Top News | Tesla disclosed in a letter to shareholders today that it invested $2 billion in xAI despite shareholders rejecting a similar proposal last year in a nonbinding measure. TechCrunch has more here. | On its earnings call today, Microsoft revealed that it booked a $7.6 billion net income gain from OpenAI last quarter, underscoring how surging OpenAI revenue is already materially flowing through to Microsoft’s bottom line. TechCrunch has more here. | Meta may have beaten its numbers on its earnings call today, but it also revealed that Reality Labs posted a $6 billion operating loss on $955 million in revenue, pushing cumulative operating losses for the group to nearly $80 billion since late 2020. TechCrunch has more here. | According to a report in The Information, Anthropic has raised its revenue forecast, projecting sales will quadruple in 2026 to as much as $18 billion and climb to $55 billion in 2027. Reuters has more here. | | |
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| By Sean O’Kane | Tesla is ending production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV, CEO Elon Musk announced Wednesday during the company’s quarterly earnings call. | The company will make the final versions of both electric vehicles next quarter, he said, adding that his company will offer support for existing Model S and Model X owners “for as long as people have the vehicles.” | “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge, because we’re really moving into a future that is based on autonomy,” he said. “So if you’re interested in buying a Model S and X, now would be the time to order it.” | The Model S and Model X are both built at the company’s Fremont, California factory. Once production ends, Tesla will build Optimus robots in the same factory space, according to Musk. Production of Tesla’s Cybertruck, which is made at the company’s factory outside of Austin, will continue. | Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, and it’s regarded as the first car that made electric vehicles widely appealing. The Model X was Tesla’s second major electric vehicle program. | Tesla always intended for its more affordable models — the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV — to greatly outsell their predecessors. | But sales of both models have flatlined in recent years, despite interior and exterior refreshes along the way. Tesla has faced increased competition in the luxury EV space from legacy automakers, as well as upstarts like Rivian and Lucid Motors. | | | Massive Fundings | Cellares, a seven-year-old startup based in South San Francisco, CA, that provides automated manufacturing for cell therapies, raised a $257 million Series D round co-led by BlackRock and Eclipse, with T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, and Gates Frontier as well as previous investors DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors. The company has raised a total of $612 million. More here. | Decagon, a three-year-old startup that provides AI agents for customer support operations, raised a $250 million Series C round at a $4.5 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Coatue Management and Index Ventures, with Chemistry VC, Definition Capital, and Starwood Capital Group as well as previous investors Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and Bain Capital Ventures also investing. Bloomberg has more here. | Factify, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that is replacing static PDFs with AI-native digital documents that embed identity, permissions, and context, raised a $63 million seed round led by Valley Capital Partners. CTech has more here. | Flapping Airplanes, a startup founded last year that operates an AI research lab focused on training new model architectures, raised a $180 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation. Investors included GV, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Menlo Ventures. The Wall Street Journal has more here. | Gyde, a one-year-old Austin startup that operates a brokerage platform that uses automation to support insurance, health, and wealth brokers in advising clients, raised a $60 million Series A round led by Lightspeed, with Optum Ventures, Crystal Venture Partners, Virtue, and MVP Ventures also contributing. More here. | Lunar, an 11-year-old Danish company that operates a digital bank serving consumers and businesses across the Nordic region, raised a $50.6 million round. Investors included 100A, as well as previous investors Heartland and Orbit Alliance. More here. | PaleBlueDot, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup that operates an AI cloud marketplace that brokers GPU capacity and builds dedicated GPU clusters, raised a $150 million Series B round at a $1+ billion post-money valuation. B Capital was the deal lead. Reuters has more here. | Property Finder, a 19-year-old Dubai company that operates an online marketplace for buying and renting property, raised a $170 million round co-led by Mubadala Investment Company and BECO Capital. The company has raised nearly $700 million in equity. Wamda has more here. | Redwood Materials, a nine-year-old startup based in Carson City, NV, that recycles batteries and produces cathode materials while expanding into grid-scale energy storage, raised a $425 million Series E round at a $6+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by Eclipse, with Google and NVentures as well as previous investors Capricorn and Goldman Sachs also participating. The company has raised a total of $4.9 billion. TechCrunch has more here. | Rogo, a four-year-old New York startup that provides an AI platform that helps financial professionals analyze deals, stress-test scenarios, and prepare for client meetings, raised a $75 million Series C round led by Sequoia Capital, with additional participation from Henry Kravis and Wells Fargo as well as previous investors Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Tiger Global, and J.P. Morgan. The company has raised a total of $165+ million. More here. | Waabi, a five-year-old Toronto startup that develops self-driving technology for trucks and robotaxis, raised a $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with Uber, Nvidia, Volvo, Porsche Automobil Holding, and BlackRock also participating. TechCrunch has more here. | Zerohash, a nine-year-old Chicago startup that provides crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization infrastructure for financial institutions, is reportedly in the market to raise a $250 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation after a potential acquisition by Mastercard fell through. CoinDesk has more here. | | Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings | Adaptive6, a five-year-old New York and Israeli startup that helps enterprises identify and remediate cloud infrastructure waste by tracing cost inefficiencies back to code, raised a $28 million Series A round led by U.S. Venture Partners, with New Era Capital Partners, Pitango VC, Forgepoint Capital, and Vertex Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $44 million. SiliconANGLE has more here. | Antheia, an 11-year-old Menlo Park company that produces pharmaceutical ingredients using biosynthesis to reduce supply chain risk, raised a $24 million Series C extension round co-led by Athos KG and America’s Frontier Fund, with previous investor Global Health Investment Corporation also digging in. The company has raised a total of $175+ million. Pulse 2.0 has more here. | BoldVoice, a five-year-old New York startup that provides AI-driven voice coaching to help non-native English speakers improve pronunciation and clarity, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Matrix, with Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, Alumni Ventures, Umami Capital, and Y Combinator also pitching in. More here. | Checkbox, a 10-year-old New York company that automates legal intake and workflow management for in-house legal teams, raised a $23 million Series A round. Touring Capital was the deal lead, with additional support from Peak XV, Conductive Ventures, Tidal Ventures, and Five V Capital. More here. | Datatruck, a three-year-old Chicago startup that provides an operating system for long-haul trucking that unifies dispatch, compliance, automation, and financial workflows, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Avenue Growth Partners. FreightWaves has more here. | Fiddler AI, an eight-year-old Palo Alto startup that provides governance, monitoring, and security infrastructure for AI systems that use autonomous agents, raised a $30 million Series C round led by RPS Ventures, with LG Technology Ventures, Benhamou Global Ventures, and LDV Partners as well as previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Insight Partners, Capgemini Ventures, Dallas VC, Dentsu Ventures, and Mozilla Ventures also piling on. The company has raised a total of $100 million. Pulse 2.0 has more here. | Opendate, a six-year-old Indianapolis startup that provides an all-in-one platform for booking, ticketing, and marketing live events, raised a $14 million Series A round led by High Alpha. More here. | Outtake, a three-year-old startup that uses AI agents to detect and remove cyberthreats, raised a $40 million Series B round led by Iconiq, with CRV, S32, Satya Nadella, Nikesh Arora, Trae Stephens, Bill Ackman, and Shyam Sankar also engaging. CNBC has more here. | Slice, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that manages global employee equity, tax, and compliance workflows across multiple jurisdictions, raised a $25 million Series A round led by Insight Partners |
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