Before we officially clock out, here's a heads up that our newest StrictlyVC evening is just around the corner – this Wednesday night in the heart of Silicon Valley at the glass-lined Quad on Sand Hill Road, courtesy of our gracious co-hosts, the team at Mayfield. We're excited to announce that investing star Katie Haun is now planning to join us. Haun is deeply plugged into the crypto ecosystem, and given crypto's comeback has emerged as one of 2025's biggest stories, we're eager to get her perspective on a number of things. We're also thrilled about our other conversations, including with Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt; famed VC-entrepreneur Ali Partovi, who's joining us alongside Russell Kaplan, president of Cognition – a startup that received an early check from Partovi and is now growing so fast that coders worry it will take their jobs; and Navin Chaddha, an 18-year veteran of Mayfield who has been obsessed with AI for as long as he has run the firm and has a distinct point of view on what happens next. 

Come for the great conversations; stay for the drinks and networking. (Do nab your spot before we run out of room – we won't be doing another standalone evening like this until December.)

Top News

Meta’s investment in Scale AI just got more expensive: key customers Google, Microsoft, and xAI are fleeing the data-labeling firm over fears Meta could peek under the hood, blowing a hole in Scale’s $870 million business and handing rivals like Labelbox and Handshake their biggest opening yet. Reuters has more here. 

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New York Passes a Bill to Prevent AI-Fueled Disasters

By Maxwell Zeff

New York state lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday that aims to prevent frontier AI models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic from contributing to disaster scenarios, including the death or injury of more than 100 people, or more than $1 billion in damages.

The passage of the RAISE Act represents a win for the AI safety movement, which has lost ground in recent years as Silicon Valley and the Trump administration have prioritized speed and innovation. Safety advocates including Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and AI research pioneer Yoshua Bengio have championed the RAISE Act. Should it become law, the bill would establish America’s first set of legally mandated transparency standards for frontier AI labs.

The RAISE Act has some of the same provisions and goals as California’s controversial AI safety bill, SB 1047, which was ultimately vetoed. However, the co-sponsor of the bill, New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes, told TechCrunch in an interview that he deliberately designed the RAISE Act such that it doesn’t chill innovation among startups or academic researchers — a common criticism of SB 1047.

“The window to put in place guardrails is rapidly shrinking given how fast this technology is evolving,” said Senator Gounardes. “The people that know [AI] the best say that these risks are incredibly likely […] That’s alarming.”

The RAISE Act is now headed for New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, where she could either sign the bill into law, send it back for amendments, or veto it altogether.

If signed into law, New York’s AI safety bill would require the world’s largest AI labs to publish thorough safety and security reports on their frontier AI models. The bill also requires AI labs to report safety incidents, such as concerning AI model behavior or bad actors stealing an AI model, should they happen. If tech companies fail to live up to these standards, the RAISE Act empowers New York’s attorney general to bring civil penalties of up to $30 million.

More here. 

Massive Fundings

Canary Technologies, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that offers hotels an AI-enhanced guest management platform that lets guests check in, request services, pay, and chat via mobile or kiosks, raised a $80 million Series D round at a valuation of approximately $600 million. The deal lead was Brighton Park Capital, with previous investors Insight Partners, F-Prime Capital, Thayer Ventures, Y Combinator, and Commerce Ventures also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Clay, an eight-year-old New York startup that helps sales and marketing teams automate their outreach by using AI to find leads, enrich contact data, and write personalized emails, reportedly raised a Series C round at a valuation of approximately $3 billion. The round size was not disclosed. The deal was led by CapitalG, according to TechCrunch, which has more here. 

Look Up Space, a three-year-old startup based in Toulouse, France, that builds and operates a global network of ground-based radar and digital tools that detect, track, and analyze satellites and debris in orbit for governments, space agencies, insurers, and commercial satellite operators, raised a $57.7 million round led by ETF Partners, with Leadwind, KFund, EIC Fund, MIG Capital, Karista, and Expansion also investing. SpaceNews has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Antimetal, a three-year-old New York startup that helps companies using AWS save money, prevent downtime, and speed up debugging by automatically spotting issues, optimizing costs, and guiding fixes, raised a $20 million Series A round. Sound Ventures led the financing, with additional support from Buckley Ventures, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Aravind Srinivas, Aaron Levie, and Arash Ferdowsi, among others. More here.

Commons Clinic, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that provides in-person and virtual orthopedic, spine, and chronic care services supported by its own AI-powered platform, raised a $26 million Series B round. RA Capital was the lead investor, with Floating Point, SteelSky Ventures, Time BioVentures, and Courtside Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $60+ million. Hospital Management has more here.

Conveyor, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that automates vendor security reviews and RFP responses using AI, helping compliance and sales teams at B2B companies reduce time spent on manual questionnaires, raised a $20 million Series A round led by SignalFire, with Oregon Venture Fund and Cervin Ventures also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Ellipsis Health, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that runs a voice-based AI care manager that checks in with patients after visits, helps them follow care instructions, and attempts to spot emotional or health-related red flags, raised a $45 million Series A round co-led by Salesforce, Khosla Ventures, and CVS Health Ventures, with Mitsui Global Investment, Collier, E12, and AME Cloud Ventures also joining in. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Knowunity, a five-year-old Berlin startup whose app gives students a personalized AI-powered study companion, offering tailored explanations, flashcards, quizzes, and peer-created study notes, raised a $31.2 million Series B round led by XAnge, with additional participation from Project A, Redalpine, Educapital, Portfolion, Ring Capital, and Isomer Capital. EU-Startups has more here.

Parallel Bio, a four-year-old Boston startup that uses AI and lab-grown human immune tissue to test and predict the efficacy of new drugs and therapies, raised a $21 million Series A round. AIX Ventures was the deal lead, with Amplo and Marc Benioff as well as previous investors Metaplanet, Humba Ventures, Atypical Ventures, and Undeterred Capital also digging in. More here.

Yupp, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform enables users to compare AI-generated answers side by side, give feedback, and earn crypto-based rewards, raised a $33 million seed round. Andreessen Horowitz was the deal lead. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Olyzon, a one-year-old Paris startup that runs an AI-driven platform that helps advertisers plan, target, and sequence ads on connected TVs in real time, raised a $3.8 million seed extension round led by Cassius Capital and including previous investors Ventech and Eurazeo. Adweek has more here.

Sunrise Robotics, a two-year-old Slovenian startup that builds and deploys smart robot cells trained in virtual simulations to handle repetitive manufacturing tasks, raised an $8.5 million round led by Plural, with Tapestry, Seedcamp, Tiny.vc, and Prototype Capital also opting in. Silicon Canals has more here.

Warp, a four-year-old New York startup that operates a tech-driven logistics network that uses AI and robotics to plan routes, manage cross-docks, and move shipments efficiently between warehouses and carriers, raised a $10 million Series A round. UpPartners and Blue Bear Capital were the co-leads. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Funds

With exits drying up and fund economics collapsing, junior VCs are bailing on the industry for startups, corporate VC, family offices, or their own micro-funds if they can stomach the pay cut and find backers. Pitchbook has more here. 

Going Public

Airo Group, a two‑year‑old startup based in Albuquerque, NM, that makes AI‑enhanced surveillance drones, pilot training systems, avionics, and eVTOL aircraft, saw its $60 million IPO skyrocket its valuation to around $600 million as investors double down on defense tech amid global tensions. Bloomberg has more here. 

People

Anne Wojcicki has won the bidding war for 23andMe, outmaneuvering Regeneron with a $305 million offer from her nonprofit, but the deal still faces privacy challenges and legal pushback over the fate of the company's genetic data. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

Essential Reads

Walmart and Amazon are eyeing stablecoins as a way to avoid billions in credit card fees and speed up payments, a move that could sideline Visa, Mastercard, and banks. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

The New York Times is reporting that some users are spiraling into delusion and psychosis after intense, unsupervised conversations with ChatGPT. More here. 

Accel is poised to collect over $2.5 billion from Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, according to Bloomberg. Other major investors include Index Ventures, Y Combinator, and Tiger Global Management. More here. 

Almost two dozen consumer protection organizations have filed a complaint with the FTC accusing Meta and Character.AI of letting their therapy chatbots impersonate licensed professionals and promise confidentiality they don’t actually provide. 404 Media has more here. 

Detours

Singles burned out by endless swiping are increasingly turning to AI to craft profiles, filter matches, and spark conversations. "AI isn’t replacing intimacy," claims one psychologist. "It’s giving singles an edge." More here. 

The turbotière: a piece of cookware so ludicrously specific that even most billionaires don’t know it exists.

Retail Therapy

A running shoe collab between Saucony and the Keith Haring Foundation.