Elon Musk’s xAI acquires X & OpenAI peels back ChatGPT’s safeguards around image creation.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

DeepIP, a NYC- and Paris, France-based provider of an AI platform for IP attorneys, raised $15M in Series A funding. The round was led by Resonance, with participation from Headline (Mistral AI), Serena Capital (Dataiku), and Balderton Capital.

Layer Health, a Boston, MA-based health technology company using AI for the chart review, raised $21M in Series A funding. The round was led by Define Ventures with participation from Flare Capital Partners, GV and MultiCare Capital Partners.

Hakimo, a Menlo Park, CA-based AI-powered physical security monitoring company, raised $10.5M in funding. The round was led by Vertex Ventures and Zigg Capital with participation from RXR Arden Digital Ventures and existing investors Defy.vc and Gokul Rajaram.

Galatea Bio, a Miami, FL-based AI-driven genomic research and clinical genetic testing company, raised $25M in funding. Backers included F-Prime, Helios Digital Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, AME Cloud, CEI Ventures, Alexandria, Founders Collective, Stanford President’s Fund, and HBM Genomics.

Yutori, a San Francisco, CA-based the company building personal AI assistants that automate everyday digital tasks, raised $15m in seed funding. The round was led by Radical Ventures, with participation from Felicis and angel investors Fei-Fei Li, Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Sarah Guo (Conviction) and Sandhya Venkatachalam (Axiom), Amjad Masad (Replit), Akshay Kothari (Notion), Oliver Cameron (Odyssey), Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Soleio, Logan Kilpatrick (Google AI Studio), among others.

Manna Air Delivery, a Dublin, Ireland-based drone delivery company, raised $30M in funding. The round was led by Molten Ventures and Tapestry VC, with Coca-Cola HBC, Dynamo VC, and Radius Capital, bringing its total equity funding to over $60M.

DeCharge, India-based provider of an EV charging network, raised $2.5M in seed funding. The round was led by Lemniscap, with participation from Colosseum, Daedalus Angels, EV3 Labs, Echo Fundraiser Chainyoda Jedis, and Levitate Labs, as well as angels including Nom (Creator of Bonk), Shek (Superteam/Solana), Arnold Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Spherelabs; Vibhu Norby (Founder and CEO of DripHaus), Manan Patel, Founder of DeSights AI; and Mathieu Baudet, Founder of Linera.

Taxo, a San Francisco-based healthcare AI startup founded by British doctor Ahmed Kerwan, has raised $5M in seed funding led by Y Combinator, General Catalyst, and Character Capital.

mo:re, a Hamburg, Germany-based life science startup providing a laboratory platform, raised €2.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds, with participation from Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH), Gilson Inc., NEDGEX, Nidobirds Ventures, and R&R Medical and Martin Blüggel.

Allen Control Systems, an Austin, TX-based company which specializes in autonomous precision robotics for defense, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Craft Ventures with participation from existing investors Inspired Capital and Rally Ventures.

NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Frank Rotman, co-founder of QED Investors, will step into a partner emeritus role by January 2026 to start building his own ventures — with his first startup aimed at the music industry. While best known for fintech bets like Credit Karma and SoFi, Rotman says the idea for his music business has “sat on the shelf for years” and could make a real impact. He’ll continue advising QED part-time and also plans to write a book on startups and VC frameworks. Partner Amias Gerety will now lead QED’s U.S. investment team.

Intel Capital, long considered the pioneer of corporate VC, will spin out from Intel to become an independent firm by Q3 2025. The new entity, which will retain Intel as an anchor LP, will continue investing in AI, cloud, devices, and frontier tech. Led by Anthony Lin and Mark Rostick, the team cites strong returns like Astera Labs’ IPO to prove their edge, despite the broader VC market slump.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Perplexity CEO denies financial struggles, rules out IPO before 2028:

• Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas addressed user concerns on Reddit, denying rumors that the company is struggling financially or cutting features to save costs.

• He clarified that the Auto mode design is aimed at reducing UI clutter, not cost-cutting, emphasizing that users shouldn’t need to learn complex tools to use the product.

• Srinivas stated that revenue is growing, funding is intact, and there are no plans to pursue an IPO before 2028.

Elon Musk’s xAI acquires X in all-stock deal:

• Musk’s AI startup xAI has acquired his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in an all-stock deal, valuing xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion (after subtracting $12 billion in debt).

• The merger combines data, distribution, models, compute, and talent under one umbrella, with shares of both companies converting into a new holding entity, xAI Holdings Corp.

• With over 600M active users on X and a growing AI infrastructure, xAI now gains strategic access to a massive dataset and user base to accelerate its competition with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

OpenAI peels back ChatGPT’s safeguards around image creation:

• OpenAI’s new GPT-4o image generator enables ChatGPT to depict public figures, racial features, and even hateful symbols in educational or neutral contexts — a major shift from its previous moderation stance.

• The company says it’s transitioning from blanket refusals to a more nuanced approach, giving users more control while still maintaining safeguards, especially around children and extremist content.

• These changes arrive amid rising political scrutiny, as OpenAI distances itself from accusations of censorship and aims to balance creative freedom with responsible AI use.

Google discontinues two Nest home security products:

• Google is discontinuing the popular Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector, which has been a common fixture in homes, and the less popular Nest x Yale smart lock, with replacements coming from third-party manufacturers.

• The Nest Protect, which launched before Google acquired Nest for $3.4 billion in 2014, is still available for $119 on the Google Store while supplies last, but users should note these devices need replacement every 10 years.

• Google appears to be shifting focus away from smart home hardware development, having not released new cameras, smart speakers, doorbells, or smart displays in several years, while maintaining interest only in TV streamers and thermostats.

Sam Altman firing drama in 2023 detailed in new book excerpt:

• A new book, The Optimist, details concerns over Sam Altman's leadership at OpenAI, including his personal ownership of the OpenAI Startup Fund and alleged misrepresentation of internal legal guidance.

• Co-founder Ilya Sutskever and then-CTO Mira Murati reportedly gathered evidence of Altman’s toxic behavior and shared it with the board, prompting his brief ouster.

• The board's decision quickly unraveled as employees, including Sutskever and Murati, signed a letter demanding Altman’s return — which he eventually did, while both Sutskever and Murati later exited to start their own ventures.

NASA will test Starliner thrusters extensively before launch:

• NASA and Boeing haven't determined whether the next Starliner flight will carry astronauts, with the mission now delayed until late 2025 or more likely into 2026 following thruster failures during its previous test flight.

• Extensive propulsion system testing is required before Starliner flies again, as multiple maneuvering thrusters malfunctioned during the June mission, prompting NASA to return astronauts Wilmore and Williams on a SpaceX Crew Dragon instead.

• Engineers have resolved about 70 percent of the anomalies from Starliner's flight, but propulsion issues remain unresolved, and the spacecraft may only complete a few missions before the International Space Station is decommissioned.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

Apple working on Health+ AI coach for personalized wellness advice:

• Apple is reportedly developing a revamped Health app with a built-in AI coach, aiming to provide personalized health and wellness advice using data from users' medical devices.

• The service, tentatively named Health+, is being trained on input from Apple’s staff physicians, with plans to expand by incorporating health-related videos from more doctors.

• The AI-powered coach, which may include food tracking features, is expected to launch in spring or summer 2026 alongside iOS 19.4.

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