Top News

The Trump administration has told major semiconductor design software companies, reportedly including Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens EDA, to stop selling to Chinese firms entirely. Synopsys got blindsided, suspending its fiscal year guidance after receiving a Commerce Department letter Thursday, just hours after announcing quarterly results. It's Washington's latest move to keep China from developing advanced chips. The FT has more here.

The New York Times just cut a multiyear deal to license its content to Amazon’s AI efforts, marking a sharp pivot from its copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and signaling that even holdouts are now cashing in on the AI training data gold rush. The New York Times has more here.

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In a Victory for Palmer Luckey, Meta and Anduril Work on Mixed Reality Headsets for the Military

By Julie Bort

On Thursday, Anduril and Meta announced news that feels like a fairy tale ending for Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The two companies are working together to build extended reality (XR) devices for the U.S. military, Anduril announced in a blog post.

“I am glad to be working with Meta once again,” Luckey is quoted as saying in the post. “My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.”

This partnership stems from the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) Next program, formerly called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) Next. IVAS was a massive military contract, with a total $22 billion budget, originally awarded to Microsoft in 2018 intended to develop HoloLens-like AR glasses for soldiers.

But after endless problems, in February the Army stripped management of the program from Microsoft and awarded it to Anduril, with Microsoft staying on as a cloud provider. The intent is to eventually have multiple suppliers of mixed reality glasses for soldiers.

All of this meant that if Luckey’s former employer, Meta, wanted to tap into the potentially lucrative world of military VR/AR/XR headsets, it would need to go through Anduril.

The devices will be based on tech out of Meta’s AR/VR research center Reality Labs, the post says. They’ll use Meta’s Llama AI model, and they will tap into Anduril’s command and control software known as Lattice. The idea is to provide soldiers with a heads-up display of battlefield intelligence in real time.

Luckey is apparently feeling good about this reconciliation. He was, of course, famously fired from Facebook in 2017, about three years after Facebook bought his startup Oculus for $2 billion. This came after Luckey was embroiled in a brouhaha over his support for Donald Trump in his 2016 election. Luckey turned around and founded Anduril in 2017, with co-founders Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, and Matt Grimm.

More here. 

Massive Fundings

Chalk, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds data infrastructure tools to cut the cost and improve the speed of AI inference, raised a $50 million Series A round at a $500 million valuation. The deal was led by Felicis, with Triatomic Capital as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Unusual Ventures, and Xfund also investing. SiliconANGLE has more here.

ClickHouse, an eight-year-old San Francisco company that is building an open-source columnar database optimized for ultra-fast analytics, has raised a $350 million Series C round led by Khosla Ventures, with Index Ventures and Lightspeed also taking part. The company has raised a total of $650+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Empathy, a five-year-old New York startup that helps families navigate the emotional and practical challenges of bereavement with guided support and task management tools, raised a $72 million Series C round led by Adams Street Partners, with previous investors General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Entrée Capital, Brewer Lane Ventures, SemperVirens, Latitude, and LionTree also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $162 million. CTech has more here.

Grammarly, a 16-year-old San Francisco company that helps users write more clearly and correctly by offering real-time suggestions for grammar, spelling, tone, and style across emails, documents, and web content, raised $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst. TechCrunch has more here. 

Radiant, a five-year-old company in El Segundo, CA that develops portable nuclear microreactors to supply clean energy for defense and commercial use, raised a $165 million Series C round led by DCVC, with Giant Ventures, StepStone VC, Hanwha Asset Management Venture Fund, SGA Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Align Ventures, ARK Invest, Gigascale, HartBeat VC, and Pax Ventures also piling on. ESG Today has more here.

Wander, a four-year-old Austin startup that manages luxury vacation rentals and combines upscale properties with its own booking and smart home technology, raised a $50 million Series B co-led by QED Investors and Fifth Wall, with Redpoint Ventures, Uncork, Starwood, and Breyer Capital also investing. PhocusWire has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

AssistIQ, a four-year-old Montréal startup that helps hospitals track and manage surgical supply usage with AI to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes, raised an $11.5 million Series A round led by Battery Ventures, with previous investor Tamarind Hill also joining in. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Buildots, a seven-year-old Tel Aviv startup that provides AI-driven construction management tools to help teams track on-site progress and forecast delays using helmet-mounted cameras and predictive analytics, raised a $45 million Series D round led by Qumra Capital, with OG Venture Partners, TLV Partners, Poalim Equity, Future Energy Ventures, and Viola Growth also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $166 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Conduit, a four-year-old remote startup that is developing infrastructure for cross-border stablecoin payments, raised a $36 million Series A round co-led by Dragonfly and Altos Ventures, with Sound Ventures, Commerce Ventures, DCG, and Circle Ventures as well as previous investors Helios Digital Ventures and Portage Ventures also stepping up. PYMNTS has more here.

Creatify, a two-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that uses generative AI and integrated workflow tools to help advertisers automate the entire video ad process, from initial concept to testing and optimization, raised a $15.5 million Series A round. WndrCo and Kindred Ventures co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $23 million. More here.

Inven, a three-year-old Helsinki startup that provides an AI-native deal sourcing platform for private market investors, raised a $12.8 million Series A round co-led by Ventech and Vendep Capital, with previous investors Lifeline Ventures and Joint Effects also buying in. EU-Startups has more here.

Snabbit, a one-year-old Mumbai startup that connects consumers with recurring home services through an on-demand scheduling platform, raised a $19 million Series B round at an $80 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed, with previous investors Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Stotles, a six-year-old London startup that helps vendors grow revenue by uncovering and navigating public sector opportunities, raised a $13 million Series A round co-led by Headline and Acton, with Form Ventures and Seedcamp also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $22 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Vivodyne, a three-year-old Philadelphia startup that develops robotics-driven systems to streamline clinical testing for drug development, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Khosla Ventures, with Lingotto Investment Management, Helena Capital, Fortius Ventures, and previous investors Kairos Ventures, CS Ventures, Bison Ventures, and MBX Capital also chiming in. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Atomic Canyon, a one-year-old startup based in San Luis Obispo, CA, that develops generative AI tools to help nuclear industry professionals efficiently search, retrieve, and understand complex technical documentation, raised a $7 million seed round led by Energy Impact Partners, with Commonweal Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Wischoff Ventures, and Tower Research Ventures also opting in. TechCrunch has more here.

Clear Current, a two-year-old Albuquerque startup that helps businesses track and control their energy use with AI, aiming to cut waste and improve efficiency, raised a $4 million seed round led by Rho Ignition, with Coreline Ventures and Avesta Fund also chiming in. More here.

Endra AI, a one-year-old Stockholm startup that helps hardware companies accelerate product development by providing AI assistants for mechanical, electrical, and software engineering teams, raised a $3.4 million pre-seed round led by Norrsken VC. Tech.eu has more here.

Oncade, a San Francisco startup founded this year that offers a platform that helps developers distribute, promote, and monetize games, raised a $4 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. VentureBeat has more here.

Rumi, a one-year-old startup in Palo Alto, CA, that helps creators and brands boost content engagement by rewarding users for interactions, raised a $4.7 million pre-seed round. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz and EV3. VentureBeat has more here.

Stitch, a three-year-old Riyadh startup that helps entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia launch and grow financial products by providing infrastructure, compliance, and support tools, raised a $10 million seed round. Investors included Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC. Wamda has more here.

Unbound, an eleven-year-old New York company that helps enterprises adopt generative AI through tools that streamline experimentation, deployment, and internal adoption, raised a $4 million seed round led by Race Capital, with Wayfinder Ventures, Y Combinator, and Massive Tech Ventures also opting in. SecurityWeek has more here.

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New Funds

Cathay Innovation, a 10-year-old San Francisco and Paris VC firm, just raised a third $1 billion fund to back vertical AI startups across health, fintech, consumer, and energy sectors in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Investors in Healthcare has more here. 

Going Public

Omada Health, a 13-year-old San Francisco company that delivers virtual care programs for chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, is shooting for a $1.1 billion valuation in its upcoming Nasdaq IPO, according to a recent update of its IPO prospectus. CNBC has more here. 

People

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is warning that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years but says no one in power is taking the threat seriously. Axios has more here. 

There have been plenty of stories about a disenchanted Elon Musk leaving Washington, but now comes word that his chief lieutenant, Steve Davis, CEO of Boring Co., is also departing DOGE. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

In a court filing yesterday, OpenAI asked a judge to include its countersuit in the upcoming trial over Elon Musk’s claims that the company betrayed its nonprofit mission, accusing Musk of harassment and a sham $97.4 billion bid meant to drum up press. Reuters has more here. 

Essential Reads

According to a new Chainalysis report, the U.S. government holds more than $21 billion in seized crypto. The Washington Post has more here. 

Detours

Tinder is testing a height preference feature for paying users, a screening criterion that it once mocked in an April Fools’ Day announcement. (One wag even imagined a version that would permit men to override height requirements for a fee.) TechCrunch has more here. 

The producers of The Hunger Games' upcoming prequel are staging an open casting call for a minor role in the movie, and the TikTok auditions are just as terrible as you might expect.  

Retail Therapy

This 280-acre, $10 million Catskills estate comes complete with the world's largest maze.

A different kind of Apple Watch.