Ex-WeWork CEO Adam raises $100M for rental house startup & Tesla begins supervised robotaxi tests.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Augur (fka SecLytics), a San Diego, CA based AI-powered threat prevention company, raised $7m in seed funding. The round was led by General Advance with participation from industry executives Ely Kahn, VP Product for Cloud Security and AI/ML, SentinelOne; Spencer Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO, Prelude; Travis McPeak, Co-Founder and CEO, Resourcely; Josh Lospinoso, Co-Founder and CEO, Shift5; and other senior executives from Amazon, Google, and CloudFlare.

Theo, a NYC-based provider of a network connecting onchain capital to global markets via trading infrastructure, raised $20M in funding. The round was led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital, with participation from Manifold Trading, Mirana Ventures, Metalayer Ventures, Flowdesk, SCB, MEXC, Amber Group, Selini Capital, and Angel investors.

Alternative Payments, a NYC-based B2B payments and checkout infrastructure provider, raised $22M in funding. The round was led by MissionOG and Third Prime.

Amplifier Security, an Atlanta, GA- and San Francisco, CA-based autonomous user security company, raised $5.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Cota Capital and WestWave Capital, and angel investors included Brian NeSmith (Co-founder and Chairman, Arctic Wolf), Ash Devata (CEO, Greynoise; ex-VP Product, Duo/Cisco), Shawn Bass (CTO, Citrix), and Kabir Barday (Founder and CEO, OneTrust).

Push Security, a Boston, MA-based cyber security company which specializes in identity attacks in the browser, raised $30M in Series B funding. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Datadog Ventures and B3 Capital.

RepAir Carbon, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of an electrochemical carbon capture solution, raised $15M in Series A extension funding. The round was led by Taranis Carbon Ventures and Extantia Capital, with participation from Ormat Technologies, and Repsol.

SquareX, a Palo Alto, CA-based browser detection and response (BDR) company, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by SYN Ventures, with participation from existing investor Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital SEA).

Araceli Biosciences, a Portland, OR-based biotechnology company for high-content imaging and AI-powered analysis, raised $11.2M in Seed funding. Bill Cortelyou, Board Chairman, was the lead investor.

RISE Robotics, a Somerville, MA-based electrification and automation company, raised $1.5M in funding. Backers included Syndicate Lead Walter Winshall, KingsCrowd Capital, and existing institutional investors including MIT’s The Engine, Fortistar Capital, and Techstars.

Electra, a Boulder, CO-based clean iron company, raised $186M in Series B Funding. The round was led by Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek Holdings. Other investors included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Builders Vision, Collaborative Fund, Earth Venture Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, S2G Investments, BHP Ventures, Rio Tinto and Roy Hill, Nucor and Yamato Kogyo, Interfer Edelstahl Group and Toyota Tsusho Corporation. This brought its total funding to date to $214M.

ChEmpower, a Portland, OR-based semiconductor materials company, raised $18.7M in funding. The round was led by M Ventures and Rhapsody Venture Partners with participation from Intel Capital, Pangaea Ventures, Foothill Ventures, In-Q-Tel (IQT), and TEL Venture Capital.

Granite Bio, a Basel, Switzerland-based clinical-stage immunology company, raised $100M in funding. The round consisted of a $30M Series A led by Versant Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund, and a $70M Series B led by Forbion and Sanofi Ventures.

Avidicure, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based biotechnology company pioneering an entirely new multifunctional antibody modality with broad applicability in oncology, raised $50m in seed financing. The round was led by EQT Life Sciences with participation from Kurma Partners, BioGeneration Ventures, BOM, Curie Capital, and V-Bio Ventures.

Ravenna, a Seattle, WA-based AI-powered, Slack-First helpdesk for internal IT and Operations teams, raised $15M in Pre-Seed and Seed funding. The round was led by Madrona and Khosla Ventures with participation from Founders Co-op and angel investors included Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Wade Foster (Zapier), Mike Knoop (Zapier), Brian Helmig (Zapier), John Waldman (Homebase), Linda Lian (CommonRoom), Brett Kaluza (Pitchbook), and Chris Bakke.

ALT Sports Data, a San Diego, CA-based provider of betting tech solutions, raised $5M in funding. The round was led by Relay Ventures and Eberg Capital, with participation from Motley Fool Ventures, Scrum Ventures, and a consortium of strategic investors.

Northwood, a Los Angeles, CA-based company that builds and operates ground stations that communicate with satellites to download and process data, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Alpine Space Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Also Capital, Founders Fund, Box Group, Balerion, Banter Capital, and Humba Ventures.

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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Intel Capital, the venture arm of Intel, will remain internal after all, reversing earlier plans to spin it out as an independent firm. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan announced during the company’s Q1 earnings call that Intel Capital will instead focus on monetizing its existing portfolio and make selective new investments aligned with Intel’s strategic goals. The decision halts a previously announced spinout that was slated for Q3 2025.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann’s Flow raises $100M+:

• Flow, the rental housing startup from ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, has raised over $100 million in new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

• Existing investor Andreessen Horowitz participated in the round; it previously led Flow’s $350 million raise in 2022 at a $1 billion valuation.

• Neumann says Flow could go public “one day,” despite WeWork’s collapse and his controversial history.

Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads:

• Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas revealed that the company’s upcoming browser, Comet, is designed to collect user data beyond its app to build detailed profiles for premium ad targeting.

• Srinivas defended the approach by saying users would benefit from more relevant ads, similar to how Google built its ad empire via Chrome and Android.

• Perplexity has signed a partnership with Motorola to pre-install its app and is reportedly in talks with Samsung, as it aims to compete directly with Google in both search and mobile.

OpenAI rolls out lightweight deep research tool to ChatGPT users:

• OpenAI is launching a new “lightweight” version of its deep research feature to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Pro, and free users, powered by its o4-mini model.

• The tool delivers shorter but still in-depth responses, allowing OpenAI to increase usage limits while maintaining quality.

• Once users hit their limits with the full version, ChatGPT will automatically switch to the lightweight version; enterprise and education users will get access next week.

Anthropic CEO warns AI models are poorly understood, sets 2027 goal to fix it:

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the lack of understanding about how AI models work is dangerous and “basically unacceptable” as they grow more powerful and autonomous.

• In a new essay, he sets a goal for Anthropic to reliably detect most model problems by 2027, pushing for breakthroughs in interpretability — or the ability to trace how AI models make decisions.

• Amodei calls on peers like OpenAI and DeepMind to invest more in interpretability and urges governments to introduce light-touch regulations and export controls to ensure AI safety.

Tesla begins supervised robotaxi tests:

• Tesla commenced supervised autonomous ride-hailing evaluations for its personnel in Austin and the San Francisco Bay area using its driver assistance system called FSD.

• This staff testing program precedes the company's planned public introduction of a robotaxi network, expected to start with a small fleet in Austin this summer.

• Current trials feature existing vehicle models equipped with passenger screens and necessitate a human safety operator for oversight, matching California permit requirements for monitored testing.

Google reveals sky-high Gemini usage numbers in antitrust case:

• Google revealed during an antitrust trial that its Gemini AI assistant reached 350 million monthly active users by March 2025, alongside 35 million daily users.

• This user count signifies a massive surge from late last year when the platform only had tens of millions of monthly users and nine million engaging daily.

• Despite recent model improvements and wider integration, Google's internal traffic estimations indicate its chatbot still faces a significant challenge competing against established rivals like ChatGPT.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

OpenAI opens latest image generator API to developers:

• OpenAI now provides its advanced GPT-Image-1 model to developers through an API, expanding access beyond ChatGPT and allowing integration into applications like Adobe and Figma.

• Utilizing the image features employs a token-based cost system, with separate charges for text, image input, and picture output, generally resulting in $0.02 to $0.19 per graphic.

• Prominent firms including Adobe, Figma, and Wix are already incorporating this visual generation tool via the programming interface for creative software, design platforms, and website development.

Meta cuts jobs at Reality Labs, impacting Oculus Studios:

• Meta has laid off an unspecified number of employees from its Reality Labs division, including teams at Oculus Studios working on games like Supernatural.

• The company says the move is aimed at making development teams more efficient as it continues to invest in mixed reality experiences.

• Reality Labs posted a $5 billion loss in Q4 2024, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains committed to the long-term vision of AR and VR.

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