Happy Friday! So, great news: famed VC Vinod Khosla is now coming to Disrupt, too; we can’t wait to sit down with him to talk about “bonkers” valuations, what the Fortune 500 will likely look like in another 10 years, and so much more.

Also! Inside Disrupt this year, we're hosting an exclusive StrictlyVC event open to all investor pass holders, featuring an off-the-record session where LPs from Cendana, Makena Capital, Lexington Partners, and Getty will decode what makes pitches irresistible for the benefit of everyone in the audience. Within this event, we're also inviting select GPs to participate in a collaborative lab session where these top LPs will use your actual materials as the foundation for real-time feedback that benefits the entire room — apply now if you want your pitch to be part of this insider workshop. The session concludes with top founder-VC Kevin Hartz revealing how he has successfully navigated LP relationships for years, including across multiple SPAC sponsorships and venture funds. — CL

Top News

Despite Elon Musk’s claim that reports of another xAI raise are “fake news,” sources tell CNBC that xAI is raising $10 billion at a $200 billion valuation just weeks after securing $10 billion in debt and equity at a $150 billion valuation. More here.

Presidents Trump and Xi just blessed a long-negotiated deal to spin off a U.S. version of TikTok to Trump-friendly investors like Oracle and Silver Lake, leaving ByteDance under the 20% threshold but still licensing its prized algorithm to TikTok, a loophole critics say falls short of a true split from China. The Washington Post has more here.

According to The Information, OpenAI plans to spend $100 billion over the next five years just on backup cloud servers, a figure that comes in addition to the $350 billion that it has committed to pay in core compute costs. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Sponsored By …

Find breakout startups before they’re obvious.

With Synaptic Research, get your hands on weekly lists of high-potential startups, reports on emerging AI markets, and interesting market maps.

Check out the latest edition.

Trump Hits H-1B Visas With $100,000 Fee, Targeting the Program That Launched Elon Musk and Instagram

By Connie Loizos

President Trump just made it a lot more expensive for companies to hire foreign workers through the H-1B program. The White House announced Friday that Trump signed a proclamation requiring employers to pay a hefty $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications, an enormous jump from the current $215 lottery registration fee.

H-1B visas allow U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in fields that typically require technical expertise like IT, engineering, mathematics, or medicine. The program is capped at 65,000 new visas annually, plus an additional 20,000 for foreign graduates with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. The visas are awarded through a lottery system and typically last three years, though holders can extend them or apply for green cards.

The administration’s new move is designed to crack down on what it calls widespread abuse of the program, which it blames for displacing American workers. According to the White House, the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has skyrocketed from 32% in 2003 to over 65% today, while unemployment among recent computer science graduates has hit 6.1%.

Silicon Valley will undoubtedly be up in arms over the initiative. The restrictions take aim at a program that helped create some of the region’s biggest success stories.

Elon Musk, Trump’s close ally for most of this year, initially worked in the U.S. on an H-1B after arriving as a student. In fact, Musk, taking issue with a perceived critic of the H-1B program in December on his platform X, tweeted to the individual that, “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and F*** YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”

Massive Fundings

Wayve, an 8-year-old London startup that develops self-driving car technology, is in advanced talks to raise a $500 million round from Nvidia. TechCrunch has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Centari, a two-year-old New York startup that provides AI-powered deal intelligence for legal and financial professionals, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Sentinel Global, with GTMfund, South Park Commons, Alt Capital, RiverPark Ventures, and Recall Capital also participating. More here.

Finary, a four-year-old Paris startup that helps individuals manage investments across asset classes in one place, raised a $28.7 million Series B round. Investors included PayPal Ventures as well as prior backers Y Combinator, Speedinvest, LocalGlobe, and Kima Ventures. Tech Funding News has more here.

Mueon, a startup founded this year based in Hillsboro, OR, that develops semiconductor-based systems for AI and hyperscale computing, raised a $15.5 million seed round led by Intel Capital, with additional participation from Geodesic Alliance Fund and Oregon Venture Fund. More here.

Samara, a three-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that designs, builds, installs, and finances accessory dwelling units, raised a $34 million Series B round led by Thrive Capital. (Samara was co-founded by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who is also, in an unexpected twist, now the country’s first “chief design officer.”) The Real Deal has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Blacksmith, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides fast continuous integration for GitHub Actions so software teams can run tests and deployments more quickly, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Google Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Factor2 Energy, a German startup founded this year that develops CO₂-based geothermal power systems using geologically stored CO₂ to generate baseload electricity, raised a $8.8 million seed round led by At One Ventures, with High-Tech Gründerfonds, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Verve Ventures, and Siemens Energy Ventures also investing. EU-Startups has more here.

Le Walk, a one-year-old New York startup that offers location-based audio tours guided by local experts, raised a $4.1 million seed round co-led by Adverb Ventures and Lerer Hippeau, with Origins Fund and Point72 Ventures also chipping in. More here.

MoldCo, a two-year-old Boston startup that provides telehealth-based diagnosis and treatment for mold-related illness, raised an $8 million seed round. Cantos and Collaborative Fund were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $11 million. CityBiz has more here.

Moodwork, an eight-year-old Paris startup that helps employees manage workplace mental health through self-assessments, personalized support, and expert guidance, raised a $3.3 million seed round led by Newfund. Startup Rise EU has more here.

Moove, a five-year-old Lagos startup that provides vehicle financing for ride-hailing, logistics, and delivery drivers, is raising $300+ million at a $2+ billion valuation. Bloomberg has more here.

Nolla Health, a one-year-old New York and Norwegian startup that uses AI to provide acne treatment through skin scans, clinician-reviewed plans, and custom medications, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with SNÖ Ventures and Diede van Lamoen also stepping up. Beauty Independent has more here.

Seven Starling, a five-year-old New York startup that provides virtual maternal mental health care during fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenthood, raised an $8 million round led by Rethink Impact, with Pear VC, Zeal Capital Partners, Magnify Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Expa, Fiore Ventures, the March of Dimes, Rogue Women’s Fund, and Graham & Walker also piling on. Femtech Insider has more here.

Sponsored By …

Fractional ownership isn’t new … but Pacaso has perfected it for the modern era. By combining technology, financing, and hospitality, Pacaso unlocks access to luxury second homes for a fraction of the cost. Co-owners enjoy equity, flexible stays, and hassle-free management in stunning global destinations. Backed by seasoned entrepreneurs, Pacaso is transforming how people buy and enjoy real estate. Ready to see what’s next? Start exploring at pacaso.com

New Funds

VoLo Earth Ventures, a four-year-old VC firm based in Boulder, CO, that backs early-stage climate tech across energy, mobility, buildings, and industry, raised its second fund in the amount of $135 million. ESG Today has more here.

Exits

Nvidia just shelled out more than $900 million to hire the CEO and key staff of Enfabrica, a six-year-old Mountain View startup that builds tech to link huge clusters of GPUs, while also licensing its core networking technology. CNBC has more here.

Going Public

Navan, a 10-year-old Palo Alto company that helps companies manage business travel, expenses, and payments, filed to go public on Nasdaq after reporting $613 million in revenue and $7.6 billion in gross bookings across 10,000 customers. The company’s backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, and Coatue. CNBC has more here.

People

Ashish Kumar, Tesla’s AI lead for its Optimus humanoid robot, has jumped to Meta just weeks after Elon Musk declared the robot project would account for 80% of Tesla’s future value. Investor’s Business Daily has more here.

Layoffs

SoftBank’s Vision Fund is cutting nearly 20% of staff as Masayoshi Son doubles down on massive AI bets like a $500 billion U.S. data center push with OpenAI, marking a return to his trademark high-risk, high-reward style. Reuters has more here.

Snorkel AI, a 5-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that helps companies build and refine AI training datasets with a mix of automation and human expertise, laid off 13% of its 240-member staff after raising $100 million at a $1.3 billion valuation in May. Business Insider has more here.

Post-Its

Essential Reads

According to a report in The Information, OpenAI has poached more than two dozen Apple hardware veterans this year with million-dollar stock packages and promises of faster, less bureaucratic work as it quietly lines up suppliers to build devices ranging from glasses to a voice recorder. MacRumors has more here.

Meta’s big smart glasses demo at this week’s Connect flopped not because of bad Wi-Fi but because the company accidentally triggered every pair of glasses in the room and overloaded its own dev servers, while a never-before-seen bug killed a WhatsApp call. TechCrunch has more here.

Neuralink is set to begin a U.S. clinical trial in October to test brain implants that turn thoughts into text for speech-impaired patients while openly signaling plans to move into consumer devices by 2030. Bloomberg has more here.

Detours

San Francisco’s AI boom has inspired new nightlife trends, from robot boxing matches and trivia nights to AI-judged contests where tech bros are rated on their designer fits.

Thrill-seeking travelers are paying big money to tour high-risk destinations like Afghanistan and the Central African Republic, often in search of social media cred.

Brain Rot

edfairburn

439K followers

View more on Instagram

Retail Therapy

Johnny Carson’s former Point Dume estate in Malibu just hit the market for $110 million, complete with a cliffside main house, saltwater pool and grotto, screening room, championship tennis court with pavilion, guesthouses, and sweeping ocean views.

Rimowa is reimagining its iconic aluminum suitcase as a $2,400 backpack.

Before You Go …

Quick question: our Table of Contents links don't work in Gmail, but they do work in Apple Mail and on the web. What do you think? Should we keep the Table of Contents or ditch it? Thanks!

Tips (the non-pecuniary kind)

Please send all of your hot gossip to [email protected] or [email protected].

Want to advertise on StrictlyVC?

To book ads directly, contact us at [email protected].