EU regulators have found Meta and TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act, accusing them of blocking researcher access to data and using manipulative design tactics that hinder users from reporting illegal content. TechCrunch has more here.

From sourcing and diligence to portfolio management and fundraising, leading private capital firms rely on Affinity to identify the right opportunities, make critical connections, and drive better outcomes. With Affinity AI, deal teams can quickly add, sort, and find critical people and deal notes, ask questions about their network, and integrate network and deal data into existing tools. Affinity is the Relationship Intelligence Platform purpose-built to address unique challenges, workflows, and deal processes in private capital. See how top firms use Affinity AI. 

By Rebecca Bellan

The Enhanced Games, a new sporting competition explicitly designed to allow performance-enhancing drugs, looks like a publicity stunt for the techno-macho era: Olympic athletes on steroids competing for million-dollar bounties in Las Vegas. But co-founder Aron D’Souza has a 90% gross margin telehealth business in mind, and a pitch to governments struggling with aging populations. 

Launching in May 2026 with Peter Thiel’s backing, the Games promise $1 million bounties for breaking world records. Former Olympic athletes like sprinter Fred Kerley and swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev have already signed up to compete. The goal isn’t just to smash world records while fans cheer. It’s to build a marketing engine for a longevity industry that D’Souza believes will be worth trillions. 

“We use sports marketing to sell a human enhancement product,” D’Souza said on a recent episode of Equity. “It’s a telehealth service like Hims or Roman, except we [will] have evidence that the best and fastest athletes in the world use our protocols.” 

The business model is borrowed from Red Bull – extreme sports as advertisement for the product – but the product isn’t an energy drink. It’s testosterone, growth hormone, or whatever else can keep humans competitive with machines and productive into their 70s and beyond. 

While the Games are seen as controversial, D’Souza is betting the ick factor fades once people see athletes in their 30s and 40s smash world records. He and billionaire co-founder Christian Angermayer have raised “double-digit millions” on this theory and poached executives from the U.S. Olympic Committee, Red Bull, and FIFA to build what D’Souza calls a mission to “upgrade all of humanity.” 

“I believe that when Fred [Kerley] breaks [Usain Bolt’s] 100-meter world record in Vegas next year, it will be a watershed moment to show that enhanced humans are better than ordinary humans,” he said.  

Put another way: if Sputnik launched the space age and ChatGPT launched the AI boom, D’Souza thinks a juiced sprint could launch the human enhancement era – and unlock the same flood of investment.  

Darwin AI, a one-year-old New York startup that helps government agencies manage AI compliance and governance, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Insight Partners, with UpWest and Resolute Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $20 million. More here.

GammaTime, a Los Angeles startup that produces short-form vertical video dramas for mobile viewers, raised a $14 million seed round co-led by vgames and Pitango, with Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Traverse Ventures also participating. More here.

Mondra, a five-year-old London startup that helps food producers and retailers track emissions and manage climate risks across their supply chains, raised a $13.3 million Series A round co-led by AlbionVC and Planet A Ventures, with Swisscom, PeakBridge, Ponderosa Ventures, and Green Circle Foodtech Ventures also taking part. EU-Startups has more here.

Valthos, a one-year-old New York startup that builds biosecurity software to detect emerging biological threats and update countermeasures, raised a $30 million round. Investors included OpenAI, Founders Fund, and Lux Capital. Bloomberg has more here.

Every Health, a three-year-old Berlin startup that provides virtual healthcare services for LGBTQ+ patients and others seeking confidential sexual health care, raised a $1.3 million seed round led by Czech Founders VC, with Atlantic Labs, Nation 1 VC, Ultra Ventures, ZAS Ventures, and Taimi also investing. Startup Rise EU has more here.

Rightcharge, a six-year-old London startup that automates home EV charging reimbursements for corporate fleets, raised a $2.1 million seed round. Soulmates Ventures was the deal lead, with Blackwood Ventures, Unruly Capital, and Purple Ventures also pitching in. EU-Startups has more here.

VitVio, a four-year-old Boston startup that uses AI to track surgical activity and automate coordination tasks in hospital operating rooms, raised an $8 million seed round led by Bek Ventures, with LDV Capital, Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company, Balnord, and Thornapple River Capital also contributing. The company has raised a total of $10 million. More here.

Raise the bar on fundraising. Successful fundraising begins with the right equity strategy. Fidelity’s latest guide will help you learn how to streamline your equity management and avoid common pitfalls. Learn key equity concepts like ownership and dilution and how to optimize your cap table and data room to connect with investors more effectively. Download the guide.

The Wall Street Journal provides a remarkable behind-the-scenes account detailing how Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, and Marc Benioff helped San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie persuade President Trump to drop plans to deploy federal forces to the city. More here.

Sam Altman has recruited Caltech bioengineer Mikhail Shapiro to join Merge Labs, his forthcoming brain-computer interface startup that plans to use ultrasound and gene therapy for noninvasive neural communication. The Verge has more here.

JPMorgan is trying to end its obligation to cover Charlie Javice’s legal bills, arguing her $115 million in fees for defending the $175 million Frank fraud case are “patently excessive and egregious.” Business Insider has more here.

X’s global head of advertising, John Nitti, once rumored to be a potential successor to Linda Yaccarino, has left the company after just 10 months, the latest in a string of senior departures. The Financial Times has more here.

Tether expects to rack up $15 billion in profit this year and is in talks to sell roughly 3% of the company for up to $20 billion to investors including SoftBank and Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management, a deal that would value the stablecoin giant at about $500 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

A Superior Court judge in Washington, DC, ruled that Meta’s lawyers advised employees to alter or block internal research on teen mental health risks to limit legal exposure, a decision that could bolster the massive teen-addiction litigation in California. Bloomberg Law has more here.

Automattic filed counterclaims against hosting company WP Engine today alleging that after Silver Lake invested $250 million in the startup, it pushed WP Engine to mislead users about its ties to WordPress in order to boost WP Engine’s valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

A fedora-wearing mystery man in Louvre heist photos has had the internet debating: worst detective ever or just extremely French?

Parents are entering their broke stan era, pulling all-nighters and fighting sold-out drops so that their kids can serve main character energy this Halloween.

Nike is debuting its Therma-FIT Air Milano jacket at the 2026 Winter Olympics, a first-of-its-kind puffer that can be inflated or deflated in seconds to adjust warmth using embedded air chambers.

Admitting to The New York Times that “I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat,” Francis Ford Coppola is selling his one-of-a-kind F.P. Journe wristwatch, which uses an automaton hand that opens and closes to tell time.

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

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