Top News

Nvidia accused Anthropic today of telling “tall tales” after the AI lab claimed in a blog post that chips are being smuggled into the U.S. hidden in "baby bumps" and "alongside live lobsters." Anthropic was trying to make the point that “[m]aintaining America’s compute advantage through export controls is essential for national security and economic prosperity." CNBC has more here. 

Tesla's board is denying a blockbuster report by The Wall Street Journal yesterday that it reached out to several search firms to replace CEO Elon Musk. Musk also spoke out, tweeting that the Journal story was an "EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS" [caps his]. In response, the paper provided a statement to The New York Post that read, "We stand by our reporting. Tesla was given the opportunity to provide a statement before publication, which they did not do." More here. 

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Rising Star Defense Tech Startup Mach Industries Is Raising $100 Million, Sources Say

By Julie Bort

Mach Industries, the defense tech founded by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton, is about to close a fresh $100 million in financing co-led by new investor Khosla and existing investor Bedrock Capital, a source familiar with the deal tells TechCrunch.

The new round will value the company at around $470 million, according to the source. However, the deal hasn’t closed and terms may still change. The Khosla investor leading the deal is Keith Rabois.

Mach Industries is a buzzy defense tech startup, a status propelled by its founding origin story and connection to Sequoia. Thornton was just a teenager when he dropped out of MIT to found Mach Industries, which was Sequoia’s first defense tech investment.

More here.

Massive Fundings

LlamaIndex, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds data infrastructure for large language models, enabling enterprises to securely integrate internal data into AI applications through its open-source framework, raised an undisclosed amount from Databricks and KPMG. More here. ​​

Plenful, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an AI-powered workflow automation platform that streamlines administrative tasks for pharmacies and healthcare providers, raised a $50 million Series B co-led by Mitchell Rales and Arena Holdings, with Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, TQ Ventures, and Susa/Kivu Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $76 million. More here.

True Anomaly, a three-year-old startup based in Centennial, CO, that develops autonomous spacecraft and a space-based operating system to support national security operations in orbit, raised a $260 million Series C round led by Accel, with Meritech Capital as well as previous investors Eclipse, Riot Ventures, Menlo Ventures, 645 Ventures, ACME Capital, Space VC, Champion Hill Ventures, and Narya also participating. Payload has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Dub, a four-year-old New York startup that operates an AI-powered social investing platform enabling users to follow, copy, and learn from the trades of professional and peer investors, raised a $24.5 million Series A round co-led by Notable Capital and Neo, with Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Peak6 Strategic Capital, and Correlation Ventures also pitching in. The company also raised $5.5 million in debt. TechCrunch has more here.

EdgeRunner AI, a one-year-old Seattle startup that builds on-device, domain-specific AI agents that help military personnel make operational decisions without an internet connection using compressed open-source models fine-tuned for roles like logistics and maintenance, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Madrona, with Four Rivers Ventures, HP Tech Ventures, and Alumni Ventures also anteing up. GeekWire has more here.

Gruve.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps large enterprises quickly build, test, and measure custom AI copilots and assistants across business functions, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Mayfield, with Cisco Investments also investing. TechCrunch has more here. ​

HealthPlan Data Solutions, a fifteen-year-old company based in Columbus, OH, that provides pharmacy and medical claims analytics software to self-insured employers and health plans to improve drug pricing transparency and cost management, raised a $15 million round led by MK Capital, with Tamarind Hill, JobsOhio, and Rev1 Ventures also chiming in. More here.

Miden, a two-year-old startup spun out of Polygon Labs, that is developing a zero-knowledge blockchain protocol to support scalable, private, and customizable smart contract execution, raised a $25 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, 1kx, and Hack VC, with Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures also chiming in. Cointelegraph has more here.

Phoenix Tailings, a six-year-old startup based in Woburn, MA, that extracts rare earth metals from mining waste using a zero-waste, carbon-free refining process, raised a $33 million Series B extension led by Escape Velocity, with Builders Vision, Yamaha Motor Ventures, M Power, and Sumitomo also pitching in. More here.

Smaller Fundings

AMPLY Discovery, a four-year-old Belfast startup that uses AI to accelerate the discovery of gene-silencing therapies for aggressive cancers and inhalable antimicrobials for drug-resistant infections, raised a $1.8 million seed round led by Twin Path Ventures and including Venture Science, Co-fund NI, British Business Bank, and QUBIS Limited. Tech Funding News has more here.

Arda Biomaterials, a three-year-old London startup that converts spent barley from beer production into sustainable alternatives to leather and plastic for use in fashion, footwear, and automotive interiors, raised a $5.3 million seed round. Oyster Bay VC was the deal lead, with Clean Growth Fund, Kadmos Capital, and Green Angel Ventures also participating. AFN has more here.

Arondite, a one-year-old London startup that builds artificial intelligence software to help defense agencies and allied governments make faster, safer decisions in high-risk environments like battlefield operations and strategic planning, raised a $10 million seed round from IndexVentures. The company has raised a total of $12+ million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Ceto, a five-year-old startup based in Newcastle, UK, that builds AI-powered tools to help marine insurers evaluate risk exposure, assess cargo conditions, and optimize underwriting decisions, raised a $4.8 million round led by Dynamo Ventures, with Howden Ventures, Signal Ventures, and Motion Ventures also opting in. More here.

Materials Market, a five-year-old London startup that operates an online marketplace connecting construction buyers with building material suppliers to streamline procurement and reduce cost inefficiencies, raised a $2.7 million round led by previous investor Fuel Ventures, with Active Partners also stepping up. Tech Funding News has more here.

Solda.AI, a two-year-old German startup that develops AI-powered sales agents to automate telesales processes and increase conversion rates for outbound teams, raised a $4 million seed round led by Accel, with AltaIR Capital also buying in. EU-Startups has more here.

Structify, a two-year-old Brooklyn startup that turns unstructured web content into structured, enterprise-ready datasets through AI-driven transformation pipelines, raised a $4.1 million seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with 8VC and Integral Ventures also taking stakes. VentureBeat has more here.

Terminal 3, a three-year-old Hong Kong startup that is building a decentralized identity and data infrastructure stack to help Web3 companies manage user authentication and privacy without relying on centralized logins, raised an $8 million seed round co-led by Illuminate Financial and CMCC Titan Fund, with participation from Animoca Brands, Progression Fund, IDG Blockchain, and Cherubic Ventures as well as previous investors 500 Global, Consensys Mesh, Hard Yaka, and BlackPine. More here.

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New Funds

Uncork Capital, the 21-year-old San Francisco VC firm, has raised $300 million in new capital - $225 million for a seed fund and $75 million for a growth fund. The firm focuses on seed deals in areas like B2B SaaS, developer tools, infrastructure and security, consumer software and services, and frontier tech. More here. 

Smith Point Capital, a New York venture firm founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block, has raised a $360 million inaugural fund. The firm is targeting growth-stage enterprise software companies. More here. 

Exits

Fivetran, a 13-year-old Oakland company that helps companies automatically move and sync data from various sources into centralized data warehouses, has purchased Census, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that enables businesses to push data from those warehouses back into tools like CRMs and marketing platforms. Terms were not disclosed. Census has raised more than $80 million from firms like Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Tiger Global. TechCrunch has more here. 

ArborXR, a four-year-old startup that helps large companies manage and deploy VR training devices, has acquired InformXR, a two-year-old startup based in Irvine, CA, that provides data tools for tracking how people learn in VR environments. Terms were not disclosed. More here

Going Public

Fast-fashion giant Shein is reportedly considering restructuring its U.S. operations as the Trump administration implements 120% tariffs on Chinese imports. With the closure of the "de minimis" tax exemption this week, the company may shift production for the American market -- its largest, generating one-third of its $38 billiion in annual revenue -- to countries like Brazil and India, potentially jeopardizing its planned London IPO. The Financial Times has more here.

People

First Round’s Josh Kopelman offers up a tongue-in-cheek way to measure how bold a VC fund's return expectations really are. More here. 

Sam Altman's World debuted its eye-scanning orb today in San Francisco, and it did not go well. The San Francisco Standard has more here.  

Essential Reads

Reddit is pushing deeper into AI, not just to boost user engagement but to make its vast archive of human conversations valuable to companies like Google for training and licensing. TechCrunch has more here. 

A TikTok star who talked about her cancer has faced a torrent of abuse from skeptical Reddit users. The New York Times has more here. 

Detours

Gen Z renters are choosing places so stocked with amenities that they never have to leave. 

A London museum is hosting an exhibition devoted to director Wes Anderson's distinctive style. 

Retail Therapy

Aston Martin has just rolled out a "family car" that can go 193 MPH.

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