Top News

Holy smokes. OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has raised $2 billion for his AI start-up -- Safe Superintelligence -- in a deal that values the year-old company at $32 billion, reports the Financial Times, which further notes that the outfit "currently has no product." Greenoaks led the round. Sutskever left OpenAI last year after trying to elbow out CEO Sam Altman. His cofounders in the endeavor are Daniel Gross, who formerly led Apple’s AI efforts, and Daniel Levy, an investor and AI researcher. More from the FT here.

A group of ex-OpenAI employees today filed a proposed amicus brief in support of Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, opposing OpenAI’s planned conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporation. The brief, filed by Harvard law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, names 12 former OpenAI employees: Steven Adler, Rosemary Campbell, Neil Chowdhury, Jacob Hilton, Daniel Kokotajlo, Gretchen Krueger, Todor Markov, Richard Ngo, Girish Sastry, William Saunders, Carrol Wainwright, and Jeffrey Wu. It makes the case that, if OpenAI’s non-profit ceded control of the organization’s business operations, it would “fundamentally violate its mission.” TechCrunch has more here.

Forerunner’s Long Game: As Startups Stall before IPO, All Options Are on the Table

By Connie Loizos

Thirteen years ago, Forerunner Ventures began helping to usher in a new era of consumer startups, including Warby Parker, Bonobos, and Glossier. None has gone through a traditional IPO process. Warby Parker was taken public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle. Bonobos was acquired by Walmart. Glossier is still privately held, along with many other design-forward brands in Forerunner’s portfolio.

That’s not a failure, according to Forerunner founder Kirsten Green. In today’s landscape, nearly every alternative to the traditional IPO has become the new norm.

Consider: Companies like the fintech Chime and smart ring outfit Ōura, founded in 2012 and 2013, respectively, were also early bets for Forerunner and have achieved valuations north of $5 billion, proving their staying power in crowded markets. But while Chime has confidentially filed to go public, Ōura’s CEO has said there are no immediate plans for an IPO.

At TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC evening late last week, Green made it clear she doesn’t mind. Asked specifically whether she is bothered by Ōura’s CEO, Tom Hale, repeatedly telling the media the company is not preparing an IPO any time soon despite strong sales, she called the outfit an “off-the-charts phenomenal company,” adding that “we haven't even gotten to the thought around our table about selling, because we're here for the growth that's happening.”

She suggested instead that investors long ago adapted to a world with fewer conventional public offerings.

More here. 

Massive Fundings

Jobandtalent, a sixteen-year-old Madrid company that connects job seekers with companies offering temporary and permanent positions in sectors such as logistics, warehousing, and retail, raised a $104.5 million Series F round at a $1.5 billion post-money valuation. Investors included Atomico, BlackRock, DN Capital, Hercules, InfraVia, Kibo, and Kinnevik. TechCrunch has more here.

nEye Systems, a five-year-old Berkeley startup that develops optical switches that use light to transmit data, aiming to improve the speed and reduce the power consumption of data centers and AI computing systems, raised a $58 million Series B round led by CapitalG, with additional participation from M12, Micron Ventures, Nvidia, and Socratic Partners. The company has raised a total of $72.5 million. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Blue Water Autonomy, a one-year-old Boston startup that is developing fully autonomous, uncrewed naval ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial clients, raised a $14 million seed round from Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

LiveKit, a four-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, whose open-source platform enables developers to build AI agents capable of processing and transmitting audio, video, and text data with low latency, raised a $45 million Series B round at a $345 million valuation. The deal lead was Altimeter Capital, with Redpoint Ventures and Hanabi Capital also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

Meanwhile, a three-year-old Bermuda startup that offers whole life insurance policies denominated entirely in Bitcoin, raised a $40 million Series A round. Fulgur Ventures and Framework Ventures were the co-leads. CoinDesk has more here.

Parallel Systems, a five-year-old Los Angeles startup that develops autonomous, battery-electric rail vehicles, raised a $38 million Series B round. Anthos Capital led the transaction, with Collaborative Fund, Congruent Ventures, and Riot Ventures also joining in. The company has raised a total of $100 million. TechCrunch has more here.

TransFICC, a nine-year-old London startup that provides electronic trading technology for the fixed income and derivatives markets, raised a $51.3 million Series B investment co-led by Citadel Securities and BlackFin Tech. EU-Startups has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Damisa, a London startup founded this year that uses stablecoins and smart wallets to offer automated escrow, instant cross-border transfers, and global collections and payouts for businesses in logistics, real estate, travel, and education, raised a $3 million pre-seed round. Fuel Ventures led the transaction, with EWOR and Greyhound Capital also investing. UKTN has more here.

Faume, a six-year-old Paris startup that provides a technology and logistics platform enabling fashion and luxury brands to launch and manage their own secondhand resale programs, raised a $9.1 million round led by Amundi, with previous investors Daphni and Bpifrance also taking part. PYMNTS has more here.

Fern, a three-year-old New York startup that automates the creation and maintenance of SDKs and API documentation, raised a $9 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Y Combinator also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.

illumicell AI, a two-year-old Boston startup that developed a portable, AI-powered diagnostic platform for real-time analysis of semen samples, aiming to make male fertility testing faster, more accessible, and cost-effective, raised a $2 million pre-seed round. Investors included KOFA Healthcare, Harvard Phoenix Venture Fund, and MedTechSyndicates. Femtech Insider has more here.

Inventex, a one-year-old Salt Lake City startup that uses AI agents to monitor technical work, identify patentable inventions, and rapidly draft applications, helping companies build patent portfolios with support from licensed professionals, raised a $2.4 million pre-seed SAFE round at a $10 million valuation. Investors included Conviction Capital, Cambrian Ventures, and Fred Ehrsam. TechCrunch has more here.

NoScrubs, a one-year-old Austin startup that offers on-demand laundry pickup, washing, folding, and delivery using a network of local machines, with fast turnaround and app-based scheduling, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by Initialized Capital, with Frontier VC also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Rondah AI, a one-year-old New York startup that provides dental practices with AI-powered virtual receptionists to automate front-desk tasks like answering calls, scheduling appointments, and managing patient interactions, raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round. 2048 Ventures and Twelve Below were the co-leads. More here.

New Funds

Founders Fund, the venture capital firm run by billionaire Peter Thiel, has closed a $4.6 billion late-stage venture fund, according to a new SEC filing. The fund includes capital from 270 investors, with Thiel, Napoleon Ta and Trae Stephens the three people named as directors. A substantial amount of the capital was provided by the firm’s general partners, according to a CNBC source. More here.

Exits

Unilever has acquired Wild, a six-year-old, U.K.-based digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand that sells natural and refillable products, including deodorants, lip balms, bodywashes and handwashes that are created with plant-based ingredients and packaged in plastic-free materials. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wild was backed by JamJar Investments, Redbus Ventures, and Slingshot Ventures. The Guardian has more here.

Going Public

Shein has secured preliminary approval from the UK’s financial watchdog to float in London, taking the ecommerce company a step closer to a stock market listing. The Financial Times has more here.

People

Meta has added Dina Powell and Patrick Collison to its board of directors. Powell is a former Trump advisor who is currently vice chair, president and head of global client services at BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank in Chicago. She previously spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs. Collison is, of course, the co-founder and CEO of the fintech giant Stripe.

Formerly known as Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, Peak XV, a $9 billion venture fund, has hired former Y Combinator investor Arnav Sahu to hunt AI deals, and help its startups crack America, beginning in the Bay Area. Forbes has more here.

Essential Reads

In a small-scale test in Europe, Amazon turned its drivers into first responders, training them on defibrillators to help in emergency response scenarios. Bloomberg has more here.

Kseniia Petrova was recruited to work at a laboratory at Harvard Medical School to investigate how cells can rejuvenate themselves. But she has spent the last eight weeks in a barracks-style detention center in Louisiana. The New York Times has more here.

Detours

When extreme day trips are your thing.

California might extend last call to 4 a.m.🍻

The one San Francisco restaurant that has sustained its status as among the city's best for nearly 30 years.

Bowen Yang is tired of impersonating J.D. Vance on Saturday Night Live. "I’m just telling you guys, I’m doing my best.”

Retail Therapy

Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair.

The Mercedes-AMG E53 Hybrid Wagon, coming later this year.