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Nvidia announced Monday night that it’s filing applications to restart sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China, capping a spasmodic few months that saw the Trump administration impose restrictions, then quickly reverse course after a high-profile dinner meeting. TechCrunch has more here.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded contracts worth up to $200 million each to Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI to develop AI workflows for national security, deepening the government’s commitment to AI. Reuters has more here.

Another day, another new Bitcoin high, as the cryptocurrency briefly passed the $122,000 mark. Bloomberg has more here.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe’s Voting Control Slips Following Divorce Settlement

By Sean O'Kane

Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has transferred a portion of his ownership stake and voting power as part of a newly settled divorce proceeding, according to a regulatory filing.

Scaringe moved about 4 million in shares and 6 million in options to his ex-wife, Meagan Scaringe, on July 9 as part of the settlement, the filing shows. At Rivian’s current stock price, those shares and options could be worth roughly $130 million, though they have varying strike prices that would affect the total return if sold. The change in stock ownership comes at the end of a two-year-long divorce proceeding, court documents show.

Scaringe owned more than 15 million shares of Class A stock and nearly 8 million Class B shares when the company submitted its annual proxy report April 29. As a result of the transfer, Scaringe’s voting power has slipped from 7.6% earlier this year to around 4%, the lowest since Rivian’s 2021 IPO.

The shift in stock ownership doesn’t have an impact on Rivian’s business or operations, according to the company.

In an official statement emailed to TechCrunch, a spokesperson said “RJ and Meagan finalized their divorce. They will continue to prioritize co-parenting their children.”

The settlement comes at a pivotal time for Rivian. Rivian has redesigned its R1S SUV and R1T truck in a bid to lower manufacturing costs, while improving performance of its flagship vehicles. However, the company is banking on the next addition to its lineup — the highly anticipated R2 SUV that has a $45,000 base price — to grow sales. That vehicle won’t go on sale until the first half of 2026.

More here.

Massive Fundings

Moonvalley, a three-year-old Toronto startup whose subscription-based AI video tool helps filmmakers generate and fine-tune short, cinematic clips with full creative control and legally licensed training data, raised an $84 million round. Previous investor General Catalyst led the financing, with additional participation from Creative Artists Agency, Comcast Ventures, and CoreWeave as well as prior backers Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator. The company has raised a total of $154 million. Variety has more here.

Spacelift, a seven-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, whose platform helps large teams manage and automate how they set up and run their cloud and internal computer systems by writing instructions in code instead of clicking through settings manually, raised a $51 million Series C round. Five Elms Capital was the deal lead, with Endeavor Catalyst and Inovo VC also participating. More here.

Tandem Health, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that builds an AI-powered device and software that listens to doctor-patient conversations and automatically creates medical notes and related documents for healthcare professionals, raised a $50 million Series A round led by Kinnevik, with Northzone and Amino Collective also taking part. ArcticStartup has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Cogent Security, a startup based in Alexandria, VA, that offers AI-powered software that automates the finding, prioritizing, and fixing of software vulnerabilities for security teams within large organizations, raised an $11 million seed round. Greylock Partners was the deal lead. More here.

Decile Group, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup whose software platform helps emerging venture capital fund managers set up, operate, and raise money for funds using AI tools and administrative support, raised a $14 million seed round co-led by Draper Associates, Javelin Venture Partners, and Geek Ventures. More here.

Helical Fusion, a four-year-old Tokyo startup that builds reactor hardware meant to generate carbon-free electricity by using magnets to sustain fusion reactions, raised a $15 million Series A round. Investors include SBI Investment and Keio Innovation Initiative. The company has raised a total of $35.2 million. More here.

Illimis Therapeutics, a five-year-old Seoul startup that develops engineered protein-based medicines to treat Alzheimer’s disease and immune-related conditions, raised a $42 million Series B round from LB Investment and TS Investment as well as previous investors Woori Venture Partners, DSC Investment, Korea Development Bank, and Quad Asset Management. Pharmaceutical Technology has more here.

MOTOR Ai, an eight-year-old Berlin startup that develops software for autonomous vehicles that makes its driving decisions interpretable to regulators, developers, and safety reviewers, raised a $20 million seed round co-led by Segenia Capital and eCAPITAL. The Robot Report has more here.

Murphy, a one-year-old Barcelona startup that uses AI voice agents and smart messaging to handle debt collection for banks, telecoms, utilities, and collection agencies, raised $15 million in pre-seed and seed financing led by Northzone, with ElevenLabs, Lakestar, and Seedcamp also investing. EU-Startups has more here.

NetBox Labs, a three-year-old New York startup that provides software that helps large organizations manage, automate, and secure their network infrastructure across data centers and cloud environments, raised a $35 million Series B round. NGP Capital led the deal, with Sorenson Capital and Headline as well as previous investors Flybridge Capital, Notable Capital, Mango Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and IBM also piling on. CityBiz has more here.

Zip Security, a four-year-old New York startup that provides automated cybersecurity and IT management software for small and mid-sized businesses that don't have dedicated security teams, raised a $13.5 million Series A round led by Ballistic Ventures and including Silver Buckshot and Mantis VC as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Box Group, and Human Ventures. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Aepha, a two-year-old New York startup that builds AI tools that automate administrative pharmacy tasks for community pharmacies and larger pharmacy chains, raised a $4 million seed round. Glasswing Ventures and Core Innovation Capital co-led the deal, with Panache, RedBud, and MGV as well as previous investors Ripple Ventures and Front Row Ventures. More here.

Helios, a New York startup founded this year whose AI software is designed to help public policy, legal, compliance, and government affairs teams monitor new laws, analyze documents, track stakeholders, and draft policy materials more efficiently, raised a $4 million round led by Unusual Ventures, with Founders, Inc. and Alumni Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Live Story, a 10-year-old New York and Milan company that offers a visual content management platform that lets marketing and design teams create and publish digital experiences like websites and in-store screens without needing developers, raised a $3.1 million seed round. Vertis led the transaction. More here.

New Funds

Evantic, a new London-based venture firm founded this year by former Sequoia partner Matt Miller, has raised $355 million with backing from Sequoia, signaling both Miller’s smooth exit from the Klarna drama and a continued appetite for cross-Atlantic B2B bets. TechCrunch has more here.

Exits

Cognition, a 2-year-old San Francisco startup building AI coding tools, has acquired Windsurf, a 3-year-old New York-based company that has created an AI-powered coding environment, after OpenAI let its exclusive expire and Google poached Windsurf's leadership team. TechCrunch has more here.

Meta has acquired Play AI, a 2-year-old New York-based startup that builds tools for generating realistic human voices. Terms were not disclosed. The company raised a $21 million seed round last November co-led by 500 Global and Kindred Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Going Public

Grayscale, a 10-year-old New York-based crypto asset manager with over $30 billion under management, has confidentially filed for an IPO. The Block has more here.

People

In a post today on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is building a data center complex the size of Manhattan to support its new AI lab, a 5-gigawatt behemoth called Hyperion. (In the meantime, tents will do the trick, evidently.) TechCrunch has more here and here.

Billy McFarland is now auctioning off the Fyre Festival brand on eBay, marking yet another bizarre chapter in the long tail of his failed luxury festival scam. Vice has more here.

Essential Reads

Meta may abandon its open-source AI model in favor of a closed one as Alexandr Wang's new superintelligence team pushes for tighter control, signaling a major shift in the company’s AI strategy and sparking tension inside a division already reeling from stalled releases and internal shakeups. The NewYork Times has more here.

A federal trial that began this week in Miami will test whether Tesla can be held broadly liable for crashes involving Autopilot, potentially opening the door to wider legal exposure as the company pushes its self-driving tech onto public roads. The Washington Post has more here.

A Stanford study found that AI therapy chatbots often respond inappropriately and reinforce stigma around serious mental health conditions, raising red flags about their use as stand-ins for human therapists and challenging the industry's push to automate care. TechCrunch has more here.

Detours

According to Business Insider, the "Gen Z stare" is a new workplace microtrend in which young employees respond to what they consider to be stupid questions with blank expressions and pregnant pauses.

Mmm, no thanks. An AI-generated menu description at an Indian restaurant mistakenly described "Chicken Pops" as a childhood virus with blister-like bumps.

Retail Therapy

A $500 putter that would make Happy Gilmore proud, dropping just in time for Happy Gilmore 2’s Netflix premiere on July 25th.

The sunglasses of the summer, according to GQ.

Limerence, a 174-foot Mediterranean charter that comes complete with a helipad-turned-nightclub, a sports court, a submersible, and more, all for a weekly rate starting at $456,000.