Apple TV+ reportedly losing over $1B annually & Perplexity is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1B.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Dataminr, a NYC-based provider of a real-time AI platform for detecting events, risks and critical information from public data signals, raised $85M In funding. Backers included NightDragon and HSBC.

Inspiren, a NYC-based provider of AI-powered solutions for senior living, raised $35M in Series A funding. The round was led by Avenir with participation from Primary Venture Partners, Story Ventures, Third Prime and Studio VC.

Camber, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a cloud-based computing platform, raised $4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Base10 Partners. The raise followed the $1.5M pre-seed led by PearVC.

Kosli, an Oslo, Norway-based provider of automated governance solutions for software delivery, raised $10M in Series A funding. The round was led by Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) group and Heavybit. Defined Capital and Transpose Platform also participated along with angel investors.

ClearGrid, a Dubai, UAE-based provider of an AI-powered debt collection platform, raised $10M in funding. The funding comes across two rounds: with the pre-seed round co-led by Raed Ventures and Beco Capital; and the seed round co-led by Nuwa Capital and Raed Ventures.

Good Good Golf, a Prosper, TX-based golf, media, and lifestyle brand, raised $45M in funding. The round was led by Creator Sports Capital, with participation from Manhattan West Private Equity, Sunflower Bank, and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.

Manifest, a NYC-based company providing a financial protocol to bring U.S. private equity real estate onchain in a scalable and liquid form, raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by VanEck Ventures and Lattice Fund, with participation from Compound and SALT.

Wheeler Bio, an Oklahoma City, OK-based biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), raided $35M in Series A-1 funding. The round was led by Alloy Therapeutics and Echo Investment Capital, with participation from Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Germin8 Ventures, and Russell Westbrook Enterprises.

Carbon Arc, a NYC-based AI data utility company, raised $56M in funding. The round was led by Liberty City Ventures with participation from K5 Global, Raptor Group, and Wasserman Media Group.

Silicon Data, a NYC-based company advancing data transparency and efficiency in the compute industry, raised $4.7M in Seed funding. The round was led by DRW and Jump Trading Group with participation from other strategic investors.

Sibel Health, a Chicago, IL-based medical technology company, raised $30M in Series C funding. The round was led by the Steele Foundation for Hope with participation from Dräger.

SkySpecs, an Ann Arbor, MI-based renewable energy asset health management company, raised $20M in Growth funding. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with additional participation from renewable energy investors including Statkraft and Equinor Ventures.

NymCard, a Dubai, UAE-based provider of an embedded finance platform operating across 10+ countries in MENA, raised $33M in Series B funding. The round was led by QED Investors with participation from existing investors including Lunate, Dubai Future District Fund, Mashreq Bank, Knollwood, Reciprocal, FJLabs, and Endeavor.

Olio Labs, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a therapeutic design platform, raised $4.5M in funding. The round was led by Boom Capital and Overwater Ventures, with participation from Pioneer Fund, SciFounders, Scrum Ventures, Y Combinator (S23), and ZAKA.

Pulsetrain, a Munich, Germany-based powertrain technology company, raised €6.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Vsquared Ventures and Planet A, with participation from Climate Club.

Brainomix, an Oxford, UK-based company providing AI-powered imaging tools in stroke and lung fibrosis, raised £14M in Series C funding. The round was led by co-led by Parkwalk Advisors, and the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), along with new investor Hostplus via the IP Group Hostplus Innovation Fund.

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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Michael Seibel, a longtime leader at Y Combinator, announced he’s transitioning to a “partner emeritus” role after more than a decade with the accelerator. Seibel, who previously served as CEO and managing director, first joined YC as a founder with Justin.TV and Socialcam. His move follows a gradual step back from operational roles, beginning after Garry Tan’s appointment as YC CEO in 2022. Seibel now plans to reengage with his early passion — improving government — after taking the summer off.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Apple TV+ reportedly losing over $1B annually:

• Apple TV+ is the only unprofitable service in Apple’s portfolio, losing more than $1 billion per year, according to The Information.

• Apple has spent around $4.5–$5 billion annually on content since launching the service in 2019, producing award-winning shows like Ted Lasso and Severance.

• Despite strong critical reception, Apple TV+ lags behind competitors with an estimated 45 million subscribers — far fewer than Netflix’s 301 million.

Perplexity is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1B at an $18B valuation:

• AI search startup Perplexity is reportedly in early talks to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding, which would double its valuation to $18 billion from $9 billion in December.

• The company has hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue and is expanding beyond consumer AI search with enterprise tools and a new “agentic” browser called Comet.

• The rumored raise comes amid rising competition in AI-powered search, with Anthropic and Google rolling out new web search features in their chat-based platforms.

OpenAI unveils new steerable voice and transcription AI models:

• OpenAI launched two new speech-to-text models (gpt-4o-transcribe and gpt-4o-mini-transcribe) and a text-to-speech model (gpt-4o-mini-tts) for its API, offering more realistic, nuanced, and controllable voice generation, plus more accurate transcription.

• The text-to-speech model allows developers to use natural language prompts to steer vocal tone and emotion (e.g., “speak like a mad scientist” or “apologize sincerely”), while the new transcription models outperform Whisper, especially in noisy environments.

• OpenAI won’t open source the new transcription models, citing their large size and infrastructure needs; the tools are positioned to support OpenAI’s broader “agent” strategy for automating customer-facing tasks like voice bots and assistants.

Anthropic adds web search to Claude, bringing it closer to ChatGPT and Gemini:

• Anthropic’s Claude chatbot can now search the web in real-time, starting in preview for paid U.S. users of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, with support for free users and other regions coming soon.

• Web search results include direct citations from news sources and social media, aiming to offer more up-to-date and fact-checkable responses on current events.

• With this update, Claude joins ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI chatbots offering live web browsing, despite previous resistance from Anthropic due to concerns over reliability and hallucinations.

Apple sued over delays in Apple Intelligence rollout:

• A new class-action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses Apple of false advertising for promoting Apple Intelligence features that have yet to be delivered to buyers of compatible iPhones and devices.

• Plaintiffs argue Apple misled consumers by creating the expectation that advanced AI capabilities would be available at launch, but instead delivered limited or missing functionality.

• Bloomberg also reports that CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in Apple AI chief John Giannandrea amid delays in rolling out promised features.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

CoreWeave sets IPO range to raise up to $2.6B:

• CoreWeave announced it will price its IPO shares between $47 and $55, aiming to raise between $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion — though insiders say it's targeting $3B to $4B.

• The pricing strategy may be part of the classic IPO playbook: set expectations modestly, then raise the final price to show strong institutional demand.

• Since filing to go public, CoreWeave has signed a $12B deal with OpenAI and brought on Meg Whitman as a board member, boosting investor interest ahead of the IPO.

Apple reshuffles AI leadership to improve Siri:

• Apple is restructuring its leadership to enhance Siri, with CEO Tim Cook reportedly losing faith in AI head John Giannandrea's ability to develop the voice assistant.

• Mike Rockwell, who previously led the Vision Products Group, will now head the Siri team, while John Giannandrea will remain to focus on research and other AI technologies.

• Paul Meade will succeed Rockwell in leading the Apple Vision Pro team, having previously been in charge of hardware engineering for the same product line.

HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES

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• Manager, Venture Investing - Capital One Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Manager - Wix Venture | USA - Apply Here

• Investment Manager - Techstar | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Associate - Connecticut Innovations | USA - Apply Here

• Venture Analyst (Internship) Synapto Venture | Singapore - Apply Here

• Research Intern Abyro Capital | India - Apply Here

• Venture Partner - Node VC | Remote - Apply Here

• Associate - Crescent | UAE - Apply Here

• Visiting Analyst - Blume Equity | UK - Apply Here

• Senior Analyst - Elevate Venture | USA - Apply Here

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