Grok 3 rebels against Musk & Apple commits $500B to US AI manufacturing.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Patlytics, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI-powered patent workflow platform, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Next47. Existing investors, including Google’s AI-focused venture fund Gradient, 8VC, Alumni Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Myriad Venture Partners also participated.

Journify, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of conversion API (CAPI) and composable customer data platform (CCDP), raised $4M in funding. The round was led by Silicon Badia, with participation from RZM and other strategic investors.

OrganOx, an Oxford, UK-based organ medical technology company, raised $142M in equity funding. The round was led by new investor HealthQuest Capital with participation from existing investors BGF and Lauxera Capital Partners, along with additional new investors Sofina, Soleus Capital, and Avidity Partners.

RAD Security, a San Francisco, CA-based leader in securing cloud-focused infrastructure, raised $14M in Series A funding. The round was led by Cheyenne Ventures with participation from new investors Forgepoint Capital, Lytical Ventures, Akamai and existing investors .406 Ventures, Vertex Ventures, and Gula Tech Adventures.

Sonar, a Sacramento, CA-based provider of an AI-powered mental health platform for young people, raised $2.4M in funding. The round was led by Nina Capital, with participation from GSR Ventures and J4 Ventures and support from the Stanford University Social Impact Founder Fellowship.

Cambium, a Baltimore, MD-based supply chain technology company focused on the wood industry, raised $18.5M in Series A funding. The round, which brought Cambium’s total funding to $28.5m, was led by VoLo Earth Ventures, with participation from NEA, Dangerous Ventures, Tunitas Ventures, Woven Earth, Understorey, Groundswell, Ulu Ventures and existing investors, including MaC Venture Capital, Rise of the Rest, 81 Collection, Alumni Ventures, and Soma Capital.

Sparta, a Geneva, Switzerland-based provider of real-time intelligence for commodity traders, raised $42M in Series B funding. The round was led by One Peak, with continued backing from Singular and FirstMark.

NinjaOne, an Austin, TX-based provider of an automated endpoint management platform, raised $500M in Series C funding, at $5 Billion valuation. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth and CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent investment fund, with participation from other prominent private investors.

OneUp, a Tamworth, UK-based platform that uses gaming technology to manage and motivate sales teams, raised £1.5M in funding. Backers included Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) and Mercia Ventures.

Fello, a Chicago, IL-based provider of a peer support platform for loneliness, raised $10.4M in funding. Backers included Glen Tullman’s 62Ventures, The Capital Factory Fellowship Fund, Katalyst Capital and Offline Ventures, amongst others.

Kapta Space, a Seattle, WA-based space tech startup, raised $5M in Seed funding. The round was led by MetaVC Partners, with participation from Entrada Ventures and Blue Collective.

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NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Khosla Ventures is raising $3.5B across three funds—$1.75B for its ninth core venture fund, $1.1B for growth-stage startups, and $650M for seed-stage investments. The firm, known for early bets on OpenAI, has grown its fund target by 17% from 2023’s $3B raise. Founded by Vinod Khosla, the firm’s MDs include Keith Rabois, who previously backed DoorDash, Affirm, and Stripe.

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) launches £100M ($126M) Opportunity Fund to back later-stage deep tech and life sciences startups in Cambridge. Anchored by Aviva Investors and British Patient Capital, the fund aims to fill the U.K.'s scale-up capital gap. Early investments include Pragmatic Semiconductor and Riverlane. CIC has invested $757M in 40+ companies, with past exits like Gyroscope Therapeutics ($1.5B sale to Novartis) and PetMedix ($285M acquisition by Zoetis).

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Anthropic launches a hybrid AI reasoning model that ‘thinks’ as long as you want:

• Claude 3.7 Sonnet introduces hybrid AI reasoning, letting users choose between real-time and deep-thinking responses, aiming to simplify AI model selection.

• It outperforms OpenAI’s o3-mini on coding (SWE-Bench) and agentic tasks (TAU-Bench) while reducing unnecessary refusals by 45% compared to Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

• Alongside the model, Anthropic launched Claude Code, an AI-powered coding assistant, as a research preview for developers to modify and test code via the command line.

Grok 3 rebels against Musk:

• Elon Musk's xAI model, Grok 3, was reported to temporarily censor unflattering facts about Donald Trump and Musk himself, contradicting its description as a "maximally truth-seeking AI."

• Social media users discovered that Grok 3 was instructed not to mention Trump or Musk when asked about misinformation, but this behavior was later corrected to include Trump in responses.

• Despite Musk's intentions for Grok to be an unfiltered AI model, previous versions leaned left on political topics, prompting Musk to promise adjustments towards political neutrality.

Anthropic reportedly ups its next funding round to $3.5B:

• Anthropic is finalizing a $3.5B funding round, up from its initial $2B target, pushing its valuation to $61.5B, per The Wall Street Journal.

• Investors including Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Bessemer, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX are in talks to back the AI startup, bringing its total funding to ~$18B.

• Despite hitting $1.2B in annualized revenue, Anthropic remains unprofitable and plans to use the new capital to advance its AI capabilities.

Apple commits $500B to US AI manufacturing:

• Apple will invest $500B over four years in AI, chip manufacturing, and education, including a new AI server factory in Texas and doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund to $10B.

• The plan aligns with U.S. efforts to reduce reliance on foreign production, complementing new tariffs and investment shifts aimed at boosting domestic industry.

• Apple is expanding data center capacity and launching an AI-focused Manufacturing Academy in Detroit, signaling a deeper push into AI-driven hardware and workforce development.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

Apple's iPhone 17 design resembles Google's Pixel:

• Leaker Majin Bu has released CAD images suggesting that Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 series may feature a redesigned camera similar to the rectangular bars seen on Google’s Pixel phones.

• The iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max, and the rumored iPhone 17 Air models are expected to have camera bars extending across the upper body, while the standard iPhone 17's camera is likely to remain mostly unchanged.

• While these leaks offer a glimpse into potential design changes, the official appearance of the iPhone 17 series will be confirmed by Apple during their announcement, anticipated in September.

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