Talks to sell PayPal to Stripe and Advent are heating up
Stripe and private equity firm Advent are reportedly back in talks to acquire PayPal, months after PayPal rejected a $60.50-a-share, $53 billion offer from the pair.
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801 storiesThrive's Joshua Kushner chides Silicon Valley VCs over AI euphoria
In Thrive Capital's first investor letter, founder Joshua Kushner warned that Silicon Valley's AI excitement risks weakening investment discipline, contrasting his concentrated approach with rivals' spray-and-pray bets.
Databricks settles on $5B raise at $190B valuation
Databricks wanted to raise just $1 billion but ended up taking $5 billion after investors expressed $15 billion of interest, pushing its valuation to $190 billion.
Cognition reportedly in talks to raise at $40B valuation, up from $26B in May
AI coding startup Cognition is reportedly in talks to raise new funding at a valuation of at least $40 billion, months after raising $1 billion at $26 billion.
OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings raises $2B to expand AI-driven business buyouts
Thrive Holdings, the AI-focused rollup of traditional businesses backed by OpenAI, raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation to expand into regulatory services for physical infrastructure.
Lovable confirms $13.3B valuation with new $400M Series C
Lovable confirmed it raised $400 million in a Series C round led by Menlo Ventures and the Scaleup Europe Fund, valuing the vibe-coding startup at $13.3 billion.
Reservoir raises $8M seed round for smarter, grid-friendly water heaters
Reservoir raised $8 million in a seed round led by Asymmetric Capital Partners to expand installations of its connected, heat-pump water heaters in the Boston area, its initial market.
India's Yulu raises $93M as quick-commerce fuels e-bike demand
Bengaluru-based Yulu has raised $93 million to expand its electric two-wheeler subscription fleet from around 50,000 to 200,000 vehicles over the next two years.
Accel closes oversubscribed $550M India fund in weeks
Accel closed a $550 million India fund in weeks, just 19 months after its last one, as part of a coordinated $3.5 billion global fundraising push.
Scaleup Europe Fund makes first bet: satellite firm ICEYE
The EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund, targeting €5 billion ($5.7 billion) for European growth-stage startups, made its first investment in Finnish satellite company ICEYE, now valued above $11 billion.
River AI raises $1.1B seed/Series A led by General Catalyst
River AI, a two-month-old startup founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, has raised $1.1 billion in a seed/Series A round to rebuild the AI training stack from scratch.
Joby Aviation buys Resonant Sciences for $500M to grow defense arm
Electric air-taxi developer Joby Aviation has agreed to acquire defense-tech supplier Resonant Sciences for $500 million in cash and stock, forming a dedicated defense division.
Sila secures $1.4B Pentagon loan to expand silicon battery-material plant
Sila has landed a $1.4 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Defense to expand production of its silicon-carbon battery material.
Archer Aviation acquires former rival Wisk Aero from Boeing
Archer Aviation is acquiring former rival Wisk Aero from Boeing, along with two other subsidiaries, in exchange for a roughly 16.5% stake in Archer.
Embattled hedge fund invests $400M in chip startup Source Foundry
Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, invested $400 million more in chip startup Source Foundry despite recent steep losses, the Wall Street Journal reported.
OpenAI acquires presentation startup NextSlide
OpenAI has acquired presentation startup NextSlide, whose team is now working on ChatGPT, though the deal's financial terms were not disclosed.
Defense-tech firm Hadrian raises $1.37B at a $7.87B valuation
Defense-tech company Hadrian raised a fresh $1.37 billion round at a $7.87 billion valuation from a long list of investors.
Naïve raises $28.5M to automate running a company with AI agents
Naïve, which lets AI agents handle the setup and operation of a business, raised $28.5 million in Series A funding after signing up more than 30,000 developers.
Ex-Spotify trio raises $10M to bring recommendation AI to retail
Three ex-Spotify engineers raised $10 million in seed funding for Malachyte, a startup adapting Spotify's recommendation AI for real-time e-commerce personalization.
Omilia raises $67M to scale its customer support platform
Athens-based Omilia raised a $67 million Series B led by Expedition Growth Capital, after growing annual recurring revenue 10x to $60 million since its last round.