The Senate has unanimously passed the DEFIANCE Act again, giving victims of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes the right to sue creators and hosts, as pressure mounts on X after Grok was used to generate illegal images, including of children. Engadget has more here.

Microsoft is overhauling its AI data center strategy, pledging to cover full power costs, forgo local tax breaks, replenish water, and fund worker training after resident backlash tied to 12% to 16% power price increases. GeekWire has more here.

Affinity’s 7 Modern Workflows to Win Deals Faster in 2026 

Most private capital firms are sitting on networks worth millions in deal flow. The firms pulling ahead have built systems to actually activate those relationships. 

In this new guide, Affinity breaks down 7 real workflows used by firms like BlackRock ($13T AUM), Bessemer Venture Partners, SpeedInvest (€1.2B), and Notable Capital to win proprietary deals faster, prevent critical relationships from going cold, and reclaim hundreds of hours per year. 

The guide goes beyond theory, showing exactly what worked, what didn’t, and why these systems matter heading into 2026. 

By Amanda Silberling

Dr. Sina Bari, a practicing surgeon and AI healthcare leader at data company iMerit, has seen firsthand how ChatGPT can lead patients astray with faulty medical advice.

“I recently had a patient come in, and when I recommended a medication, they had a dialogue printed out from ChatGPT that said this medication has a 45% chance of pulmonary embolism,” Dr. Bari told TechCrunch. 

When Dr. Bari investigated further, he found that the statistic was from a paper about the impact of that medication in a niche subgroup of people with tuberculosis, which didn’t apply to his patient. 

And yet, when OpenAI announced its dedicated ChatGPT Health chatbot last week, Dr. Bari felt more excitement than concern.

ChatGPT Health, which will roll out in the coming weeks, allows users to talk to the chatbot about their health in a more private setting, where their messages won’t be used as training data for the underlying AI model.

“I think it’s great,” Dr. Bari said. “It is something that’s already happening, so formalizing it so as to protect patient information and put some safeguards around it […] is going to make it all the more powerful for patients to use.”

Users can get more personalized guidance from ChatGPT Health by uploading their medical records and syncing with apps like Apple Health and MyFitnessPal. For the security-minded, this raises immediate red flags. 

“All of a sudden there’s medical data transferring from HIPAA-compliant organizations to non-HIPAA-compliant vendors,” Itai Schwartz, co-founder of data loss prevention firm MIND, told TechCrunch. “So I’m curious to see how the regulators would approach this.”

Accelsius, a four-year-old Austin startup that builds two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems for AI data centers, raised a $65 million Series B round led by Johnson Controls, with Legrand also participating. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Cerebras, a 10-year-old AI chip company based in Cupertino, CA, is reportedly in the market to raise approximately $1 billion at a $22 billion pre-money valuation, 2.7x the price of its last round just five months ago. The Information has the scoop here.

Deepgram, an 11-year-old company that builds voice AI models for speech recognition and text-to-speech, raised a $130 million Series C round at a $1.3 billion valuation. The deal was led by AVP, with Alumni Ventures, Columbia University, Princeville Capital, Twilio, and SAP as well as previous investors Alkeon, In-Q-Tel, Madrona, Tiger, Wing, and Y Combinator also piling on. The company has raised a total of $215+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

Defense Unicorns, a five-year-old Colorado Springs startup that builds software that securely delivers updates to disconnected military systems, raised a $136 million Series B round at a $1+ billion valuation. The deal was led by Bain Capital, with Ansa Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, AVP, Uncorrelated Ventures, and David Petraeus also taking part. More here.

Etched, a three-year-old startup based in Cupertino, CA, that builds specialized AI chips designed to run large language models far faster and more efficiently than general-purpose GPUs, raised approximately $500 million at a $5 billion post-money valuation. Stripes was the deal lead, with Peter Thiel, Positive Sum, and Ribbit Capital also investing. Bloomberg has more here.

JetZero, a six-year-old startup based in Long Beach, CA, that is building a commercial airplane with a single wide wing body, raised a $175 million Series B round led by B Capital, with United Airlines Ventures, Northrop Grumman, 3M Ventures, and RTX Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $1+ billion. More here.

Onebrief, a seven-year-old Honolulu startup that builds AI-driven collaborative planning software for military operations, raised a $200 million Series D round co-led by Battery Ventures and Sapphire Ventures, with Salesforce Ventures, General Catalyst, and Insight Partners also joining in. The company has raised a total of $300+ million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Proxima, a five-year-old New York startup that develops AI-driven drug discovery for proximity therapeutics, raised an $80 million seed round led by DCVC, with NVentures, Braidwell, Roivant, AIX Ventures, Yosemite, Magnetic Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Modi Ventures also contributing. More here.

webAI, a seven-year-old Austin startup that builds privacy-focused AI development software for running localized sovereign AI models on user devices, raised a round in the ““high double-digit[s]” at a $2.5 billion valuation post-money valuation, according to reporting from Axios. The deal was reportedly co-led by Time Ventures and Atreides Management, with Forerunner Ventures also engaging. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Converge Bio, a two-year-old Boston startup that uses generative AI trained on molecular data to help drugmakers develop drugs faster, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and including TLV Partners, Saras Capital, and Vintage Investment Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Flip, an eight-year-old New York startup that uses voice AI to answer and resolve routine customer service calls, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Next Coast Ventures and Ridge Ventures, with Data Point Capital, ScOp Venture Capital, Bullpen Capital, and Forum Ventures also participating. The startup has raised a total of $31 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Haiqu, a four-year-old New York startup that is building software designed to run practical applications on today’s quantum hardware, raised an $11 million seed round led by Primary Venture Partners, with Qudit Investments, Alumni Ventures Group, Collaborative Fund, Silicon Roundabout Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and Mac Venture Capital also digging in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Juvena Therapeutics, an eight-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that develops regenerative biologics designed to restore tissue function, raised a $33.5 million Series B round led by Bison Ventures, with Eli Lilly and Jefferson Life Sciences as well as previous investors Mubadala Capital and Manta Ray also participating. Longevity.Technology has more here.

Klearly, a four-year-old Amsterdam startup that provides a payments platform for restaurants, bars, and clubs, raised a $14 million Series A round led by PayPal Ventures, with additional participation from Italian Founders Fund, Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers. The company has raised a total of $23.3 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Nuclera, a 13-year-old company based in Cambridge, UK, that builds benchtop systems for protein and antibody expression and validation, raised a $12 million Series C extension co-led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Jonathan Milner, with British Business Bank and GK Goh also digging in. The company has raised a total of $87 million. EU-Startups has more here.

RISA Labs, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that is developing an AI operating system for oncology workflows, raised an $11.1 million Series A round co-led by Cencora Ventures and Optum Ventures, with Oncology Ventures, Z21 Ventures, and Ventureforgood also stepping up. More here.

Trailhead Biosystems, an11-year-old company based in Beachwood, OH, that develops lab-grown human cells made from reprogrammed adult cells for drug research, raised a $20 million round. MAK Capital was the deal lead. TipRanks has more here.

VelaFi, a six-year-old Dallas startup that provides stablecoin-based payment and treasury infrastructure for enterprises operating across multiple regions, raised a $20 million Series B round co-led by XVC and Ikuyo, with Alibaba Investment, Planetree, and BAI Capital also engaging. The company has raised a total of $40+ million. CoinDesk has more here.

WithCoverage, a two-year-old New York startup that uses AI plus insurance and legal experts to help startups identify legal risks and optimize insurance coverage, raised a $42 million Series B round co-led by Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures, with 8VC and Crystal Venture Partners also investing. Reinsurance News has more here.

Allos AI, a five-year-old London startup that uses causal AI to redesign how complex generic drugs are formulated and delivered, raised a $5 million seed round led by Oxford Science Enterprises, with Habico Invest and Berkeley SKYDECK also participating. HIT Consultant has more here.

Avenue Biosciences, a three-year-old Helsinki startup that develops high-throughput methods for improving how therapeutic proteins are produced in living cells, raised a $5.7 million seed extension co-led by Balnord and Tesi, with Voima Ventures, Inventure, University of Helsinki, and Dimerent also opting in. The company has raised a total of $8.7 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Bricks.sh, a one-year-old Milan startup that builds AI-based software for generating and maintaining internal admin tools from APIs and databases, raised a $1.9 million pre-seed round led by Primo Capital, with additional capital provided by Octopus First Cheque Fund, Eden Ventures, Vesper Holding, and Vento. Tech.eu has more here.

Dataroid, a four-year-old Istanbul startup that builds software for analyzing customer behavior across digital channels, raised a $6.6 million pre-Series A round led by FinAI Venture Capital Fund, with Tacirler Asset Management Future Impact Venture Capital Fund and Endeavor Catalyst also anteing up. Tech.eu has more here.

FluoSphera, a five-year-old Geneva startup that builds 3D human tissue models for preclinical drug testing, raised a $1.4 million seed round led by Soulmates Ventures, with participation from IndieBio New York. Tech Funding News has more here.

Homie, a one-year-old Helsinki startup that builds software for turning employee, customer, and investor networks into warm B2B sales introductions, raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Superhero Capital, with Antler also joining in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Neuramint, a one-year-old Denver startup that builds an AI agent workflow platform for developers to create and manage autonomous Web3 workflows across DeFi, NFTs, and blockchains, raised a $5 million seed round. Investors included Maelstrom, Borderless Capital, Selini Capital, Symbolic Capital, Lattice Fund, and Node Capital. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Inside CES 2026: AI goes physical 

CES 2026 showed AI moving from the cloud into the physical world. From robotics and autonomous vehicles to AI PCs, wearables, and smart devices, physical AI and edge AI took center stage. In a new wrap-up blog, Arm highlights the key takeaways from CES 2026 and explains why real-time, power-efficient compute is essential as AI increasingly runs locally across devices and systems. 

Read the CES 2026 takeaways 

Superorganism, a three-year-old San Francisco VC firm that focuses on backing biodiversity startups, raised a $25.9 million first fund to invest in companies working to slow extinction and build technology for conservation. TechCrunch has more here.

CrowdStrike is acquiring Seraphic Security, a Tel Aviv startup founded in 2020 that embeds security directly into web browsers to protect SaaS and private apps, in a deal reportedly worth about $400 million. CTech has more here.

Polygon Labs is acquiring Coinme, a 10-year-old Seattle-based crypto payments company that converts cash into cryptocurrency through ATMs and licensed money services, and Sequence, a five-year-old New York-based blockchain infrastructure startup that builds crypto wallets and developer tooling, as part of a push into stablecoins and payments. The total price is reportedly $250+ million. Fortune has more here.

CoinGecko, a 12-year-old company that runs a crypto market data and analytics service, is exploring a sale at a price rumored to be around $500 million and has hired Moelis to run the process. CoinDesk has more here.

Liftoff, a 14-year-old company based in Redwood City, CA, that helps advertisers place ads in mobile apps and lets publishers manage inventory, filed for an IPO after posting a $25.6 million net loss on $491.6 million in revenue for the 9 months ended Sept. 30th. Bloomberg has more here.

Anthropic is reshuffling its C-suite to scale an internal incubator, moving Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger from CPO into Labs, aiming to double the team in six months as it gears up for a reported $10 billion raise at a $350 billion valuation. The Verge has more here.

According to Politico, California Governor Gavin Newsom has been quietly working to derail a billionaire wealth tax ballot initiative, courting union leaders for an off-ramp as Silicon Valley investors warn the measure could drive capital and founders out of the state. More here.

Lerer Hippeau has promoted Will McKelvey to Principal, Tanaz Mody to Operating Partner, and Emily Libresco to Head of Marketing & Communications. More here.

A new wave of researchers is dissecting large language models like living organisms, using biology-style tools to map internal pathways, explain hallucinations and misbehavior, and give investors and regulators a clearer view of how 200 billion-parameter systems actually work. MIT Technology Review has more here.

OpenAI plans to run a 60-second ad during Super Bowl LX, likely spending north of $15 million in airtime costs as AI rivals shell out a bunch of cash themselves on TV and digital spending to win users and fend off competitive pressure. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Alright, alright, alright. Actor and Salesforce spokesperson Matthew McConaughey has secured eight trademarks covering his likeness, voice, and signature catchphrase as a new legal strategy to block unauthorized AI-generated fakes and create federal court leverage against misuse.

A hilltop compound called Le Manoir Voltaire overlooking Marigot Bay on St. Barts has hit the market for about $42.5 million, offering two connected villas that can operate separately or as a single nine-bedroom estate designed for large holiday entourages.

A $39,000 ultralight eVTOL that doesn’t require a pilot’s license. (What could possibly go wrong?)

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