, and BTN Ventures invested in the deal. More here.

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New Funds

Former TED chief Chris Anderson is pulling together a $300 million fund called All Aboard Coalition to back later-stage climate tech startups. TechCrunch has more here.

Exits

The collaboration and project management software giant Atlassian is buying The Browser Co., a six-year-old New York startup behind the Arc and Dia browsers, for $610 million in cash. The company’s investors include Atlassian Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Figma co-founder Dylan Field, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. CNBC has more here.

Going Public

Ticketing company StubHub and the cybersecurity firm Netskope are both gearing up to launch IPO roadshows next week that could raise about $1 billion each. Bloomberg has more here.

People

An Indiana bankruptcy lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg is suing Meta after its systems repeatedly flagged his Facebook page as impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, cutting into the former’s attempts to market himself on the platform. “It’s not funny,” the Indiana Zuckerberg told Indianapolis’ 13WTHR. “Not when they take my money. This really pissed me off.” TechCrunch has more here.

Speaking of Mark Zuckerberg, in his book about his time at Meta, former president of global affairs Nick Clegg describes how Zuckerberg encouraged his top execs to join him in MMA training, leading Clegg deputy Joel Kaplan to mount Clegg in a move that Clegg termed “too close for comfort.” TechCrunch has more here.

President Trump is hosting a Rose Garden dinner tonight for tech royalty including Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, and Bill Gates, while Elon Musk has been pointedly left off the list. Fast Company has more here.

Post-Its

Essential Reads

Warner Bros. Discovery has joined Disney and Universal in suing Midjourney, accusing the AI image generator of profiting off unlicensed use of its films and characters in what could become a precedent-setting copyright fight for Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter has more here.

The country of Switzerland just rolled out Apertus, an open-source national AI model trained only on public data, positioning it as a regulation-friendly alternative to Big Tech systems and a potential new standard for European banks and researchers. Engadget has more here.

North Korean hackers are flooding the crypto world with fake recruiter pitches and sham interviews to drain digital wallets, adding a new wrinkle to Pyongyang’s financial skulduggery and forcing job seekers to second-guess every LinkedIn message. Reuters has more here.

Detours

How to prevent “tech neck.”

Living like an 80-year-old in an MIT-designed simulation suit.

Fat Bear Week returns Sept. 23–30 with a million-plus fans expected to vote on which Katmai brown bear packed on the most pounds for hibernation, turning a quirky conservation campaign into one of the internet’s favorite fall tournaments.

Brain Rot

Retail Therapy

Less than two months after scooping up a Miami Beach estate for $105 million, developer Todd Michael Glaser has put it back on the market for $169 million, a record ask on the city’s ultra-exclusive North Bay Road. The nine-bedroom, 15-bath manse sits on 2.3 acres and comes complete with a billiards room, screening room, conservatory, tennis court, and pool.

Arc’teryx’s new $250 trail shoes would look perfectly at home on Mars.

Corrections

On Tuesday, we reported that Flex had raised $15 million in funding but misstated the company’s age and location. Flex is two years old and based in San Francisco. We regret the error.

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