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US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration & Peter Thiel raises $3 billion fund

Venture Daily Digest - 12/02/2025

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Venture Daily Digest
February 12, 2025

Your body is basically a walking 5-litre water jug. That’s how much water you’re carrying at all times. So technically, you’re more liquid than you think—hydration isn’t just a goal, it’s literally your whole vibe.

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📬 What’s in store:

  • Today’s Picks: Startup growth is quadratic, getting investor meetings, Duolingo’s 14-year playbook, Shaan Puri’s talent triangle, 2700+ US VC contacts, 17 contrarian VC takes, financial model template, YC on AI startup ideas, top AI resources.

  • Founders Fund is about to close another $3B fund.

  • U.S. and U.K. refuse to sign Paris AI action summit declaration.

  • Anduril takes over Microsoft's $22 billion US Army headset program.

  • Apple reportedly partners with Alibaba after rejecting DeepSeek for China AI launch.

  • ChatGPT’s energy use lower than expected, but AI power demand still rising.

  • YouTube is now even bigger on TVs than phones.

  • NASA swaps SpaceX Capsule for crew-10, moving up launch to March 12.

  • VC & Startup Jobs: VC & investors backed startup hiring for remote roles.

⏱️ Read Time: 4 minutes

DAILY PICKS

🗞️ What else is brewing

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY WORTH EXPLORING

📢 Smarter Packaging, Bigger Impact—Why Investors Are Backing Smart Cups.

Imagine a world where beverages, medicine, and even nutrition don’t need bulky bottles or costly shipping. Smart Cup is making that a reality for major brands. Their patented microencapsulation technology allows companies to create just-add-water products, cutting shipping costs, reducing waste, and improving sustainability.

Why it matters:

  • Fits 31x more products in the same space, slashing shipping costs.

  • Reduces waste, packaging, and carbon emissions.

  • Beyond drinks, think medicine, pet care, and military rations

Why I’m watching:

  • $11M+ raised and patented tech.

  • CEO Chris Kanik won Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, securing a $250K investment.

  • 2021 Time Magazine Best Inventions of the Year

  • Strategic partnerships with the U.S. Army & major retailers signal massive growth.

Now, they’re raising $2.61M to scale production and expand partnerships.

*Partnership with

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STARTUPS RAISING MILLIONS

💰 Startup funding updates

Harrison.ai, a Haymarket, Australia-based global healthtech company and developer of AI-powered medical diagnostic support and workflow solutions, raised US$112M in Series C funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $240M, was led by ​Aware Super, ECP and existing investor ​Horizons Ventures​.​

QuEra, a Boston-based quantum computing startup, secured $230M in convertible notes from Google, SoftBank, and Valor Equity, with existing backers QVT Family Office and Safar Partners.

Stellaromics, a Boston, MA-based 3D spatial biology company, raised $80M in Series B funding. The round was led by Catalyst4 with participation from Stanford University Ventures.

Positron, a Reno, NV-based developer of AI inference technology for artificial intelligence computing, raised $23.5m in funding. Backers included Flume Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Resilience Reserve.

Pinkfish AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a generative automation platform, raised $7.6M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners. Storm Ventures and angel investors also participated.

ConverzAI, a Seattle, WA-based AI-driven recruitment solutions company, raised $16M in Series A funding. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, and joined by Left Lane Capital. Foundation Capital and Afore Capital also participated.

Moderne, a Miami, FL-based automated code refactoring and analysis company, raised $30m in Series B funding. The round was led by Acrew Capital with participation from Morgan Stanley, Amex Ventures, and TIAA Ventures, as well as all previous investors Allstate, Intel Capital, Mango Capital and True Ventures.

Coral, a Montréal, Canada-based women’s digital health startup, raised $4.1M in Seed funding. The round was led by Brightspark, with participation from Diagram and The51.

Comulate, a San Francisco, CA-based technology company leveraging AI to innovate the insurance industry, raised $20M Series B funding. The round led by Bond and Workday Ventures.

Tines, a Boston, MA- and Dublin, Ireland-based AI-powered workflows company, raised $125M in Series C funding, at $1.125 Billion valuation. The round, which brought the total amount to $272M, was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives with participation from new investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Activant and existing investors Accel, Felicis, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, and Addition.

Voyantis, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of an AI-driven growth platform for customer acquisition and lifecycle optimization, raised $41M in Funding. The round was led by Intel Capital with participation from Square Peg, Target Global, Jibe, Redseed, Alicorn, 20Growth, Essential and ICON.

PHȲND, a Stamford, CT-based provider of a subscription-free cloud gaming platform, raised $10M in Seed funding. The round was led by Wellington Management via Wellington Access Ventures with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Connecticut Innovations Fund, and Jozy Altidore.

Noxus, a London, UK-based startup helping enterprises build their own AI workforces, raised $1.5M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by SFC Capital, with participation from Antler, Bynd VC, Caixa Capital, AltaIR Capital, I2BF Global Ventures, Yellow Rocks, and Smart Partnership Capital plus business angels from the European ecosystem.

Limited, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech startup offering stablecoin-based premium global banking services, raised $3M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Third Prime, with participation from The House Fund and Arche Capital.

Sardine AI, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting, raised $70M in Series C funding. The round was led by Activant Capital, with participation from new and existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Nyca Partners, Google Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Cross Creek Capital, Moody’s Analytics, Experian Ventures, and NAventures, bringing the total capital raised to $145M.

Datalign Advisory, a Cambridge, a MA-based provider of an AI platform matching consumers with leading financial advisors, raised $5M in Seed funding, at $75M valuation. The round, which brought the total amount to $9M, was led by Link Ventures.

Vigil, a Columbus, OH-based provider of a SaaS data platform for annuity carriers and distributors, raised $1.3M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by M25 with participation from Nationwide Ventures, Solo-GP Rex Salisbury’s Cambrian Ventures, Clocktower Ventures and Meridian Ventures.

Modern Synthesis, a London, UK-based biotechnology company advancing microbially-derived biomaterials, raised $5.5M in funding. The round was by Extantia Capital with participation from Artesian, Collab Fund, and others.

Raenest, a Lagos, Nigeria-based provider of a multi-currency accounts platform for individuals and businesses across Africa, raised $11M in Series A funding. The round, which brought Raenest’s total venture funding to $14.3M, was led by QED Investors, with participation from Norrsken22, alongside follow-on investment from Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and Seedstars.

INXY Payments, a Warsaw, Poland-based payment platform combining traditional finance and the crypto economy, raised $3M in funding. The round was led by Flashpoint VC with participation from angel investors.

Taager, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based provider of a social e-commerce platform for the MENA region, raised $6.75M in Pre-Series B funding. The round was led by Norrsken22, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, Beltone VC, in addition to all existing investors including 4DX Ventures, RAED Ventures, BECO Capital and Breyer Capital.

NEW VCs IN THE MARKET

🏦 Venture Capital updates

Founders Fund, the Peter Thiel-founded VC firm, is nearing a $3B close for its third growth fund by March. The oversubscribed fund targets late-stage investments, backing companies like Anduril, SpaceX, Stripe, and OpenAI. This follows its fully deployed $3.4B 2022 growth fund and a restructuring of its early-stage capital.

Peak XV (Formerly Sequoia Capital India) senior partners Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand are departing after 17 and 12 years, respectively, amid the firm’s $400M fund size reduction. Lakhani led investments in Minimalist, Ixigo, and Polygon, while Anand backed Cuemath and Blinkit. Their exits mark the first major departures since Peak XV’s split from Sequoia in 2023.

KEY STORIES IN TECH

📜 Latest in tech

Apple reportedly partners with Alibaba after rejecting DeepSeek for China AI launch:

  • Apple is reportedly partnering with Alibaba to bring its Apple Intelligence platform to China after rejecting potential deals with DeepSeek and ByteDance due to compatibility concerns.

  • The move follows Apple’s struggles to integrate Baidu’s AI models, delaying Apple Intelligence’s launch in China and contributing to an 11% drop in iPhone sales in the region.

  • The partnership comes as Apple prepares to launch the iPhone SE 4, a key product for driving sales in China and India, the world’s two largest smartphone markets.

U.S. and U.K. refuse to sign Paris AI action summit declaration:

  • The U.S. and U.K. declined to sign the AI Action Summit declaration in Paris, which was endorsed by 61 countries, including China, India, Japan, and Canada, citing concerns over ideological bias and regulatory overreach.

  • The declaration calls for AI to be “open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure, and trustworthy,” but leaders like French President Macron warned against overregulation that could hinder innovation.

  • The U.S. decision aligns with its broader diplomatic stance under Trump’s second presidency, which has included withdrawing from international agreements such as the WHO and the Paris Climate Accord.

ChatGPT’s energy use lower than expected, but AI power demand still rising:

  • A new study from Epoch AI estimates that a typical ChatGPT query consumes 0.3 watt-hours, far less than the widely cited 3 watt-hours per query, reducing concerns over AI’s immediate energy impact.

  • Despite efficiency gains, AI data centers could require 68 GW of power by 2026, nearly all of California’s 2022 power capacity, as reasoning models demand more compute for multi-step “thinking.”

  • By 2030, training a single frontier AI model could consume 8 GW, equivalent to the output of eight nuclear reactors, raising concerns over AI’s long-term strain on energy grids worldwide.

Anduril takes control of Microsoft’s $22B VR military headset program:

  • The U.S. Army is set to transfer control of the troubled Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) project from Microsoft to Anduril, pending final DoD approval, marking a major shift in the $22 billion program.

  • While Microsoft will no longer be the prime contractor, it will remain involved as the project’s cloud provider, while Anduril takes charge of hardware, software, and production oversight.

  • Anduril’s founder, Palmer Luckey, celebrated the win, teasing major upgrades for the soldier AR headsets, as the company also prepares for a $2.5 billion funding round at a $28 billion valuation.

LAST COFFEE SIP

☕Other news

YouTube is now even bigger on TVs than phones:

  • YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that people are watching more than 1 billion hours of YouTube on their televisions daily, surpassing mobile viewing time.

  • Significant changes to the YouTube TV app, including layout updates and interactive features, have helped the platform maintain its top streaming position in the US for two years.

  • YouTube TV has over 8 million subscribers, while YouTube Premium and Music subscriptions have exceeded 100 million, with plans to enhance popular features and introduce new benefits.

NASA swaps SpaceX Capsule for crew-10, moving up launch to March 12:

  • NASA will now use a previously flown Crew Dragon capsule, Endeavor, for the Crew-10 mission, moving the launch up to March 12 from March 25, due to delays in producing a new capsule.

  • The decision allows for the earlier return of Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the ISS since last summer due to Boeing's ongoing spacecraft issues.

  • The change impacts SpaceX's Fram2 private astronaut mission and Axiom’s upcoming flight for India, Poland, and Hungary, as different Crew Dragon capsules will now be assigned to these missions.

HIRING ALERT: STARTUPS & VC ROLES

💼 Today’s VC & startup job opportunities

  • VC Associate - Octant Venture | USA - Apply Here

  • Visiting Analyst Venture Capital - neotech venture | Germany - Apply Here

  • Senior Director of Marketing and Communications - Aegis Venture | USA - Apply Here

  • Analyst, Office of the CEO - Energy Impact Partner | USA - Apply Here

  • Ventures Associate - Crypto - Plug and Play tech Centre | USA - Apply Here

  • Community and Office Manager - Rackhouse | USA - Apply Here

CURATED RESOURCES

🎁 Don’t miss - Curated Resources for Founders.

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