xAI Teams Up with Nvidia on a $20B Round

Top News

xAI is boosting its raise to $20 billion through an SPV that will buy Nvidia chips to lease back, with Nvidia investing up to $2 billion in a structure combining $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt. Bloomberg has the scoop here.

OpenAI and Anthropic are weighing whether to use investor funds to cover potential multibillion-dollar legal claims as insurers retreat from AI risks, with Anthropic already funding a $1.5 billion settlement out of pocket. The Financial Times has more here.

New York City sued Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok for allegedly designing apps that addict children and fuel a youth mental health crisis, seeking damages for what it calls a public nuisance straining schools and healthcare systems. Reuters has more here.

OpenAI’s Nick Turley on Transforming ChatGPT Into an Operating System

Image Credits: ilgmyzin / Unsplash

By Maxwell Zeff

When Nick Turley joined OpenAI in 2022 as the head of ChatGPT, he was tasked with commercializing the company’s research. He has made great strides toward that goal, growing the product to 800 million weekly active users. Now Turley wants to take an even bigger swing: transforming ChatGPT into a new type of operating system full of third-party apps.

I sat down with Turley this week on the outskirts of San Francisco’s Fort Mason, a former U.S. military post where OpenAI held its third annual developer conference, to discuss how he’s thinking about ChatGPT’s future. You can find a transcript of our conversation at the bottom of this article.

To turn ChatGPT into an operating system, Turley tells me he’s drawing inspiration from web browsers. Over the last decade, browsers have emerged as a new kind of operating system — not in the literal sense like macOS or Windows — because they’ve become the main place people work on computers thanks to a variety of web applications. Turley sees ChatGPT evolving in a similar way: a platform that could change how people interact with software.

OpenAI is reportedly developing a browser too. Turley doesn’t confirm or deny this, but he does say browsers are “really interesting.” The company is also working with Jony Ive and a team of longtime Apple designers on a family of hardware devices. Given these efforts, it’s easy to see how a ChatGPT operating system full of apps could become a central component of OpenAI’s consumer ecosystem.

OpenAI has been chasing this idea for a while. In 2023, the company launched an array of “AI app store” efforts such as ChatGPT plugins and the GPT Store. Those products didn’t exactly take off, but OpenAI seems to have a better approach this time around.

The launch of apps aligns with OpenAI’s desire to turn ChatGPT into an e-commerce destination. Apps from Expedia, DoorDash, and Uber could lead to more transactions in ChatGPT, something OpenAI can now facilitate and capture some of the revenue from. Having a product featured in ChatGPT could be a major source of business for both third parties and OpenAI.

Massive Fundings

Soufflé Therapeutics, a four-year-old Boston startup that develops antibody-based genetic medicines for diseases such as muscular dystrophy, raised about $200 million across seed and Series A rounds. Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series A, with Vida Ventures, AbbVie, and Leaps by Bayer also participating. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

AeroRx Therapeutics, a two-year-old San Diego startup that develops nebulized combination therapies for chronic respiratory diseases, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Avalon BioVentures and including Correlation Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments. More here.

Coinflow, a two-year-old Chicago startup that enables instant cross-border payments using stablecoins with fraud and chargeback protection, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital, with CMT Digital, Coinbase Ventures, The Fintech Fund, Jump Capital, and Reciprocal Ventures also participating. CoinDesk has more here.

Crosby, a one-year-old New York startup that combines AI software with in-house lawyers to accelerate contract review for startups, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Index Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures, with Elad Gil, Sequoia, Cooley, and Patrick Collison also participating. Upstarts Media has more here.

Jupiter Endovascular, a one-year-old Menlo Park startup that develops catheter-based devices to improve stability and control in endovascular procedures, raised a $40+ million Series B round led by Sonder Capital, with Senvest Management, LB Investment, and an unnamed strategic corporate investor also participating. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Lumen Bioscience, an eight-year-old Seattle startup that develops orally delivered biologic drugs for widespread diseases lacking effective treatments, raised a $30 million Series C extension round led by WestRiver Group, with the Gates Foundation also taking part. GeekWire has more here.

Membrion, a 10-year-old Seattle company that develops ceramic desalination membranes to help industrial facilities recycle and reuse wastewater, raised a $20 million Series B1 round co-led by Pangaea Ventures, PureTerra Ventures, Ecolab, and W. L. Gore & Associates, with The Lewis Family Office, Safar Partners, Lam Research, Indico Ventures, and Giantleap Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $43 million. More here.

Phagos, a four-year-old Paris startup that develops bacteriophage-based therapies as a sustainable alternative to antibiotics, raised a $29 million Series A round co-led by CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn, and Demeter, with Acurio Ventures, Citizen Capital, Entrepreneur First, Founders Capital, and Station F also contributing. EU-Startups has more here.

Quilter, a six-year-old Los Angeles startup that automates circuit board design, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Index Ventures. More here.

Realm.Security, a two-year-old Boston startup that uses AI to help enterprises manage and filter security data for more efficient operations, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Jump Capital, with Glasswing Ventures and Accomplice also investing. More here.

Relace, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds infrastructure and tools for AI coding agents, raised a $23 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Matrix Partners and Y Combinator also opting in. TechStartups has more here.

Snappr, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that connects businesses and individuals with professional photographers and integrates AI-enhanced image editing, raised a $28 million Series B round led by Foundry, with Basis Set Ventures, Shrug, and Yes VC also digging in. Axios has more here.

TransCrypts, a five-year-old startup based in Fremont, CA, that uses blockchain technology to let people control and share verified credentials and combat AI-driven fraud, raised a $15 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, with Lightspeed Faction, Alpha Edison, Motley Fool Ventures, California Innovation Fund, and Tomer London as well as previous investors Mark Cuban, Techstars, Alumni Ventures, Protocol Labs, Apertu Capital, Informed Ventures, Asymmetry Ventures, and The Atland Fund also piling on. More here.

Zingage, a two-year-old New York startup that is building an AI-powered scheduling and operations product for home healthcare agencies, raised a $12.5 million seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with TQ Ventures, and South Park Commons also stepping up. Business Insider has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Appy.AI, a one-year-old Miami startup whose platform helps non-coders build production-ready AI agent businesses through conversation with built-in tools for payments, analytics, and customer management, raised a $5 million seed round led by Four Rivers, with Founder Collective also chiming in. More here.

Arcjet, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps developers detect and block malicious online activity directly within their applications, raised an $8.3 million Series A round co-led by Plural and Ott Kaukver. The company has raised a total of $12 million. More here.

Cyberwave, a Milan startup founded this year that uses AI to make industrial robots, drones, and sensors easier for developers to program, raised an $8.1 million round. United Ventures was the deal lead. Tech Funding News has more here.

Datamonk, a one-year-old Amsterdam startup that automates medical imaging data migrations for hospitals, raised a $1.9 million pre-seed round co-led by Healthy.Capital and Nina Capital, with previous investors Antler and Rabobank also investing. AuntMinnie has more here.

Dragonfly, a London startup founded this year whose AI platform helps companies quickly identify and select the right software tools from a catalog of over 250,000 products, raised a $3.5 million pre-seed round led by Episode 1, with Dreamcraft and Portfolio Ventures also engaging. Tech Funding News has more here.

Ewake, a two-year-old Paris startup that uses AI agents to monitor software systems and prevent reliability failures before they escalate, raised a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Connect Ventures and including Notion Capital, 2100 Ventures, Insiders Ventures, and 50partners. Tech Funding News has more here.

Nexcade, a London startup founded this year that uses AI to automate global freight forwarding workflows and turn unstructured communications like emails and quotes into structured data, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Connect Ventures, with MMC Ventures, Entropy Industrial Capital, and Inovia also anteing up. More here.

Resourcly, a three-year-old startup based in Mannheim, Germany, that uses AI to screen manufacturers’ parts data, eliminate redundancies, and suggest qualified alternatives, raised a $3.1 million seed round. Project A was the deal lead. EU-Startups has more here.

New Funds

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs, is launching a $1 billion fund to back developers building on BNB Chain, Binance’s blockchain network, signaling a push to expand its DeFi and AI ecosystem as BNB hits record highs. Decrypt has