A shout-out to all of our Midwest and East Coast peeps who are about to get dumped on. Hang in there!

TikTok has struck a deal to create a new U.S.-controlled entity owned more than 80% by non-Chinese investors, averting a federal ban while leaving ByteDance with a minority stake and control of the algorithm. No one is saying how much the group paid, notably. The New York Times has more here.

Microsoft said a North America infrastructure failure knocked Microsoft 365 offline, cutting off email, files, meetings, and security dashboards for enterprise customers. TechCrunch has more here.

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

Winning deals in 2026 requires activating your network faster than your competition. Having a bigger network isn't enough anymore. This new guide from Affinity shares 7 modern workflows used by firms including BlackRock, Bessemer Venture Partners, SpeedInvest, and Notable Capital to move from first signal to closed deal in days, not weeks. Real implementations. Measurable results. The systems that top investment teams use to surface warm paths, scale relationship management, and win proprietary opportunities before a formal process begins.

By Connie Loizos

There’s a feeling of schadenfreude in Silicon Valley when a unicorn stumbles. So when the WSJ broke the news Thursday afternoon that Capital One will acquire Brex for $5.15 billion in cash and stock (Capital One issued an official release confirming the details 30 minutes later), you could practically hear the collective snickering from Sand Hill Road to San Francisco’s South Park. That figure represents less than half of Brex’s last private-market valuation of $12.3 billion from its 2022 Series D-2 round.

Before everyone sharpens their knives, consider that for the VCs who backed Brex at its outset, the sale is a triumph.

Micky Malka’s Ribbit Capital, which led Brex’s $7 million Series A soon after its 2017 founding, is likely staring at a very handsome return. Reached by phone this afternoon, Malka declined to offer specifics, but as a Brex board member from the outset and the company’s biggest shareholder, he was unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the deal: “We’re excited for the team, which was one of the youngest YC teams at the time. I’ve known [the founders] since they were 16. Capital One will be a great partner, and their ability to scale [as part of the bank] is good for America.”

Indeed, that early bet — Ribbit was joined by Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins, DST Global, and individual investors including Peter Thiel and Max Levchin — has multiplied somewhere in the neighborhood of 700-fold. Even accounting for dilution across subsequent rounds, early stakeholders are walking away with the kind of gains that have long made venture capital seem like such an attractive asset class to outsiders.

Still, the sting of that valuation haircut is sharper when you consider what happened to Brex’s chief rival, Ramp, during the same period. Just as Brex lost momentum several years ago, Ramp went on a tear. The competing expense management fintech has at this point raised $2.3 billion in total equity financing and saw its valuation zoom from $13 billion in March of last year to $32 billion by November across successive funding rounds.

You could argue whether those kinds of paper gains across a dizzying number of financing events means that much (that’s definitely not always the case). Still, assuming Ramp is presenting a truthful picture to the world, its traction is undeniable. The company announced last October that it had surpassed $1 billion in annualized recurring revenue and secured more than 50,000 customers. The contrast is probably more painful for Brex’s later-stage investors, who watched a competitor lap them multiple times while they awaited an exit.

Applecart, a 13-year-old New York company that helps organizations reach influential decision-makers by mapping real-world relationships and targeting outreach through a data-driven marketing and communications platform, raised a $100 million round at a $700 million valuation. Blackstone was the deal lead. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

Claroty, a 10-year-old New York company that protects cyber-physical systems and critical infrastructure, raised a $150 million Series F round (including $30-40 million in secondary sales) at a rumored $3 billion post-money valuation. Golub Growth was the deal lead. CTech has more here.

Inferact, a Bay Area startup founded last year that develops infrastructure that uses the open-source vLLM project to help companies run large language models more efficiently, raised a $150 million seed round at an $800 million post-money valuation. Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed were the co-leads, with additional support from Sequoia Capital, Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and ZhenFund. Bloomberg has more here.

LiveKit, a five-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that provides a developer platform for voice, video, and physical artificial intelligence agents, raised a $100 million Series C at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Index Ventures, with Salesforce Ventures as well as previous investors Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Hanabi Capital also investing. PYMNTS has more here.

Mendra, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that acquires and develops therapies for rare diseases using AI, raised an $82 million Series A round co-led by OrbiMed, 8VC, and 5AM Ventures, with Lux Capital and Wing VC also stepping up. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Neurophos, a six-year-old Austin startup that develops optical processors designed to improve the efficiency of AI inferencing, raised a $110 million Series A round led by Gates Frontier, with M12, Carbon Direct, Aramco Ventures, Bosch Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, and Space Capital also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Noveon Magnetics, a 12-year-old company based in San Marcos, TX, that manufactures rare-earth magnets for U.S. industrial and defense supply chains, raised a $215 million Series C round from One Investment Management. More here.

Railway, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that provides a cloud platform for deploying and running applications, raised a $100 million Series B round led by TQ Ventures, with FPV Ventures, Redpoint, and Unusual Ventures also digging in. More here.

Sage Geosystems, a six-year-old Houston startup that develops pressure-based geothermal systems for power generation and long-duration energy storage, raised a $97+ million Series B round co-led by Ormat Technologies and Carbon Direct Capital, with SiteGround Capital, The UC Berkeley Foundation’s Climate Solutions Fund, Exa, Nabors, alfa8, Arch Meredith, Abilene Partners, Cubit Capital, and Ignis H2 Energy also joining in. More here.

Superstate, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides infrastructure for issuing and managing tokenized securities on public blockchains, raised an $82.5 million Series B round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global, with Haun Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, Galaxy Digital, Sentinel Global, Bullish, Hypersphere Capital, Flowdesk, 1kx, Intersection, ParaFi, and Road Capital also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. The Block has more here.

AnswersNow, a nine-year-old startup based in Richmond, VA, that provides AI-enabled virtual autism therapy led by licensed behavioral clinicians, raised a $40 million Series B led by HealthQuest Capital, with Left Lane Capital and Owl Ventures also taking part. HLTH has more here.

Benepass, a seven-year-old New York startup that helps employers manage and distribute benefits spending across pre-tax and post-tax programs, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Centana Growth Partners, with FoW Partners, Portage Ventures, and Threshold Ventures also pitching in. More here.

Cambio, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides AI-powered software to help institutional investors analyze and manage commercial real estate assets, raised an $18 million Series A round at a $100 million valuation. The deal was led by Maverick Ventures, with Y Combinator and Adverb also participating. The company has raised a total of $22 million. Crunchbase News has more here.

Equitable Earth, a six-year-old Paris startup that certifies nature-based carbon projects, raised a $14.8 million Series A led by an unnamed U.S.-based family office, with AENU, noa, and LocalGlobe also participating. The company has raised a total of $29.4 million. EU-Startups has more here.

ErVimmune, a seven-year-old startup based in Lyon, France, that develops cancer vaccines and cell therapies for hard-to-treat tumors, raised a $20 million Series A round. Investors included SPRIM Global Investments as well as prior backer Seventure Partners. EU-Startups has more here.

Level3AI, a two-year-old Singapore startup that builds AI agents for enterprise customer support across voice, email, and chat, raised a $13 million seed round led by Lightspeed and including BEENEXT, 500 Global, Sovereign’s Capital, and Goodwater Capital. TechNode Global has more here.

One to One Health, a thirteen-year-old company based in Chattanooga, TN, that provides employer-sponsored onsite and virtual primary care, raised a $12 million round from Frist Cressey Ventures. More here.

Optalysys, a 13-year-old company based in Leeds, UK, that develops photonic chips for AI, cloud infrastructure, and encrypted computing, raised a $30.9 million Series A round led by Northern Gritstone, with imec.xpand, Lingotto Horizon, and the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund also taking stakes. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

ABZ Innovation, a five-year-old Hungarian startup that manufactures heavy-duty agricultural and industrial drones for spraying, spreading, cleaning, and other specialised tasks, raised an $8.2 million round led by Vsquared Ventures, with Day One Capital and Assembly Ventures also participating. Tech Funding News has more here.

AiStrike, a three-year-old startup based in Pleasanton, CA, that develops AI cyber defense software for preemptive cybersecurity operations, raised a $7 million seed round led by Blumberg Capital, with Runtime Ventures, NextEra Energy Investments, and Oregon Venture Fund also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Antidote, a two-year-old London startup that automates law firm billing compliance by checking time entries against client billing rules and firm standards before invoices go out, raised a $5.4 million seed round led by Lakestar, with Concept Ventures and The LegalTech Fund also contributing. The company has raised a total of $7 million. UKTN has more here.

Blockit, a San Francisco startup recently co-founded by a Sequoia partner that uses AI agents to handle meeting scheduling by negotiating directly across calendars and communication tools, raised a $5 million seed round led by Sequoia. TechCrunch has more here.

Claim Health, a one-year-old New York startup that automates referral and reimbursement workflows for post-acute care providers, raised a $4.4 million seed round led by Maverick Ventures, with Peak XV, Y Combinator, and DHVP also investing. More here.

Cork Protocol, a two-year-old New York startup that is building an onchain system to manage and hedge risk in digital assets such as stablecoins and tokenized funds, raised a $5.5 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Road Capital, with 432 Ventures, BitGo Ventures, Cooley, DEPO Ventures, Funfair Ventures, G20 Group, Gate Labs, Hyperithm, IDEO Ventures, PEER VC, Stake Capital, and WAGMI Ventures also piling on. Coinspeaker has more here.

Plutus, a one-year-old Seattle startup that lets individual investors browse and automatically replicate curated investment portfolios traditionally used by hedge funds, raised a $1.2 million seed round led by Rocketship, with Visse Capital also anteing up. GeekWire has more here.

PraxisPro, a three-year-old Houston startup that coaches medical and life sciences sales reps through AI-driven training and practice tools, raised a $6 million seed round led by AlleyCorp, with Flybridge, South Loop Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Renterra, a three-year-old Chicago startup that provides operating software for equipment rental businesses, raised a $9 million Series A round. Avenue Growth Partners was the deal lead. Built In Chicago has more here.

Sparkli, a one-year-old Zurich startup that is building an AI-powered interactive learning platform for children, raised a $5 million pre-seed round led by Founderful, with Arc Investors and Innosuisse also opting in. Forbes has more here.

Symbiotic Security, a two-year-old New York startup that enforces security constraints during AI code generation, raised a $10 million seed round led by Alven, with Drysdale as well as previous investors Lerer Hippeau and Axeleo also investing. Sifted has more here.

Yuki, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that helps enterprises control and optimize data workloads in real-time, raised a $6 million seed round led by Hyperwise Ventures, with VelocitX, Tal Ventures, and Fresh.fund also participating. CTech has more here.

The next platform shift: Physical and edge AI, powered by Arm. 

As AI moves beyond the cloud and into the real world, a new platform shift is underway. From robots and vehicles to XR and edge systems, AI now must act in real time, under real-world constraints. At CES 2026, Arm-powered platforms are enabling this next phase - delivering efficient, secure, and scalable intelligence across cloud, edge, and physical systems. Read how Arm is powering the future AI. 

Healthier Capital, a three-year-old venture firm based in Menlo Park, CA, and founded by the former CEO of One Medical to focus on early-stage health-tech and AI-enabled healthcare innovation, raised its first fund in the amount of $220 million. More here.

Yelp is acquiring Hatch, an eight-year-old startup based in Lehi, UT, that provides AI-powered lead management and customer communications tools for service businesses, for roughly $270 million in cash plus an additional $30 million in employee retention payments. The price is roughly 12 times the company’s ARR, according to reporting from The Information. PYMNTS has more here.

Google DeepMind is acquiring key talent from Hume AI, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that develops emotionally aware voice interfaces that can detect and respond to users’ moods. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

BitGo, a 13-year-old Palo Alto company that provides crypto custody and digital asset security services, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange with a $2.59 billion valuation after shares jumped 24.6% from its $18 offer price. Reuters has more here.

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook has quietly given his exec John Ternus oversight of Apple’s design teams, putting Ternus in charge of coordinating design strategy across hardware and software and signaling that Ternus could be first in line to succeed Cook. 9to5 Mac has more here.

At a Bloomberg Television interview in Davos, Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said the claim that Chinese AI is lagging behind the U.S. is a “fairy tale.“ “China is not behind the West,” he said, noting that China’s open-source technology is “probably stressing the CEOs in the US.” More here.

In an interview with MIT Technology Review, former AI researcher and AMI Labs co-founder Yann LeCun claims that large language models cannot be scaled into human-level intelligence and that the industry’s belief that they can is “simply false.” More here.

Caroline Ellison was released yesterday from federal custody after serving about 14 months of a two-year sentence tied to the $11 billion FTX fraud. Business Insider has more here.

Autodesk, a 44-year-old San Francisco company that sells design and engineering software including AutoCAD, said it will cut about 1,000 jobs or roughly 7% of its workforce. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The video hosting platform Vimeo has begun layoffs following its acquisition by Bending Spoons for $1.38 billion, with reports suggesting a large percentage of staff will be impacted. TechCrunch has more here.

A new survey finds executives boast about big productivity gains from generative AI while most workers report minimal time savings. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The New York Times reports that about 9 employees have left Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab for OpenAI, takeover talks with Meta last summer went nowhere, and Murati has been spending more time with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, raising fresh questions about the startup’s future. More here.

Over a nine-day period starting in late December, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot posted more than 4.4 million AI-generated images on X, with independent analyses estimating that 41% to 65% were sexually explicit. The New York Times has more here.

Waymo has opened paid robotaxi rides in Miami across a roughly 60-square-mile service area, marking its 6th U.S. market and reinforcing its lead in the autonomous taxi space. TechCrunch has more here.

A former xAI engineer sparked controversy after saying on a podcast that the company fast-tracked construction of its Memphis data center by filing paperwork with the state that used temporary land leases and permit categories commonly used for carnivals. Gizmodo has more here.

New research testing AI systems on real consulting, banking, and legal work finds they routinely fail complex, multi-domain tasks, suggesting that agentic AI remains far from replacing white-collar jobs despite rapid progress and heavy corporate spending. TechCrunch has more here.

Secret Mall Apartment, a Netflix documentary that drops tomorrow, tells the story of eight young Rhode Island artists who secretly built and lived in a hidden apartment inside the Providence Place Mall for nearly four years in the 2000s.

Shelter Island’s $18 million Osofsky House, a six-bedroom Norman Jaffe-designed modernist manse with 175 feet of Gardiners Bay frontage, features floor-to-ceiling glass, a movie theater, gym, chef’s kitchen, heated pool, outdoor pavilion, and tennis court on 1.7 acres.

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