Top News

The Nasdaq soared 12% and Apple shares climbed 15% upon news that President Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for some countries. The crypto market also rallied, with the price of Bitcoin rising by 7% and Coinbase stock shooting up 17%. CNBC has more here and here.

OpenAI has countersued Elon Musk, alleging harassment and requesting that a federal judge stop Musk from any "further unlawful and unfair action" against OpenAIin a court case concerning OpenAI's decision to become a for-profit entity. Reuters has more here. 

Kalshi CEO: "State Law Doesn’t Really Apply" to Us

By Maxwell Zeff

Last week, prediction market startup Kalshi sued New Jersey and Nevada after they tried to shut down its recently launched sports trading operation. In the lawsuit, Kalshi claimed that, since they’re a federally regulated platform, state gaming commissions don’t have the authority to set rules for them.

“We’re not necessarily very concerned [because] we are regulated at the federal level,” said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour last week at a StrictlyVC event in San Francisco. “The state law doesn’t really apply.”

If Kalshi wins these lawsuits, the startup could secure its place in the lucrative market of sports betting. However, the legal challenge may also pave the way for a clash between state regulators and the Trump administration.

This isn’t the first time Mansour has challenged a regulator’s authority. Last year, Kalshi won a major legal battle against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing it to process more than $1 billion in trades based on the outcome of political elections in 2024.

In battling the CFTC, “we’ve had to eat a lot of s— over the last five years,” said Mansour. “I’d do it again in heartbeat.”

More here.

Massive Fundings

Base Power, a two-year-old Austin startup that provides home backup battery systems, raised a $200 million Series B round co-led by Addition, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Valor Equity Partners, with Altimeter, Terrain, Thrive Ventures, and Trust Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here. 

MeridaBiosciences, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that is developing precision therapies to treat autoimmune and allergic diseases by specifically targeting and eliminating the harmful antibodies that cause these conditions, raised a $121 million Series A round. Bain Capital Life Sciences, BVF Partners, and Third Rock Ventures co-led the round, with GV and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds also participating. More here.

Nuro, a nine-year-old startup based in Mountain VIew, CA, that  develops self-driving technology for applications such as delivery services and, more recently, robotaxis and personally owned autonomous vehicles, raised a $106 million Series E round at a $6 billion post-money valuation. The capital comes from an unnamed group of strategic investors. The company has raised a total of $2.2 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

SILQ Group, a startup based in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia that acts as a B2B commerce platform serving the Gulf and South Asia regions, raised a $110 million round. Sanabil Investments and Valar Ventures were the co-leads, with Qatar Development Bank also taking part. Wamda has more here.

Tailscale, a six-year-old Toronto startup that develops VPN software using mesh networking technology, raised a $160 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. The deal lead was Accel, with additional participation from CRV, Insight Partners, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital. More here.

Tessell, a four-year-old startup based in San Ramon, CA, that offers a database-as-a-service platform that enables businesses to manage and scale their databases across multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud, raised a $60 million Series B round. WestBridge Capital led the transaction, with B37 Ventures and Rocketship.vc, as well as previous investor Lightspeed Venture Partners also contributing. The company has raised a total of $94 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Artisan, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops AI-powered digital employees designed to automate various business functions, starting with sales roles, raised a $25 million Series A led by Glade Brook Capital, with Y Combinator, Day One Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, and Fellows Fund also opting in. TechCrunch has more here. 

Gallatin, a one-year-old startup based in Washington, D.C., that develops AI software to enhance military logistics by improving the speed and accuracy of supply chain decisions, raised a $15 million seed round led by 8VC, with Silent Ventures, Moonshots Capital, Timeless Partners, and Banter Capital also investing. FreightWaves has more here.

Luzern Risk, a two-year-old New York startup that assists businesses in establishing their own insurance entities, known as captive insurance companies, allowing them to self-insure and manage their own risks, raised a $12 million Series A round. Caffeinated Capital led the investment. More here.

Remedy Scientific, a two-year-old Oakland startup that aims to restore contaminated land by removing toxins through an automated system that detects pollutants and applies targeted treatments to break them down, raised an $11 million seed round from Eclipse, Refactor, Cantos, and Box Group. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Dealstack, a two-year-old London startup whose platform automates key workflows for private equity firms, including managing employee equity plans, tracking ownership structures, and calculating valuation waterfalls, raised a $5.5 million seed round from senior professionals at KKR, Goldman Sachs, CVC, Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and TA Associates. More here.

Glimpse, a New York startup whose platform helps CPG companies identify, dispute, and reconcile retailer chargebacks, raised a $10 million Series A round. 8VC was the deal lead, with previous investors Y Combinator, Origin Ventures, and Informed Ventures also joining in. More here.

HoneyHive, a three-year-old New York startup that provides tools to evaluate and enhance the performance of AI agents for companies developing AI applications, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Insight Partners, with Zero Prime Ventures, 468 Capital, and MVP Ventures also stepping up. More here.

Octane, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that offers an AI-powered platform that continuously analyzes blockchain smart contracts to detect and fix security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, raised a $6.75 million round. Archetype and Winklevoss Capital were the co-leads, with Gemini, Circle, Legion Capital, Druid Ventures, Duke Capital Partners, and Balaji Srinivasan also pitching in. PYMNTS has more here.

Sats Terminal, a one-year-old startup that combines various Bitcoin services such as decentralized exchange trading, bridging, and yield aggregation into a single interface, raised a $1.7 million pre-seed round. Coinbase Ventures and Draper Associates co-led the investment, with Draper Dragon, BitcoinFi Accelerator, UTXO Management, Core Chain Ventures, Sats Ventures, Delta Blockchain Fund, Tenzor Capital, and 3Commas Capital also piling on. More here.

Spektion, a one-year-old Austin startup that continuously analyzes an organization's software to detect and prioritize security vulnerabilities by examining how the software behaves during operation, raised a $5 million seed round led by LiveOak Ventures and including Tau Ventures and Dauntless Ventures. SecurityWeek has more here.

Vaxess, a thirteen-year-old company based in Woburn, MA, that has developed a transdermal patch designed to deliver vaccines and therapeutics without the need for refrigeration, raised a $9 million round. RA Capital Management and Engine Ventures invested in the deal. The company has now raised more than $100 million in grant and venture funding. More here.

New Funds

Lerer Hippeau, the 15-year-old New York City venture firm that invests in early-stage startups, has raised $200 million for its ninth early-stage fund. More here.

Precursor Ventures, the 10-year-old San Francisco VC firm that invests in early-stage deals and particularly pre-seed startups, raised a fifth fund in the amount of $66 million. More here. 

Ryan Smith, the Qualtrics co-founder and billionaire owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and NHL's Utah Hockey Club, tells Axios that he's forming a $1 billion venture capital fund with longtime Accel partner Ryan Sweeney. More here.

DIG Ventures, a seven-year-old London venture firm that invests in pre-seed and seed startups in areas like B2B SaaS, AI, and cloud infrastructure, raised a $100 million fund, its second. TechCrunch has more here. 

Going Public

Could the "hottest pre-IPO stock" be Figure AI, a three-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, that is developing general-purpose humanoid robots designed to perform tasks in environments such as manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, and retail? The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

People

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive and author of Careless People, a book highly critical of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today that she saw Meta's leadership "repeatedly undermine U.S. national security and betray American values. They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an 18 billion dollar business in China." The AP has more here. 

Sarah Wynn-Williams also stated in her testimony that Meta actively targeted teens with advertisements based on their emotional state. TechCrunch has more here. 

The Senate has confirmed Paul Atkins as the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is widely expected to embrace policies that are more favorable to crypto intersts than his predecessor, Gary Gensler. CoinDesk has more here.  

The White House apparently reversed planned export restrictions aimed at Nvidia shortly after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attended a $1 million-a-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago. NPR has more here. 

Essential Reads

CNBC does a deep dive on Isomorphic Labs, a secretive startup spun off from Google DeepMind that aims to use AI to transform the drug discovery process. More here. 

Detours

Why Pokémon cards are now worth millions.

Six ways to score a great rate on a hotel room.

The 50 best places to travel this year.


Retail Therapy

A $29.8 million mansion in Boulder, CO, with both an indoor and an outdoor pool.