Alphabet back in talks to buy Wiz for over $30 billion & China's Baidu launches GPT-4.5 rival at 1% the cost.

DAILY PICKS

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Making Homeownership Accessible—Why Investors Are Backing Nestment…

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✅ $100M in home transactions in the first year, growing 30% month-over-month
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• Featured in WSJ, CBS, Bankrate, and backed by top VC investors

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Nestment is tackling one of the biggest financial challenges of our time. Now, they’re raising to scale and expand.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Gradial, a Seattle, CA-based AI startup developing with AI marketing operations agents, raised $13M in Series A funding. The round was led by Madrona with participation from Pruven Capital, General Advance, Outsiders Fund, and DLA Piper.

Curevo, a Seattle, WA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $110M in Series B funding. The round was led by Medicxi, with participation from OrbiMed, HBM Healthcare Investments, and Sanofi Ventures plus existing investors RA Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Adjuvant Capital, and founding investor GC Biopharma.

Occuspace, a Westlake Village, CA-based provider of an occupancy intelligence platform for the built environment, raised $6M in Series A funding. The round was led by Lewis & Clark Ventures with participation from Shadow Ventures, Okapi Ventures, Cove Fund, and Hamilton Ventures, bringing the total amount to $14M.

Curve, a London, UK-based company developing a digital wallet service, raised £37M in funding. The round was led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from existing shareholders such as Fuel Ventures, IDC, Outward VC and Lord Stanley Fink.

ABEX, a London, UK-based provider of algorithmic execution solutions for digital asset markets, raised $6M in funding. The round was led by MMC Ventures.

Homeostasis, a Tacoma, WA-based advanced materials startup, raised $600k in Pre-Seed funding plus matching funds from the Washington Department of Commerce. Investments came from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Kayak Ventures and angel investors.

Alloyed, an Oxford, UK-based developer and manufacturer of advanced metallic components for aerospace and electronics, raised £37M in Series B funding. The round was led by Japanese investors SPARX and the Development Bank of Japan, with participation from Aviva Investors and German-based Future Industry Ventures (a Redstone and SBI fund).

Latigo Biotherapeutics, a Thousand Oaks, CA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing non-opioid pain treatments, raised $150M in Series B funding. The round was led by Blue Owl Capital, with participation from Deep Track Capital, Access Biotechnology, Qatar Investment Authority, Cormorant Asset Management, Sanofi Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, UPMC Enterprises, Kern Capital and existing investors Westlake Village BioPartners, Foresite Capital, 5AM Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

ResiQuant, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an autonomous property intelligence platform, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by LDV Capital with participation from Foothill Ventures, Pear VC, Alumni Ventures and angel investors.

Dalma, a Paris, France-based pet health insurance company, raised €20M in Series B funding. The round was led by Breega with participation from existing investors Northzone and Anterra Capital, alongside Bpifrance’s Digital Venture 3 fund.

RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based provider of a crypto payment platform, raised $40M in Series A funding. The round was led by Lightspeed, following their commitment in December 2024, with investments from HSG and Galaxy Ventures. Other investors included DST Global Partners, Accel, and Vertex Ventures.

Maxion Therapeutics, a Cambridge, UK-based biotechnology company developing antibody-based KnotBody® drugs for ion channel- and G protein coupled receptor (GPCR)-driven diseases, raised $72M (£58M) in Series A funding. The round was led by General Catalyst with participation from new investors British Patient Capital, Solasta Ventures and Eli Lilly and Company and existing investors LifeArc Ventures, Monograph Capital and BGF.

Laplace Interventional, a Minneapolis, MN-based medical device company, raised $22M in Series C funding. The round was led by a non-disclosed global strategic investor, with participation from Aphelion Capital, Engage Venture Partners, Unorthodox Ventures, JWC Venture and Features Capital.

Nimblemind.ai, a Chicago, IL-based provider of an AI-powered data infrastructure platform, raised $2.5M in funding. The round was led by Bread & Butter Ventures, with participation from Great Oaks Venture Capital, SpringTime Ventures, Stone Mountain Ventures, Victorum Capital, Techstars, and strategic angel investors.

Seadronix, a Seoul, South Korea-based company providing AI-powered autonomous ship navigation solutions, raised USD 11.3M in Series B funding Backers included LB Investment, KB Investment, and the Korea Development Bank, and existing investors such as Wonik Investment Partners and Lighthouse Combined Investment.

NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

bd-capital, a London, UK-based operator-led mid market investment firm, raised $430M for its Second fund. Commitments to Fund 2 were secured from a diverse cohort of institutional investors, including insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Baidu launches GPT-4.5 rival at 1% the cost:

• Baidu has introduced two new foundation models, ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1, claiming ERNIE 4.5 is significantly cheaper than OpenAI's GPT-4.5, costing just 1% of its price.

• ERNIE X1 is designed for advanced reasoning and understanding tasks, excelling in Chinese Q&A, logical reasoning, and complex calculations, while being priced at half the cost of DeepSeek R1.

• The models are accessible through ERNIE Bot's website, with plans for integration into Baidu's services and availability via APIs on Baidu AI Cloud's platform for developers.

Nvidia GTC 2025: Blackwell Ultra, Rubin architecture, and AI breakthroughs:

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to unveil Blackwell Ultra GPUs and Rubin, Nvidia’s next-gen chip architecture, alongside AI, robotics, and quantum computing advancements at GTC 2025.

• Key panels feature Meta’s Yann LeCun discussing AI efficiency and OpenAI’s Noam Brown exploring multi-agent reasoning, with a strong focus on AI’s role in real-world applications.

• Attendees can explore AI-powered robotics, quantum computing innovations, and new AI-generated art, while Nvidia continues its dominance in AI hardware and sovereign AI technologies.

Boeing Starliner astronauts are finally coming home:

• Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station, allowing Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams to prepare for their return after being in space for over nine months.

• The NASA and international crew traveled via SpaceX Dragon, which is scheduled to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth as early as Tuesday, capitalizing on favorable weather conditions.

• Originally, Wilmore and Williams were on an eight-day mission that was extended due to problems with the Boeing Starliner, leading NASA to partner with SpaceX for their safe return.

Elon Musk’s xAI acquires video AI startup Hotshot:

• xAI has acquired Hotshot, a San Francisco-based startup developing AI-powered video generation models, similar to OpenAI’s Sora.

• Hotshot had built three video foundation models and raised funding from investors like Alexis Ohanian and SV Angel before shutting down its platform on March 14.

• The acquisition suggests xAI is moving into AI video generation, with Musk previously hinting at a “Grok Video” model expected in the coming months.

OpenAI exec leaves to found materials science startup:

• Liam Fedus, OpenAI’s VP of research for post-training, is leaving to start an AI materials science company, aiming to apply AI to physics and materials discovery.

• OpenAI plans to invest in and partner with the new startup, highlighting AI for science as a key focus in its long-term strategy toward artificial superintelligence.

• The startup will compete with Google DeepMind and Microsoft, which have also launched AI tools for materials discovery, though experts debate AI’s ability to make true scientific breakthroughs.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

Google revives talks to acquire Wiz at higher valuation for $30B:

• Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz at a valuation of around $30 billion, up from the $23 billion deal that failed last summer.

• Google Cloud sees Wiz’s security products as a strong fit, with Wiz’s annual recurring revenue projected to reach $1 billion in 2025, making the premium price tag more justifiable.

• Regulatory scrutiny under the Biden administration contributed to the deal’s previous failure, but optimism around FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson’s approach may be fueling renewed M&A activity.

Rippling sues Deel, alleging trade secret theft and espionage:

• Rippling filed a lawsuit against Deel, accusing it of racketeering, trade secret theft, and unfair competition, centered around an employee who allegedly spied for Deel.

• Slack logs played a key role in Rippling’s claims, revealing excessive searches for "Deel" in confidential sales and business strategy channels, with the employee reportedly accessing them over 450 times.

• The lawsuit describes a dramatic confrontation where the accused employee allegedly tried to destroy his phone in a bathroom, refused a court order, and ultimately fled the office.

HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES

💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities

• Partnerships, Events & Outreach Intern - Succeed Venture | India - Apply Here

• Senior Associate - Hubspot Venture | USA - Apply Here

• 2025 Venture Capital Summer Analyst - Stepstone Group | USA - Apply Here

• Investor - Griffin Gaming Partner | USA - Apply Here

• Investor Relations Intern - January Capital | Singapore - Apply Here

• Investment Associate - Quona Capital | India - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst (AI/ML) - TDK Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst Intern - Tencent | USA - Apply Here

CURATED RESOURCES

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• 350+ Indian Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link).

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