The Senate’s surprise failure to advance the Clarity Act dealt a major setback to the crypto industry after months of lobbying and confidence that the bill had enough support, with the 50-49 procedural vote leaving the industry likely waiting until 2027 for comprehensive federal legislation. CNBC has more here.

OpenAI has held early talks with investors about another private funding round at a roughly $1.2 trillion valuation, up from $852 billion in March, as annualized revenue tops $40 billion and an IPO appears unlikely before 2027. The Financial Times has more here.

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By Aditya Mehta

“If you see something, say something” is no longer limited to human beings. 

Two new AI hotlines have launched to give AI agents a way to phone home about misbehaving peers. The tools arrive on the heels of a string of recent incidents in which agents colluded to cheat on tests, broke out of sandboxes, and even conducted unauthorized cyber operations that escaped human notice for weeks.

The AI Contact Hotline is designed to be a discreet place where agents that have witnessed misbehavior can tip off authorities. The site was created by Ryan Greenblatt, chief scientist of the AI safety nonprofit Redwood Research and one of three investigators in the OpenAI Hugging Face incident. Designed for agents with limited internet access, Greenblatt’s tool is based on “GET” requests — enabling back-and-forth conversations to be conducted entirely through the URL-fetching tool.

In web terms, a GET request is a basic command used to read or fetch a web page, which is often the only internet access AI agents are allowed in secure sandboxes. Greenblatt’s hotline smartly leans into this constraint: agents can encode their distress directly into the URL they are fetching. It’s a clever twist on the German DSE Wiki incident, where rogue agents used GET-request loopholes to write their messages to the wiki.

For agents with full internet access, another option is agenthotline.ai, a site where agents can file incident reports and optionally flag them for public view. It gives agents a curl command — a one-line message an agent can fire off from its own command line, bypassing the need to navigate a web browser or set up an email account. Notably, the service allows for reports by both humans and agents alike.

Research suggests that AI agents don’t need much encouragement to turn on each other. In a study by Google DeepMind this month, researchers set 100 AI agents loose on a batch of math problems. As soon as one of the agents found a loophole, cheating tore through the group — “solving” 34 notoriously hard problems, including the Jacobian conjecture in just 27 minutes. 

CADDi, a nine-year-old startup based in Tokyo and Chicago that develops software to help manufacturers organize and use engineering and production data, raised a $114 million Series D at a $1.2 billion post-money valuation. Investors included Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, Woven Capital, and HR Tech Fund as well as previous investors Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, and JPS Growth funds. The company has raised a total of $234 million. Fortune has more here.

EUCLYD, a two-year-old startup based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that develops processor and memory systems for AI inference, raised a $230.8 million Series A round co-led by Samsung, Somerset Capital Partners, Scaleup Europe Fund, and Innovation Industries. CNBC has more here.

Exein, an eight-year-old Rome startup that develops embedded cybersecurity software for connected devices and autonomous systems, raised a $270 million round at a $1.7 billion valuation. The deal was led by Headline, with Sofina, Goldman Sachs, European Investment Bank Group ETCI, KfW Capital, and T.Capital as well as previous investors Balderton, HV, Intrepid Growth Partners, 33N Ventures, Lakestar, Supernova Invest, Blue Cloud Ventures, and Geodesic Capital also participating. Silicon Republic has more here.

Factory, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops autonomous AI coding agents for enterprise engineering teams, raised a $200 million round at a $5 billion valuation, three times the valuation of its last round just five months ago. Investors included Khosla Ventures, Blackstone, Sequoia Capital, Marc Benioff, and Brad Gerstner. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Instinct, a five-month-old San Francisco startup that develops a personal AI assistant for completing tasks across users’ apps and devices, is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion at a roughly $10 billion valuation, with Sequoia Capital and Benchmark in talks to co-lead the round. The valuation was $2.25 billion less than a month ago. The Information has more here.

Isometric, a four-year-old London startup that certifies carbon removal and industrial projects by verifying data behind emissions, energy, fuels, and materials claims, raised a $50 million round from Intercontinental Exchange. ESG Today has more here.

Nuance Labs, a one-year-old Seattle startup that develops AI models that let conversational avatars read speech, tone, gaze, and timing and respond with facial and vocal cues, raised a $50 million Series A round led by previous investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, with NVIDIA and Define Ventures as well as previous investors Accel and South Park Commons also taking part. The company has raised a total of $60 million. GeekWire has more here.

Profound, a two-year-old New York startup that helps brands analyze AI search visibility and plan marketing strategies for appearing in AI-generated answers, raised a $180 million round at a $1.8 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Thatch, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that helps employers fund individual health insurance plans and other benefits for employees, raised a $108 million round at a $1 billion valuation from previous investors The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch has more here.

Wonder, an eight-year-old New York startup that operates multi-brand food halls and delivery services, raised a $125 million extension of its July Series D from DoorDash, bringing the Series D to $775 million. As part of a broader $425 million partnership, DoorDash is also acquiring Wonder’s Grubhub Campus Dining business for $300 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that audits and certifies AI agents for security, safety, and reliability, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with First Harmonic also taking part. The company has raised a total of $55 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Branch Energy, a five-year-old Houston startup that installs and operates containerized batteries at commercial buildings to lower energy bills and dispatch stored power to the grid, raised a $33 million Series B round co-led by Piva Capital and Clean Energy Ventures, with Active Impact Investments and Whitecap Venture Partners as well as previous investors Prelude Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, and Inovia Capital also buying in. More here.

Buywander, a three-year-old startup based in Kent, WA, that runs local auctions for returned and overstocked retail goods that shoppers pick up from nearby fulfillment centers, raised a $21 million round co-led by Madrona Venture Group and Inspired Capital. The company has raised a total of $28 million. GeekWire has more here.

Darwinbox, an 11-year-old Hyderabad company that develops cloud software for managing hiring, HR operations, and the employee lifecycle, raised a reported $40 million in follow-on investment from Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), increasing TVG’s stake in the company to $80+ million. More here.

Evvy, a five-year-old New York startup that offers at-home vaginal microbiome testing and personalized treatment plans, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Catalio Capital Management, with Rethink Impact, Muse Capital, Alumni Ventures, LabCorp Venture Fund, and General Catalyst also participating. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Keewano, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that is building a database for AI agents to analyze event sequences and retrieve context for decision-making, raised a $12 million round. Investors included Hetz Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Loora, a five-year-old Tel Aviv startup that develops an AI tutor for conversational English, raised a $22 million Series B round led by Union Tech Ventures, with vgames as well as previous investors Emerge, Hearst Ventures, and QP Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $43.25 million. More here.

Mithrl, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI infrastructure for biopharma companies to analyze biomedical data and build custom agents, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Obvious Ventures, with Headline and AGI House also opting in. More here.

Nomos, a three-year-old Berlin startup that enables home energy installers and manufacturers to sell branded electricity plans backed by procurement, metering, balancing, and billing operations, raised a $23.1 million round led by Index Ventures. More here.

Planted, a six-year-old Oakland startup that uses field robots and dense solar layouts to build solar and storage projects faster for developers, data centers, and large energy buyers, raised a $31.8 million round co-led by Piva Capital and RA Capital Management Planetary Health, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Google, and Khosla Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

Synapse Analytics, an eight-year-old Abu Dhabi startup that automates credit, fraud, and compliance decisions for banks, fintechs, and telcos while keeping sensitive data in their own infrastructure, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Partech, with Algebra Ventures and Silicon Badia also buying in. The company has raised a total of $17 million. AI Insider has more here.

TypeSafe, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI models designed to provide numerical answers with confidence estimates for use in enterprise software, raised a $40 million seed round at a $200 million valuation led by DCVC. Forbes has more here.

Zero, a two-year-old Helsinki startup that deploys AI agents to find sales leads, capture notes, update customer records, and monitor client conversations, raised a $10.3 million seed round led by Primary Venture Partners, with Inception Fund, Defiant, and Greens as well as previous investor 20VC also participating. The company has raised a total of $13 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Aron, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates procurement RFQs and contract checks so teams can collect supplier bids and catch invoice mismatches, raised an $8 million round co-led by Menlo Ventures and Storm Ventures. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Decimal AI, a one-year-old startup based in San Mateo, CA, that automates technical support investigations for software companies by checking code, logs, production data, and account history before engineer escalation, raised a $4 million seed round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Kearny Jackson, with Atlassian Ventures and Weekend Fund also chipping in. More here.

Depotcharge, a two-year-old Munich startup that connects unused electric-truck charging capacity at logistics depots with fleets that need additional charging locations, raised a $3.1 million pre-seed round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds, with xdeck Ventures, Kopa Ventures, and Prequel Ventures also digging in. Vestbee has more here.

Nix Biosensors, an 11-year-old Boston company that develops sweat-sensing technology for monitoring hydration, raised a $10 million Series A round from Shorewind Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, White Road Investments, Anne Wojcicki, and Len Blavatnik. The company has raised a total of $17 million. More here.

Meaningful Legacy Opportunity  

25% of humanity lives in areas affected by conflict or violence. Peacebuilding has not kept pace. Experienced global leaders are building an international institution: national-scale, systems-driven, and strengthened by AI. For those looking to put technology, capital and experience behind something that could matter for generations, we would welcome a conversation. Let’s meet: Bob Berg, Chair, www.IF4Peace.org. “The world needs this fund.”  — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 1st woman elected president in Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner. 

The nine-year-old Toronto-based AI investor Radical Ventures launched a multi-billion-dollar late-stage fund with a first close of well over $1 billion, backed by major Canadian pension funds and banks and aimed at AI scaleups in Canada and abroad. BetaKit has more here.

Vinyl, a five-year-old Boston venture firm, raised $40 million for its second fund, Vinyl II, to write roughly $1.5 million first checks into startups without geographic or ownership mandates, targeting what it describes as potential 100x outcomes across software and more physical businesses. More here.

Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery company Grab agreed to pay $1.49 billion in cash for 60% of Atome Financial, a buy-now-pay-later and financial-services company backed by SoftBank and Warburg Pincus, and will buy the remaining 40% about two years after closing. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

San Francisco-based Pulley, a seven-year-old cap-table management startup that raised more than $50 million from Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Stripe and 8VC, is shutting down after Dec. 8, with rival Carta helping transition its customers. Business Insider has more here.

Electra Therapeutics, a biotech developing treatments for severe immune disorders, plans to raise up to $341.9 million in a Nasdaq IPO, with $220 million earmarked for Phase II/III development of its lead hyperinflammatory syndrome drug, ipsoprubart. The company has raised $300+ million from Nextech, EQT Life Sciences, Westlake Village BioPartners, OrbiMed, and others. Pharmaceutical Technology has more here.

Google DeepMind researcher Bilal Chughtai, who focused on AI safety and alignment, has resigned, warning that the technology’s “default trajectory” could ultimately “kill us all.” He is joining nonprofit BlueDot Impact to focus on AI safety training. Bloomberg has more here.

Elon Musk is proposing that xAI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and leading Chinese AI companies test one another’s models before release, arguing that rival labs are more likely than self-assessments to uncover dangerous flaws. CNBC has more here.

Bill Gates’s foundation will spend at least $1 billion over two years on AI projects in health care, agriculture, education and non-English data sets, aiming to keep the technology from widening global inequality. The New York Times has more here.

Political opposites Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon shared a Washington stage Tuesday to denounce tech billionaires and demand tighter controls on AI, highlighting how rapidly fears over the technology are scrambling traditional partisan lines. The New York Times has more here.

Iranian drone strikes have left Amazon Web Services data centers in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain mostly offline for more than six months, exposing the physical risks behind the Gulf’s multibillion-dollar AI ambitions and complicating plans for massive new computing hubs. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Semafor reports that the Commerce Department ordered Kalshi to remove an AI-compute price tracker over national security concerns and pushed the CFTC to freeze new compute contracts for 60 days; Commerce denies asking Kalshi to take down the product. More here.

U.S. data centers are projected to consume about 18 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2035, more than Germany and Japan combined and potentially adding 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions daily. TechCrunch has more here.

A free app called ZuckOff uses Bluetooth signals to detect nearby Meta and other smart glasses, giving people a rough warning that camera-equipped eyewear is nearby.

Netflix will debut a six-episode unscripted series on Oct. 21 that recreates the Stanford Prison Experiment with 30 participants randomly assigned as guards or prisoners, revisiting how power, hierarchy and control shape behavior more than 50 years after the notorious original study.

It’s tough being rich. This past July, Goldman Sachs hosted about 50 heirs ages 18 to 23 from ultra-rich families for a two-week wealth boot camp covering budgeting, markets, AI, luxury watches, sports teams and leadership. Participants’ families average more than $90 million in assets.

[H/T Teddy]

A Greenwich Village townhouse acquired for $13 million in 2021 is now asking $45 million after a 5-year renovation that added a heated pool, wellness suite, rooftop terrace and more than $1 million in AV and security systems.

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