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Elon Musk’s xAI is trying to raise $4.3 billion in equity while simultaneously seeking $5 billion in debt after burning through most of its $14 billion war chest as it pushes a new $80 billion valuation and scrambles to reassure lenders. Bloomberg has more here. 

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Sam Altman Says Meta Tried And Failed to Poach OpenAI’s Talent with $100M Offers

By Maxwell Zeff

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on something of a hiring spree lately, trying to staff up Meta’s new superintelligence team with top-tier AI researchers from competing labs. To work on a team led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and at a desk physically near Zuckerberg, Meta has reportedly offered employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind compensation packages worth upwards of $100 million.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed those reports on a podcast with his brother, Jack Altman, which was published on Tuesday. However, the OpenAI CEO noted that Zuckerberg’s recruiting efforts have been largely unsuccessful and made sure to throw a few more digs at Meta in the process.

“[Meta has] started making these, like, giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” Sam Altman said on the podcast. “You know, like, $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year […] I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on that.”

The OpenAI CEO said he believed his employees made the assessment that OpenAI had a better chance of achieving AGI and may one day be the more valuable company. He also said he believes Meta’s focus on high compensation packages for employees, rather than the mission of delivering AGI, would likely not create a great culture.

Meta reportedly tried to poach one of OpenAI’s lead researchers, Noam Brown, as well as Google’s AI architect, Koray Kavukcuoglu. However, both efforts were unsuccessful.

More here.

Massive Fundings

Applied Intuition, an eight-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, whose software helps automakers and government agencies develop and test autonomous vehicle technology, raised a $600 million Series F and tender offer at a $15 billion post-money valuation, two and a half times the valuation of the Series E it closed just one year ago. The round was co-led by BlackRock and Kleiner Perkins, with the Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, and Greycroft as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Lux, Elad Gil, and Bond also writing checks. TechCrunch has more here. 

Coralogix, an 11-year-old Tel Aviv company that helps businesses monitor data from their software systems and get instant, AI-powered insights into performance, errors, and security events, raised a $115 million Series E round at a $1+ billion pre-money valuation. The deal was led by NewView Capital, with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and NextEquity as well as previous investors Advent International, Brighton Park Capital, Revaia, Greenfield Partners, Red Dot Capital Partners, O.G. Venture Partners, Joule Capital Partners, and Maor Investments also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Eigen Labs, a four-year-old Seattle startup that builds blockchain tools that let developers add verifiable trust to apps by restaking Ethereum and using its platform for verifiable compute, data, and dispute resolution, raised $70 million from Andreessen Horowitz via a token sale. Forbes has more here. 

Mach Industries, a three-year-old startup based in Huntington Beach, CA, that sells high-tech unmanned aerial systems to defense agencies, raised a $100 million round at a $470 million post-money valuation. Khosla Ventures and prior backer Bedrock Capital were the co-leads, with Sequoia Capital also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Nabla, a seven-year-old New York startup that offers an AI assistant that listens and takes clinical notes during doctor visits, raised a $70 million Series C round led by HV Capital and including Highland Europe and DST Global as well as previous investors Cathay Innovation and Build Collective. Crunchbase News has more here.

Teamworks, a 20-year-old company based in Durham, NC, that provides software that helps sports teams manage recruiting, scheduling, performance, and operations in one platform, raised a $235 million Series F at a $1+ billion pre-money valuation. The round was led by previous investor Dragoneer Investment Group. Sports Business Journal has more here. 

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Bigger Games, a six-year-old Istanbul startup that makes casual puzzle games for mobile users, raised a $25 million Series A round co-led by Goodwater Capital and Arcadia Gaming Partners, with Index Ventures and Play Ventures also taking part. VentureBeat has more here.

Browserbase, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides a cloud service that lets developers and AI systems automate interactions with websites such as filling forms, clicking buttons, and scraping data by running browsers behind the scenes, raised a $40 million Series B round at a $300 million valuation, according to Upstarts Media. The deal lead was Notable Capital, with previous investors Kleiner Perkins and CRV also reupping. More here.

Extend, a three-year-old New York startup that helps companies turn complex documents such as PDFs, scans, tables, handwriting, and signatures into structured data using artificial intelligence, raised $17 million in seed and Series A funding. Innovation Endeavors was the lead investor, with Y Combinator and Character VC also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Onebrief, a six-year-old Honolulu startup whose cloud-based software lets military staff work together and plan operations in real-time, raised a $20 million Series C extension at a $1.1 billion valuation, a $450 million increase in valuation in just three months. The deal lead was Battery Ventures. More here.

Pano AI, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI and elevated cameras to detect wildfires and alert emergency responders before fires spread, raised a $44 million Series B round led by Giant Ventures, with additional participation from Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. The Wall Street Journal has more here. 

Payabli, a five-year-old Miami startup that enables SaaS and platform businesses to add payment features directly into their products, including accepting payments, sending payouts, and managing payment operations, raised a $28 million Series B round. Fika Ventures and prior backer QED Investors co-led the deal, with previous investors TTV Capital and Bling Capital also joining in. The company has raised a total of $60 million. Refresh Miami has more here.

Sword Health, a ten-year-old New York company that offers remote physical and pelvic health programs that use AI alongside licensed clinicians to help people recover and prevent pain conditions, raised a $40 million round at a $4 billion valuation. The deal lead was prior backer General Catalyst, with Khosla Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Lince Capital, Oxy Capital, Armilar Ventures, Indico, and Shilling also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $380 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Uncountable, a nine-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to help scientific research teams organize and analyze experimental data to optimize experiments and speed up product development, raised a $27 million Series A round led by Sageview Capital, with support from SE Ventures as well as previous investors Teamworthy, 8VC, and MK Capital. More here.

️Voltfang, a four-year-old German startup that repurposes used EV batteries into large-scale energy storage systems for businesses and utilities to manage power use and stabilize the grid, raised a $17.2 million Series B round led by prior backer ForwardOne, with Fiege Ventures and Newberry Investments as well as previous investors Interzero, PT1, Helen Ventures, Daphni, and Aurum Impact also anteing up. Battery Industry has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Crosby, a one-year-old New York law firm that uses AI to help startups review and negotiate contracts, raised a $5.8 million seed round. Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Ovido, a one-year-old Helsinki startup that helps manufacturers and brands gather, organize, and share product details such as materials, sustainability information, and compliance certificates with suppliers and partners, raised a $2.7 million seed round co-led by Lifeline Ventures and Kvanted, with Illusian also contributing. Arctic Startup has more here.

SaturnX, a one-year-old Dubai startup that enables financial firms and remittance businesses to move money across borders via a stablecoin API, raised a $3 million seed round. White Star Capital was the deal lead. More here.

XFX, a Mexico City startup founded this year that is building institutional infrastructure for cross-border settlement, raised a $9.1 million seed round. Haun Ventures was the lead investor, with Castle Island Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Maya Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Paxos, and Bitso also joining in. More here.

Zoot, a one-year-old New York startup that runs a mobile gaming platform that blends casual video games with sweepstakes and lets players use stablecoins to deposit and withdraw real cash prizes, raised a $6 million seed round led by CoinFund, with Griffin Gaming Partners also engaging. CityBiz has more here.

New Funds

Endeavor Catalyst, a 13-year-old New York venture firm, is reportedly raising a $300 million fifth fund to invest in Series A to C deals across emerging markets, including Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. TechCrunch has more here. 

Going Public

Caris Life Sciences, a 17-year-old venture-funded company based in Irving, Texas, that uses AI and molecular profiling to help doctors detect, diagnose, and treat diseases more precisely, priced its IPO at $21 per share and raised nearly $500 million. Reuters has more here. 

People

Roy Lee, CEO and co-founder of Cluely, a startup that teaches people how to use AI to cheat on job interviews, tried to throw an afterparty for a Y Combinator event, but police shut it down before it started after thousands lined up to get in. TechCrunch has more here.

Data

A new study from Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism concludes that for the first time more Americans are getting their news from social media than TV. NiemanLab has more here. 

According to a new Gallup poll, use of AI in the workplace has nearly doubled in the last two years, but most employees still lack clear guidance, training, or confidence. More here. 

Essential Reads

Streaming officially pulled ahead of cable and broadcast TV in May, thanks to boomers embracing free platforms like Tubi and YouTube while traditional networks scaled back original content and lost major events to the internet. The New York Times has more here. 

Researchers found that both Gemini and Claude panicked while playing Pokémon, with Gemini’s reasoning visibly deteriorating as its characters neared defeat and Claude making bizarre choices to escape challenges. TechCrunch has more here. 

Grow a Garden, a FarmVille-style farming game on Roblox, just blew past Fortnite with over 16 million concurrent players, driven by offline growth mechanics, TikTok-fueled hype, and a new generation hooked on collecting frogs and trading bees. The New York Times has more here. 

According to reporting from Business Insider, President Trump has decided to give TikTok a fourth extension to shed its Chinese ownership, even though the law only allows one reprieve. More here. 

Detours

Guess which place just dethroned Vienna as the world's most livable city?

Who knew a basketball floor could be so cool? 

Retail Therapy

Originally designed to transport miners, soldiers, and emergency crews, the $635,000 Praetorian Liberra has been repurposed by Dämmler for adventure-hungry families with very deep pockets.

And the winner of "White Sneaker of the Summer" is ...