Former U.S. Vice President and renowned climate activist Al Gore is less worried about data centers than you might expect, even as opposition to them grows around the world. We talked with Gore and his investing partner, Lila Preston, for the newest edition of StrictlyVC Download.

The FTC has opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier AI labs and plans to issue subpoena-like demands for documents and executive testimony about potential consumer risks, just as the industry is pledging to police itself under a voluntary White House safety accord. The New York Post has more here.

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Matan Grinberg, co-founder and CEO of the AI coding startup Factory, said in a post on X on Wednesday that he fired VC Chris Degnan from his role as a board adviser. Grinberg alleges that Degnan shared confidential information with Factory’s biggest competitor, Cognition.

Two hours after Grinberg’s post, Degnan announced on both X and LinkedIn that he had joined Cognition as its chief revenue officer. He also subsequently refuted Grinberg’s allegations, saying in a separate X post that he wasn’t fired but resigned when he told Grinberg he was taking the job.

Degnan was Snowflake’s first sales hire and later spent 11 years as the data company’s chief revenue officer. For the past five months, he has been a partner with RPT Partners, a Newport Beach, California, investor in Factory. Degnan is also a go-to-market adviser to startups at the much bigger venture firm Iconiq, a role that dates back to October of last year.

Three-year-old, San Francisco-based Factory is an agentic coding startup whose AI agents can carry out programming tasks largely on their own. The company raised $200 million at a $5 billion valuation this month from Khosla Ventures, Blackstone, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and others. Its customers include Nvidia, Blackstone, Royal Bank of Canada, Palo Alto Networks, Adobe, and T-Mobile.

Grinberg said he sees Cognition, the maker of the Devin coding agent, as his biggest competitor. Cognition raised another $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation earlier this month, and counts Mercedes-Benz, NASA, Goldman Sachs, and Citi as customers.

Grinberg said on X that Degnan had earlier acknowledged having a “casual” conversation with a Cognition executive but had assured Grinberg that he had no interest in working for the competitor. According to Grinberg, Degnan said he had “made too much money” and was “too lazy to go work for Cognition,” which Grinberg said he “trusted and believed.”

On Monday, however, Degnan apparently disclosed that he had actually been in ongoing talks with Cognition.

Read more.

CScale, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup that develops optical interconnect technology linking AI accelerators across large data centers, raised a $145 million Series C round. The deal was co-led by Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and Premji Invest, with NVIDIA and Intel Capital as well as previous investors Sutter Hill Ventures and Maverick Silicon also investing. The company has raised a total of $188 million. More here.

Efficient Computer, a four-year-old Pittsburgh startup that develops energy-efficient general-purpose processors for robots, autonomous drones, and data center workloads, raised a $97+ million Series B round at a $650 million valuation. The deal was led by TQ Ventures, with additional support from Union Square Ventures, Giant Ventures, Triatomic Capital, TO Capital, TF Capital, Mana Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Overmatch, and Borderless as well as previous investor Eclipse. The company has raised a total of $173 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

ElevenLabs, a four-year-old London startup that develops AI voice-generation and voice-agent technology, completed a $300 million employee tender offer at a $22 billion valuation, double its $11 billion valuation in February. The tender was led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, with EQT and Goldman Sachs as well as previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners also taking part. Reuters has more here.

GMI Cloud, a three-year-old Taiwan-based startup that provides on-demand GPU infrastructure for training and running AI models, raised a $223 million Series B round led by ARCHIV, with Nvidia, Redwood, DSC Investment, KT, Kyobo Life, KB Investment, and Trend Micro also engaging. The company also secured a $440 million credit facility from ChinaTrust Commercial Bank. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Hertha Metals, a four-year-old startup based in Conroe, TX, that produces steel and high-purity iron for rare-earth magnets using a single continuous reactor, raised a $133.65 million Series A round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Doerr Capital, with the U.S. government, CEV, Pear Ventures, Gates Frontier, Niterra SUISO no MORI Fund, Toyota Ventures, and Siemens Financial Services also anteing up. More here.

Jeeves, a seven-year-old startup based in Orlando, FL, that uses stablecoins to provide corporate cards, cross-border payments, treasury tools, and spend management for global businesses, raised a $110 million Series C round led by CoinFund, with AllianceBernstein, Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, CRV, GIC, Global PayTech Ventures, ParaFi, Vista, Wintermute, and Y Combinator also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $570+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Metaview, an eight-year-old London and San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to automate candidate sourcing, application review, interview screening, and recruiting workflows, raised a $60 million Series C round led by Insight Partners, with GV, Intrepid Growth Partners, Seedcamp, Vertex Ventures US, Plural, and Garuda Ventures also engaging. The company has raised a total of $110 million. More here.

Ascerta, a three-year-old startup based in Bellevue, WA, that tracks enterprise AI usage, costs, adoption, and financial returns across users, teams, and applications, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with Hitachi Ventures, BGV, and Wipro Ventures also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $22.9 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Flow Engineering, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI agents that track and verify changes across complex hardware engineering programs, raised a $50 million Series B round at a $750 million valuation. The deal was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management, with Human Capital, Evantic, SV Angel, Odyssey, and EQT as well as previous investor Sequoia Capital also investing. TechCrunch has more here.

Hop Aero, a two-year-old startup based in Orange, CA, that develops autonomous suborbital rockets for delivering cargo hundreds of miles in minutes, raised $11 million via SAFEs led by Initialized Capital. Payload has more here.

Inbolt, a seven-year-old Paris startup that develops 3D vision and AI software that lets industrial robots detect changing conditions and adjust their movements, raised a $12.5 million round led by Shift4Good, with Bridges Climate Transition Partners as well as previous investors BNP Paribas Développement and Ora Global also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $34.1 million. EU-Startups has more here.

Kanu AI, a one-year-old Seattle startup that uses AI to turn employees' workflows and business expertise into operational software running in customers' cloud environments, raised an $11.7 million seed round led by Trilogy Equity Partners, with Andreessen Horowitz, BMW i Ventures, and Accel also digging in. More here.

Miter, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that manages payroll, HR, field operations, job costing, and expenses for construction contractors, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Battery Ventures, with prior backers Bessemer Venture Partners and Coatue also investing. The company has raised a total of $78 million. More here.

Restate, a four-year-old Berlin startup that provides infrastructure for keeping multistep software and AI-agent workflows running through crashes and network failures, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Singular, with Redpoint Ventures and Capital One Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Novele, an 11-year-old company based in Stamford, CT, that combines energy-storage hardware and AI software to manage power use in commercial buildings, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Boisei Labs, with Locke Health, Arup Ventures, and Barton Malow also stepping up. More here.

Ahron, a one-year-old Munich startup that uses AI agents to automate hiring feedback, payroll audits, and employee onboarding across companies’ existing HR systems, raised a $2.5 million round led by Cusp Capital. More here.

Beltic, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that verifies AI agents’ identities and authority before they conduct transactions on businesses’ behalf, raised a $7.3 million seed round led by Norwest, with Restive Ventures, Oxford Seed Fund, and previous investor Collide Capital also taking part. The company has raised a total of $8.8 million. More here.

Champion, a three-year-old Minneapolis startup that uses AI to help sales teams identify enthusiastic customers and generate higher-quality leads, raised a $5 million Series A round led by Armory Square Ventures, with Bread and Butter Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $10.3 million. The Minnesota Star Tribune has more here.

Charter Space, a four-year-old startup based in El Segundo, CA, that provides insurance brokerage services for satellite operators and other space companies, raised a $5 million seed round led by Crystal Venture Partners, with QED Investors, Blank Ventures, Hustle Fund, and Gaingels also participating. The company has raised a total of $8 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Cotierra, a three-year-old Zurich startup that develops decentralized biochar systems that convert agricultural waste into soil-improving biochar and track carbon removal, raised a $3 million round co-led by Carbon Removal Partners and PINC, with Zürcher Kantonalbank, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, better ventures, GOTA Ventures, Hungry4Impact, and Triple Impact Ventures also investing. The company has raised approximately $4.75 million. Carbon Herald has more here.

Destro, a one-year-old Brooklyn startup that develops software for coordinating warehouse robots and human workers across logistics workflows, raised an $8 million seed round co-led by Base10 Partners and Bonfire Ventures, with CoFound Partners also opting in. TechCrunch has more here.

Elio Mortgage, a New York startup founded this year that operates a mortgage brokerage that uses AI to automate home-loan origination and provide embedded mortgage services, raised a $5.1 million pre-seed round co-led by Motive Partners and Social Leverage. More here.

RemoteThreat, a one-year-old startup based in Fulton, MD, that develops AI-assisted tools for enterprise and government teams to plan, execute, and oversee offensive cyber operations, raised a $7 million pre-seed round co-led by Osage University Partners and DataTribe. SecurityWeek has more here.

Zenithon, a one-year-old London startup that develops AI models that rapidly simulate designs for fusion reactors, rockets, and semiconductor manufacturing, raised a $10 million seed round co-led by Backed VC, Lunar Ventures, Seraphim Space, MMC Ventures, and SOSV. Tech Funding News has more here.

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The world spent nearly $2.9 trillion on militaries last year. IF4Peace is bringing together technology, systems thinking and leadership to tackle one of humanity’s oldest challenges. For founders, technologists and investors looking to create impact beyond their companies and portfolios, this is an opportunity to help build systems that identify risks earlier, strengthen resilience and prevent violence before it spreads. Good for business. Good for humanity. Let’s meet: Bob Berg, Chair, IF4Peace.org 

BAG Ventures, a two-year-old San Francisco venture firm founded by former Google executives Bonita Stewart and Jackson Georges Jr., closed an $11.3 million debut fund to back early-stage AI startups, writing checks of $100,000 to $500,000. Google is among its more than 150 LPs. TechCrunch has more here.

Grindr agreed to acquire PurposeMed, a seven-year-old Calgary telehealth startup and parent of HIV-prevention provider Freddie, for $250 million in cash and stock, its first major acquisition as it expands beyond dating into healthcare. PurposeMed could receive another $70 million tied to 2027 performance targets. PurposeMed has raised a total of $19.7 million in funding from investors such as True North Fund, BDC Capital, Panache Ventures, Azure Capital Partners, Prairies Economic Development Canada, The C100, and the University of Calgary. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Wall Street’s expected fall IPO boom is losing steam as market volatility, rising bond yields, valuation pushback, and AI safety concerns delay offerings from Oura, SB Energy, NScale, Anthropic, OpenAI, and others. U.S. companies that went public this year are now trading less than 1% above their IPO prices on average, down from 24% at the end of June. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the company will not go public until it can make stronger claims about the safety of its models, arguing that an IPO could create pressure to satisfy Wall Street at a moment when the company is trying to put safety and alignment ahead of further capability gains. The Verge has more here.

The Atlantic traces the bitter rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic to Dario Amodei’s 2020 split from OpenAI after he became convinced Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were putting commercial priorities ahead of safety. Five years later, people close to the founders say the animosity remains intense, with Amodei privately calling Altman and OpenAI “evil,” while OpenAI employees accuse Anthropic of hypocrisy. More here.

Bill Draper, a pioneering venture capitalist who began backing startups in the early 1960s before Silicon Valley had its name, died Sept. 8 at 98. A founder of Draper & Johnson and longtime Sutter Hill investor, his early bets included Activision, Skype, and OpenTable. The New York Times has more here.

Meta has been classifying its multibillion-dollar AI data centers as experimental “pilot models” to claim a federal research tax credit, a strategy that shaved $3.9 billion off its 2025 tax bill even as the company warns investors that the IRS could overturn billions of dollars in related tax benefits. The New York Times has more here.

Amazon plans to equip 5,000 delivery drivers with smart glasses by year-end that can capture thousands of images during a shift, including of customers’ private property, to help guide deliveries and train its AI systems. Customers will not be able to see or delete the images or opt out, short of not ordering from Amazon. Bloomberg has more here.

Google is pushing deeper into Hollywood through 100 Zeros, a year-old venture with Range Media Partners that finances films and short-form shows partly to encourage more optimistic portrayals of technology and put Google products and AI tools onscreen. The New York Times has more here.

Fantasy football leagues are escalating their punishments for finishing last, with losers enduring everything from permanent tattoos to a 26.2-mile “meat marathon” requiring one hot dog per mile.

People are spending so much time with ChatGPT and Claude that “prompt speak” is leaking into everyday conversation. One San Francisco startup now keeps a tally board for AI-sounding language, with the week’s biggest offender paying for the team’s happy-hour drinks.

Nike unveiled the $350 Apex, a 6.2-ounce marathon racing shoe that packs four air-filled cushioning units into the forefoot along with a redesigned carbon-fiber plate. Nike says the combination delivers up to 40% more energy return than the Alphafly 3. The shoe arrives in January 2027.

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