OpenAI reveals GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 roadmap & Musk claims Grok 3 is 'outperforming' rivals.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Integrail, a San Francisco, CA-based Agentic AI startup, raised $10m in seed funding. Backers included Ratmir Timashev.

Newleos Therapeutics, Inc., a Boston, MA-based clinical stage neuroscience company co-founded by Longwood Fund and seasoned leaders in CNS drug development, closed $93.5m Series A financing. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives with participation from Novo Holdings A/S, Longwood Fund, DCVC Bio, and Arkin Bio Capital.

Phase, a Taipei- and Berlin-based no-code UI/UX design platform, raised $13M from Gobi Partners, Palm Drive Capital, 500 Global, and others. Founded in 2017 by Nick Budden, the startup launched a UI animation tool to compete with Figma and Adobe After Effects. Phase plans to expand to the U.S. and Europe after a successful South Korean soft launch.

Apptronik, an Austin-based humanoid robotics startup, raised a $350M Series A co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. Founded in 2016 as a University of Texas spinout, the company is developing Apollo, a bipedal robot for industrial use, with AI models from Google DeepMind. Apptronik plans to scale production and expand its 170-person team by 50% in the next year.

Tofu, a San Francisco, CA-based unified AI platform for B2B marketing teams, raised $12m in Series A funding. The round was led by SignalFire, with participation from HubSpot Ventures, Tau Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Alumni Ventures, SH Fund, Riverside Ventures, Eudemian Ventures, and Han Bridge Capital, alongside a notable group of angel investors. Existing investors Index Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures also participated in the round.

EnCharge AI, a Santa Clara, CA-based startup developing analog in-memory-computing AI chips, raised $100M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $144M, was led by Tiger Global with participation from Maverick Silicon, Capital TEN, SIP Global Partners, Zero Infinity Partners, CTBC VC, Vanderbilt University, Morgan Creek Digital, Samsung Ventures and HH-CTBC. Previous investors participating in the Series B round included RTX Ventures, Anzu Partners, Scout Ventures, AlleyCorp, ACVC, and S5V.

Liberty Company, a Gainesville, FL-based insurance broker handling the commercial, personal and employee benefits insurance needs of businesses, non-profits, and individuals, raised $100M in funding. The round was led by JPMorganChase.

Circuit, a NYC-based short-trip, electric shuttle solutions company, raised $17M in Series B funding. The fund was led by MKB, with participation from existing investors Tribeca Venture Partners, Impact Engine, and others.

K2 Space, a Torrance, CA-based company developing a satellite bus platform, raised $110M in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Altimeter Capital, with participation from existing investors Alpine Space Ventures, First Round Capital, and others.

Exero Medical, a Jersey City, NJ- and Or Yehuda, Israel-based company focused on early detection of post-operative complications using tissue healing data, raised $12.7M in funding. Backers included Longevity Venture Partners, Tech Council Ventures, and Edge Medical Ventures, alongside participation from existing investors.

Eudia, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of an augmented intelligence platform for Fortune 500 legal teams, closed a Series A funding round for up to $105M. The round was led by General Catalyst with participation from Floodgate, Sierra Ventures, Hakluyt Capital, Defy, Everywhere Ventures, B3 Capital, Backbone, Firsthand, as well as prolific angel investors Gokul Rajaram, Chris Re, Andrew Sieja, Mike Gamson, and Scott Belsky.

Vitalchat, a Raleigh, NC-based provider of an AI-powered ambient solutions for in-patient virtual nursing and procedural telehealth, raised $6M in Series A funding. The round was led by Green Harvest Capital Industries (GHC Industries).

Junevity, a San Francisco, CA-based biotechnology cell reset therapeutics company, raised $10M in seed funding. The round was led by Goldcrest Capital and Godfrey Capital.

Revving, a London, UK-based fintech startup for digital media payments, raised £107M in funding. The round was led by DWS and included £100M of debt funding.

One ID, a London, UK-based provider of bank-verified digital identification services, raised £16M in funding. The latest raise was led by ACF Investors.

Bluebook, a Stockholm, Sweden-based AI-powered software for accounting firms, raised $3M in funding. The round included a $2.5m pre-seed round led by EQT Ventures and a separate capital injection from Y Combinator.

SGNL, a Palo Alto, CA-based identity-first security startup, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $42M, was led by Brightmind Partners with participation from Costanoa Ventures, Microsoft’s M12, and Cisco Investments.

Abcuro, a Newton, MA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $200M in Series C funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) joined by Foresite Capital with participation from existing investors including RA Capital Management, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, Sanofi Ventures, Pontifax, Mass General Brigham Ventures, New Leaf Ventures, abrdn Inc., BlackRock, Eurofarma Ventures, and Soleus Capital.

Latent Labs, a London, UK-based company building AI foundation models to make biology programmable, raised $50M in total funding. The round was led by Radical Ventures and Sofinnova Partners, with the participation of Flying Fish, Isomer, as well as existing investors 8VC, Kindred Capital and Pillar VC, and angels including Jeff Dean, Aidan Gomez, and Mati Staniszewski.

fal, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an infrastructure platform for AI-driven media creation, raised $49M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $72M, was led by Notable Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Kindred Ventures, and First Round Capital.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY WORTH EXPLORING

🤝 Solving a $200B Industrial Energy Problem: Why Investors Are Backing PowerBox

What got my attention: PowerBox Technology is tackling a massive, costly problem for industrial manufacturers—grid instability, high energy costs, and inefficient renewable integration. Instead of relying on expensive and unreliable backup systems, their modular hardware and AI-driven software work together to prevent disruptions, lower energy bills, and make renewable energy seamless for factories.

Why it matters:

• Grid instability causes millions in lost productivity for manufacturers.

• Smart energy management lowers costs while improving efficiency.

• Seamless renewable integration moves industries toward sustainability.

Why I’m watching:

• Three active pilots, including a packaging factory losing 1-2% of sales due to grid instability.

• Backed by the University of Illinois, NASA, NSF, and top industry advisors.

• Equity crowdfunding campaign nearing $55K, with additional investment commitments.

They’re raising $500K to scale their solution and bring PowerBlock to market in 2025.

💡 Want to invest in the future of industrial energy? Learn more →

NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Ulu Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based seed-stage VC firm, raised a $208M fourth fund, 50% larger than its previous $138M fund. Co-founded by former Google VP Miriam Rivera, Ulu maintains its data-driven diversity investment strategy despite broader DEI pullbacks. The firm emphasizes a bias-free approach while navigating regulatory risks under the new administration.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Alibaba confirms Apple deal bringing AI features to iPhones in China:

• Apple confirmed a deal with Alibaba to integrate its AI into iPhones sold in China, aiming to reverse an 11% sales drop in its largest smartphone market.

• The partnership follows failed talks with Baidu, ByteDance, and DeepSeek, as Apple seeks local AI integration to gain regulatory approval and revive its China market position.

• Apple’s market share fell to 15%, losing ground to Vivo and Huawei, while trade tensions and tariffs continue to threaten its long-term prospects in China.

OpenAI reveals GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 roadmap:

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared the roadmap for GPT-4.5 and GPT-5, emphasizing the need to simplify the company's complex product lineup.

• The upcoming GPT-4.5, internally named Orion, will be OpenAI’s final non-chain-of-thought model, while GPT-5 aims to unify both o-series and GPT-series models for broader task efficiency.

• GPT-5 will provide free ChatGPT users with unlimited access at a standard intelligence level, while Plus and Pro subscribers will enjoy higher levels of intelligence, though release dates remain unspecified.

Musk claims Grok 3 is 'outperforming' rivals, with full release imminent:

• Elon Musk announced the upcoming release of Grok 3, describing it as "scary smart" and claiming it outperforms leading AI chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, thanks to its powerful reasoning abilities.

• Grok 3 utilizes synthetic training data, allowing it to reflect on mistakes for logical consistency, setting it apart from US chatbots such as Gemini and ChatGPT, which mainly use real-world data.

• Despite Grok AI's unique attributes and native X integration, its market share remains small compared to competitors, and its potential impact on the AI landscape is uncertain.

Apple TV is now available on Android:

• Apple has launched its TV app for Android, allowing users to subscribe to and watch Apple TV+ on their phones and tablets through a dedicated application.

• The app integrates with Google Play accounts, enabling Android users to sign up for Apple TV+ or an MLS Season Pass using Google's billing process, and is compatible with devices running Android 10 or newer.

• While the app supports streaming and downloads for offline viewing, it does not currently allow users to rent or buy movies, nor does it support casting to other devices, although updates are expected.

Google will use machine learning to estimate a user’s age:

• Google is testing a machine learning-based age estimation model to identify users under 18 and apply age-appropriate filters on YouTube, aiming to enhance child safety on the platform.

• The model will predict a user's age by analyzing their search habits, video categories they watch, and the age of their account, with plans for a global rollout in 2026.

• In addition to the age estimation feature, Google will expand its School Time and Family Link parental controls to Android devices, allowing parents to manage their children's app usage and contact approvals.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

Elon Musk’s x.AI offers $97.4B to buy OpenAI, Altman rejects:

• Musk’s consortium, including 8VC and Vy Capital, offered $97.4B in cash for OpenAI, but Sam Altman dismissed the bid, which conflicts with Musk’s lawsuit opposing OpenAI’s nonprofit conversion.

• The offer includes full access to OpenAI’s financial records and staff, raising concerns about x.AI gaining sensitive competitor insights before potentially withdrawing the bid.

• Musk’s team says they’ll drop the offer if OpenAI remains a nonprofit, fueling speculation that the bid aims to pressure Altman into paying more to take the company private.

HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES

💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities

• Regional Investment Champion - SFC Capital | UK - Apply Here

• Research Associate - Sand Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Head of Finance and Investor Relations Dallas Venture Capital - USA - Apply Here

• Investment Associate - Dynamis Venture | India - Apply Here

• Operations Associate - Techstars | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Analyst - 16VC | USA - Apply Here

• VC Associate - 01 Advisors | USA - Apply Here

• Partner 34, AI Counsel - a16z | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Intern - Exhort Venture | Australia - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Fund Controller - Spring Tide Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Director of Investor Relations - Navitas Capital | USA - Apply Here

• Community and Office Manager - Rackhouse | USA - Apply Here

CURATED RESOURCES

🎁 Don’t miss - Curated Resources for Founders.

• Write Your Monthly Investor Update (Email Template Download).

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• 2700+ US Angel Investors & VC Firms Contact Database (Email + LinkedIn Link).

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

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