We had another fantastic time at a StrictlyVC event! Our guest speakers were amazing -- giant thanks to Baiju Bhatt, Katie Haun, Ali Partovi, and Russell Kaplan, who kept us captivated throughout the evening. 

Special thanks to Navin Chaddha of Mayfield, who served as tonight's super-utility player, both sharing his insights on why he believes AI is about to turn professional services upside down and graciously co-hosting at the beautiful Quad on Sand Hill Road. Cheers, too, to my wonderful colleagues, including interviewer extraordinaire Maxwell Zeff, and to all of you who turned upand made the night's networking so fun.:)

We'll have much more coverage from these conversations soon, along with photos and videos. In the meantime, please note that we won't be publishing the newsletter tomorrow (Thursday) in observance of Juneteenth. See you Friday! -- CL

Top News

Microsoft is threatening to walk away from OpenAI’s corporate restructuring talks unless it gets better terms on equity and revenue, signaling just how strained the $13 billion relationship has become as OpenAI scrambles to convert to a for-profit and lock in fresh funding. The Financial Times has more here. 

According to The Information, Meta is in advanced talks to hire VCs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross to work on its AI efforts. More here. 

Sponsored By ...

Affinity’s 2025 European venture capital benchmark report explores key dealmaking trends and characteristics that set top firms apart—all through proprietary insights gleaned from 640+ European VCs.

Explore the benchmarks to understand how your firm stacks up against the competition, with actionable advice on how to get ahead this year and beyond.

Six-Month-Old, Solo-Owned Vibe Coder Base44 Sells to Wix for $80M Cash

By Julie Bort

There’s a lot of talk in the startup world about how AI makes individuals so productive that it could give rise to a generation of “solo unicorns” — one-person companies worth over $1 billion.

While an actual solo unicorn remains a mythical creature, Israeli developer Maor Shlomo provided compelling evidence Wednesday that the concept might not be impossible.

Shlomo sold his 6-month-old, bootstrapped vibe-coding startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million, Wix announced Wednesday. And the deal was cash, Wix confirmed to TechCrunch.

Admittedly, this wasn’t a billion dollars or close to it. And Shlomo wasn’t truly solo — he had 8 employees, Wix confirmed. They will collectively receive $25 million of the $80 million as a “retention” bonus. Wix declined to give details on that part of the deal, like how long they have to stay in their jobs to get full payouts.

Still, Base44’s rapid rise and impressive sale price have been the talk of the vibe coding community.

In its six months as a standalone company, it reportedly grew to 250,000 users, hitting 10,000 users within its first three weeks. According to Shlomo’s posts on X and LinkedIn, the company was profitable, generating $189,000 in profit in May even after covering high LLM token costs, which he also documented publicly.

More here. 

Massive Fundings

Actio Biosciences, a four-year-old San Diego startup that develops oral small-molecule drugs that aim to treat rare genetic disorders and possibly broader common conditions by targeting shared genetic pathways, raised a $66 million Series B round co-led by Regeneron Ventures and previous investor Deerfield, with additional participation from Canaan Partners, Droia Ventures, and Euclidean Capital. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Animaj, a three-year-old Paris animation studio that uses proprietary AI tools that convert simple inputs like text descriptions, sketches, or basic motion into polished 3D animations, raised an $85 million round from HarbourView Equity Partners and Bpifrance. Variety has more here.

Draig Therapeutics, a one-year-old Cardiff company that is developing new oral drugs that rebalance brain chemistry to treat major depression and other mental health conditions, raised a $144 million round led by Access Biotechnology, with SV Health Investors, ICG, Canaan Partners, SR One, Sanofi Ventures, and Schroders Capital also contributing. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Maven AGI, a two-year-old Boston startup that builds AI-powered assistants that automatically handle customer support tasks like answering questions, summarizing issues, and taking basic actions, raised a $50 million Series B round led by Dell Technologies Capital, with Cisco Investments and SE Ventures as well as previous investors Lux Capital, M13, and E14 also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $78 million. More here.

Tennr, a four-year-old New York startup that builds software that helps doctors and clinics manage the messy process of referring patients to specialists, raised a $101 million Series C round at a $605 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by IVP, with previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed also doubling down. Fortune has more here. 

TerraPower, a 19-year-old company based in Bellevue, WA, that designs nuclear reactors that aim to produce electricity using newer reactor technologies, raised a $650 million round from NVentures as well as previous investors Bill Gates and HD Hyundai. The company has raised over $3 billion in equity and grants. GeekWire has more here. 

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Arima Genomics, a ten-year-old company based in Carlsbad, CA, that uses a laboratory test kit and service to analyze the three-dimensional structure of DNA in order to help researchers and doctors uncover genetic rearrangements and interactions that guide cancer diagnosis and treatment, raised a $22 million Series C round led by Illumina Ventures, with previous investors Co-Win Ventures and Berkeley Catalyst Fund also participating. More here.

Farsight, a three-year-old New York startup that offers AI tools that automatically create polished financial documents like pitch decks, models, memos and emails that are tailored to an investment firm’s style, raised a $13 million Series A round led by SignalFire and including RRE Ventures, Link Ventures, and K5 Ventures. PYMNTS has more here.

HOPPR, a six-year-old Chicago startup that provides a secure cloud platform that lets developers build, fine-tune, and deploy medical imaging AI models for X-rays, CTs, and MRIs, raised a $31.5 million Series A round co-led by Kivu and Greycroft, with PSG Equity, Morningside Capital, Fortitude Ventures, and Health 2047 also pitching in. More here.

Materna Medical, a fifteen-year-old company based in Mountain View, CA, that makes medical devices that help women stretch and protect their pelvic muscles, raised a $20 million Series B2 round. Investors included GLIN Impact Capital, Wealthing VC Club, and Citrine Angels. More here.

Multiplier Holdings, a two-year-old Singapore startup that buys small accounting firms and boosts their profits by automating manual work with AI, has raised a total of $27.5 million in seed and Series A financing. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the Series A, while Ribbit Capital led the seed with participation from SV Angel. TechCrunch has more here. 

OrangeQS, a five-year-old Dutch startup that makes specialized equipment that lets manufacturers and researchers quickly test the performance and reliability of quantum computer chips, raised a $13.8 million seed round led by Icecat Capital, with Cottonwood Technology Fund, QBeat Ventures, QDNL Participations, and InnovationQuarter Capital also investing. Data Center Dynamics has more here.

Pelico, a six-year-old Paris and Miami startup that offers manufacturers a cloud-based platform powered by AI that helps factory teams spot and fix parts shortages, synchronize workflows, and prevent production delays, raised a $40 million Series B round led by General Catalyst, with 83North and Serena also joining in. Tech Funding News has more here.

PrismaX, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps robotics companies collect, validate, and monetize large-scale video data through remote operators and automated tools to train physical AI models, raised an $11 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Stanford Blockchain Builder Fund, Symbolic, Volt Capital, and Virtuals Protocol also engaging. Robotics & Automation News has more here.

Supply Wisdom, an eight-year-old New York startup that provides businesses with a cloud service that continuously monitors risks in areas like supply chains, finance, cybersecurity, compliance, and environmental issues, raised a $14 million Series B round. Jurassic Capital led the investment. More here.

Swarmia, a six-year-old Helsinki startup that offers engineering teams a cloud-based dashboard that tracks their work, flags bottlenecks, and offers action steps to help developers and managers ship code more smoothly, raised a $11.5 million round co-led by DIG Ventures and Karma Ventures. EU-Startups has more here.

Traversal, a two-year-old New York startup that is building an AI-powered “site reliability engineer” that watches complex software systems, finds problems, and fixes them automatically for enterprise engineering teams, raised a $48 million seed and Series A round co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from NFDG and Hanabi. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Athena, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps marketing teams improve how often their brand is mentioned in AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude by analyzing generative search results and suggesting content updates, raised a $2.2 million seed round. Investors included Y Combinator, FCVC, Red Bike Capital, Amino Capital, and SEO. More here.

BlueRedGold, a four-year-old Stockholm startup that builds automated indoor farms that use robots, AI, and hydroponics to grow and process saffron for food, nutraceutical, cosmetics, and medical customers, raised a $3.1 million round led by PINC, with The Food Tech Lab and PolarVentures also taking stakes. Robotics & Automation News has more here.

Diskover, a nine-year-old Reno startup that offers companies a platform to index, search, and manage their unstructured files (like PDFs, videos, and logs) with automatic tagging, metadata, and AI-driven insights, raised a $7.5 million seed round. Park Capital Partners, The Hive, Snowflake Ventures, and NetApp invested in the deal. Diskover also purchased CloudSoda. More here.

Embedl, a seven-year-old startup based in Gothenburg, Sweden, that helps companies put AI into devices by making deep learning models run faster, use less energy, and fit on small hardware used in cars, robots, and military systems, raised a $6.3 million round. Investors included Chalmers Ventures, Fairpoint Capital, SEB Greentech, Spintop Ventures, and STOAF. Tech.eu has more here.

Future Fields, a seven-year-old Edmonton startup that uses genetically engineered fruit flies as tiny biological factories to produce important proteins for pharmaceutical, agricultural, and food companies, raised an $8 million Series A round co-led by Amplify Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada’s Climate Tech Fund, and R7 Partners, with additional support from TRAC VC and University of Alberta Innovation Fund as well as previous investors Toyota Ventures, BoxOne Ventures, and Builders VC. More here.

NaroIQ, a two-year-old Cologne startup that provides financial firms like banks, insurers, and asset managers with a cloud platform that lets them launch and manage their own ETF and fund products more quickly and at lower cost, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Magnetic, with Redstone as well as previous investor General Catalyst also weighing in. EU-Startups has more here.

Polar, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that provides open source developers with a platform to monetize their work through subscriptions, sponsorships, and digital product sales with minimal coding, raised a $10 million seed round. Accel was the lead investor, with previous investors Abstract and Mischief also reupping. EU-Startups has more here.

Quilt Health, a one-year-old Boston startup that uses AI-powered tools and a network of care sites to help doctors find and enroll patients with complex diseases such as sickle cell in clinical trials more efficiently, raised a $6 million seed round co-led by MaC Venture Capital and Underscore Ventures and including Meridian Street Capital, BoxGroup, Watershed VC, and Coalition Operators. More here.

Renow, a three-year-old Helsinki startup that provides online retailers with a cloud platform powered by AI to inspect, grade, and resell returned or second-hand goods efficiently through local hubs and channels, raised a $2.1 million seed round led by Greencode Ventures, with previous investors Superhero Capital and Street Smart Capital also opting in. Tech.eu has more here.

Root, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup platform that enables community leaders and developers to run custom apps like event planners, task managers, and media tools directly inside chat groups in order to better organize and grow online communities, raised a $9 million seed round co-led by Headline Ventures and Konvoy Ventures, with Day One Ventures and Untamed Ventures also participating. VentureBeat has more here.

SportsVisio, a four-year-old Boston startup that uses AI to analyze game footage and automatically generate player and team stats along with video highlights for youth and amateur basketball and volleyball teams, raised a $3.2 million round from Mighty Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Alumni Ventures, and Waterstone Impact Fund as well as previous investors Sapphire Sport, Hyperplane,and Sovereign’s Capital. The company has raiseda total of $9 million. VentureBeat has more here.

Studio555, a two-year-old Stockholm startup whose mobile app combines interior design with casual gaming and social features, raised a $4.6 million seed round co-led by HOF Capital and Failup Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Superscale AI, a Berlin startup founded this year that offers marketing teams an AI-powered chat interface that lets them quickly generate ad copy, posts, and campaign materials by describing goals and tone, raised a $5 million pre-seed round. Creandum was the deal lead, with Interface and s16vc also investing. Tech Funding News has more here.

Ubyx, a New York startup founded this year that helps banks and fintech companies instantly process stablecoin deposits and withdrawals for their customers at full face value across multiple currencies, raised a $10 million seed round led by Galaxy Ventures, with Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, VanEck, Mirana Ventures, LayerZero, Paxos, Boku, Payoneer, and Monerium also taking part. Cointelegraph has more here.

New Funds

Edinburgh's Par Equity and Praetura Ventures from Manchester, England, are merging to form PXN Group, a €783 million venture firm aiming to shake up the UK funding landscape outside the London-Oxford-Cambridge bubble by backing northern UK founders. EU-Startups has more here. 

Going Public

Slide, a tech-enabled homeowners insurer focused on risky coastal markets like Florida, popped nearly 24% in its Nasdaq debut, giving the venture-backed company a $2.6 billion valuation in the biggest insurance IPO of the year. Reuters has more here. 

People

Big Tech is apparently flooding the Vatican with lobbyists in an effort to dissuade newly elected Pope Leo XIV from portraying AI as a threat to humanity. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

On OpenAI's podcast, a self-described "extremely kid-pilled" Sam Altman said he was "constantly" consulting ChatGPT for advice about how to deal with his son in the first few weeks after his birth. TechCrunch has more here. 

Essential Reads

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are backing a push in Congress to ban state-level AI regulations for ten years, triggering a backlash from critics who see it as a power grab to entrench Big Tech's dominance and avoid oversight. The Financial Times has more here. 

A new watchdog initiative called The OpenAI Files is airing dirty laundry on OpenAI's governance and ethics, slamming its investor-driven pivot and raising fresh questions about Sam Altman's leadership. TechCrunch has more here.

Waymo is trying to bring its robotaxis back to New York City by lobbying to drop the state’s safety driver requirement, but it’s facing serious political and logistical headwinds. The Verge has more here. 

OpenAI researchers say they've found internal features in AI models that correspond to specific "personas" like sarcasm or toxicity, allowing them to dial those behaviors up or down in order to provide more predictable responses. TechCrunch has more here. 

Whatnot has quietly built a $5 billion business by turning livestream shopping into a mix of QVC, Twitch, and roulette, where sellers hustle everything from baseball cards to luxury bags while buyers chase thrills and community. Fortune has more here. 

Detours

The partner and co-parent of a man who proposed to an AI chatbot is not exactly feeling the love.

It turns out that "stoneovers" are real. 

German folk techno. 

Retail Therapy

For travelers bored of bullet trains, The Peninsula’s Japan Driving Experience lets drivers cruise Japan’s backroads in classic cars, with stops at temples, sake breweries, and a private racetrack to top it all off.

If your significant other loves this watch, marry them.

Moon shoes.