OpenAI in talks to raise $40B & Meta’s Reality Labs posts $5 billion loss.

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Athenic AI, a San Francisco, CA-based company which specializes in the data analysis and business intelligence (BI) space, raised $4.3M in funding. The round was led by BMW i Ventures and joined by TenVC, Scrum Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Beat Ventures, SpaceCadet, Boost VC and Abstraction Capital.

Nucleus Genomics, a San Francisco-based consumer genetics startup, raised $14M in Series A funding, bringing total funding to $32M. The round included Seven Seven Six, Balaji Srinivasan, and SpaceX alum Achal Upadhyaya. The company offers DNA sequencing and analysis for 800+ conditions, with plans to expand into personalized health insights and genetic IQ assessments.

Kode Health, a Holland, MI-based provider of an on-demand medical coding platform, raised $27M in Series B funding. The round was led by Noro-Moseley Partners with participation from Mercury, FCA Venture Partners, Epsilon Innovation Fund, and 111 West Capital.

Seraphic Security, a San Jose, CA-based enterprise browser security company, raised $29M in Series A funding. The round was led by GreatPoint Ventures (GPV), with participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and existing investors Planven, Cota Capital and Storm Ventures.

Medsender, a NYC-based provider of an AI-powered workflow automation platform for healthcare providers, raised $5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Ballast Point Ventures.

Finout, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based FinOps-for-enterprise platform, raised $40M in Series C funding. The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from Pitango, Team8, Red Dot Capital, and Maor Investments.

Anchor, a NYC-based provider of an autonomous billing and collections platform, raised $30M in Series A funding. The round was led by Mosaic General Partnership and Oren Zeev from Zeev Ventures. Existing investors, including Entrée Capital and Tal Ventures participated, alongside new investors Amy Banse.

Final Round AI, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of an AI-powered platform helping people find jobs, raised $6.88M in Seed funding round. Backers included Uncork Capital, HF0, Linear Capital, Ritual Capital, Mento VC, AltaIR Capital, Alumni Ventures, Goodwater, Hico Ventures, Soma Capital, iSeed Ventures, Level One, Sky9 Capital, and angels in Silicon Valley.

C the Signs, a London, UK-based creator of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based platform to identify patients at risk of cancer at the earliest and most curable stage, raised $8M in funding. The round was led by Khosla Ventures.

Omnitron Sensor, a Los Angeles, CA-based company which specializes MEMS fabrication IP for new sensors, raised $13M+ in Series A funding. The round was led by Corriente Advisors, LLC, with participation from L’ATTITUDE Ventures.

Juno Technologies, a London, UK-based generative AI-powered fintech startup, raised $1M in funding. The round was led by Fuel Ventures with participation from Zinc and other angel investors.

Prosper, a London, UK-based provider of a wealth management platform, raised £4M in funding. The round was led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from Nick Perrett.

Rad AI, a San Francisco, CA-based healthcare AI company, raised $60M in Series C funding, at $525M valuation. The round was led by Transformation Capital, with participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures, World Innovation Lab, UP2398, Kickstart Fund, OCV Partners, Cone Health and others.

Zelt, a London, UK-based all-in-one people operations software provider, raised $6m in funding. The round was led by Nauta, with participation from Venrex and Episode 1.

Waterlily, a San Francisco, CA-based startup that uses AI to predict long-term care (LTC) needs up to decades before they happen, closed a $7M Seed funding round. The round was led by John Kim, founding partner of Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from Genworth, Nationwide, and Edward Jones, as well as key industry leaders including Tim Kneeland (former CEO of GE Insurance & Transamerica LTC), and others.

NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has deployed venture scouts across Europe, despite closing its London crypto office, per Sifted. Scouts, based in Sweden, France, Germany, and the U.K., source early-stage deals with checks ranging from $10K to $25K. Notable scouts include Pippa Lamb (Sweet Capital) and Guillaume Roux-Romestaing (11x), though NFT investments are reportedly restricted.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

OpenAI said to be in talks to raise $40B at a $340B valuation:

• OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise up to $40B, with SoftBank leading the round by contributing between $15B to $25B, potentially doubling its October valuation of $157B.

• The fresh capital would help OpenAI fund its loss-making operations, as it reported $5B in losses against $3.7B in revenue in 2024, while continuing its AI expansion.

• A major portion of the funds would support Stargate, OpenAI’s $100B+ AI data center project in the U.S., as the company races to scale its infrastructure.

Alibaba introduces Qwen 2.5 AI model, claims it surpasses DeepSeek:

• Alibaba has unveiled its new AI model, Qwen 2.5 Max, which it claims outperforms AI systems from competitors like DeepSeek, OpenAI, and Meta in performance metrics.

• DeepSeek, a rapidly growing company from Hangzhou, has significantly influenced market dynamics with its competitively priced AI models, prompting reactions from major tech firms in China.

• Price reductions across the AI industry, initiated by DeepSeek's aggressive pricing strategy, have led Alibaba to cut its fees by up to 97% on selected models to maintain its competitive edge.

Meta’s Reality Labs posts $5 billion loss in fourth quarter:

• Meta’s Reality Labs reported a $4.97B loss in Q4 while generating $1.1B in revenue, bringing total losses to over $60B since 2020 as it pushes VR and AR for the metaverse.

• Despite Wall Street skepticism, Meta plans to invest up to $65B in 2025 for AI-driven infrastructure, reinforcing its commitment to VR, AR, and devices like Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

• Competition is heating up as Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro launched in early 2024, while Google and Samsung are developing Project Moohan, set for release in 2025.

Apple reports mixed Q1 2025 earnings as iPhone sales decline in China:

• Apple’s Q1 2025 revenue grew 4% to $124.3B, beating expectations, but iPhone sales dropped 11.1% in China, marking the biggest regional decline since Q1 2024.

• CEO Tim Cook attributed weaker iPhone 16 performance in China to the absence of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI platform, which is still awaiting regulatory approval for a local rollout.

• Despite iPhone struggles, Apple saw 15% growth in Mac and iPad sales, 14% growth in services revenue, and now has 2.35B active devices, with 1B subscriptions across its platforms.

DeepSeek exposed internal database containing chat histories and sensitive data:

• DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, had an unprotected database leaking sensitive data like user chat histories and API keys to the public internet.

• Security experts from Wiz discovered the database vulnerability, informed DeepSeek, and the company promptly took the database offline to secure it.

• It remains unclear if anyone besides Wiz accessed the exposed data or how long it was accessible before being secured, and DeepSeek has not commented on the incident.

Tesla to launch robotaxi service in June:

• Tesla plans to launch a robotaxi service in June using a fleet of company-owned vehicles that will operate without a driver behind the wheel, according to CEO Elon Musk.

• The company has faced criticism for delaying fully autonomous vehicle promises, but it has now shortened the timeline for delivering such technology, with recent testing involving unsupervised driving on private roads.

• Tesla's autonomous driving technology relies solely on cameras and does not use lidar, which has led to concerns about its safety and effectiveness, especially in challenging conditions like wet roads and sunlight glare.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

Zuckerberg wants to make Facebook cool again:

• Mark Zuckerberg is planning significant changes to Facebook to recapture its original appeal, aiming to make it more culturally influential for its three billion monthly users.

• He indicated that this transformation will be a major focus for the company over the next year, possibly affecting short-term business outcomes to prioritize necessary product enhancements.

• Zuckerberg emphasized that the goal is to explore new directions in product development without removing modern features, as highlighted by the increased user engagement with video content on the platform.

NASA's asteroid samples contain the 'building blocks of life'

• NASA's Osiris-Rex mission retrieved 122 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu, marking the largest sample collected beyond the moon, and revealed essential compounds for life.

• The research found amino acids and nitrogen-rich compounds, suggesting that life's building blocks possibly originated from asteroids impacting early Earth.

• The study indicates that Bennu's parent body once had underground lakes or oceans, with water evaporating and leaving behind sodium-rich salts, crucial for the development of life.

HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES

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