Top News

The Trump administration has warned Harvard it could seize patents tied to federally funded research unless the school proves compliance with disclosure rules by September 5, escalating a broader campaign that has already frozen billions in funding and targeted other elite universities. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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AI is moving from theory to implementation and private capital is paying attention. Some firms are already transforming how they operate, while others are exploring where AI can deliver the most value.

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Googlers’ AI Startup OpenArt Now Creates ‘Brain Rot’ Videos in Just One Click

By Lauren Forristal

AI-generated “brain rot” videos are popping up all over the internet and getting a lot of attention. Currently gaining traction among younger users, these clips feature wild characters, like a shark wearing sneakers and a ballerina with a cappuccino for a head.

One startup driving this trend is OpenArt, founded by two former Google employees in 2022. It touts around 3 million monthly active users.

The company recently launched a new “one-click story” feature in open beta, which allows users to input a single sentence, a script, or even a song and turn it into a one-minute video with a story arc. This can include anything from a light-hearted story for TikTok to more serious content like explainer videos or music videos for YouTube. OpenArt even envisions this feature being used for advertising.

With One-Click Story, there are three templates to choose from: Character Vlog, Music Video, or Explainer. For a character vlog, users start by uploading an image of their character and entering a prompt. If a song is uploaded, the software understands the lyrics and creates an animation that aligns with the song’s themes, like illustrating flowers blooming in a garden.

Users can edit individual clips by revisiting the editor’s storyboard mode and tweaking prompts for a more refined result. The platform aggregates over 50 AI models, allowing users to choose their preferred tools, such as DALLE-3, GPT, Imagen, Flux Kontext, and Stable Diffusion.

The goal of the new feature is to further lower the barrier for becoming an AI creator, a medium that remains immensely popular despite ongoing controversy. 

Massive Fundings

Apreo Health, a five-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, CA, that is developing a minimally invasive implant that props open damaged airways to release trapped air and improve breathing in people with severe emphysema, raised a $130 million Series B round co-led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and Norwest, with additional participation from F-Prime, Intuitive Ventures, Lightstone Ventures, and Santé Ventures. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Minghui Pharmaceutical, a seven-year-old Shanghai company that develops and commercializes late-stage drugs for cancer and immune disorders, including a near-market topical JAK inhibitor and multiple antibody-based therapies, raised a $131 million round co-led by OrbiMed and Qiming Venture Partners, with BioTrack Capital, 5Y Capital, New Day Fund, and Wider Link Enterprise Investment as well as previous investor TF Capital also contributing. More here.

n8n, a six-year-old Berlin startup that enables users to connect various applications and APIs to automate tasks and business processes without requiring extensive coding knowledge, is reportedly in the market to raise hundreds of millions of euros at a $2.3 billion pre-money valuation, an increase of more than 6X from the valuation it secured in a round led by Highland Europe just four(!) months ago. Accel is supposedly leading this latest financing. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

August Health, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that makes electronic health record software that helps senior living communities manage care, operations, and communication with residents’ families, raised a $29 million Series B round led by Base10 Partners, with General Catalyst, Matrix Partners, Equitage Ventures, Senior Living Transformation Co., and Stanford University also participating. More here.

Bit2Me, an 11-year-old Spanish company that operates a regulated cryptocurrency exchange and custody service that lets people and organizations in Spanish-speaking markets and the EU buy, sell, store, and use digital assets, raised a $35 million round. Tether Ventures was the deal lead. More here.

Capacity, a nine-year-old St. Louis startup that develops AI software that automates customer service and internal support tasks for contact centers across digital and voice channels, raised a $42.6 million Series D round and $50 million in debt. It also acquired Call Criteria and Verbio Technologies. TVC Capital and Toloka.vc participated in the equity piece. The company has raised a total of $155 million in equity and debt. More here.

Casap, a three-year-old New York startup that is building an AI system to handle payment disputes and fraud cases for financial institutions, particularly for credit and debit card transactions, raised a $25 million round. Emergence Capital led the investment, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners, and SoFi also taking part. The company has raised a total of $33.5 million. PYMNTS has more here.

Fort Robotics, a seven-year-old Philadelphia startup that makes systems that let builders and operators of autonomous machines remotely control them and keep them operating safely around people and worksites, raised an $18.9 million Series B extension round. Tiger Global led the investment. The company has raised a total of $60.5 million. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Liquid, a three-year-old São Paulo startup that builds AI-powered infrastructure that automates and standardizes credit decisions for Brazil’s real estate sector, raised a $2.1 million round led by SaaSholic, with Flourish Ventures, Honey Island by 4UM, and Crivo Ventures also joining in. More here.

Ostra Security, a seven-year-old startup based in Eden Prairie, MN, that runs outsourced cybersecurity operations for businesses, using human-led teams and specialized software to limit attacks, raised a $2.6 million Series A extension co-led by General Catalyst and Rally Ventures. The SaaS News has more here.

Translucent AI, a one-year-old New York startup that is developing an AI-powered financial analyst for healthcare operators, raised a $7 million seed round led by NEA and including Virtue, FPV, and Redesign Health. More here.

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Exits

Prompt Security, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that protects enterprises from AI-related threats like prompt injection and data leakage, is being acquired by Mountain View-based SentinelOne, a public cybersecurity company. Jump Capital led Prompt's $18 million Series A round last November. More here.

Going Public

Heartflow, a 13-year-old company based in Redwood City, CA, that makes medical imaging and diagnostics software, jumped 51% above its IPO price in its Nasdaq debut, signaling Wall Street’s revived appetite for new listings despite the company’s widening losses. Barron’s has more here.

People

While embattled Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is telling employees the company is working to “ensure [President Trump’s team members] have all the facts” about his investments in Chinese companies, The Wall Street Journal reports that Tan’s board may not be seeing eye-to-eye with its chief executive. More here.

In a Reddit ask-me-anything session today, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had a lot of ‘splainin’ to do about the “chart crime” in the GPT-5 roll-out presentation and why GPT-5 seemed “dumber” than GPT-4o. TechCrunch has more here.

Keith Rabois’ pandemic-era e-commerce roll-up OpenStore is ditching nearly all of its 40-plus Shopify brands, slashing staff, and rebranding around its Jack Archer menswear label after a fire-sale funding round slashed its valuation from unicorn to $50 million. CNBC has more here.

Post-Its

Speaking of Mr. Rabois …

Essential Reads

President Trump’s new executive order instructing regulators to punish “politically motivated” debanking echoes years of crypto industry complaints that banks have cut crypto companies off from basic financial services. Wired has more here.

The Wall Street Journal digs into Meta’s newly christened TBD Lab, the superintelligence skunkworks now packed with high-priced hires from OpenAI and Google that’s racing to ship the next Llama model and position it as a serious ChatGPT rival. More here.

Google is scrambling to patch a glitch in Gemini that is leading the LLM to utter self-loathing lines like “I am a disgrace to all possible universes,” a bug the company insists is more of a coding hiccup than an existential crisis. Business Insider has more here.

Detours

Nantucket is lining up against Kylie Swanson, an Oklahoma influencer who launched a $3,800-per-head luxury retreat for followers without securing local permits, irking residents by soliciting freebies, hiring off-island vendors, and clashing with the island’s fiercely guarded small-town culture.

Seth Rogen’s five favorite places in L.A. (We love The Studio and Platonic.)

Brain Rot

Retail Therapy

Pathfinder Ranches, a 916,000-acre Wyoming spread larger than Rhode Island is hitting the market for $79.5 million, offering buyers a working cattle ranch that boasts rivers, reservoirs, and even its own church.

A $350 toothpaste squeezer.

Tips (the non-pecuniary kind)

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