Top News

Meta has reportedly hired Ruoming Pang, Apple’s head of AI models, to help lead its superintelligence efforts as Zuckerberg continues his talent raid from rivals like OpenAI and Google DeepMind. TechCrunch has more here. 

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI has overhauled its security operations to protect against corporate espionage. The outlet says the company accelerated an existing security clampdown after Chinese startup DeepSeek released a competing model in January, with OpenAI alleging that DeepSeek improperly copied its models using “distillation” techniques. But OpenAI could be concerned about more than foreign adversaries. TechCrunch has more here.

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Drive Capital’s Second Act — How the Columbus Venture Firm is Faring after 'The Split'

By Connie Loizos

The venture capital world has always had a hot-and-cold relationship with the Midwest. Investors rush in during boom times, then retreat to the coasts when markets turn sour. For Columbus, Ohio-based Drive Capital, this cycle of attention and disinterest played out against the backdrop of its own internal upheaval several years ago — a co-founder split that could have ended the firm but may have ultimately strengthened it.

At a minimum, Drive achieved something newsworthy in today’s venture landscape this past May. The firm returned $500 million to investors in a single week, distributing nearly $140 million worth of Root Insurance shares within days of cashing out of Austin-based Thoughtful Automation and another undisclosed company.

It could be seen as a gimmick, sure, but limited partners were presumably pleased. “I’m unaware of any other venture firm having been able to achieve that kind of liquidity recently,” said Chris Olsen, Drive’s co-founder and now sole managing partner, who spoke to TechCrunch from the firm’s offices in Columbus’ Short North neighborhood.

It’s a meaningful turnaround for a firm that faced existential questions just three years ago when Olsen and his co-founder Mark Kvamme — both former Sequoia Capital partners — went their separate ways.

The split, which surprised the firm’s investors, saw Kvamme eventually launch the Ohio Fund, a broader investment vehicle focused on the state’s economic development that includes real estate, infrastructure, and manufacturing alongside technology investments.

More here.

Massive Fundings

CarOnSale, a seven-year-old Berlin startup that runs an online marketplace where car dealerships can buy and sell used vehicles, handling inspection, transport, and payment logistics for them, raised an $81.9 million Series C round led by Northzone, with additional participation from HV Capital, Insight Partners, Stripes, and Creandum. EU-Startups has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

GetWhy, an eight-year-old Copenhagen startup whose generative AI platform transforms video-based interviews into consumer insights for brands, raised a $20 million Series A extension round. Previous investor PeakSpan Capital was the deal lead, with return backer Arbejdernes Landsbank also pitching in. Silicon Canals has more here.

Tulum Energy, a two-year-old Mexico City startup that uses electric arc furnaces to produce hydrogen and solid carbon from methane without emitting CO₂, raised a $27 million seed round co-led by TDK Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures, and TechEnergy Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here. 

Smaller Fundings

Bumo, a six-year-old startup whose app helps parents find and book childcare services from vetted providers, raised a $10 million seed round co-led by Offline Ventures and True Ventures, with Goodwater Capital and Marketplace Capital also participating. Business Insider has more here.

Crosstown, a four-year-old Swiss startup that installs a burner upgrade that lets existing gas turbines run on clean fuels like hydrogen, raised a $3 million seed round. Investors included 2100Ventures, Climate Insiders, Unruly Capital, and SDAC as well as previous investors CiRi, Voyagers, and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. Tech Funding News has more here.

Parter, a one-year-old New York startup that helps hardware teams monitor component lifecycles, track manufacturing data, and flag supply chain risks using AI, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by StageOne Ventures, with Zenda Capital also taking part. More here.

Solarock, a three-year-old French startup that helps homeowners install solar panels by connecting them with local contractors through a franchise network, raised an $8.2 million round. Investors included Pale Blue Dot, Noa, Ring Capital, and Kima Ventures. EU-Startups has more here.

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Exits

CoreWeave, an AI-focused cloud infrastructure company, is acquiring Core Scientific, a data center operator with a large U.S. footprint and roots in crypto mining, in a $9 billion all-stock deal. CNBC has more here.

Going Public

After a $20 billion deal with Adobe fell apart in 2023, Figma doubled down on product development, leaned into AI, and is now heading for a public debut that investors say could unlock more value than the acquisition ever would have. "The people who remained in the boat really went to work, and it showed up in the financial metrics," one investor said. Business Insider has more here. 

People

Jack Dorsey spent the weekend building a new messaging app called Bitchat that uses Bluetooth mesh networks to send encrypted messages without an internet connection, with messages relayed through peers up to a range of about 300 meters. TechCrunch has more here. 

Elon Musk's plan to launch an America Party was not well-received by Tesla investors: the stock dropped nearly 7% today. The New York Times has more here. 

Data

Fueled by the AI boom, at least 36 startups have reached unicorn status in 2025 so far. TechCrunch has the list here. 

Essential Reads

With junior roles eroding thanks to hybrid work arrangements and AI automation, employers are scrambling to rethink how younger employees can learn on the job. The Financial Times has more here.

Hangzhou’s Liangzhu suburb is increasingly becoming China’s answer to Silicon Valley, with government-backed subsidies, a deep talent pool from nearby Zhejiang University, and a buzzing founder scene anchored by AI startups like DeepSeek and Mindverse. The New York Times has more here. 

Sakana AI is open-sourcing a framework that lets multiple large language models tag-team on complex tasks, showing that an ensemble of specialized AIs can outperform any single model by over 30%. VentureBeat has more here. 

Virtual AI recruiters are now a thing. The New York Times has more here. 

Elon Musk’s "improved" Grok chatbot is generating backlash after responding to user prompts with far-right talking points and antisemitic stereotypes. TechCrunch has more here. 

Detours

A lawsuit has drawn Florida's Fisher Island into sharp relief, exposing how the billionaire enclave controls nearly every aspect of residents’ lives, from golf to restaurants to even groceries.

Gen Z calls this Gen X drink its "fridge cigarette."

Retail Therapy

Turkish yacht maker VisionF is rolling out a 46-foot, carbon-fiber speedboat that tops out at 92 mph.

Richard Mille and Brough Superior have teamed up on a limited-edition $120,000 motorcycle that blends luxury watch aesthetics with high-performance engineering, featuring a 997cc twin-cylinder engine and a "carbon-forged" exoskeleton.