President Trump is set to sign a deal tomorrow that will spin TikTok’s U.S. operations into a joint venture with American investors holding control, ByteDance capped under 20%, and a board featuring the likes of Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and the Murdochs. NBC has more here.

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By Connie Loizos

The $100 billion partnership between Nvidia and OpenAI, announced Monday, represents – for now – the latest mega-deal reshaping the AI infrastructure landscape. The agreement involves non-voting shares tied to massive chip purchases and enough computing power for more than 5 million U.S. households, deepening the relationship between two of AI’s most powerful players.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud is placing a different bet entirely. While the industry’s biggest players cement ever-tighter partnerships, Google is hellbent on capturing the next generation of AI companies before they become too big to court.

Francis deSouza, its COO, has seen the AI revolution from multiple vantage points. As the former CEO of genomics giant Illumina, he watched machine learning transform drug discovery. As co-founder of a two-year-old AI alignment startup, Synth Labs, he has grappled with the safety challenges of increasingly powerful models. Now, having joined the C-suite at Google Cloud in January, he’s orchestrating a massive wager on AI’s second wave.

It’s a story deSouza likes to tell in numbers. In a conversation with this editor earlier this week, he noted several times that nine out of the top 10 AI labs use Google’s infrastructure. He also said that nearly all generative AI unicorns run on Google Cloud, that 60% of all gen AI startups worldwide have chosen Google as their cloud provider, and that the company has lined up $58 billion in new revenue commitments over the next two years, which represents more than double its current annual run rate.

Asked what percentage of Google Cloud’s revenue comes from AI companies, he offers instead that “AI is resetting the cloud market, and Google Cloud is leading the way, especially with startups.”

The Nvidia-OpenAI deal exemplifies the scale of consolidation sweeping AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s original $1 billion OpenAI investment has grown to nearly $14 billion. Amazon followed with $8 billion in Anthropic investments, securing deep hardware customizations that essentially tailor AI training to work better with Amazon’s infrastructure. Oracle has emerged as a surprise winner, too, landing a $30 billion cloud deal with OpenAI and then securing a jaw-dropping $300 billion five-year commitment starting in 2027.

Even Meta, despite building its own infrastructure, signed a $10 billion deal with Google Cloud while planning $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure spending through 2028. The Trump administration’s $500 billion “Stargate” project, involving SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle, adds another layer to these interlocking partnerships.

Cohere, a six-year-old Toronto startup that builds enterprise AI models, raised a $100 million extension round at a $7 billion valuation. Investors included Business Development Bank of Canada and Nexxus Capital Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Modular, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that helps developers run AI applications across different computer chips without rewriting code, raised a $250 million funding round at a $1.6 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund and joined by DFJ Growth as well as previous investors GV, General Catalyst, and Greylock. Reuters has more here.

Signal AI, a 12-year-old London company that helps enterprises monitor and assess reputation using both external and internal data sources, raised a $165 million round. Battery Ventures was the deal lead. PYMNTS has more here.

WeTravel, an 11-year-old San Francisco and Amsterdam company that provides booking and payment software for multi-day travel operators, raised an $84.3 million Series C round led by Sapphire Ventures, with Left Lane Capital, Base10, and Cross Creek also participating. EU-Startups has more here.

Zerohash, an eight-year-old Chicago startup that provides crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization infrastructure for financial institutions, raised a $104 million Series D round at a $1 billion valuation. Interactive Brokers led the transaction, with Morgan Stanley, Apollo, SoFi, Jump Crypto, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, IMC, FTMO, Liberty City Ventures, PEAK6, tastytrade, and Nyca Partners also piling on. The company has raised a total of $275 million. Fortune has more here.

BizzyCar, a six-year-old startup based in St. Peters, MO, that develops AI-powered recall management software for auto dealerships, raised a $20 million Series B follow-on round led by Dealer Tire, with FM Capital also joining in. The company has raised a total of $50+ million. More here.

Caregility, a six-year-old startup based in Eatontown, NJ, that provides virtual care technology for hospitals and health systems, raised a $25.1 million Series A-2 and Series C round. Star Mountain Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $92 million. More here.

Emergent, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that lets non-technical users create apps with prompts, raised a $23 million Series A round led by Lightspeed, with investors including Y Combinator, Together, Balaji Srinivasan, Jeff Dean, and Devendra Chaplot. The company has raised a total of $30 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Goodvest, a five-year-old Paris startup that offers investment products aligned with the Paris Agreement and excludes industries such as fossil fuels and tobacco, raised a $14.1 million Series B round led by Serena, with Ring Capital, Polytechnique Ventures, ALM Innovation, and Globivest also pitching in. Startup Rise EU has more here.

Greptile, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds AI-powered code reviewers to validate human- and AI-generated software, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Benchmark Capital, with Y Combinator and Initialized Capital also contributing. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Leo Cancer Care, an 11-year-old UK company that develops upright radiotherapy treatment devices, raised a $40 million round. Catalio Capital Management was the deal lead. Medical Device Network has more here.

Manas AI, a New York startup founded this year that uses AI to accelerate drug discovery and development, raised a $26 million seed extension round. Investors included General Catalyst, Reid Hoffman, The General Partnership, Wisdom Ventures, Blitzscaling Ventures, Westbound Equity Partners, and Mosaic Ventures. More here.

Mimica, a seven-year-old London startup that uses process intelligence to help enterprises train and operate AI agents, raised a $26.2 million Series B round led by Paladin Capital Group, with Khosla Ventures, LGVP, and Entrepreneurs First also taking part. More here.

Obot AI, a three-year-old startup based in Cupertino, CA, that helps enterprises manage secure connections for AI agents using the Model Context Protocol, raised a $35 million seed round co-led by Mayfield Fund and Nexus Venture Partners. More here.

Raiku, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that builds infrastructure to make Solana transactions faster and more predictable for institutional users, raised a $13.5 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, with Jump Crypto, Lightspeed Faction, Reciprocal Ventures, Initial Ventures, Hashkey Capital, Figment Capital, and Big Brain Holdings also investing. The Defiant has more here.

Revyve, a six-year-old Dutch startup that turns spent brewer’s yeast into functional proteins to replace eggs and additives in foods, raised a $28.2 million Series B round co-led by ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund and Invest-NL, with Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij, Danstar Ferment, and Grey Silo Ventures as well as previous investors Oost NL and Royal Cosun also piling on. Green Queen Media has more here.

Synthesized, a five-year-old startup with offices in London and New York that uses AI to automate software testing, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Redalpine Venture Partners, with IQ Capital, Mercia Ventures, UBS, and Seedcamp as well as previous investor Deutsche Bank also weighing in. Fortune has more here.

Ankored, a four-year-old Boston startup that helps youth sports organizations simplify safety and compliance, raised a $4.3 million seed round led by Rally Ventures. More here.

ArkeaBio, a three-year-old Boston startup that is developing a vaccine to reduce methane emissions from livestock, raised a $7 million Series A1 round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and AgriZeroNZ. The company has raised a total of $40+ million. More here.

Belfort, a startup founded this year based in San Francisco and Leuven, Belgium, that develops chips to process encrypted data without decryption, raised a $6 million seed round led by Vsquared Ventures, with Anagram, Protocol VC, Inovia Capital, Syndicate One, Prototype, Credibly Neutral, Jeff Dean, and Naval Ravikant also anteing up. Sifted has more here.

DaltonTx, a one-year-old London startup that develops adaptive AI-enabled discovery platforms for drug R&D, raised a $5.6 million seed round. Redalpine, IQ Capital Partners, and Seedcamp invested in the deal. More here.

Genstore, a startup founded this year based in Westlake Village, CA, that uses AI to help merchants quickly create and manage online stores, raised a $10 million seed round led by Weimob, with additional investors including Lighthouse Founders' Fund. More here.

Holy Technologies, a three-year-old Hamburg startup that automates manufacturing of lightweight composite components with AI and robotics, raised a $5 million seed round. Investors included Rockstart, Vanagon, SANDS, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg, and EIT Manufacturing. More here.

Huxe, a San Francisco startup founded this year that uses audio to generate personalized news briefings and research podcasts with AI hosts, raised a $4.6 million seed round from Conviction, Genius Ventures, Dylan Field, and Jeff Dean. TechCrunch has more here.

InCountry, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that provides data protection tools for AI, identity, and data sovereignty, raised a $10 million round led by Arbor Ventures, with Caffeinated Ventures and Accelerator Ventures also chipping in. More here.

Nilo, a one-year-old startup based in Spain that lets people create interactive 3D games and worlds using AI, raised a $4 million seed round led by Supercell, with Andreessen Horowitz, KFund, Flex Capital, Next Tier Ventures, Shilling VC, Essence VC, Corenest Capital, Earthling VC, Prototype Capital, and Script Capital also joining in. Mobidictum has more here.

Scindo, a five-year-old London startup that develops AI-driven enzymes to create sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based chemicals, raised a $5.4 million seed round co-led by Kadmos Capital and Clay Capital, with PINC, Synbioven, AgFunder, SOSV, Farvatn Venture, and Savantus Ventures also opting in. EU-Startups has more here.

Superpanel, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that automates legal intake for law firms, raised a $5.3 million seed round co-led by Outlander VC and Field Ventures, with LOI Venture, Zenda Capital, 8-Bit Capital, and Behind Genius Ventures also chiming in. TechCrunch has more here.

Track3D, a three-year-old startup based in Milpitas, CA, that uses AI to help construction teams monitor projects, raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by Ironspring Ventures and Zacua Ventures, with previous investors Shadow Ventures and Monta Vista Capital also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $14.3 million. More here.

Workfully, a three-year-old Barcelona startup that helps independent recruiters manage and monetize their talent networks, raised a $4.7 million seed round led by Shilling VC, with previous investors Indico, Pitchdrive, and Secways also chiming in. Tech.eu has more here.

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Red Bull Ventures has become a cornerstone limited partner in Apex Capital’s athlete-backed fund, adding its weight to a vehicle already backed by 100+ pro athletes and signaling the energy-drink giant’s deeper push into sports and startups. Bloomberg has more here.

In what is unquestionably a sign of the times, Fermi, a startup founded this year in Amarillo, TX, that is building a massive energy-and-data complex to power AI workloads, has filed to go public at a $13.2 billion valuation despite having no revenue to speak of. Reuters has more here.

Michael Moritz, the billionaire VC and former Sequoia star, blasted Trump’s new $100,000 H-1B visa fee in a fiery FT op-ed, calling it a “brutish extortion scheme” that will only drive tech jobs overseas. TechCrunch has more here.

Sam Altman and quantum computing pioneer David Deutsch agreed in Berlin that a Turing Test 2.0 should be whether an AI can not just solve quantum gravity but also explain the reasoning behind it. Business Insider has more here.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino told CNBC’s Game Plan conference that concerts are “underpriced” compared to sports and still have “a lot of runway” for higher prices, a take that landed poorly given Ticketmaster’s already notorious fees. Mashable has more here.

Microsoft is giving its Copilot users a choice between OpenAI and Anthropic, a clear signal that Redmond’s once-exclusive marriage with OpenAI is loosening and the AI LLM war is only getting hotter. TechCrunch has more here.

The Wall Street Journal digs deep into Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee, a rollout so muddled by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that it rattled Silicon Valley and underscored the clash between immigration hardliners and tech benefactors. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Bain warns that AI companies will face an $800 billion annual revenue gap by 2030 to cover their ballooning compute and energy bills, raising fresh doubts about sky-high valuations and whether Big Tech’s $500 billion AI spending spree can be sustained. Bloomberg has more here.

VCs are apparently so desperate to woo some AI companies that they are offering founders with private jet rides, luxury box seats, and origami art stuffed with term sheets while flooding them with preemptive term sheets and verbal offers before they have even begun to raise money. Bloomberg has more here.

Neon, an app that pays users to record their phone calls and then sells the audio to AI firms, has climbed to No. 2 in Apple’s U.S. App Store, highlighting just how willing some people are to swap privacy for cash. TechCrunch has more here.

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